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Antiquary. With the almanack at hand, he will scarce allow two
horsemen, journeying on the most urgent affair, to employ six days,
from three of the Monday morning till late in the Saturday night,
upon a journey of, say, ninety or a hundred miles, and before the
week is out, and still on the same nags, to cover fifty in one day,
as may be read at length in the inimitable novel of Rob Roy. And
it is certainly well, though far from necessary, to avoid such
'croppers.' But it is my contention--my superstition, if you like-
-
that who is faithful to his map, and consults it, and draws from
it his inspiration, daily and hourly, gains positive support, and
not mere negative immunity from accident. The tale has a root
there; it grows in that soil; it has a spine of its own behind the
words. Better if the country be real, and he has walked every foot
of it and knows every milestone. But even with imaginary places,
he will do well in the beginning to provide a map; as he studies
it, relations will appear that he had not thought upon; he will
discover obvious, though unsuspected, short-cuts and footprints for
his messengers; and even when a map is not all the plot, as it was
in Treasure Island, it will be found to be a mine of suggestion.
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