zine_ of July last, Mr. Gosse speaks of the peculiar esteem in
which Mr. Frank R. Stockton's stories were held by Robert Louis
Stevenson. "When I was going to America to lecture, he was
particularly anxious that I should lay at the feet of Mr. Frank R.
Stockton his homage, couched in the following lines:--

My Stockton if I failed to like,
It were a sheer depravity;
For I went down with the 'Thomas Hyke,'
And up with the 'Negative Gravity.'

He adored these tales of Mr. Stockton's, a taste which must be shared
by all good men."

It is shared at any rate by some thousands of people on this side of
the Atlantic. Only, one is not quite sure how far their admiration
extends. As far as can be guessed--for I have never come across any
British attempt at a serious appreciation of Mr. Stockton--the
general disposition is to regard him as an amusing kind of "cuss" with
a queer kink in his fancy, who writes puzzling little stories that
make you smile. As for taking him seriously, "why he doesn't even
profess to write seriously"--an absurd objection, of course; but good
enough for the present-day reviewer, who sits up all night in order
that the public may have his earliest possible opinion on the
Reminiscences of Bishop A, or the Personal Recollections of
Field-Marshal B, or a Tour taken in Ireland by the Honorable Mrs. C.
For criticism just now, as a mere matter of business convenience,
provides a relative importance for books before they appear; and in
this classification the space allotted to fiction and labelled
"important" is crowded for the moment with works dealing with
religious or sexual difficulties. Everyone has read _Rudder Grange_,
_The Lady or the Tiger?_ and _A Borrowed Month_; but somehow few
people seem to think of them as subjects for serious criticism.

"Classical" qualities.

And yet these stories are almost classics. That is to say, they have
the classical qualities, and only need time to ripen them into
classics: for nothing but age divides a story of the quality of _The
Lady or the Tiger?_ (for instance) from a story of the quality of _Rip
Van Winkle_. They are full of wit; but the wit never chokes the style,
which is simple and pellucid. Their fanciful postulates being granted,
they are absolutely rational. And they are in a high degree original.
Originality, good temper, good sense, moderation, wit--these are
classical qualities: and he is a rare benefactor who employs the