03 - Robert Louis Stevenson by G. K. Chesterton

Explore the captivating life of Robert Louis Stevenson in this concise early twentieth-century biography, crafted by polymath G.K. Chesterton and acclaimed journalist J. H. Nicoll. Often referred to as ‘The Characteristics of Robert Louis Stevenson,’ this collaboration features distinct sections by each author, offering unique insights into Stevenson’s remarkable character. This recording presents the third edition, which includes structural changes and additional material not found in the first edition. Join David Wales as he brings this literary exploration to life.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Part three of Robert Lewis Stevenson by Gilbert Keith Chesterton
and William Robertson Nikoll. This LibriVox recording is in the
public domain. Part three Home from the Hill poem by
William Robert Nicholl. Home from the Hill by William Robertson Nikoll.

(00:23):
Home is the sailor home from the Sea, and the
hunter Home from the Hill. Robert Lewis Stevenson. Let the
weary body lie where he chose its grave, neath the
wide and starry sky by the southern wave, while the
island holds her trust, and the hill keeps faith through

(00:45):
the watches that divide the long night of death. But
the spirit, free from thrall, now goes forth of these
to its birthright, and inherits other lands and seas. We
shall find him when we seek him. In an older home.
By the hills and streams of childhood, tis his weird

(01:08):
to rome. In the fields and woods we hear him
laugh and sing and sigh, Or where by the northern breakers,
sea birds troop and cry, Or where over lonely moorlands,
winter winds fly fleet, or by sunny graves he hearkens

(01:28):
voices low and sweet we have lost him. We have
found him. Mother. He was fain nimbly to retrace his footsteps,
take his life again to the breast that first had
warmed it, to the tride and true. He has come,
our well beloved Scotland, back to you. And of Part

(01:52):
three