Part 9 (1/2)
It is a pity that Stevenson did not live to see the vogue of Shaw as a dramatist, for the latter's early novels produced practically no impression on the public. See Stevenson's highly entertaining letter to William Archer, _Letters_, II, 107.]
[Note 3: ”_Trailing clouds of glory_.” _Trailing with him clouds of glory._ This pa.s.sage, from Wordsworth's _Ode on the Intimations of Immortality_ (1807), was a favorite one with Stevenson, and he quotes it several times in various essays.]
[Note 4: _The leading distinction_. Those who know dogs will fully agree with Stevenson here.]
[Note 5: _The faults of the dog_. All lovers of dogs will by no means agree with Stevenson in his enumeration of canine sins.]
[Note 6: _Montaigne's ”je ne sais quoi de genereux_.” A bit of generosity. Montaigne's _Essays_ (1580) had an enormous influence on Stevenson, as they have had on nearly all literary men for three hundred years. See his article in this volume, _Books Which Save Influenced Me_, and the discussion of the ”personal essay” in our general Introduction.]
[Note 7: _Sir Willoughby Patterne_. Again a character in Meredith's _Egoist_. See our Note 47 of Chapter IV above.]
[Note 8: _Hans Christian Andersen_. A Danish writer of prodigious popularity: born 1805, died 1875. His books were translated into many languages. The ”memoirs” Stevenson refers to, were called _The Story of My Life_, in which the author brought the narrative only so far as 1847: it was, however, finished by another hand. He is well known to juvenile readers by his _Stories for Children_.]
[Note 9: _Once he ceased hunting and became man's plate-licker, the Rubicon was crossed_. For a reversion to type, where the plate-licker goes back to hunting, see Mr. London's powerful story, _The Call of the Wild_. ... The ”Rubicon” was a small stream separating Cisalpine Gaul from Italy. Caesar crossed it in 49 B. C, thus taking a decisive step in deliberately advancing into Italy. ”Plutarch, in his life of Caesar, makes quite a dramatic scene out of the crossing of the Rubicon. Caesar does not even mention it.”--B. Perrin's ed. of _Caesar's Civil War_, p. 142.]
[Note 10: _The law in their members. Romans_, VII, 23. ”But I see another law in my members.”]
[Note 11: _Sir Philip Sidney_. The stainless Knight of Elizabeth's Court, born 1554, died 1586. The pages of history afford no better ill.u.s.tration of the ”gentleman and the scholar.” Poet, romancer, critic, courtier, soldier, his beautiful life was crowned by a n.o.ble death.]
[Note 12: _The ideal of the dog is feudal and religious_. Maeterlinck says the dog is the only being who has found and is absolutely sure of his G.o.d.]
[Note 13: _d.a.m.nable and parlous than Corin's in the eyes of Touchstone_. See _As You Like It_, Act III, Sc. 2. ”Sin is d.a.m.nation: Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd.”]
[Note 14: _Cairn-gorms_. Brown or yellow quartz, found in the mountain of Cairngorm, Scotland, over 4000 feet high. Stevenson's own dog, ”Woggs” or ”Bogue,” was a black Skye terrier, whom the author seems here to have in mind. See Note 20 of this Chapter, below, ”Woggs.”]
[Note 15: _A Soul's Tragedy_. The t.i.tle of a tragedy by Browning, published in 1846.]
[Note 16: _Troilus and Cressida_. One of the most bitter and cynical plays ever written; practically never seen on the English stage, it was successfully revived at Berlin, in September 1904.]
[Note 17: ”_While the lamp holds on to burn ... the greatest sinner may return_.” From a hymn by Isaac Watts (1674-1748), beginning
”Life is the time to serve the Lord, The time to insure the great reward; And while the lamp holds out to burn, The vilest sinner may return.”
Although this stanza has no remarkable merit, many of Watts's hymns are genuine poetry.]
[Note 18: _Sturm und Drang_. This German expression has been well translated ”Storm and Stress.” It was applied to the literature in Germany (and in Europe) the latter part of the XVIIIth century, which was characterised by emotional excess of all kinds. A typical book of the period was Goethe's _Sorrows of Werther_ (_Die Leiden des jungen Werthers_, 1774). The expression is also often applied to the period of adolescence in the life of the individual.]
[Note 19: _Jesuit confessors_. The Jesuits, or Society of Jesus, one of the most famous religious orders of the Roman Catholic Church, was founded in 1534 by Ignatius of Loyola and a few others.]
[Note 20: _Modified by Cheeryble_. The Cheeryble Brothers are characters in d.i.c.kens's _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838-9). d.i.c.kens said in his Preface, ”Those who take an interest in this tale, will be glad to learn that the BROTHERS CHEERYBLE live: that their liberal charity, their singleness of heart, their n.o.ble nature ... are no creations of the Author's brain.”]
[Note 21: ”_Rake the backets_.” The ”backet” is a small, square, wooden trough generally used for ashes and waste.]
[Note 22: _Woggs_ (_and Note: Walter, Watty, Woggy, Woggs, Wog, and lastly Bogue; under which last name he fell in battle some twelve months ago. Glory was his aim and he attained it; for his icon, by the hand of Caldecott, now lies among the treasures of the nation.) Stevenson's well-beloved black Skye terrier. See Balfour's _Life_, I, 212, 223. Stevenson was so deeply affected by Woggs's death that he could not bear ever to own another dog. A Latin inscription was placed on his tombstone.... This Note was added in 1887, when the essay appeared in _Memories and Portraits_. ”Icon” means image (cf.
_iconoclast_); the word has lately become familiar through the religious use of icons by the Russians in the war with j.a.pan. Randolph Caldecott (1846-1886) was a well-known artist and prominent contributor of sketches to ill.u.s.trated magazines.]
[Note 23: ”_Stammering Professors_.” A ”professor” here means simply a professing Christian. Stevenson alludes to the fact that dogs howl fearfully if some one in the house is dying.]
[Note 24: ”_Carneying_.” This means coaxing, wheedling.]