text of another appeal which dates from two and a half years later,
and is also typical of much in his life's conditions both then and
later:--

_2 Sulgarde Terrace, Torquay, Thursday [April 1866]._

RESPECTED PATERNAL RELATIVE,--I write to make a request of the most
moderate nature. Every year I have cost you an enormous--nay,
elephantine--sum of money for drugs and physician's fees, and the most
expensive time of the twelve months was March.

But this year the biting Oriental blasts, the howling tempests, and the
general ailments of the human race have been successfully braved by
yours truly.

Does not this deserve remuneration?

I appeal to your charity, I appeal to your generosity, I appeal to your
justice, I appeal to your accounts, I appeal, in fine, to your purse.

My sense of generosity forbids the receipt of more--my sense of justice
forbids the receipt of less--than half-a-crown.--Greeting from, Sir,
your most affectionate and needy son,

R. STEVENSON.

From 1864 to 1867 Stevenson's education was conducted chiefly at Mr.
Thomson's private school in Frederick Street, Edinburgh, and by private
tutors in various places to which he travelled for his own or his
parents' health. These travels included frequent visits to such Scottish
health resorts as Bridge of Allan, Dunoon, Rothesay, North Berwick,
Lasswade, and Peebles, and occasional excursions with his father on his
nearer professional rounds to the Scottish coasts and lighthouses. From
1867 the family life became more settled between Edinburgh and Swanston
Cottage, Lothianburn, a country home in the Pentlands which Mr.
Stevenson first rented in that year, and the scenery and associations of
which sank deeply into the young man's spirit, and vitally affected his
after thoughts and his art.

By this time Louis Stevenson seemed to show signs of outgrowing his
early infirmities of health. He was a lover, to a degree even beyond his
strength, of outdoor life and exercise (though not of sports), and it
began to be hoped that as he grew up he would be fit to enter the family
profession of civil engineer. He was accordingly entered as a student at
Edinburgh University, and for several winters attended classes there
with such regularity as his health and inclinations permitted. This was
in truth but small. The mind on fire with its own imaginations, and
eager to acquire its own experiences in its own way, does not take
kindly to the routine of