ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a good opportunity to turn some attention to "Rosa quo Locorum", an uncompleted essay Stevenson drafted in Sydney, which has been ignored by most readers except for its autobiographical details. The essay, unpolished and unfinished as it is, is interesting and important in its own right, and illuminating in the context of Stevenson's work as essayist. There is some controversy about the composition date of "Rosa quo Locorum". A much more likely date for the composition of "Rosa quo Locorum" is 1890, when Stevenson stayed in Sydney from 13 February to 11 April and again from 7 August to 4 September. During both visits Stevenson stayed at the prestigious Union Club. In 1894, Burlingame renewed his offer for Stevenson to write more essays for Scribner's, offering $350 for each essay. He wrote a few notes towards an essay about his childhood, but less than two months later he was dead.
