The decline and fall of the British Empire - University of Oregon

of the British Empire 17
adorn their shelves, but In only a
few instances were these books read
with patient devotion. The flimsy
Musical Comedy, the illustrated
Magazine, and the Newspaper were
the chief intellectual food of the
Nation. I have only found one
eminent writer among them during
the period of their decline, and he,
properly speaking, belongs to the
Nineteenth Century. Robert Louis
Stevenson, for such is his name,
suffered from ill health all his days.
His Gospel was the Gospel of trying
to be cheerful, his task " the task of
happiness." It is distressing to read
of the thousands who asserted,
throughout this sad epoch, that the
only writer who really understood
them was this spirited invalid. Their
cry goes up to heaven like that
of a people sick unto death, and
the wonder is they never knew
it.