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Robert Louis Stevenson-Part2_Alexander H.Japp(1839-1905)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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the YOUNG FOLKS' PAPER, who came to an arrangement with Mr

Stevenson, and the story duly appeared in its pages, as well as the



two which succeeded it.

Stevenson himself in his article in THE IDLER for August 1894



(reprinted in MY FIRST BOOK volume and in a late volume of the

EDINBURGH EDITION) has recalled some of the circumstances connected



with this visit of mine to Braemar, as it bore on the destination

of TREASURE ISLAND:



"And now, who should come dropping in, EX MACHINA, but Dr Japp,

like the disguised prince, who is to bring down the curtain upon



peace and happiness in the last act; for he carried in his pocket,

not a horn or a talisman, but a publisher, in fact, ready to



unearth new writers for my old friend Mr Henderson's YOUNG FOLKS.

Even the ruthlessness of a united family recoiled before the



extreme measure of inflicting on our guest the mutilated members of

THE SEA-COOK; at the same time, we would by no means stop our



readings, and accordingly the tale was begun again at the

beginning, and solemnly redelivered for the benefit of Dr Japp.



From that moment on, I have thought highly of his critical faculty;

for when he left us, he carried away the manuscript in his



portmanteau.

"TREASURE ISLAND - it was Mr Henderson who deleted the first title,



THE SEA-COOK - appeared duly in YOUNG FOLKS, where it figured in

the ignoble midst without woodcuts, and attracted not the least



attention. I did not care. I liked the tale myself, for much the

same reason as my father liked the beginning: it was my kind of



picturesque. I was not a little proud of John Silver also; and to

this day rather admire that smooth and formidableadventurer. What



was infinitely more exhilarating, I had passed a landmark. I had

finished a tale and written The End upon my manuscript, as I had



not done since THE PENTLAND RISING, when I was a boy of sixteen,

not yet at college. In truth, it was so by a lucky set of



accidents: had not Dr Japp come on his visit, had not the tale

flowed from me with singular ease, it must have been laid aside,



like its predecessors, and found a circuitous and unlamented way to

the fire. Purists may suggest it would have been better so. I am



not of that mind. The tale seems to have given much pleasure, and

it brought (or was the means of bringing) fire, food, and wine to a



deserving family in which I took an interest. I need scarcely say

I mean my own."



He himself gives a goodly list of the predecessors which had found

a circuitous and unlamented way to the fire



"As soon as I was able to write, I became a good friend to the

paper-makers. Reams upon reams must have gone to the making of



RATHILLET, THE PENTLAND RISING, THE KING'S PARDON (otherwise PARK

WHITEHEAD), EDWARD DAVEN, A COUNTRY DANCE, and A VENDETTA IN THE



WEST. RATHILLET was attempted before fifteen, THE VENDETTA at

twenty-nine, and the succession of defeats lasted unbroken till I



was thirty-one."

Another thing I carried from Braemar with me which I greatly prize



- this was a copy of CHRISTIANITY CONFIRMED BY JEWISH AND HEATHEN

TESTIMONY, by Mr Stevenson's father, with his autograph signature



and many of his own marginal notes. He had thought deeply on many

subjects - theological, scientific, and social - and had recorded,



I am afraid, but the smaller half of his thoughts and speculations.

Several days in the mornings, before R. L. Stevenson was able to



face the somewhat "snell" air of the hills, I had long walks with

the old gentleman, when we also had long talks on many subjects -



the liberalising of the Scottish Church, educationalreform, etc.;

and, on one occasion, a statement of his reason, because of the



subscription, for never having become an elder. That he had in

some small measure enjoyed my society, as I certainly had much



enjoyed his, was borne out by a letter which I received from the

son in reply to one I had written, saying that surely his father



had never meant to present me at the last moment on my leaving by

coach with that volume, with his name on it, and with pencilled



notes here and there, but had merely given it me to read and

return. In the circumstances I may perhaps be excused quoting from



a letter dated Castleton of Braemar, September 1881, in




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