Master of Ballentrae

Robert Louis Stevenson Biography

Robert Louis Stevenson was a 19th century writer & poet born on November 13th 1850 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

His parents were Thomas Stevenson (1818–87), a lighthouse engineer, and Margaret Isabella (born Balfour; 1829–97).

He was baptised Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson but at 18, Stevenson changed the spelling of Lewis to Louis.

Stevenson attended Mr Henderson's School in India Street, Edinburgh in 1857.

In 1861 he moved to Edinburgh Academy, an independent school for boys, and stayed for about fifteen months.

In 1863 he spent one term at Spring Grove boarding school in Isleworth, Middlesex

During 1864 he was sent to Robert Thomson's private school in Edinburgh.

In 1867, Stevenson enrolled at the University of Edinburgh to study engineering.

Stevenson informed his parents in 1871 that he intended to pursue a career of letters. His father was disappointed but accepted his choice. Stevenson was encouraged to read law at Edinburgh´s University, he never practised law professionally.

During 1873 he met Sidney Colvin and Fanny (Frances Jane) Sitwell. Colvin was Stevenson's literary adviser and first editor of Stevenson's letters after his death.

Following ill health, Stevenson travelled to Menton on the French Riviera to recuperate. He returned healthier and completed his law studies. He remained a frequent visitor of the country.

During his travels canoeing around France in 1876, he encountered Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne (1840–1914) a married woman who had left the USA in 1875 taking her children after many separations with her unfaithful husband.

Around 1877, Stevenson and Fanny started a relationship. This was interrupted in 1878 when Fanny moved back to California. The following year Stevenson joined her without notifying his parents,

In May 1880, Stevenson married Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne and travelled to Britain to meet family and friends.

Between 1880 and 1887, Stevenson suffered from ill health and lived in Scotland, England and France.

In 1887 Stevenson’s farther died. Following this, he moved his family and mother to New York.

He spent the winter at Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks and lived at cure cottage now known as Stevenson Cottage.

In 1888, Stevenson chartered the yacht Casco and set sail with his family from San Francisco. For three years he wandered the eastern and central Pacific, stopping for extended stays at the Hawaiian Islands. He spent time at the Gilbert Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand, and the Samoan Islands, where he witnessed the Samoan crisis.

In 1889 he had a voyage on the trading schooner Equator, visiting Butaritari, Mariki, Apaiang, and Abemama in the Gilbert Islands, now known as the Kiribati.

Stevenson left Sydney on the Janet Nicoll for his third and final voyage among the South Seas islands in 1890.

Stevenson purchased a tract of about 400 acres in Upolu in 1890, an island in Samoa. Here he settled upon his estate in the village of Vailima. 

Stevenson's home showing him on the veranda in 1893.

On the 3rd of December 1894, he died while talking to his wife and opening a bottle of wine. A cerebral haemorrhage is believed to be the cause. Stevenson was only 44 years old.

He was buried on Mt Vaea in Samoa.

The Requiem inscribed on his tomb:

Under the wide and starry sky,

Dig the grave and let me lie.

Glad did I live and gladly die,

And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:

Here he lies where he longed to be;

Home is the sailor, home from sea,

And the hunter home from the hill.

Robert Louis Stevenson Interesting Facts!

He invented a sleeping bag

Stevenson enjoyed the outdoors, which included sleeping under the stars as well. He created a waterproof sleeping sack to use while hiking through mountain in France.

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was written in 6 days

Stevenson wrote one of his most famous works while unwell and confined to his bed in just 6 days.

He was fascinated with William Deacon Brodie

Brodie was a notorious 18th century criminal in Scotland who Stevenson took a great interest in.

At odds with his parents

Stevenson’s parents were always concerned over their son’s self-destructive ways. Even into his 30s, Stevenson was still being financially supported by them.

Stevenson was an atheist

He rejected the Christian faith, much to the dismay of his parents, and remained an atheist all of his life.

He wore corselets

Presented to him by King Tembinoka, the corsets on Gilbert Island offered protection from weapons.

Wooden teeth

During his visit to America in 1878, a dentist removed all his teeth and provided him with wooden replacements.

He had musical talent

Stevenson could play the piano and flageolet, he wrote more than 100 original musical compositions and arrangements.

He gave away his birthday

Stevenson transferred his birthday to 12-year-old Annie, this was due to her being unhappy about her own birthday falling on Christmas day.

