tion in his business of making bricks without straw
unless he can go straightway and heave them at somebody.

Still (to drop metaphor), I have chosen some papers which I hope
may be worth a second reading. They are fragmentary, by force of
the conditions under which they were produced: but perhaps the
fragments may here and there suggest the outline of a first
principle. And I dedicate the book to you because it would be
strange if the time during which we have appeared in print side
by side had brought no sense of comradeship. Though, in fact, we
live far apart and seldom get speech together, more than one of
these papers--ostensibly addressed to anybody whom they might
concern--has been privately, if but sub-consciously, intended
for you.

A.T.Q.C.

CONTENTS

CHAUCER 1
"THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM" 29
SHAKESPEARE'S LYRICS 39
SAMUEL DANIEL 48
WILLIAM BROWNE 59
THOMAS CAREW 67
"ROBINSON CRUSOE" 75
LAWRENCE STERNE 90
SCOTT AND BURNS 103
CHARLES READE 124
HENRY KINGSLEY 131
ALEXANDER WILLIAM KINGLAKE 141
C.S.C. AND J.K.S 147
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 156
M. ZOLA 192
SELECTION 198
EXTERNALS 204
CLUB TALK 222
EXCURSIONISTS IN POETRY 229
THE POPULAR CONCEPTION OF A POET 235
POETS ON THEIR OWN ART 245
THE ATTITUDE OF THE
PUBLIC TOWARDS LETTERS 254
A CASE OF BOOKSTALL CENSORSHIP 267
THE POOR LITTLE PENNY DREADFUL 276
IBSEN'S "PEER GYNT" 283
MR. SWINBURNE'S LATER MANNER 297
A MORNING WITH A BOOK 306
MR. JOHN DAVIDSON 314
BJOERNSTERNE BJOERNSON 332
MR. GEORGE MOORE 341
MRS. MARGARET L. WOODS 349
MR. HALL CAINE 368
MR. ANTHONY HOPE 377
"TRILBY" 384
MR. STOCKTON 391
BOW-WOW 399
OF SEASONABLE NUMB