Editing Robert Louis Stevenson (section)

==Family and education==
===Childhood and youth===
[[File:Robert Louis Stevenson daguerreotype portrait as a child.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Daguerreotype]] portrait of Stevenson as a child]]
[[File:Robert Louis Stevenson childhood home, Heriot Row.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Stevenson's childhood home in Heriot Row]]

Stevenson was born at 8 Howard Place, [[Edinburgh]], Scotland, on 13 November 1850 to [[Thomas Stevenson]] (1818–1887), a leading lighthouse engineer, and his wife, Margaret Isabella (born Balfour, 1829–1897). He was christened Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson. At about age 18, he changed the spelling of "Lewis" to "Louis", and he dropped "Balfour" in 1873.<ref>Mehew (2004). The spelling "Lewis" is said to have been rejected because his father violently disliked another person of the same name, and the new spelling was not accompanied by a change of pronunciation (Balfour (1901) I, 29 n. 1.</ref><ref>Furnas (1952), 23–4; Mehew (2004)).</ref>

Lighthouse design was the family's profession; Thomas's father (Robert's grandfather) was the civil engineer [[Robert Stevenson (civil engineer)|Robert Stevenson]], and Thomas's brothers (Robert's uncles) [[Alan Stevenson|Alan]] and [[David Stevenson (engineer)|David]] were in the same field.<ref name="Paxton 2004">Paxton (2004).</ref> Thomas's maternal grandfather [[Thomas Smith (engineer)|Thomas Smith]] had been in the same profession. However, Robert's mother's family were [[gentry]], tracing their lineage back to Alexander Balfour, who had held the lands of [[Lindores|Inchrye]] in Fife in the fifteenth century.<ref>{{Cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=6pTWDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22alexander+Balfour%22+%22robert+louis+stevenson%22+inchrye&pg=PT24|isbn = 9781786568007|title = The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson by Sir Graham Balfour - Delphi Classics (Illustrated)|date = 17 July 2017|publisher = Delphi Classics|access-date = 19 March 2023|archive-date = 18 April 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230418123628/https://books.google.com/books?id=6pTWDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22alexander+Balfour%22+%22robert+louis+stevenson%22+inchrye&pg=PT24|url-status = live}}</ref> His mother's father, [[Lewis Balfour]] (1777–1860), was a minister of the [[Church of Scotland]] at nearby [[Colinton]],<ref>Balfour (1901), 10–12; Furnas (1952), 24; Mehew (2004).</ref> and her siblings included physician [[George William Balfour]] and marine engineer [[James Balfour (engineer)|James Balfour]]. Stevenson spent the greater part of his boyhood holidays in his maternal grandfather's house. "Now I often wonder what I inherited from this old minister," Stevenson wrote. "I must suppose, indeed, that he was fond of preaching sermons, and so am I, though I never heard it maintained that either of us loved to hear them."<ref>''[[Memories and Portraits]]'' (1887), [https://web.archive.org/web/20080803075907/http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/stevenson/robert_louis/s848mp/chapter7.html Chapter VII. The Manse] .</ref>