Robert Louis Stevenson Bibliography

1870s

(1878) - An Inland Voyage

A travelogue by Stevenson about a canoeing trip through France and Belgium taken in 1876.

(1878) - Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes

A non-fiction travel book that pays homage to Stevenson’s city of birth.

(1879) - Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes

Classic outdoor literature detailing Stevenson’s travels through the Cévennes mountains.

(1879) - The Story of a Lie

A short novel cantered around a lie and a quarrel between father and son.

1880s

(1881) - Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers

Stevenson’s first collection of personal essays.

(1882) - Familiar Studies of Men and Books

Literary essays that explore the lives and works of nine writers from around the world and across the centuries, including Victor Hugo, Walt Whitman and Samuel Pepys.

(1882) - New Arabian Nights

A collection of stories including The Suicide Club & The Rajah's Diamond.

(1883) - Treasure Island

Stevenson’s first major success is a story of adventure and piracy.

(1884) - The Silverado Squatters

A travelogue of his two-month honeymoon trip with Fanny Vandegrift visiting California.

(1884) - The Body Snatcher

A short story based on criminals in the employ of real-life surgeon Robert Knox around the time of the notorious Burke and Hare murders in Edinburgh.

(1885) - A Child’s Garden of Verses

A children’s poetry collection that concerns childhood, illness, play, and solitude.

(1885) - More New Arabian Nights: The Dynamiter

A collection of linked short stories by Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife, Fanny van der Grift Stevenson.

(1885) - Prince Otto

Stevenson's third full-length narrative, an action romance set in the imaginary Germanic state of Grünewald.

(1886) - Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

A novella about a dual personality often seen in plays and films, the main character attempts a treatment which turns him into a psychopathic monster after consuming a drug intended to separate good from evil in a personality.

(1886) - Kidnapped

A historical novel that tells of the boy David Balfour's pursuit of his inheritance and his alliance with Alan Breck Stewart in the intrigues of Jacobite troubles in Scotland.

(1887) - The Merry Men

A short story based on the fictional island of Eilean Aros.

(1887) - Memories and Portraits

A collection of short essays.

(1887) - The Misadventures of John Nicholson

A tale of John Nicholson traveling from Edinburgh to America to seek fame and fortune.

(1887) - Underwoods

A collection of poems, book 1 in English and book 2 in Scots.

(1888) - The Black Arrow

A historical adventure novel and romance set during the Wars of the Roses.

(1888) - Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin

A tribute to his professor of engineering at Edinburgh University, Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin.

(1889) - The Master of Ballantrae

A fantastic tale of revenge, set in Scotland, America, and India.

(1889) - The Wrong Box

Co-written with Lloyd Osbourne, a comic novel of a tontine.

1890s

(1890) - Ballads

A poems collection, some of which are based on actual folk tales of Scotland.

(1890) - Father Damien

An open letter to the Reverend Doctor Hyde of Honolulu concerning the catholic martyr Father Damien,

(1892) - A Footnote to History

A non-fiction work concerning the contemporary Samoan Civil War,

(1892) - Three Plays

Deacon Brodie, Beau Austin and Admiral Guinea were co-written by Stevenson and W.E. Henley. They were published under the single title Three Plays.

(1892) - The Wrecker

A story concerning the abandoned wreck of the Flying Scud at Midway Atoll. Co-written with Lloyd Osbourne, Stevenson’s stepson.

(1892) - Across the Plains

A 12 chapter travel memoir.

(1893) - Island Nights’ Entertainments

Three short stories: The Beach of Falesá, The Bottle Imp & The Isle of Voices.

(1893) - Catriona

Also known as David Balfour, is a sequel to Kidnapped, telling of the story of Balfour's further adventures.

(1894) - The Ebb-Tide

A short story concerning three beggars and co-written with Lloyd Osbourne.

Posthumous Works

(1895) - The Amateur Emigrant

A travelogue recounting Stevenson's journey from Scotland to California.

(1895) - Songs of Travel and other Verses

Poetry inspired by the authors travel and adventures.

(1896) – Fables

A collection of short stories.

(1896) - Weir of Hermiston

Unfinished at the time of Stevenson's death, the novel tells the story of Archie Weir.

(1896) - In the South Seas

The author’s personal thoughts on the South Seas culture, language, traditions and society.

(1898) - St. Ives

Unfinished at the time of Stevenson's death, the novel was completed by Arthur Quiller-Couch.

