Chapter II: Introduction

THE VAGABOND ELEMENT IN MODERN LITERATURE
I Explanation of the term Vagabond 3
First note of the Vagabond
temperament--restlessness
II Second note of the Vagabond temperament--a passion 4
for the Earth
Compare this with a passion for Nature
Browning--William Morris--George Meredith
III Third note of the Vagabond temperament--the note of 6
aloofness
Illustrate from Borrow, Thoreau, Walt Whitman
IV Bohemianism--its relation to Vagabondage 8
Charles Lamb--a Bohemian rather than a Vagabond
The decadent movement in Verlaine, Baudelaire
The Russian Vagabond--Tolstoy, Gorky
V The Gothic Revival and Vagabondage 12
VI Robert Browning and his "Vagabond moods" 13
Tennyson and William Morris compared
VII Effect of the Vagabond temperament upon Literature 15
I
WILLIAM HAZLITT
I Discussion of the term "complexity" 19
Illustration from Herbert Spencer, showing that
complexity is of two kinds: (1) Complexity--the
result of degeneration, e.g. cancer in the body;
(2) Complexity--the consequent of a higher
organism, e.g. dog more complex than dog-fish
Complexity and the Vagabond--Neuroticism and Genius
Genius not necessarily morbid because it may have
sprung from a morbid soil. Illustrate from Hazlitt
II Two opposing tendencies in Hazlitt's temperament: 24
(1) The austere, individualistic, Puritan strain;
(2) The sensuous, voluptuous strain. Illustrations
of each
III The Inquisitiveness of Hazlitt 28
No patience with readers who will not quit their
own small back gardens. He is for ranging "over
the hills and far away"
Hazlitt and the Country--Country people--Walking
tours
IV The joyfulness of Hazlitt 31
The joyfulness of the Vagabond a fundamental
quality
V The styles of Hazlitt and De Quincey compared 32
The tonic wisdom of Hazlitt
II
THOMAS DE QUINCEY
I The call of the Earth and the call of the Town 37
Compare De Quincey, Charles Dickens, and Elia
The veil of phantasy in De Quincey's writings
seemed to shut him off from the outside world
II Merits and defects of his style. Not a plastic 40
style, but in the delineation of certain moods
supremely excellent
Compare De Quincey and Oscar Wilde
_Our Ladies of Sorrow_ and _De Profundis_
III The intellectual grip behind the shifting 45
phantasies
De Quincey as critic and historian
IV The humour of De Quincey--not very genuine page 48
Witty rather than humorous
Humour not characteristic of the Vagabond
V De Quincey--Mystic and Logician 52
The fascination of his personality
III
GEORGE BORROW
I Dreamers in Literature 57
Romantic autobiography and _Lavengro_
Borrow on the subject of autobiography
The Celt and the Saxon in Borrow
His egotism
Little objective feeling in his friendships
A self-absorbed and self-contained nature
The Isopel Berners episode discussed
The coldness of Borrow
II His faculty for seizing on the picturesque and 66
picaresque elements in the world about him
Illustrations from _The Bible in Spain_
Illustrations from _Lavengro_
III Borrow and the Gypsies 75
Mr. Watts-Dunton's tribute to Borrow
Petulengro
Borrow's faculty for characterization
"How to manage a horse on a journey"
IV Borrow and Thomas Hardy compared 82
Both drawn to characters not "screened by
convention"
Differences in method of presentment
Borrow's greater affinity with Charles Reade
His distinctive originality
The spacious freshness of his writings
In his company always "a wind on the heath"
IV
HENRY D. THOREAU
I Thoreau and his critics 89
The Saxon attitude towards him
The Walden episode
Too much has been made of it
He went to Walden not to escape ordinary life, but
to fit himself for ordinary life
II His indebtedness to Emerson 93
His poetic appreciation of Nature
Thoreau on "Walking"--compare with Hazlitt
"Emersonitis"--examples
III Thoreau and the Indians 97
The Indians were to Thoreau what the Gypsies were
to Borrow. But he lacked the picturesque vigour of
Borrow
His utterances on the Indian character considered
Thoreau and civilization
Swagger and Vagabondage
IV Thoreau as a thinker 104
His Orientalism
"Donatello" (?)
His power over animals
Thoreau and children--his fondness for them
This _not_ an argument in favour of sociability
Lewis Carroll
The "unsociability" of the Vagabond in general, and
Thoreau in particular
Thoreau and George Meredith
Similarity in attitude towards the Earth
V
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON
I Romance--what is it? 117
Its twofold character
Romanticism analysed
The elfish character of Stevenson's work
II The "Ariel" element in Stevenson predominant 120
The "unreality" of his fiction
Light but little heat
III The Romantic and the Artist 123
Blake--Shelley--Keats--Tennyson
