two horsemen, journeying on the most urgent affair, to employ six days,
from three of the Monday morning till late in the Saturday night, upon a
journey of, say, ninety or a hundred miles, and before the week is out,
and still on the same nags, to cover fifty in one day, as may be read at
length in the inimitable novel of 'Rob Roy.' And it is certainly well,
though far from necessary, to avoid such 'croppers.' But it is my
contention--my superstition, if you like--that who is faithful to his
map, and consults it, and draws from it his inspiration, daily and
hourly, gains positive support, and not mere negative immunity from
accident. The tale has a root there; it grows in that soil; it has a
spine of its own behind the words. Better if the country be real, and he
has walked every foot of it and knows every milestone. But even with
imaginary places, he will do well in the beginning to provide a map; as
he studies it, relations will appear that he had not thought upon; he
will discover obvious, though unsuspected, shortcuts and footprints for
his messengers; and even when a map is not all the plot, as it was in
'Treasure Island,' it will be found to be a mine of suggestion.

THE END

[Illustration]

FOOTNOTES:

[A] In this ship, the 'Hougoumont,' I served three years. She was a
transport, and was in the China war, 1860-1. Her burden was about 1,000
tons. This picture represents her as a sheer hulk employed in the
construction of the Forth Bridge. I saw her towing down Channel in this
state in 1889--she drew abreast of my house at Deal--and I could have
wept to witness my old floating home in so miserable a condition.--C. R.

[B] This and succeeding illustrations are from photographs by Fradelle
and Young.

[C] This and the succeeding illustrations are from photographs by
Fradelle & Young.

[D] This and the succeeding illustrations are from photographs by
'Adrian.'

[E] Most of the illustrations in this chapter are from photographs by
Messrs. W. Heath & Co., Plymouth.

[F] See the writer's _Life of David Gray_.

[G] I have given a detailed account of Peacock in my _Look Round
Literature_.

[H] O those 'Tendencies of one's Time'! O those dismal Phantoms,
conjured up by the blatant Book-taster and the indolent Reviewer! How
many a poor Soul, that would fain have been honest, have they bewildered
into the Slough of Despond and the Bog of Beautiful Ideas!--R. B.

[I] _Ne pas confondre._ Not the slim gr