"Wormwood," which did a certain amount of good in its way, by
helping to call public attention to the devastation wrought by the
use of the pernicious drug among the French and other Continental
peoples--and after this, receiving a strong and almost imperative
impetus towards that particular goal whither my mind was set, I went
to work again with renewed vigour on my own favourite and long
studied line of argument, indifferent alike to publisher or public.
Filled with the fervour of a passionate and proved faith, I wrote
"Barabbas: A Dream of the World's Tragedy,"--and this was the signal
of separation from my excellent old friend, George Bentley, who had
not the courage to publish a poetic romance which introduced, albeit
with a tenderness and reverence unspeakable, so far as my own
intention was concerned, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Christ.
He wrote to me expressing his opinion in these terms:--"I can
conscientiously praise the power and feeling you exhibit for your
vast subject, and the rush and beauty of the language, and above all
I feel that the book is the genuine outcome of a fervent faith all
too rare in these days, but--I fear its effect on the public mind."
Yet, when urged to a given point in the discussion, he could not
deny that 'the effect on the public mind' of the Passion Play at
Ober-Ammergau is generally impressive and helpful, while he was
bound to admit that there was something to be said for the
introduction of Divine personages in the epic romances of Milton and
Dante. What could be written in poetic verse did not, however, seem
to him suitable for poetic prose, and I did not waste words in
argument, as I knew the time had come for the parting of the ways. I
sought my present publisher, Mr. Methuen, who, being aware, from a
business point of view, that I had now won a certain reputation,
took "Barabbas" without parley. It met with an almost unprecedented
success, not only in this country but all over the world. Within a