His ideal as an artist
His courageous gaiety
IV His captivating grace 126
The essays discussed--their merits and defects
His indebtedness to Hazlitt, Lamb, Montaigne
His "private bravado"
V The artist exemplified in three ways: (1) The maker 130
of phrases; (2) The limner of pictures; (3) The
painter of character. Illustrations
Dickens, Browning, and Stevenson--their love of the
grotesque
Treatment of Nature in fiction from the days of
Mrs. Radcliffe to the present day
Scott--the Brontes--Kingsley--Thomas Hardy
Stevenson moralizes
VI Is the "Shorter Catechist" element a weakness? 137
Edgar Allan Poe and Stevenson
VI
RICHARD JEFFERIES
I Jefferies, Borrow, and Thoreau 141
The neuroticism of Jefferies
Distinction between susceptibility and passion
II Jefferies as an artist 143
He loved the Earth with every nerve of his body
His acute sense of touch
Compare with Keats
Illustrations
His writings, studies, and tactile sensation
Their sensuous charm
III His mysticism 148
Illustration
Compare with Tennyson
Mysticism and hysteria
The psychology of hysteria
"Yoga" and the Sufis
Oriental ecstasies and the trances of Jefferies
Max Nordau--Professor William James
De Quincey and Jefferies compared
IV Differences between Thoreau and Jefferies 156
Praise and desire alternate in Jefferies' writings
His joy in the beauty and in the plenitude of the
Earth
V Jefferies as a thinker 158
"All things seem possible in the open air"
Defect in his Nature creed
His attitude towards the animal creation
"Good sport"
His democratic sympathies--influence of Ruskin
His stoicism
His pride and reserve
Our indebtedness to him
VII
WALT WHITMAN
I The supreme example of the Vagabond in Literature 169
Mr. Swinburne's verdict
Whitman the pioneer of a new order
No question about a "Return to Nature" with Whitman
He never left it. A spiritual native of the woods
and heath
Yet wild only so far as he is cosmic
His songs no mere paeans of rustic solitudes; they
are songs of the crowded streets as well as of the
country roads; of the men and women of every type,
no less than of the fields and streams
No quarrel with civilisation as such
His "rainproof coat" and "good shoes"
Compare with Borrow's big green gamp
II Whitman's attitude towards Art 173
Two essentials of Art--Sincerity and Beauty
Whitman's allegiance to Sincerity
Why he has chosen the better part
His occasional failure to seize essentials
Illustrations of his powers as an artist
"On the Beach at Night"--"Reconciliation"--"When
lilacs last on the dooryard bloomed"
Whitman's utterances on Death
Whitman's rude nonchalance deliberate, not due to
carelessness
"I furnish no specimens"
Whitman's treatment of sea
The question of outspokenness in Literature
Mr. Swinburne's dictum
Stevenson's criticism--"A Bull in a China Shop"
"The Children of Adam"
Merits and defects of his Sex Cycle
Whitman and Browning
The poetry of animalism
Whitman, William Morris, and Byron
Mr. Burroughs' eulogy of Whitman discussed
The treatment of love in modern poetry
On the whole the defects of Whitman's sex poems
typical of his defects as a writer generally
Characteristics of Whitman's style
III Whitman's attitude towards Humanity 187
His faith in the "powerful uneducated person"
The Poet of Democracy
Whitman and Victor Hugo
His affection comprehensive rather than deep
Mr. William Clarke's eulogy discussed
The psychology of the social reformer
Whitman and the average man
His egotism--emptied of condescension
Whitman no demagogue--his plain speaking
The Conservatism and conventionality of the masses
Illustration from Mr. Barrie's _Admirable Crichton_
Democratic poets other than Whitman--Ebenezer
Elliott, Thomas Hood, and Mrs. Browning
Whitman's larger utterance
Whitman and William Morris compared
Affinity with Tolstoy
IV Whitman's attitude towards Life 198
No moralist--but a philosophy of a kind
The value of "messages" in Literature
Whitman and Browning compared
Whitman and culture
Whitman and science
Compares here with Tennyson and Browning
Tonic influence of his writings
"I shall be good health to you"
His big, genial sanity

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

WILLIAM HAZLITT _Photogravure Frontispiece_ From a crayon drawing by W. Bewick, executed in 1822 THOMAS DE QUINCEY 38 From an engraving by W. H. More GEORGE BORROW 60 From a portrait in the possession of Mr. John Murray. Reproduced by kind permission of Mr. Murray ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON 118 From a woodcut by R. Bryden RICHARD JEFFERIES 146 From a photograph. Reproduced by kind permission of the London Stereoscopic Company WALT WHITMAN 172 From a woodcut by R. Bryden