Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894 / Edinburgh / Scotland)

''Lord, thy most pointed pleasure take
And stab my spirit broad awake;
Or, Lord, if too obdurate I,
Choose thou, before that spirit die,
A piercing pain, a killing sin,
And to my dead heart run them in!''

''It is just this rage for consideration that has betrayed the dog into his satellite position as the friend of man. The cat, an animal of franker appetites, preserves his independence. But the dog, with one eye ever on the audience, has been wheedled into slavery, and praised and patted into the renunciation of his nature. Once he ceased hunting and became man's plate-licker, the Rubicon was crossed. Thenceforth he was a gentleman of leisure; and except the few whom we keep working, the whole race grew more and more self-conscious, mannered and affected.''

''The friendly cow, all red and white,
I love with all my heart:
She gives me cream with all her might,
To eat with apple tart.''

''The obscurest epoch is to-day.''

''My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky;
It's time to take the window to see Leerie going by;
For every night at tea-time and before you take your seat,
With lantern and with ladder he comes posting up the street.''

''The pleasant land of counterpane.''

''When I was sick and lay a-bed,
I had two pillows at my head,
And all my toys beside me lay
To keep me happy all the day.''

''Well, well, Henry James is pretty good, though he is of the nineteenth century, and that glaringly.''

''How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!''

''A child should always say what's true
And speak when he is spoken to,
And behave mannerly at table;
At least as far as he is able.''