by:—‘Acts may be forgiven; not even God can forgive the hanger-back.’ ‘Choose the best, if you can; or choose the worst; that which hangs in the wind dangles from a gibbet.’ ‘“Shall I?” said Feeble-mind; and the echo said, “Fie!”’ ‘“Do I love?” said Loveless; and the echo laughed.’ ‘A fault known is a fault cured to the strong; but to the weak it is a fetter riveted.’ ‘The mean man doubts, the great-hearted is deceived.’ ‘Great-heart was deceived. “Very well,” said Great-heart.’ ‘“I have not forgotten my umbrella,” said the careful man; but the lightning struck him.’ ‘Nullity wanted nothing; so he supposed he wanted advice.’ ‘Evil was called Youth till he was old, and then he was called Habit.’ ‘Fear kept the house; and still he must pay taxes.’ ‘Shame had a fine bed, but where was slumber? Once he was in jail he slept.’ With this moralist maxims meant actions; and where shall we easily find a much manlier spirit of wisdom than this? There was yet another and very different side to Stevenson which struck others more than it struck myself, namely, that of the perfectly freakish, not perfectly human, irresponsible madcap or jester which sometimes appeared in him. It is true that his demoniac quickness of wit and intelligence suggested occasionally a ‘spirit of air and fire’ rather than one of earth; that he was abundantly given to all kinds of quirk and laughter; and that there was no jest (saving the unkind) he would not make and relish. In the streets of Edinburgh he had certainly been known for queer pranks and mystifications in youth; and up to middle life there seemed to some of his friends to be much, if not of the Puck, at least of the Ariel, about him. The late Mr. J. A. Symonds always called him Sprite; qualifying the name, however, by the epithets ‘most fantastic, but most human.’ To me the essential humanity was always the thing most apparent. In a fire well nourished of seasoned ship-timber, the flames glance fantastically and of many colours, but the glow at heart is ever deep and strong; it was at such a glow that the friends of Stevenson were accustomed to warm their hands, while they admired and were entertained by the shifting lights.