. . .to set before us in the terms of his own artistic vision?  Perhaps he did not lose a great deal.  The recognition he was accorded was rather languid and given him grudgingly.  The worthiest welcome he secured for his tales in this country was from Mr. W. Henley in the New Review and later, towards the end of his life, from the late Mr. William Blackwood in his magazine.  For the rest I must say that during his sojourn in England he had the misfortune to be, as the French say, mal entouré.  He was beset by people who understood not the quality of his genius and were antagonistic to the deeper fineness of his nature.  Some of them have died since, but dead or alive they are not worth speaking about now.  I don’t think he had any illusions about them himself: yet there was a strain of good-nature and perhaps of weakness in his character which prevented him from shaking himself free from their worthless and patronising attention. . . Read More