New-York tribune., 1901-11-26
"W. E. a." AND "R. L S"
WHAT Mr.. HENLEY SAID ABOUT STEVEN
SON TO SET LONDON IN AN UPROAR-

The London dispatches in The Tribune of las
Saturday mentioned the furious controversy ca
cited in the English metropolis by an article oi
Mr.. W. Z. Henley the late Robert Loun'
Stevenson. in the Christmas number OF i ne
Pail Mall Magazine" Since then the magazine
tn question has reached our hands in discours
ing on his old friend, apropos Of the recehtls
published biography by Mr. Graham BaIlouf
the man who has raised such tempest In
teapot shows that he wishes to tell the truth
as he sees IT, and that he is weary OF 1he
1nawkish hero worship which has done SO much
70 make Stevenson ridiculous. Against the silly
sentinentality which would make a marVel anu
a martyr out Of the man: against the uncrlti-
cal enthusiasm which would give preposterousiy
high rank TO his works, protest has peeh rlaue
in the columns Of The Tribune over and over
again Mr. Henley. in reiterating and empha-
sizing this protest with all his strength utlers
nothing that is intrinscally offensive; evidently
the trouble among Stevenson's friends is thal'
counting MI Henley among themselves his can
dor strikes them as betrayal He begins py
having his compliments TO the biographeF' say
ing:
AS TO Mr.. Balfour's tact and piety inIos "a nose
servjceable bend). there cannot be two oplhlolls
he has written lovingly Of his dead cousin anu,
according TO his lights. he has written Wen. /.
mean he has done his best for the stevenson OF
legend and his best for the stevenson OF me.
So far as 1 can see he does not distinguish tLIe @
one from the other. his productions are a..
with rumor and report; ard II theE De nut, % !"
least he can govern his tongue on me Whole'
may congratulate him on his result. .,,-. =.
Yet i confess that lit do not overstlmllate.
cannot Law a finger on any point in this biog-
raphv excepting here and there whereat nave
a peculiar interest, and say that Mr. Bai1our
has not done his utmost. and is not as an ON
rtaI I,;oera,her entirely successful. Yet am L
1iseontented dissatisfied. still looking tor moIe
daresay the feeling is personal; t9at ! ctiu' =.
Inn II
'T1s q fact that recalling what l can recall l
can only take Mr.. Balfours book as a so!elIlli I
and serious essay in that kind Of make-eelefe
1n which the biographee Hf one may use 50 st5
pant neologsm in so august conneot9Ii9 uI
all his life rejoice. and was eXceedlhg sIau, !
read; and / read l am oppIe9SeU oH -.
1bonehI thai here is Lewis Stevenson very nuch
as he NAV well have wanted to be, but that mere
Is not Lewis Stevenson At all. Al any Fa'e' eie
IS not Lewis Stevenson Knew -.
For me there were two Steyensons: the sic
venson who went TO America in -: ana thT
Stevenson who never came back. Inc HIst
knew and loved: the other l lost touch Wlth'
snd though 1 admired him, did not sreauS
esteem. My relation to him was lhaI oL a iIle'--
with q grievance: ana for that reason per
that reason and others-I am by no means ulS
posed 10 take all Mr- Balfour says Tor gos[e..
nor willing to forget. on The showing oI Miiot
IS after all an official statement the knoWieoge
gained in an absolute intimacy OF slEe-aho- Iaht
which lasted for thirteen years, and lncluces 50
many OF the circumstances Of those thirteen
wears that as 1 believe. none living now can
pretend TO speak Of them with any such du-
thOTiTN
that Mr.. Balfour's view Of his famous cousin =
not warranted TO the letter so far as he saw ana
knew I mean more than that the Steven
son he knew not the stevenson WHO cam
10 me fthat good angel Mr.. Leslie stephen, ald-
ing) IN the old Edinburgh Infrmary: nor the ste
venson I nursed in secret hard by the ola brlsSo so
Port till he could make shift 10 paddle the
Arethusa: nor the Stevenson who stayed Win
me at Acton after selling Modestlne, nor even
the Stevenson who booked steerage berth 10
Nav-yorlx and thence trained II across the
1lains" and ended for the time being as mar
ried man and a Silverado squatter; thoush
confess that in this last avatar the stevenson OF
MI Balfour's dream had begun, however 1alIlliy
and vaguely to adunbrate himself, ana rnlghl
have been looked for as a certainty by persons
less affectionate and uninquiring than those o!
whom he was then approached. Mr. Bafour does
me the honor Of quoting the sonnet INTO Whlcn
j cranried nv impressions Of my companion ana
friend: and since nc has done So may as well
own that the Shorter Catechist OF the last
verse was afterthought. In those Gays ne
was in abeyance. TO say the least; ana II, even
then. il allait poindre a lhorfzon taS the com
position. IL secret and If ashamed, Of Lay
Morals persuades NE TO believe he dlo), /, al
env rate was too short sighted to suspect MS
whereabouts When I realized il, l completed
my sonnet; but this was not TIL years had come
and gone and the Shorter Catechist, already
cetested by more than one, was fully revealed
to
will say at once that 1 do not love the
Shorter Catechist, in anybody, and that loved
him less in Stevenson than anywhere that l
have ever found him. He is too selfish and too
self-righteous beast for me. he makes Ideals
for himself with resolute regard for his own
salvation; but he is all too apt to damn the
rest Of the world for declining to live up TO
them and he is all too ready to make lapse
of his own the occasion for rule Of conduct
for himself and the lasting preteXt for a highly
moral deliverance TO such backsliding Erastians
as having memories and certain concern Tor
facts would like him to wear his rue with
difference. At bottom Stevenson was an excel
lent fellow. But he of his essence what
the French cali personnel He was that is in
cessantly and passonately interested in Steven
son. He could be in the same room with a
mirror but he must invite its condolences every
time he passed Il; to him there was nothing OBJ
vious in time and eternity. and the smallest Of
his discoveries. his most trivial apprehensions,
all by way of being revelations, and as
revelations must be thrust upon the world; he
never so much in earnest, never so We'll
pleased (tfis We're he happy wretched), never
so Irresistible, when he wrote about himself.
withal if he wanted thing, he went after It
with an entire contempt for consequences. For
these. indeed, the Shorter Catechist was ever
prepared to answer; so that whether he did
well or ILL., be safe to come out unabashed
and cheerful He detested Mr.. Gladstone, L am
pleased to say; but his gift OF self-persuasion
was scarce second to that statesman's own
Where he was grossly interested, he could
but side Of the debate; and there are people
yet living q not one Of them) who. knowing
him intimately, have not hesitated 70 describe
him IN a word OF three letters, the suspicion Of
which might we'll make him in his grave
And yet, / do not know. He ever took himself
so seriously-or rather he ever played at life
with such solemn grace-that perhaps, after
all ne would scarce stir where he lies for the
dread vocable. For he humorist and
thinker. and could he hear il, he would certainly
smile, fall Qike the Faquir OF story to consider
ing himself umb!lically, and, finding in the end
that he had fairly earned it, go back to sleep.
with glow of satisfaction for that this part also
had been well played. No better histrion
lived. But in the South Seas the mask got set
the Tines" became a little stereotyped. Plainly
the Shorter Catechlst was what was wanted
And here with SteyensOns later letters