Lewis Balfour and his daughter both had weak chests, so they often needed to stay in warmer climates for their health. Stevenson inherited a tendency to coughs and fevers, exacerbated when the family moved to a damp, chilly house at 1 Inverleith Terrace in 1851.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A Robert Louis Stevenson Timeline (born Nov. 13th 1850 in Edinburgh, died Dec. 3rd 1894 in Samoa) |url=http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/timeline |access-date=14 May 2012 |website=robert-louis-stevenson.org |archive-date=14 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120414112818/http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/timeline |url-status=live }}</ref> The family moved again to the sunnier 17 Heriot Row when Stevenson was six years old, but the tendency to extreme sickness in winter remained with him until he was 11. Illness was a recurrent feature of his adult life and left him extraordinarily thin.<ref>Furnas (1952), 25–8; Mehew (2004).</ref> Contemporaneous views were that he had tuberculosis, but more recent views are that it was [[bronchiectasis]]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Holmes |first=Lowell |url=https://archive.org/details/treasuredislands00holm |title=Treasured Islands: Cruising the South Seas with Robert Louis Stevenson |publisher=Sheridan House, Inc. |year=2002 |isbn=1-57409-130-1}}</ref> or [[sarcoidosis]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sharma |first=O. P. |year=2005 |title=Murray Kornfeld, American College of Chest Physician, and sarcoidosis: a historical footnote: 2004 Murray Kornfeld Memorial Founders Lecture |journal=Chest |volume=128 |issue=3 |pages=1830–35 |doi=10.1378/chest.128.3.1830 |pmid=16162793}}</ref> The family also summered in the [[spa town]] of [[Bridge of Allan]], in [[North Berwick]], and in [[Peebles]] for the sake of Stevenson's and his mother's health; "Stevenson's cave" in Bridge of Allan was reportedly the inspiration for the character [[Ben Gunn (Treasure Island)|Ben Gunn]]'s cave dwelling in Stevenson's 1883 novel ''[[Treasure Island]]''.<ref name="BridgeofAllan">{{Cite web |title=RLS in Stirlingshire |url=https://robert-louis-stevenson.org/?page_id=22021 |access-date=3 September 2023 |website=robert-louis-stevenson.org |archive-date=11 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230611000505/https://robert-louis-stevenson.org/?page_id=22021 |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:The Bookman RLS special 1913 illustration at page 049.png|thumb|"My second mother, my first wife.
The angel of my infant life—
From the sick child, now well and old,
Take, nurse, the little book you hold!" ⁠Dedication of "A Child's Garden of Verses": ⁠⁠"To Alison Cunningham. From her Boy."<ref name="Bookman1913">{{citation|title=Robert Louis Stevenson: A Bookman Extra Number, 1913 |date=1913 |publisher=Hodder & Stoughton |language=en}}</ref>]]
Stevenson's parents were both devout [[Presbyterianism|Presbyterians]], but the household was not strict in its adherence to [[Calvinism|Calvinist]] principles. His nurse Alison Cunningham (known as Cummy)<ref name="NYT1913">{{Cite news |date=10 August 1913 |title=Stevenson's Nurse Dead: Alison Cunningham ("Cummy") lived to be over 91 years old |page=3 |work=The New York Times |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/08/10/100273280.pdf |access-date=13 June 2018 |archive-date=8 March 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308035108/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1913/08/10/100273280.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> was more fervently religious. Her mix of Calvinism and folk beliefs were an early source of nightmares for the child, and he showed a precocious concern for religion.<ref>Furnas (1952), 28–32; Mehew (2004).</ref> But she also cared for him tenderly in illness, reading to him from [[John Bunyan]] and the Bible as he lay sick in bed and telling tales of the [[Covenanters]]. Stevenson recalled this time of sickness in "The Land of Counterpane" in ''[[A Child's Garden of Verses]]'' (1885),<ref>Available at [http://www.bartleby.com/188/117.html Bartleby] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080609081833/http://www.bartleby.com/188/117.html |date=9 June 2008 }} and elsewhere.</ref> dedicating the book to his nurse.<ref>Furnas (1952), 29; Mehew (2004).</ref>

Stevenson was an only child, both strange-looking and eccentric, and he found it hard to fit in when he was sent to a nearby school at age 6, a problem repeated at age 11 when he went on to the [[Edinburgh Academy]]; but he mixed well in lively games with his cousins in summer holidays at [[Colinton]].<ref>Furnas (1952), 34–6; Mehew (2004). Alison Cunningham's recollection of Stevenson balances the picture of an oversensitive child, "like other bairns, whiles very naughty": Furnas (1952), 30.</ref> His frequent illnesses often kept him away from his first school, so he was taught for long stretches by private tutors. He was a late reader, learning at age 7 or 8, but even before this he dictated stories to his mother and nurse,<ref name="Mehew 2004">Mehew (2004).</ref> and he compulsively wrote stories throughout his childhood. His father was proud of this interest; he had also written stories in his spare time until his own father had found them and had told him to "give up such nonsense and mind your business."<ref name="Paxton 2004" /> He paid for the printing of Robert's first publication at 16, entitled ''The Pentland Rising: A Page of History, 1666''. It was an account of the [[Covenanters#Restoration and the "Killing Time"|Covenanters' rebellion]] and was published in 1866, the 200th anniversary of the event.<ref>Balfour (1901) I, 67; Furnas (1952), pp. 43–45.</ref>

