Dear Roger
I wonder if this is not one of RK's allusions to
France?
There was a room in the Conciergerie in Paris which
was used as a prison during the French Revolutiuon,
and called "Salle des Pas-Perdus", the room of the
Lost Footsteps, where the prisoners were tried whilst
the executioner waited outside.
(http://www.ca-paris.justice.fr/cour/fr/visite/fr/page/c_histoire_conciergerie.html)
RK's use of the term in the first para of Chapter 11
of "From Sea to Sea" says '..., I reflected that I was
looking upon the River of the Last Footsteps--the road
that so many, many men of my acquaintance had
travelled, never to return, within the past three
years.'
With best regards
David Page
Harrow UK
--- Roger Ayers <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > In
the second half of Volume I of From Sea to Sea
> (1899), after the section entitled 'Letters of
> Marque', Kipling describes his journey Home via the
> Far East, Japan and the USA in company with Ted Hill
> and her husband. He originally wrote this for the
> Pioneer in March/April 1889.
>
> The summary of Chapter II of this section in the
> Contents List starts "The River of Lost Footsteps
> and the Golden Mystery upon its Banks... " and the
> chapter opens with Kipling in Burma, reflecting on
> the Irrawaddy, "...the River of Lost Footsteps - the
> road that so many,many men of my acquaintance had
> travelled, never to return, within the past three
> years."
>
> I am looking for sources of the expression 'lost
> footsteps' that predate Kipling's use of it in 1889
> and which he might have had in mind when he gave
> this title to the Irrawaddy.
>
> The only reference that I have found so far is that
> a Joseph Verey published a book, probably poems,
> called Lost Footsteps in 1869.
>
> Can anyone tell me the subject matter of this work,
> or even just confirm that it was poetry? Does
> anyone know of another possible source of the
> expression 'Lost Footsteps' which predates Kipling?
>
> All contributions gratefully received.
>
> Roger Ayers
> Membership Secretary
> The Kipling Society
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