Victorian Era

The Victorian Era produced six inventions: telephone, adhesive postage stamp, underground railway, public flush toilet, electric light bulb, and pneumatic tire.

Great authors came into view, too: the Brontë sisters, Collins, Thackeray, Doyle, Stevenson, Tennyson, Kipling, Wilde, Stoker, and Hardy. My Reading List honors them all, and today is a poem by Stevenson.

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet, and travel writer, best known for Treasure Island, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Kidnapped, and A Child's Garden of Verses. He traveled widely and spent time in California at Monterey, San Francisco, and St. Helena (Napa Valley).

Fact: French was the official language of England from 1066 to 1362. At the Battle of Hastings, William II of Normandy defeated King Harold II of England on Oct. 14, 1066, and was crowned king at London on Christmas Day. Basically, the sweep of history advanced like this: from Greek to Latin to French to English. "He who is brave is free." -Lucius Annaeus Seneca
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