(1898) - Letters

Letters providing an interesting insight into the author’s life, travels, feelings and writing,

––––––––

To Sir Percy Florence and Lady Shelley

Here is a tale which extends over many years and travels into many

countries. By a peculiar fitness of circumstance the writer began,

continued it, and concluded it among distant and diverse scenes.

Above all, he was much upon the sea. The character and fortune of

the fraternal enemies, the hall and shrubbery of Durrisdeer, the

problem of Mackellar's homespun and how to shape it for superior

flights; these were his company on deck in many star-reflecting

harbours, ran often in his mind at sea to the tune of slatting

canvas, and were dismissed (something of the suddenest) on the

approach of squalls. It is my hope that these surroundings of its

manufacture may to some degree find favour for my story with

seafarers and sea-lovers like yourselves.

And at least here is a dedication from a great way off: written by

the loud shores of a subtropical island near upon ten thousand

miles from Boscombe Chine and Manor: scenes which rise before me

as I write, along with the faces and voices of my friends.

Well, I am for the sea once more; no doubt Sir Percy also. Let us

make the signal B. R. D.!

R. L. S.

WAIKIKI, May 17, 1889

PREFACE

Although an old, consistent exile, the editor of the following

pages revisits now and again the city of which he exults to be a

native; and there are few things more strange, more painful, or

more salutary, than such revisitations. Outside, in foreign spots,

he comes by surprise and awakens more attention than he had

expected; in his own city, the relation is reversed, and he stands

amazed to be so little recollected. Elsewhere he is refreshed to

see attractive faces, to remark possible friends; there he scouts

the long streets, with a pang at heart, for the faces and friends

that are no more. Elsewhere he is delighted with the presence of

what is new, there tormented by the absence of what is old.

Elsewhere he is content to be his present self; there he is smitten

with an equal regret for what he once was and for what he once

hoped to be.

He was feeling all this dimly, as he drove from the station, on his

last visit; he was feeling it still as he alighted at the door of

his friend Mr. Johnstone Thomson, W.S., with whom he was to stay.

A hearty welcome, a face not altogether changed, a few words that

sounded of old days, a laugh provoked and shared, a glimpse in

passing of the snowy cloth and bright decanters and the Piranesis

on the dining-room wall, brought him to his bed-room with a

somewhat lightened cheer, and when he and Mr. Thomson sat down a

few minutes later, cheek by jowl, and pledged the past in a

preliminary bumper, he was already almost consoled, he had already

almost forgiven himself his two unpardonable errors, that he should

ever have left his native city, or ever returned to it.

I have something quite in your way, said Mr. Thomson. "I wished

to do honour to your arrival; because, my dear fellow, it is my own

youth that comes back along with you; in a very tattered and

withered state, to be sure, but - well! - all that's left of it."

A great deal better than nothing, said the editor. "But what is

this which is quite in my way?"

I was coming to that, said Mr. Thomson: "Fate has put it in my

power to honour your arrival with something really original by way

of dessert. A mystery."

A mystery? I repeated.

Yes, said his friend, "a mystery. It may prove to be nothing,

and it may prove to be a great deal. But in the meanwhile it is

truly mysterious, no eye having looked on it for near a hundred

years; it is highly genteel, for it treats of a titled family; and

it ought to be melodramatic, for (according to the superscription)

it is concerned with death."

"I think I rarely heard a more obscure or a more promising

annunciation, the other remarked. But what is It?"

You remember my predecessor's, old Peter M'Brair's business?

"I remember him acutely; he could not look at me without a pang of

reprobation, and he could not feel the pang without betraying it.

He was to me a man of a great historical interest, but the interest

was not returned."

Ah well, we go beyond him, said Mr. Thomson. "I daresay old

Peter knew as little about this as I do. You see, I succeeded to a

prodigious accumulation of old law-papers and old tin boxes, some

of them of Peter's hoarding, some of his father's, John, first of

the dynasty, a great man in his day. Among other collections, were

all the papers of the Durrisdeers."

The Durrisdeers! cried I. "My dear fellow, these may be of the

greatest interest. One of them was out in the '45; one had some

strange passages with the devil - you will find a note of it in

Law's MEMORIALS, I think; and there was an unexplained tragedy, I

know not what, much later, about a hundred years ago - "

More than a hundred years ago, said Mr. Thomson. In 1783.

How do you know that? I mean some death.

