had ended by setting
it down as a contribution to the theory of life."

Touched by this confidence, one reads Stevenson--especially the
letters--with a more discerning eye, a more compassionate understanding;
and if at times one feels the presence of the Ariel too strong, and longs
for a more human, less elfin personality, then the thought that we are
dealing with deliberate "bravado" may well check our impatience.

Men who suffer much are wont to keep up a brave front by an appearance of
indifference.

V

To turn now to another side of Stevenson--Stevenson the Artist, the
artificer of phrases, the limner of pictures. His power here is shown in
a threefold manner--in deft and happy phrasing, in skilful
characterization, in delicately suggestive scenic descriptions.

This, for instance, as an instance of the first:--

"The victim begins to shrink spiritually; he develops a fancy for
parlours with a regulated atmosphere, and takes his morality on the
principle of tin shoes and tepid milk. The care of one important
body or soul becomes so engrossing that all the noises of the outer
world begin to come thin and faint into the parlour with the
regulated temperature; and the tin shoes go equally forward over
blood and ruin" (_New Arabian Nights_).

Or this:--

"Whitman, like a large, shaggy dog, just unchained, scouring the
beaches of the world, and baying at the moon" (_Men and Books_).

Or this:--

"To have a catchword in your mouth is not the same thing as to hold
an opinion; still less is it the same thing as to have made one for
yourself. There are too many of these catchwords in the world for
people to rap out upon you like an oath by way of an argument. They
have a currency as intellectual counters, and many respectable
persons pay their way with nothing else" (_Virginibus Puerisque_).

In his characterization he is at his best--like Scott and Borrow--when
dealing with the picaresque elements in life. His rogues are depicted
with infinite gusto and admirable art, and although even they, in common
with most of his characters, lack occasionally in substance and objective
reality, yet when he has to illustrate a characteristic he will do so
with a sure touch.

Take, for instance, this sketch of Herrick in _The Ebb Tide_--the weak,
irresolute rascal, with just force enough to hate himself. He essays to
end his ignominious career in the