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In June 1884 , a ship from Saigon moored in the port of Toulon . It would be the reason why the cholera epidemic would begin in the region . Robert and his family says ‘ adieu ’ to France , leaving the town which gave him inspiration and so many memories . By the end of July they arrived in Britain . Robert Stevenson would not return to the south of France . ‘ I was only hap-
py once : that was at Hyères ’, wrote Stevenson with bitterness to Sidney Colvin in 1891 .
The writer suddenly died in December 1894 on Samoa at the age of 44 . On his grave one can read one of his famous poems ‘ Requiem ’ written in Hyères in May 1883 , during the happiest period of his life …
‘ All the people here are so sweet , kind and smart , that when I think that I will never see them again , I get an unpleasant feeling ...’
Girolamo Nerli . Portrait of R . L . Stevenson , 1892 . Scottish National Portrait Gallery
‘ I WAS ONLY HAPPY ONCE …’
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Silence and quietness , mild climate , life with a beloved woman , success in the field of literature … In Hyères Stevenson had everything he could ever dream about — as if he found his personal ‘ treasure island ’. However , no matter how much the writer wanted to remain in his paradise in the south of France , fate decided otherwise …
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The first edition of ‘ Treasure Island ’, 1883
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 .
Stevenson ’ s home on Samoa
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 ’.
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