"Yes, the lamentable deaths of my Lord Durrisdeer and his brother,

the Master of Ballantrae (attainted in the troubles)," said Mr.

Thomson with something the tone of a man quoting. Is that it?

To say truth, said I, "I have only seen some dim reference to the

things in memoirs; and heard some traditions dimmer still, through

my uncle (whom I think you knew). My uncle lived when he was a boy

in the neighbourhood of St. Bride's; he has often told me of the

avenue closed up and grown over with grass, the great gates never

opened, the last lord and his old maid sister who lived in the back

parts of the house, a quiet, plain, poor, hum-drum couple it would

seem - but pathetic too, as the last of that stirring and brave

house - and, to the country folk, faintly terrible from some

deformed traditions."

Yes, said Mr. Thomson. "Henry Graeme Durie, the last lord, died

in 1820; his sister, the honourable Miss Katherine Durie, in '27;

so much I know; and by what I have been going over the last few

days, they were what you say, decent, quiet people and not rich.

To say truth, it was a letter of my lord's that put me on the

search for the packet we are going to open this evening. Some

papers could not be found; and he wrote to Jack M'Brair suggesting

they might be among those sealed up by a Mr. Mackellar. M'Brair

answered, that the papers in question were all in Mackellar's own

hand, all (as the writer understood) of a purely narrative

character; and besides, said he, 'I am bound not to open them

before the year 1889.' You may fancy if these words struck me: I

instituted a hunt through all the M'Brair repositories; and at last

hit upon that packet which (if you have had enough wine) I propose

to show you at once."

In the smoking-room, to which my host now led me, was a packet,

fastened with many seals and enclosed in a single sheet of strong

paper thus endorsed:

Papers relating to the lives and lamentable deaths of the late Lord

Durisdeer, and his elder brother James, commonly called Master of

Ballantrae, attainted in the troubles: entrusted into the hands of

John M'Brair in the Lawnmarket of Edinburgh, W.S.; this 20th day of

September Anno Domini 1789; by him to be kept secret until the

revolution of one hundred years complete, or until the 20th day of

September 1889: the same compiled and written by me, EPHRAIM

MACKELLAR,

For near forty years Land Steward on the estates of his Lordship.

––––––––

As Mr. Thomson is a married man, I will not say what hour had

struck when we laid down the last of the following pages; but I

will give a few words of what ensued.

Here, said Mr. Thomson, "is a novel ready to your hand: all you

have to do is to work up the scenery, develop the characters, and

improve the style."

My dear fellow, said I, "they are just the three things that I

would rather die than set my hand to. It shall be published as it

stands."

But it's so bald, objected Mr. Thomson.

I believe there is nothing so noble as baldness, replied I, "and

I am sure there in nothing so interesting. I would have all

literature bald, and all authors (if you like) but one."

Well, well, add Mr. Thomson, we shall see.

SUMMARY OF EVENTS DURING THIS MASTER'S WANDERINGS.

The full truth of this odd matter is what the world has long been

looking for, and public curiosity is sure to welcome. It so befell

that I was intimately mingled with the last years and history of

the house; and there does not live one man so able as myself to

make these matters plain, or so desirous to narrate them

faithfully. I knew the Master; on many secret steps of his career

I have an authentic memoir in my hand; I sailed with him on his

last voyage almost alone; I made one upon that winter's journey of

which so many tales have gone abroad; and I was there at the man's

death. As for my late Lord Durrisdeer, I served him and loved him

near twenty years; and thought more of him the more I knew of him.

Altogether, I think it not fit that so much evidence should perish;

the truth is a debt I owe my lord's memory; and I think my old

years will flow more smoothly, and my white hair lie quieter on the

pillow, when the debt is paid.

The Duries of Durrisdeer and Ballantrae were a strong family in the

south-west from the days of David First. A rhyme still current in

the countryside -

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Kittle folk are the Durrisdeers,

They ride wi' over mony spears -

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bears the mark of its antiquity; and the name appears in another,

which common report attributes to Thomas of Ercildoune himself - I

cannot say how truly, and which some have applied - I dare not say

with how much justice - to the events of this narration:

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Twa Duries in Durrisdeer,

Ane to tie and ane to ride,

An ill day for the groom

And a waur day for the bride.

