The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1914-06-28

"In one corner tof the living roomI was
a large safe. which. being continually re-
| plenished from San Francisco. rarely con-
tanned any large amount OF money at a
time. but was supposed by the natives to
be the prison Of the Bottle Imp. the source
Of all SrEvENsoN's fortune"
most extraordinary and uncon-
sclous revelation Of the sensitiveness
Of STEvENsoN's personal attitude In the
matter Of acknowledging bliga ton for
the Bottle Imp idea Is contained In n
letter of December 3. 1902, to SIDNEY
CoLvIN about the arrangement Of the
book including The Bottle Imp" for
which he seems afterward to have re-
ceived 5000 Even the hazy reference
to that very unliterary product, the
English drama Of the early part Of the
century," and to "the redoubtable Il.
SMITH," In STEvENsoN's explanatory
note seems to have struck his self-pride
as too specific II confession Of indebted.
ness. For he wrote:
| The Bottle Imp was the piece de re-
sistance for my volume Island Nights
Entertainments. However. that volume
might never have got done; and I send
you two others in case they should be IN
time
First have the Beach OF Faiesa.'
Then fresh false title: Island Nights
Entertainments /: and then.
The Bottle Imp a cue from an old
melodrama.
The Isle Of Voices
THE Waif Woman: cue from
saga.
"Of course these two others are not I'D
to the mark OF The Bottle Imp but they
each have a certain merit. and they At
In style. By saying "a cue from an old
meiodrumd' after the B. T. you can oct
I'D 81 my note. II this Is In time. Il will,
be splendid. and will make quite a vol
ume."
But II Is not TO "the redoubtable r.
SMITH" or to the "unliterary product"
or early English drama or TO an nj.
legged "old melodrama" that the dis
corning student Of origins must 60 for
what Mr.. STEVENSON euphemistically
termed the cue" to his Bottle Inn"
Ihere was published in London in 1929
by ". SIMKIN and r. MARSHALL n col.
lection In three volumes called "Popu.
lar Tales and Romances Of the North.
ern Nations" mostly stories OF diab-
lerie. Moravian, Thuringian and Hartz
Mountain legends and such. In all
there were seventeen tales; and &C.
coniing to the statement of the preface
only two Of these had ever been trans
lated into English.
The second tale Of the first volume
THE Bottle Imp" Is not one Of the two
mentioned az having previously ap-
peared In English. 1t Is by no means
an unliterary product. for IL has n STYLE
and charm Of It's own. although not II.
Il. SIS style and charm. The title IL
the same. the supernatural idea which
Is the motive Of the plot is the same,
the mechanism Of development Is the
same, the denouement Is practically
the same. even to the mechanical ex-
pedient OF half-heller coins instead of
confines; particular pha SEES of small in
cident and emotion are the same. Time.
place and circumstances are changed,
and the consummate stylist adds his
special touch.
This is no case for applying the
deadly parallel; STEVENSON was too re-
sourcefil an artist ever to lay himself
open to the charge Of textual plagiar.
ism. His hero Is KIAwE. the Hawaiian !:
the original is RICHARD. the young Ger
man merchant in Venice. STEvENsoN's
navigator In possession Of the fateful
bottle Is the Kanaka ToPAKA: In the
original IT Is the Spanish sea captain.
The struggle with woman to deter.
mine the possession Of the demon In
the vial. which gave all the owner
wished hut must he sold to another for
less money than the price for which It
was acquired at the penalty Of eternal
damnation, II selfish In the original.
with RICHARDS courtesan mistress Lu.
cRETIA: In the adaptation II Is altruis-
tic, with the noble wife KOKUA. The
solution by final disposition for
smaller coin than the supposed fateful
minimum Is managed practically In the
same way. STEVENSON puts of his
bottle, with its burden Of an inevita BILE
hell, on reckless reprobate whose
character has damned him already; in
the original the final sufferer Is per
son whose soul Is lost already by pre-
vious transaction with SATAN. The en-.
tire framework. however, and many Of
the incidents. important and insignia
cant. have been boldly appropriated by
the author of the second Bottle Imp.
The points Of contact are 80 many and
80 striking that we doubt II anybody
can read the two tales one after the
other and retain much respect for the
sincerity Of either STEvENsoNs note as
printed or his proposed credit line about
the alleged "old melodrama"
STEvENsoN's chameleon talent took
color from that on which 1t fed or
rested, Appreciation. keen perception
OF value to his own literary projects,
appropriation, assimilation and meta
mOrphoss by adornment was the order