===Education===
[[File:Robert Louis Stevenson mit 7 Jahren.jpg|thumb|Stevenson at age 7]]
[[File:Stevenson age 14.jpg|thumb|Stevenson at age 14]]
[[File:Rls-pc1.jpg|thumb|Stevenson at age 30]]
In September 1857, when he was six years old, Stevenson went to ''Mr Henderson's School'' in India Street, Edinburgh, but because of poor health stayed only a few weeks and did not return until October 1859, aged eight. During his many absences, he was taught by private tutors. In October 1861, aged ten, he went to [[Edinburgh Academy]], an independent school for boys, and stayed there sporadically for about fifteen months. In the autumn of 1863, he spent one term at an English boarding school at Spring Grove in [[Isleworth]] in Middlesex (now an urban area of West London). In October 1864, following an improvement to his health, the 13-year-old was sent to Robert Thomson's private school in Frederick Street, Edinburgh, where he remained until he went to university.<ref>[http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=26438&back= Stephenson, Robert Louis (1850–1894) – Childhood and schooling] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809143428/http://www.oxforddnb.com/templates/article.jsp?articleid=26438&back= |date=9 August 2016 }}. ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]''. Retrieved: 1 August 2013.</ref> In November 1867, Stevenson entered the [[University of Edinburgh]] to study engineering. From the start he showed no enthusiasm for his studies and devoted much energy to avoiding lectures. This time was more important for the friendships he made with other students in [[The Speculative Society]] (an exclusive debating club), particularly with Charles Baxter, who would become Stevenson's financial agent, and with a professor, [[Fleeming Jenkin]], whose house staged amateur drama in which Stevenson took part, and whose biography he would later write.<ref>Furnas (1952), 51–54, 60–62; Mehew (2004)</ref> Perhaps most important at this point in his life was a cousin, [[Robert Alan Mowbray Stevenson]] (known as "Bob"), a lively and light-hearted young man who, instead of the family profession, had chosen to study art.<ref>Balfour (1901) I, 86–8; 90–4; Furnas (1952), 64–9</ref>

===Holidays in Swanston===

In 1867, Stevenson's family took a lease on Swanston Cottage, in the village of [[Swanston, Edinburgh|Swanston]] at the foot of the [[Pentland Hills]], for use as a summer holiday home. They held the lease until 1880. During their tenancy, the young Robert Louis made frequent use of the cottage, being attracted by the quiet country life and the feeling of remoteness. It is likely that the time he spent there influenced his later writing as well as his wider outlook on life, particularly his love of nature and of wild places. The house and its romantic location are thought to have inspired several of his works.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Grant |first1=Will |title=Pentland Days and Country Ways |publisher=Thomas Nelson and Sons |location=Edinburgh|pages=177{{hyphen}}189}} Based on a paper presented to the R.L. Stevenson Club on 10 October 1929.</ref><ref name="Hills">{{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=Lauchlan MacLean |title=The Hills of Home |date=1914 |publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons |location=New York |url=https://archive.org/stream/hillsofhomewithp00wattuoft/hillsofhomewithp00wattuoft_djvu.txt}}</ref>

===Lighthouse inspections===
Each year during his university holidays, Stevenson also travelled to inspect the family's engineering works. In 1868, this took him to [[Anstruther]] and for a stay of six weeks in [[Wick, Caithness|Wick]], where his family was building a sea wall and had previously built a lighthouse. He was to return to Wick several times over his lifetime and included it in his travel writings.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web |title=RLS in the Highlands and Islands |url=https://robert-louis-stevenson.org/highlands-and-islands |access-date=26 August 2024 |website=RLS Website |language=en}}</ref> He also accompanied his father on his official tour of [[Orkney]] and [[Shetland]] islands lighthouses in 1869 and spent three weeks on the island of [[Erraid]] in 1870. He enjoyed the travels more for the material they gave for his writing than for any engineering interest. The voyage with his father pleased him because a similar journey of [[Walter Scott]] with Robert Stevenson had provided the inspiration for Scott's 1822 novel ''[[The Pirate (novel)|The Pirate]]''.<ref>Balfour (1901) I, 70–2; Furnas (1952), 48–9; Mehew (2004)</ref> In April 1871, Stevenson notified his father of his decision to pursue a life of letters. Though the elder Stevenson was naturally disappointed, the surprise cannot have been great, and Stevenson's mother reported that he was "wonderfully resigned" to his son's choice. To provide some security, it was agreed that Stevenson should read law (again at Edinburgh University) and [[Admission to practice law|be called to the Scottish bar]].<ref>Balfour (1901) I, 85–6</ref> In his 1887 poetry collection ''Underwoods'', Stevenson muses on his having turned from the family profession:<ref>''Underwoods'' (1887), Poem XXXVIII</ref>
<blockquote>
Say not of me that weakly I declined<br />
The labours of my sires, and fled the sea,<br />
The towers we founded and the lamps we lit,<br />
To play at home with paper like a child.<br />
But rather say: ''In the afternoon of time''<br />
''A strenuous family dusted from its hands''<br />
''The sand of granite, and beholding far''<br />
''Along the sounding coast its pyramids''<br />
''And tall memorials catch the dying sun,''<br />
''Smiled well content, and to this childish task''<br />
''Around the fire addressed its evening hours.''
</blockquote>

