• [Under this heading we notice such Books of the
week as have not been reserved for review in other forms.] Robert Louis Stevenson. By Dr. A. H. Japp. (T. Werner Laurie. 6s. net.)—Dr. Sapp has much to say about R. L. Steven- son that we are glad to hear. He tells us various facts about his ancestry, and shows that the very uncommon character of the man was not so much of a " sport " as has been sometimes supposed. Then he had a somewhat intimate acquaintance with Stevenson in the early Edinburgh days. Finally, he has studied the books, the letters, and the remains, literary and personal, generally, and gives us, as might be expected, some very sound criticism upon them. Altogether, this is a very informing book, a contribution of distinct value to our knowledge of R. L. Stevenson. For one good service we offer our special thanks, his recalling the memory of a posthumous poem—it appeared after the author's death in Longman's Magazine—which is not likely to be as well known as it deserves. It is a rare chance that gives the occasional verse of a. writer who is famous for other things its proper meed of praise. Stevenson, from his far home in the Pacific, seems to see how the Forth-
" Wheels ample waters set with sacred isles, And populous Fife smokes with a score of towns."
How fine are the lines which follow !- "Tiara on the sunny frontage of a hill Hard by the house of kings, repose the dead, My dead, the ready and the strong of word.
Their works, the salt-encrusted, still survive; The sea bombards their founded towers; the night Thrills pierced with their strong lamps. The artificers?
One after one, here in this grated cell, Where rain erases and the rust consumes. Fell upon lasting silence. Continents
And continental oceans intervene;
A son uncharted, on a lampless isle, Environs and confines their wandering child In vain. The voice of generations dead Summons me, sitting distant, to arise, My numerous footsteps nimbly to retrace, And, hesitation over, stretch me down • In that denoted city of the dead."
How pathetic the reference to his grandfather, the engineer who set up tho lights on the Bell Rook.
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