––––––––

Authentic history besides is filled with their exploits which (to

our modern eyes) seem not very commendable: and the family

suffered its full share of those ups and downs to which the great

houses of Scotland have been ever liable. But all these I pass

over, to come to that memorable year 1745, when the foundations of

this tragedy were laid.

At that time there dwelt a family of four persons in the house of

Durrisdeer, near St. Bride's, on the Solway shore; a chief hold of

their race since the Reformation. My old lord, eighth of the name,

was not old in years, but he suffered prematurely from the

disabilities of age; his place was at the chimney side; there he

sat reading, in a lined gown, with few words for any man, and wry

words for none: the model of an old retired housekeeper; and yet

his mind very well nourished with study, and reputed in the country

to be more cunning than he seemed. The master of Ballantrae, James

in baptism, took from his father the love of serious reading; some

of his tact perhaps as well, but that which was only policy in the

father became black dissimulation in the son. The face of his

behaviour was merely popular and wild: he sat late at wine, later

at the cards; had the name in the country of "an unco man for the

lasses;" and was ever in the front of broils. But for all he was

the first to go in, yet it was observed he was invariably the best

to come off; and his partners in mischief were usually alone to pay

the piper. This luck or dexterity got him several ill-wishers, but

with the rest of the country, enhanced his reputation; so that

great things were looked for in his future, when he should have

gained more gravity. One very black mark he had to his name; but

the matter was hushed up at the time, and so defaced by legends

before I came into those parts, that I scruple to set it down. If

it was true, it was a horrid fact in one so young; and if false, it

was a horrid calumny. I think it notable that he had always

vaunted himself quite implacable, and was taken at his word; so

that he had the addition among his neighbours of "an ill man to

cross." Here was altogether a young nobleman (not yet twenty-four

in the year '45) who had made a figure in the country beyond his

time of life. The less marvel if there were little heard of the

second son, Mr. Henry (my late Lord Durrisdeer), who was neither

very bad nor yet very able, but an honest, solid sort of lad like

many of his neighbours. Little heard, I say; but indeed it was a

case of little spoken. He was known among the salmon fishers in

the firth, for that was a sport that he assiduously followed; he

was an excellent good horse-doctor besides; and took a chief hand,

almost from a boy, in the management of the estates. How hard a

part that was, in the situation of that family, none knows better

than myself; nor yet with how little colour of justice a man may

there acquire the reputation of a tyrant and a miser. The fourth

person in the house was Miss Alison Graeme, a near kinswoman, an

orphan, and the heir to a considerable fortune which her father had

acquired in trade. This money was loudly called for by my lord's

necessities; indeed the land was deeply mortgaged; and Miss Alison

was designed accordingly to be the Master's wife, gladly enough on

her side; with how much good-will on his, is another matter. She

was a comely girl, and in those days very spirited and self-willed;

for the old lord having no daughter of his own, and my lady being

long dead, she had grown up as best she might.

To these four came the news of Prince Charlie's landing, and set

them presently by the ears. My lord, like the chimney-keeper that

he was, was all for temporising. Miss Alison held the other side,

because it appeared romantical; and the Master (though I have heard

they did not agree often) was for this once of her opinion. The

adventure tempted him, as I conceive; he was tempted by the

opportunity to raise the fortunes of the house, and not less by the

hope of paying off his private liabilities, which were heavy beyond

all opinion. As for Mr. Henry, it appears he said little enough at

first; his part came later on. It took the three a whole day's

disputation, before they agreed to steer a middle course, one son

going forth to strike a blow for King James, my lord and the other

staying at home to keep in favour with King George. Doubtless this

was my lord's decision; and, as is well known, it was the part

played by many considerable families. But the one dispute settled,

another opened. For my lord, Miss Alison, and Mr. Henry all held

the one view: that it was the cadet's part to go out; and the

Master, what with restlessness and vanity, would at no rate consent

to stay at home. My lord pleaded, Miss Alison wept, Mr. Henry was

very plain spoken: all was of no avail.

"It is the direct heir of Durrisdeer that should ride by his King's

bridle," says the Master.

If we were playing a manly part, says Mr. Henry, "there might be

sense in such talk. But what are we doing? Cheating at cards!"

We are saving the house of Durrisdeer, Henry, his father said.

And see, James, said Mr. Henry, "if I go, and the Prince has the

upper hand, it will be easy to make your peace with King James.

But if you go, and the expedition fails, we divide the right and

the title. And what shall I be then?"

You will be Lord Durrisdeer, said