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Record Number: 20134

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Reading Experience:

Evidence:

'My dear Henley, Sketches III line 11. More laughter comes from them than moan. IV As a whole. VII Both quatrains. VIII line 2. Extemporising a becoming gloom. IX Well, I don�t like it. Portraits I The sestett[sic] is not up to the mark, I think, but I don�t press this. IV Is a little broken, and the phrasing is a little imbecile. VII I don�t like. IX The first quatrain, and the words "does not feel his place" in the second. There is positively all I find�.'

Century:

1850-1899

Date:

Between 1 May 1875 and 31 May 1875

Country:

Scotland

Time

n/a

Place:

city: Edinburgh
county: Lothian
specific address: Swanston Cottage, Lothianburn, Edinburgh

Type of Experience
(Reader):
 

silent aloud unknown
solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

Type of Experience
(Listener):
 

solitary in company unknown
single serial unknown

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Reader / Listener / Reading Group:

Reader:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Age:

Adult (18-100+)

Gender:

Male

Date of Birth:

13 Nov 1850

Socio-Economic Group:

Professional / academic / merchant / farmer

Occupation:

Aspiring writer and intermittent law student

Religion:

Uncommitted

Country of Origin:

Scotland

Country of Experience:

Scotland

Listeners present if any:
e.g family, servants, friends

n/a

Additional Comments:

n/a

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Text Being Read:

Author:

William Ernest Henley

Title:

Hospital Outlines: Sketches and Portraits

Genre:

Poetry

Form of Text:

Print: Probably proof.

Publication Details

1875, Cornhill Magazine.

Provenance

borrowed (other)
Probably a proof copy to be returned (with the letter?) to the poet.

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Source Information:

Record ID:

20134

Source:

Print

Author:

Robert Louis Stevenson

Editor:

Bradford A. Booth

Title:

The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, April 1874-July1879

Place of Publication:

New Haven and London

Date of Publication:

1994

Vol:

2

Page:

137

Additional Comments:

Letter 390, To W.E. Henley, [May 1875], Swanston Cottage. Co-editor Ernest Mehew. The date in square brackets has been added by the editors.

Citation:

Robert Louis Stevenson, Bradford A. Booth (ed.), The Letters of Robert Louis Stevenson, April 1874-July1879, (New Haven and London, 1994), 2, p. 137, http://www.open.ac.uk/Arts/reading/UK/record_details.php?id=20134, accessed: 12 February 2026

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Additional Comments:

Editors� Note 1 to the heading �Sketches� on p. 137 reads: �RLS is commenting on Henley�s �Hospital Outlines� but since these were accepted by the "Cornhill" in April and RLS did not go to Swanston until May, he is presumably commenting on the proof.� Editors� Note 2 to the end of the text given for Letter 390 reads: �The MS was pasted down and framed by Lord Guthrie, and the rest cannot be read.