Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson— Volume 1

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Author: Robert Louis Stevenson

Letter: to Sidney Colvin

BONALLIE TOWERS, BOURNEMOUTH, FEBRUARY 1885.

MY DEAR COLVIN, - You are indeed a backward correspondent, and much may be said against you. But in this weather, and O dear! in this political scene of degradation, much must be forgiven. I fear England is dead of Burgessry, and only walks about galvanised. I do not love to think of my countrymen these days; nor to remember myself. Why was I silent? I feel I have no right to blame any one; but I won’t write to the G. O. M. I do really not see my way to any form of signature, unless ’your fellow criminal in the eyes of God,’ which might disquiet the proprieties.

About your book, I have always said: go on. The drawing of character is a different thing from publishing the details of a private career. No one objects to the first, or should object, if his name be not put upon it; at the other, I draw the line. In a preface, if you chose, you might distinguish; it is, besides, a thing for which you are eminently well equipped, and which you would do with taste and incision. I long to see the book. People like themselves (to explain a little more); no one likes his life, which is a misbegotten issue, and a tale of failure. To see these failures either touched upon, or COASTED, to get the idea of a spying eye and blabbing tongue about the house, is to lose all privacy in life. To see that thing, which we do love, our character, set forth, is ever gratifying. See how my TALK AND TALKERS went; every one liked his own portrait, and shrieked about other people’s; so it will be with yours. If you are the least true to the essential, the sitter will be pleased; very likely not his friends, and that from VARIOUS MOTIVES.

R. L. S.

When will your holiday be? I sent your letter to my wife, and forget. Keep us in mind, and I hope we shall he able to receive you.

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Chicago: Robert Louis Stevenson, "Letter: To Sidney Colvin," Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson— Volume 1, ed. Macaulay, G. C. (George Campbell), 1852-1915 and trans. Curtin, Jeremiah, 1835-1906 in Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson—Volume 1 Original Sources, accessed March 29, 2024, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CP66GZ4V8Z6G8QM.

MLA: Stevenson, Robert Louis. "Letter: To Sidney Colvin." Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson— Volume 1, edited by Macaulay, G. C. (George Campbell), 1852-1915, and translated by Curtin, Jeremiah, 1835-1906, in Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson—Volume 1, Original Sources. 29 Mar. 2024. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CP66GZ4V8Z6G8QM.

Harvard: Stevenson, RL, 'Letter: To Sidney Colvin' in Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson— Volume 1, ed. and trans. . cited in , Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson—Volume 1. Original Sources, retrieved 29 March 2024, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=CP66GZ4V8Z6G8QM.