set himself laboriously and patiently to train his other faculty,
the faculty of style.


I. STYLE. - Let no one say that 'reading and writing comes by
nature,' unless he is prepared to be classed with the foolish
burgess who said it first. A poet is born, not made, - so is every
man, - but he is born raw. Stevenson's life was a grave devotion
to the education of himself in the art of writing,


'The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne,
Thassay so hard, so sharp the conquering.'


Those who deny the necessity, or decry the utility, of such an
education, are generally deficient in a sense of what makes good
literature - they are 'word-deaf,' as others are colour-blind. All
writing is a kind of word-weaving; a skilful writer will make a
splendid tissue out of the diverse fibres of words. But to care
for words, to select them judiciously and lovingly, is not in the
least essential to all writing, all speaking; for the sad fact is
this, that most of us do our thinking, our writing, and our
speaking in phrases, not in words. The work of a feeble writer is
always a patchwork of phrases, some of them borrowed from the
imperial texture of Shakespeare and Milton, others picked up from
the rags in the street. We make our very kettle-holders of pieces
of a king's carpet. How many overworn quotations from Shakespeare
suddenly leap into meaning and brightness when they are seen in
their context! 'The cry is still, "They come!" ' - 'More honoured