This essay first appeared in _Longman's Magazine_ for November 1882,
Vol. I, pp. 69-79. Five years later it was published in the volume
_Memories and Portraits_ (1887), followed by an article called _A
Humble Remonstrance_, which should really be read in connection with
this essay, as it is a continuation of the same line of thought. In
the eternal conflict between Romanticism and Realism, Stevenson was
heart and soul with the former, and fortunately he lived long enough
to see the practical effects of his own precepts and influence. When
he began to write, Realism in fiction seemed to have absolute control;
when he died, a tremendous reaction in favor of the historical romance
had already set in, that reached its climax with the death of the
century. Stevenson's share in this Romantic revival was greater than
that of any other English writer, and as an English review remarked,
if it had not been for him most of the new authors would have been
Howells and James young men.
This paper was written at Davos in the winter of 1881-2, and in
February, writing to Henley, the author said, "I have just finished a
paper, 'A Gossip on Romance,' in which I have tried to do, very
popularly, about one-half of the matter you wanted me to try. In a
way, I have found an answer to the question. But the subject was
hardly fit for so chatty a paper, and it is all loose ends. If ever I
do my book on the Art of Literature, I shall gather them together and
be clear." (_Letters_, I, 269). On Dec. 8, 1884--the same month in
which _A Humble Remonstrance_ was printed, Stevenson wrote an
interesting letter to Henry James, whose views on the art of fiction
were naturally contrary to those of his friend. See _Letters_, I, 402.
[Note 1: _Like a pig for truffles_. See the _Epilogue_ to Browning's
_Pacchiarotto etc_., Stanza XVIII:--"Your product is--truffles, you
hunt with a pig!"]
[Note 2: _The Malabar coast_. A part of India.]
[Note 3: _Jacobite_. After James II was driven from the throne in
1688, his supporters and those of his descendants were called
Jacobites. Jacobus is the Latin for James.]
[Note 4: _John Rann or Jerry Abershaw_. John Rann I cannot find. Louis
Jeremiah (or Jerry) Abershaw was a highway robber, who infested the
roads near London; he was hung in 1795, when scarcely over twenty-one
years old.]
[Note 5: "_Great North road_." The road that runs on the east of
England up to Edinburgh. Stevenson yielded to the charm that these
words had for him, for he began a romance with the title, _The Great
North Road_, which however, he never finished. It was published as a
fragment in _The Illustrated London News_, in 1895.]
[Note 6: _What will he Do with It_? One of Bulwer-Lytton's novels,
published in 1858.]
[Note 7: Since traced by many obliging correspondents to the gallery
of Charles Kingsley.]
[Note 8: _Conduct is three parts of life_. In _Literature and Dogma_
(1873) Matthew Arnold asserted with great emphasis, that conduct was
three-fourths of life.]
[Note 9: _The sight of a pleasant arbour_. Possibly a reminiscence of
the arbour in _Pilgrim's Progress_, where Christian fell asleep, and
lost his roll. "Now about the midway to the top of the hill was a
pleasant arbour."]
[Note 10: "_Miching mallecho." Hamlet's_ description of the meaning of
the Dumb Show in the play-scene, Act III, Sc. 2. "Hidden
treachery"--see any annotated edition of _Hamlet_.]
[Note 11: _Burford Bridge ... Keats ... Endymion ... Nelson ... Emma
... the old Hawes Inn at the Queen's Ferry_. Burford Bridge is close
to Dorking in Surrey, England: in the old inn, Keats wrote a part of
his poem _Endymion_ (published 1818). The room where he composed is
still on exhibition. Two letters by Keats, which are exceedingly
important to the student of his art as a poet, were written from
Burford Bridge in November 1817. See Colvin's edition of Keats's
Letters, pp. 40-46.... "Emma" is Lady Hamilton, whom Admiral Nelson
loved.... Queen's Ferry (properly _Queensferry_) is on the Firth of
Forth, Scotland. See a few lines below in the text, where Stevenson
gives the reference to the opening pages of Scott's novel the
_Antiquary_, which begins in the old inn at this place. See also page
105 of the text, and Stevenson's foot note, where he declares that he
did make use of Queensferry in his novel _Kidnapped_ (1886)(Chapter
XXVI).]
[Note 12: Since the above was written I have tried to launch the boat
with my own hands in _Kidnapped_. Some day, perhaps, I may try a
rattle at the shutters.]
[Note 13: _Crusoe ... Achilles ... Ulysses ... Christian_. When
Robinson Crusoe saw the footprint on the sand, and realised he was not
alone.... To a reader of to-day the great hero Achilles seems to be
all bluster and selfish childishness; the true gentleman of the Iliad
is _Hector_.... When Ulysses returned home in the _Odyssey_, he bent
with ease the bow that had proved too much for all the suitors of his
lonely and faithful wife Penelope.... Christian "had not run far from
his own door when his wife and children, perceiving it, began to cry
after him to return; but the man put his fingers in his ears and ran
on crying, 'Life! Life! eternal Life!'"_--Pilgrim's Progress_.]
[Note 14: _]_. The Greek heavy-weight in Homer's _Iliad_.
[Note 15: _English people of the present day_. This was absolutely
true in 1882. But in 1892 a complete revolution in taste had set in,
and many of the most hardened realists were forced to write wild
romances, or lose their grip on the public. At this time, Stevenson
naturally had no idea how powerfully his as yet unwritten romances
were to affect the literary market.]
