The Master of Ballantrae Schedule and Background Chat

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

We will be reading The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale by Robert Louis Stevenson over the course of five weeks, beginning on Sunday, August 18.

Week 1: August 18 to 24 -Chapters 1, 2, 3
Week 2: August 25 to 31 -Chapters 4, 5
Week 3: September 1 to 7 - Chapters 6, 7, 8
Week 4: September 8 to 14 - Chapters 9, 10
Week 5: September 15 to 21 - Chapters 11, 12

[Abigail]

Ooh, fun! Can’t wait.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

The description of the book on Wikepedia states that The Master of Ballantrae: A Winter's Tale (1889) is a tale of revenge set in Scotland, America and India.
Stevenson was born in 1850 and died in 1894, at the early of 44 after suffering serious bronchial trouble most of his life.
In that short time he wrote many novels, essays, short stories and travel books. He also wrote the famous A Child's Garden of Verses.
Stevenson certainly made good use of his time!

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Abigail wrote: "Ooh, fun! Can’t wait."

Great!

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Stevenson's Dedicatory Letter

To Sir Percy Florence and Lady Shelley

Here is a tale which extends over many years and travels into many countries. By a peculiar fitness of circumstance the writer began, continued it, and concluded it among distant and diverse scenes. Above all, he was much upon the sea. The character and fortune of the fraternal enemies, the hall and shrubbery of Durrisdeer, the problem of Mackellar's homespun and how to shape it for superior flights; these were his company on deck in many star-reflecting harbours, ran often in his mind at sea to the tune of slatting canvas, and were dismissed (something of the suddenest) on the approach of squalls. It is my hope that these surroundings of its manufacture may to some degree find favour for my story with seafarers and sealovers like yourselves.
And at least here is a dedication from a great way off: written by the loud shores of a subtropical island near upon ten thousand miles from Boscombe Chine and Manor: scenes which rise before me as I write, along with the faces and voices of my friends.
Well, I am for the sea once more; no doubt Sir Percy also. Let us make the signal B.R.D.!

R.L.S. Waikiki May 17, 1889

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

The Jacobite Rising of 1745
August 19, 1745 to April 16, 1746

The Jacobite rising of 1745 was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British Throne for his father James Francis Edward Stuart. George II was on the throne at that time.
It took place during the War of the Austrian Succession, when the bulk of the British army was fighting in mainland Europe.
Charles launched the rebellion of 19 August at Glenfinnan in the Highlands, capturing Edinburgh and winning the Battle of Prestonplans in September.
In October a council of Scots agree to invade England, but Charles's assurance of support from English Jacobites and a planned French landing in Southern England were unfounded.
The invasion route was not safe and with several government armies approaching their position, they were outnumbered and in danger of being cut off.
The decision to retreat caused a rift between Charles and his Scots supporters,
The defeat at the Battle of Culloden, April 16, 1746, lasted only one hour and ended with a decisive victory for the British.
Charles escaped to France and died in Rome in 1788.

Charles Edward Stuart was also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie.

[Robin P, Moderator]

I haven't been doing the group reads recently due to travel and other commitments but I plan to do this one. I recently read Under the Wide and Starry Sky, a historical fiction based on Stevenson and his wife Fanny.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

That's great, Robin. The book is fairly short with lots of drama and action.
Stevenson had a short but very full life, and a terrific wife in Fanny.

[Robin P, Moderator]

This morning I saw this article aboutRLS and Fanny. This new book, A Wilder Shore: The Romantic Odyssey of Fanny and Robert Louis Stevenson is nonfiction.

https://lithub.com/how-fanny-and-robe...

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

That looks good!

[Neil]

The was a similar article about the book published in the Spectator on 10 August. If you are a subscriber or can get hold of a copy, it’s a highly informative read.

[Robin P, Moderator]

I can still recite all or much of many poems from Child's Garden of Verses. I had both a wonderful popup book with complex scenes and a regular print book with illustrations. When I was a kid, I loved poetry for the rhythm and rhyme. Modern poetry just doesn't work the same way.

My mother was also a fan, maybe that's why I had the 2 books. When she retired from a large agency, they had a dinner and tributes and she ended her thank you speech with the poem Where Go the Boats?

Dark brown is the river.
Golden is the sand.
It flows along for ever,
With trees on either hand.

Green leaves a-floating,
Castles of the foam,
Boats of mine a-boating—
Where will all come home?

On goes the river
And out past the mill,
Away down the valley,
Away down the hill.

Away down the river,
A hundred miles or more,
Other little children
Shall bring my boats ashore.

[Robin P, Moderator]

And of course Stevenson wrote his own epitaph with the poem Requiem

Under the wide and starry sky,
Dig the grave and let me lie.
Glad did I live and gladly die,
And I laid me down with a will.

This be the verse you grave for me:
Here he lies where he longed to be;
Home is the sailor, home from sea,
And the hunter home from the hill.

People always think it is "home from THE sea," and I think that scans better but he probably had a reason for the odd construction.

[Rosemarie, Moderator]

Thanks for sharing the poems, Robin. I've always found his epitaph to be very moving-and memorable.