The publishers of ‘ Young Folks ‘ having asked for a successor to Treasure Island, Stevenson turned to the period of the Wars of the Roses as a setting for a tale of adventure frankly written for youthful readers. The only preparation a boy needs for enjoying ‘The Black Arrow ‘ is some slight acquaintance with Shakespeare or Walter Scott; nay, if he have but skimmed the briefest history of the brave old medieval times, and knows what a part in them the long-bow and the cross-bow played, and what a salet is, and what a lance, he will need no further introduction to this tale of the early days of Richard Crookback—a tale ‘retold’ (like that of the search for buried treasure) ‘exactly in the ancient way.’ Or if the telling differ from that to which he is accustomed, it will be because Mr. Stevenson writes with a pen so much more graphic, poetic, and incisive than the ancient chroniclers. Not content with weaving a plot that shall hold the reader spell-bound, he perfects his style with such care that not a superfluous or an ill-fitting word is to be found from start to finish.