Virginibus Puerisque, and Other Papers

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About this book

The first paper opens with Shakespeare: apart from Falstaff, the author says, all his characters are marrying men, and he runs through Mercutio, Benedick, Biron, Iago, Jacques and the Fool in Lear. It mentions George Sand's French version of As You Like It. Another passage on choosing a partner says shared taste matters for eating, drinking and ways of life but little in art and intellect, and describes an honest man who was a clever painter with an eye for sea and ships.

Other passages describe moments of keen perception in a landscape: a change of posture on grass or heather, a snatch of perfume, a bird singing, the light shadow of a travelling cloud. A further passage recalls how Burns counted the hours when he was happy thinking, and notes that a modern reader is surrounded by clocks and chimes.

About the author

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for the novels Treasure Island (1883), Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), and Kidnapped (1886) and for the poetry collection A Child's Garden of Verses (1885).