Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 21, 1896 - Miscellanies, Volume IV

CRITICISMS
LORD LYTTON'S 'FABLES IN SONG 1
It seems as if Lord Lytton, in this new book of
his, had found the form most natural to his talent.
In some ways, indeed, it may be held inferior to
* Chronicles and Characters ' ; we look in vain for
anything like the terrible intensity of the night-scene
in ' Irene,' or for any such passages of massive and
memorable writing as appeared, here and there, in
the earlier work, and made it not altogether un-
worthy of its model, Hugo's ' Legend of the Ages. '
But it becomes evident, on the most hasty retro-
spect, that this earlier work was a step on the way
towards the later. It seems as if the author had
been feeling about for his definite medium, and was
already, in the language of the child's game, growing
hot. There are many pieces in 'Chronicles and
Characters ' that might be detached from their
original setting, and embodied, as they stand, among
the 'Fables in Song.'
For the term Fable is not very easy to define
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