INTRODUCTION
Robert Louis Stevenson entered the field of literature in May 1878, when An Inland Voyage was published; he quitted it in December 1894. In less than seventeen years he produced four volumes of essays, seven romances, five collections of fantastic tales, two of South Sea yarns, three of poetry, five volumes of travel and topography, one of political history, besides leaving material for several posthumous works. With a few exceptions of minor importance, this output of less than a score of years has taken a permanent place in English Literature. Whilst many of his seniors in age are still toiling in the workshop, Stevenson has not only been accepted as a classic, but as the preacher of a gospel which is influencing the most masculine minds of his generation. His personality is so strongly reflected in his works that it is difficult to take up one of his books without feeling oneself captivated by the spell of a personal friendship. The elements of this personality have frequently undergone examination. Analysis upon analysis has been stretched to straining point, and both the friendly and the doubting critic have sought to pierce the recesses of his genius. Not that there is really any