===Rejection of church dogma===
[[File:Rsl1.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Stevenson at 35 in 1885]]
In other respects too, Stevenson was moving away from his upbringing. His dress became more [[Bohemianism|Bohemian]]; he already wore his hair long, but he now took to wearing a velveteen jacket and rarely attended parties in conventional evening dress.<ref>Furnas (1952), 69–70; Mehew (2004)</ref> Within the limits of a strict allowance, he visited cheap pubs and brothels.<ref>Furnas (1952), 53–7; Mehew (2004.</ref> More significantly, he had come to reject Christianity and declared himself an [[Atheism|atheist]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Theo Tait |date=30 January 2005 |title=Like an intelligent hare – Theo Tait reviews Robert Louis Stevenson by Claire Harman |work=The Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3635932/Like-an-intelligent-hare.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3635932/Like-an-intelligent-hare.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=4 August 2013 |quote=A decadent dandy who envied the manly Victorian achievements of his family, a professed atheist haunted by religious terrors, a generous and loving man who fell out with many of his friends – the Robert Louis Stevenson of Claire Harman's biography is all of these and, of course, a bed-ridden invalid who wrote some of the finest adventure stories in the language. [...] Worse still, he affected a Bohemian style, haunted the seedier parts of the Old Town, read Charles Darwin and Herbert Spencer, and declared himself an atheist. This caused a painful rift with his father, who damned him as a "careless infidel".}}{{cbignore}}</ref> In January 1873, when he was 22, his father came across the constitution of the LJR (Liberty, Justice, Reverence) Club, of which Stevenson and his cousin Bob were members, which began: "Disregard everything our parents have taught us". Questioning his son about his beliefs, he discovered the truth.<ref>Furnas (1952), 69 with n. 15 (on the club); 72–6</ref> Stevenson no longer believed in God and had grown tired of pretending to be something he was not: "am I to live my whole life as one falsehood?" His father professed himself devastated: "You have rendered my whole life a failure." His mother accounted the revelation "the heaviest affliction" to befall her. "O Lord, what a pleasant thing it is", Stevenson wrote to his friend Charles Baxter, "to have just damned the happiness of (probably) the only two people who care a damn about you in the world."<ref name="Stevenson letters">{{Cite book |last=Stevenson |first=Robert Loui |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h269hZQCyHoC&pg=PA29 |title=Selected Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson |date=2001 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=0-300-09124-9 |location=New Haven, CT |page=29 |access-date=23 October 2020}}</ref>

Stevenson's rejection of the Presbyterian Church and Christian dogma, however, did not turn into lifelong atheism or agnosticism. On 15 February 1878, the 27-year-old wrote to his father and stated:<ref>Colvin, Sidney, ed. (1917). ''The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson'', Vol. 1: 1868–1880. New York: Scribner's. [https://archive.org/details/lettersofrob01stev/page/258/mode/2up pp. 259–260].</ref>

{{blockquote|Christianity is among other things, a very wise, noble and strange doctrine of life ... You see, I speak of it as a doctrine of life, and as a wisdom for this world ... I have a good heart, and believe in myself and my fellow-men and the God who made us all ... There is a fine text in the Bible, I don't know where, to the effect that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord. Strange as it may seem to you, everything has been, in one way or the other, bringing me nearer to what I think you would like me to be. 'Tis a strange world, indeed, but there is a manifest God for those who care to look for him.}}

Stevenson did not resume attending church in Scotland. However, he did teach Sunday School lessons in Samoa, and prayers he wrote in his final years were published posthumously.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://archive.org/details/prayerswrittenat00stev|title=Prayers written at Vailima|first=Robert Louis|last=Stevenson|date=8 December 1912|publisher=New York, : C. Scribner's sons|accessdate=8 December 2022|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>

==="An Apology for Idlers"===
Justifying his rejection of an established profession, in 1877 Stevenson offered "An Apology for Idlers". "A happy man or woman", he reasoned, "is a better thing to find than a five-pound note. He or she is a radiating focus of goodwill" and a practical demonstration of "the great Theorem of the Liveableness of Life". So that if they cannot be happy in the "handicap race for sixpenny pieces", let them take their own "by-road".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Robert Louis Stevenson "An Apology for Idlers" (first appeared in Cornhill Magazine, July 1877) |language=en-us |magazine=Wired |url=https://www.wired.com/beyond-the-beyond/2018/01/robert-louis-stevenson-apology-idlers/ |access-date=18 March 2021 |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=11 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210411112110/https://www.wired.com/beyond-the-beyond/2018/01/robert-louis-stevenson-apology-idlers/ |url-status=live }}</ref>