New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-07-09

More about the Memorial by st.
Gaudens.

GGU0eHS.
London, June %
"a memorial of man of genius by man OF
genius" That is Lord Rosebery's description
of the tablet designed by the American sculptor
Mr.. st. Gaudens to commemorate Robert Louis
Stevensons services to English literature. The
sculptor was not present to hear this pretty
compliment when the tablet in old st. Giles's
unveiled eight years after the first steps
were taken TO open subscriptions for the memo
rial in England, Scotland, America and the En-
pre Perhaps 1t discreet for him to
main away, for Lord Rosebery as bookish man
was fairly certain to hint that there were nobler
and more permanent monuments than bronze
stone. The orator did not fail TO refer to the
magnificent edition of Stevensons writings. so
beautiful in outward shape and in inward sub
stance that remains an almost unparalleled
memorial OF great man OF genius; nor did he
lose sight of the school that had been founded
lin the infinite number of readers and almost
idolaters of his books that exist throughout the
world" Full Justice done, however. to the
artistic qualities of the sculptors work. which
was revealed as chaste and beautiful tribute
to authorship and character in the Scotch cap
ital. which has never withheld the honor due 10
the greatest Scotsmen. Tradition seems TO
clude sculptors from the privilege of seeing their
signed the imposing monument to Sir Walter
Scott. was drowned before the structure
completed and the Grafton delivered
Stevenson was born in Edinburgh and knew
eI cry turn in the Street Of Princes and in High
st. and Canongate from st. Giles Holyrood.
His boyhood passed there and among the
Lothians. for his grandfather parish min
lister in Colinton, village on the slopes of the
Pentland hills. and SWANSON, where his father
found a summer residence. was near by. with
its traditions and memorials Of the Covenanters.
whose virtues and exploits TO be embalmed
in his own romances. Stevenson himself has
left record OF the fact that when ST. CHESS
was restored gargoyles and fragments Of carved
stone We're taken 10 Swanston and either fitted
into the walls and gables Of the cottage or scat
tered about the garden. The sculptures Of John
Knox's old church. where Mr. ST. Gaudens's tab
let has been unveiled, We're under his eyes when
he began to piece together the romances OF the
Covenanters; and the Pentlaud Rising the
theme of one OF his earliest works. David Bal
tours adventures carried him far over the hills
to Inverness-shire, and Treasure Island was
begun the little River TUNNEL. below Kill
lecrankie; but Stevenson was a man of Mid
lothian. Aud Reekie with the beautiful lantern
crown Of St. Giles glimmering under the gray
sky. was the centre of the bright estate of
genius While his grave is far away in Samoa,
on the crest OF a forest-ciad peak, the memorial
which hundreds of admirers in the United
Kingdom and America have contributed is where
he would have chosen to have 1t placed.
Mr.. Sidney Colvin at the simple ceremony Of
unvelling the tablet. described Stevenson as a
French trained master in Scotch and English
letters His work has strong individual
quality that it is not easy to trace the effects
of foreign training. He paid close attention TO
technical qualities of style, and to that extent
under French influence. as were the Scotch
painters of his day. who learned their method In
Paris rather than London; but he mad a temper
ament of his own. and artist who had
studied good models and had absorbed as a
reader the elements which suited him. When
Lord Rosebery referred to Mr. Stevenson as the
founder Of school he could hardly have been
thinking of literary style. The younger writer's
of his day could not initiate style so composite
his with its blend Of many influences OF
which he could hardly have been conscious him
self. sensitive as his mind to external i'm
pressions. They might have been encouraged
by his example to take more pains with their
workmanship, but that would not have marked
them out as Stevenson's disciples. His romances
created temporary reaction against analytic
novels and character studies. and the story of
action regained its power for n decade as the
most invigorating class of fiction Whether it
has kept its place in current literature is another
matter. There are many signs that novelists
have reverted to character studies with weari-
some processes of analysis of motive and inter-
minabe talk; and that brilliancy of execution Is
considered less important than 1t was when he
was making his own pages vivid by his fascina-
tons Of style and temperament. The complete
edition Of Stevensons works is a splendid monu-
ment to his genius, as Lord Rosebery described
1t; but the school of writer's who have followed
him as master cannot be identified with any
degree OF certanty. / N f