[Note 16: _Mr. Trollope's ... chronicling small beer ... Rawdon
Crawley's blow_. Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) wrote an immense number
of mildly entertaining novels concerned with the lives and ambitions
of English clergymen and their satellites. His best-known book is
probably _Barchester Towers_ (1857).... _Chronicling small beer_ is
the "lame and impotent conclusion" with which Iago finishes his poem
(_Othello_, Act II, Sc. I).... _Rawdon Crawley's blow_ refers to the
most memorable scene in Thackeray's great novel, _Vanity Fair_
(1847-8), where Rawdon Crawley, the husband of Becky Sharp, strikes
Lord Steyne in the face (Chap. LIII). After writing this powerful
scene, Thackeray was in a state of tremendous excitement, and slapping
his knee, said, "That's Genius!"]
[Note 17: _The end of Esmond ... pure Dumas_. Thackeray's romance
_Henry Esmond_ (1852) is regarded by many critics as the greatest work
of fiction in the English language; Stevenson here calls it "the best
of all his books." The scene Stevenson refers to is where Henry is
finally cured of his love for Beatrix, and theatrically breaks his
sword in the presence of the royal admirer (Book III, Chap. 13).
Alexander Dumas (1803-1370), author of _Monte Cristo_ and _Les Trois
Mousquetaires_. Stevenson playfully calls him "the great, unblushing
French thief"; all he means is that Dumas never hesitated to
appropriate material wherever he found it, and work it into his
romances.]
[Note 18: _The living fame of Robinson Crusoe with the discredit of
Clarissa Harlowe_. A strong contrast between the romance of incident
and the analytical novel. For remarks on _Clarissa_, see our Note 9 of
Chapter IV above.]
[Note 19: _Byronism_. About the time Lord Byron was publishing _Childe
Harold_ (1812-1818) a tremendous wave of romantic melancholy swept
over all the countries of Europe. Innumerable poems and romances
dealing with mysteriously-sad heroes were written in imitation of
Byron; and young authors wore low, rolling collars, and tried to look
depressed. See Gautier's _Histoire du Romantisme._ Now the death of
Lovelace (in a duel) in Richardson's _Clarissa_, was pitched in
exactly the Byronic key, though at that time Byron had not been
born.... The Elizabethans were of course thoroughly romantic.]
[Note 20: _Faria_..._Dantès_. Characters in Dumas's _Monte Cristo_
(1841-5).]
[Note 21: _Lucy and Richard Feveril_. Usually spelled "Feverel."
Stevenson strangely enough, was always a bad speller. The reference
here is to one of Stevenson's favorite novels _The Ordeal of Richard
Feverel_ (1859) by George Meredith. Stevenson's idolatrous praise of
this particular scene in the novel is curious, for no greater contrast
in English literary style can be found than that between Meredith's
and his own. For another reference by Stevenson to the older novelist,
see our Note 47 of Chapter IV above.]
[Note 22: _Robinson Crusoe is as realistic as it is romantic_. Therein
lies precisely the charm of this book for boyish minds; the details
are given with such candour that it seems as if they must all be true.
At heart, Defoe was an intense realist, as well as the first English
novelist.]
[Note 23: _The arrival of Haydn_. For a note on George Sand's novel
_Consuelo_ see Note 9 of Chapter IV above.]
[Note 24: _A joy for ever_. The first line of Keats's poem _Endymion_
is "A thing of beauty is a joy forever."]
[Note 25: _The Sailor's Sweetheart_. Mr. W. Clark Russell, born in New
York in 1844, has written many popular tales of the sea. His first
success was _The Wreck of the Grosvenor_ (1876); _The Sailor's
Sweetheart_, more properly, _A Sailor's Sweetheart_, was published in
1877.]
[Note 26: _Swiss Family Robinson_. A German story, _Der schweizerische
Robinson_ (1812) by J.D. Wyss (1743-1818). This story is not so
popular as it used to be.]
[Note 27: _Verne's Mysterious Island_. Jules Verne, who died at
Amiens, France, in 1904, wrote an immense number of romances, which,
translated into many languages, have delighted young readers all over
the world. _The Mysterious Island_ is a sequel to _Twenty Thousand
Leagues under the Sea_.]
[Note 28: _Eugène de Rastignac_. A character in Balzac's novel, Père
Goriot.]
[Note 29: _The Lady of the Lake_. This poem, published in 1810, is as
Stevenson implies, not so much a poem as a rattling good story told in
rime.]
[Note 30: _The Pirate_. A novel by Scott, published in 1821. It was
the cause of Cooper's writing _The Pilot_. See Cooper's preface to the
latter novel.]
[Note 31: _Guy Mannering_. Also by Scott. Published 1815.]
[Note 32: _Miss Braddon's idea_. Mary Elizabeth Braddon (Maxwell),
born in 1837, published her first novel, _The Trail of the Serpent_,
in 1860. She has written a large number of sensational works of
fiction, very popular with an uncritical class of readers. Perhaps her
best-known book is _Lady Audley's Secret_ (1862). It would be well for
the student to refer to the scenes in _Guy Mannering_ which Stevenson
calls the "_Four strong notes_."]
[Note 33: _Mrs. Todgers's idea of a wooden leg_. Mrs. Todgers is a
character in Dickens's novel, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1843-4).]
[Note 34: _Elspeth of the Craigburnfoot_. A character in the
_Antiquary_ (1816).]