found in autobiographies, and curtainly

it i in fiction of the higher class which is the quinteesence and last word both of

veracity and entertainment. A man is at perhaps nother that uncen him so nearly as the

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FACSIMILE OF STEVENSON'S MANUSCRIPT MEMOIRS OF HIMSELF. (Widener Memorial Library, Harvard University.)

Dorado, from which we quoted at the beginning of this sketch. "It is not only in finished undertakings that we ought to honor useful labour. A spirit goes out of a man who means execution, which outlives the most untimely ending. All who have meant good work with their whole hearts, have done good work, although they may die before they have the time to sign it." Stevenson signed enough, one may think; but he left two romances unfinished, and as Chesterton says, "he died with a thousand stories in his heart."

66 wholesome ethical Nearly every essay is marked by a quality," resulting in a spirit of optimism not surpassed by Robert Browning himself. Amid his various high excellences, none is more valuable than this. One other passage must be given to illustrate; from the concluding paragraph of one of his late essays, Pulvis et Umbra.

"As we dwell, we living things, in our isles of terror and under the imminent hand of death, God forbid it should be man the - God forbid it erected, the reasoner, the wise in his own eyes should be man that wearies in well-doing, that despairs of unrewarded effort, or utters the language of complaint."

Optimism. This pervading quality becomes even more inspiring when we note how utterly he lived his philosophy. His cheerful optimism under the constant shadow of death Students of American literature will is the best of sermons. recall the similarly inspiring struggle of the great Georgia poet, Sidney Lanier. To the present writer another characteristic common to the American and the Scotchman is that they wear well. The works of the latter that will wear best are undoubtedly these friendly essays revealing a true, beautiful, and vigorous spirit, and pointing ever to greater heights as the best goals of man's effort.

CONCLUSION

A connecting link between the time of Ruskin's death (1900) and the present will be found in our list of supplementary writers. Though only an uncritical opinion would as yet place the best writers of the past twenty years on a level with the best of the Victorians, there are among them names of no small distinction. It is altogether possible that a generation or two hence, with better perspective, these recent writers will be given a higher rank than now. So

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