this popular tale is evidence of a morbid strain in the author's
nature. Rather than dispute the point it is a temptation to urge upon
the critic that he is not radical enough, for in Stevenson's opinion
all literature might be only a 'morbid secretion.'

The critics, however, agree in allowing us to admire without stint
those smaller works in which his characteristic gifts displayed
themselves at the best. _Thrawn Janet_ is one of these, and the story
of Tod Lapraik, told by Andie Dale in _Catriona_, is another.
Stevenson himself declared that if he had never written anything
except these two stories he would still have been a writer. We hope
that there would be votes cast for _Will o' the Mill_, which is a
lovely bit of literary workmanship. And there are a dozen besides
these.

He was an artist of undoubted gifts, but he was an artist in small
literary forms. His longest good novels are after all little books.
When he attempted a large canvas he seemed not perfectly in command of
his materials, though he could use those materials as they could have
been used by no other artist. There is nothing in his books akin to
that broad and massive treatment which may be felt in a novel like
_Rhoda Fleming_ or in a tragedy like _Tess of the D'Urbervilles_.

Andrew Lang was right when he said of Stevenson: He is a 'Little
Master,' but of the Little Masters the most perfect and delightful.

The Riverside Press

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS, U. S. A.
ELECTROTYPED AND PRINTED BY
H. O. HOUGHTON AND CO.

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