in the breach than the observance,' - the sight of these phrases in
the splendour of their dramatic context in MACBETH and HAMLET casts
shame upon their daily degraded employments. But the man of
affairs has neither the time to fashion his speech, nor the
knowledge to choose his words, so he borrows his sentences ready-
made, and applies them in rough haste to purposes that they do not
exactly fit. Such a man inevitably repeats, like the cuckoo,
monotonous catchwords, and lays his eggs of thought in the material
that has been woven into consistency by others. It is a matter of
natural taste, developed and strengthened by continual practice, to
avoid being the unwitting slave of phrases.

The artist in words, on the other hand, although he is a lover of
fine phrases, in his word-weaving experiments uses no shoddy, but
cultivates his senses of touch and sight until he can combine the
raw fibres in novel and bewitching patterns. To this end he must
have two things: a fine sense, in the first place, of the sound,
value, meaning, and associations of individual words, and next, a
sense of harmony, proportion, and effect in their combination. It
is amazing what nobility a mere truism is often found to possess
when it is clad with a garment thus woven.

Stevenson had both these sensitive capabilities in a very high
decree. His careful choice of epithet and name have even been
criticised as lending to some of his narrative-writing an excessive
air of deliberation. His daintiness of diction is best seen in his
earlier work; thereafter his writing became more vigorous and
direct, fitter for its later uses, but never unillumined by
felicities that cause a thrill of pleasure to the reader. Of the
value of words he had the acutest appreciation. VIRGINIBUS