He, at least, never needed to be told
"Go put your creed into your deed
Nor speak with double tongue."
It is so impossible not to think first of the man, as the
testimony of every one who knew him shows, that those who have
long had occasion to watch and follow his work, not merely
with enjoyment but somewhat critically, may well look upon any
detailed discussion of it as something to be kept till later.
But there is more to be said than to recall the unfailing zest
of it, the extraordinary freshness of eye, the indomitable
youthfulness and health of spirit--all the qualities that we
associate with Davis himself. It was serious work in a sense
that only the more thoughtful of its critics had begun of late
to comprehend. It had not inspired a body of disciples like
Kipling's, but it had helped to clear the air and to give a
new proof of the vitality of certain ideals--even of a few of
the simpler ones now outmoded in current masterpieces; and it
was at its best far truer in an artistic sense than it was the
fashion of its easy critics to allow. Whether Davis could or
would have written a novel of the higher rank is a useless
question now; he himself, who was a critic of his own work
without illusions or affectation, used to say that he could
not; but it is certain that in the early part of "Captain
Macklin" he displayed a power really Thackerayan in kind.
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