Last evening in Sever 11, Mr. Copeland lectured before a large audience on Robert Louis Stevenson.

Robert Louis Stevenson was first heard of, Mr. Copeland said, through "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde," though a few had known him before as the author of "An Inland Voyage." He was a neoromantic writer and cared nothing for the affairs of the day. Mr. Stevenson was not a great novelist. This is attributable partly to the fact that he did not write of women or for women. Although women appear in his stories, it was not until "David Balfour" that he introduces a woman who interests us. To be a really great novelist, a writer must deal with more or less passionate love. Stevenson never introduced strong passion into his stories. In "David Balfour" he made a woman the leading character, but there is no strong, passion in the book.

Although Stevenson was not a novelist, he might have given us a dramatic scene of the first rank. He has never come near the dynamic quality which appears in the dramatic scenes of great novels, except in the meeting between David and Alan in "Kidnapped." He was an admirable story teller. He never made digressions; he went into an analysis of his characters; and he had no theories of life to set forth. There is often a lack of unity in his stories, but this is probably due to his failing health. "Kidnapped" and "David Balfour" are clearly the best of his stories.

His descriptions are recollections written in a sick room, after long absence from the scenes of which he wrote. The fact that he was an artist is what we think of most. In "Virginibus Puerisque" he was a conscious artist. If he was in his other works, he succeeds in dissembling the consciousness. Stevenson was forever occupied with the harmonies of prose. The most beautiful passages are in "Virginibus Puerisque."

Stevenson was not an Oxford man, but an idle student at a poor University of Edinburgh, where he occupied himself chiefly in learning to write. He was never the least bit of a snob but was, on the other hand, a good deal of a bohemian. All lovers of Bohemia would enjoy his "Providence and the Guitar."

Stevenson had a hard struggle for fame and enjoyed it only for a short time. He was not known to the world before "Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde." Possessing a talent without a dominant impulse, what he accomplished was done with hard work. He never ceased to be a Scotchman; for though he went to Samoa to keep alive, he always longed for the "hills and home." This is seen not only in his verses but all through "David Balfour." Stevenson died on the third day of this month. He was carried to the top of a high mountain and there buried.

At the close of the lecture Mr. Copeland read from the works of Mr. Stevenson.

The lecture on "Contemporary Books and Plays" will be given Tuesday, January 8.