LEWIS CARROLL — Frontispiece
From a photograph.
ARCHDEACON DODGSON AS A YOUNG MAN
From a miniature, painted about 1826.
DARESBURY PARSONAGE, LEWIS CARROLL'S BIRTHPLACE
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.
LEWIS CARROLL, AGED 8
From a silhouette.
MRS. DODGSON, LEWIS CARROLL'S MOTHER
From a silhouette.
CROFT RECTORY; ARCHDEACON DODGSON AND FAMILY IN FOREGROUND
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1856.
TOY STATION IN GARDEN AT CROFT
From a photograph.
ARCHBISHOP TAIT
From a photograph by Elliott and Fry.
"THE ONLY SISTER WHO WOULD WRITE TO HER BROTHER"
From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.
"THE AGE OF INNOCENCE".
From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.
"THE SCANTY MEAL"
From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.
"THE FIRST EARRING"
From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO "LAYS OF SORROW," NO. 2
From drawings by Lewis Carroll.
EXTERIOR OF CHRIST CHURCH
From a photograph.
GRAVE OF ARCHDEACON AND MRS. DODGSON IN CROFT CHURCHYARD
From a photograph.
LEWIS CARROLL, AGED 23
From a photograph.
ARCHDEACON DODGSON
From a photograph.
ARCHBISHOP LONGLEY
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.
"ALAS! WHAT BOOTS—"
From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.
ALFRED TENNYSON
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1857.
THE BISHOP OF LINCOLN
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1875.
BISHOP WILBERFORCE
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1860.
ALICE LIDDELL AS "THE BEGGAR-CHILD"
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1858.
SKETCH FROM ST. LEONARD'S CONCERT-ROOM
From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.
GEORGE MACDONALD AND HIS DAUGHTER LILY
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1863.
MRS. ROSSETTI AND HER CHILDREN, DANTE GABRIEL, CHRISTINA, AND WILLIAM
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1863.
LORINA, ALICE, AND EDITH LIDDELL
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.
GEORGE MACDONALD
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1870.
J. SANT, R.A.
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1866.
HOLMAN HUNT
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1860.
SIR JOHN MILLAIS
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1865.
CHARLOTTE M. YONGE
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1866.
CANON LIDDON
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1867.
"INSTANCE OF HIEROGLYPHIC WRITING OF THE DATE 1867"
From a sketch by Lewis Carroll.
SIR JOHN TENNIEL
From a photograph by Bassano.
LEWIS CARROLL'S STUDY AT CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD
From a photograph.
PROFESSOR FARADAY
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1860.
JUSTICE DENMAN
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1873.
LORD SALISBURY AND HIS TWO SONS
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1870.
FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM SIR JOHN TENNIEL TO LEWIS
CARROLL, DATED JUNE 1, 1870
JOHN RUSKIN
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1875.
HENRY HOLIDAY IN HIS STUDIO
From a photograph.
LEWIS CARROLL
From a photograph.
ELLEN TERRY
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.
TOM TAYLOR
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1863.
KATE TERRY
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1865.
MISS E. GERTRUDE THOMSON
From a photograph.
DR. LIDDELL
From a photograph by Hill & Saunders.
"RESPONSIONS"
From a photograph by A.T. Shrimpton.
DREAMLAND.
Song.
Words by LEWIS CARROLL.
Music by C.E. HUTCHINSON.
H. FURNISS
From a photograph.
"BALBUS AND THE DRAGON"
From a crayon drawing by the Rev. H.C. Gaye.
MEDLEY OF TENNIEL'S ILLUSTRATIONS IN "ALICE"
From an etching by Miss Whitehead.
FACSIMILE OF A LETTER FROM H. FURNISS TO LEWIS CARROLL,
DATED AUGUST 23, 1886.
SYLVIE AND BRUNO
From a drawing by Henry Holiday.
FACSIMILE OF PROGRAMME OF "ALICE IN WONDERLAND" PRODUCED
AT THE ROYAL GLOBE THEATRE, DECEMBER 26, 1888.
"THE MAD TEA PARTY"
From a photograph by Elliott and Fry.
THE LATE DUKE OF ALBANY
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1875.
THE DEAN OF CHRIST CHURCH
From a photograph by Hill & Saunders.
THE MECHANICAL "HUMPTY DUMPTY"
From a photograph.
LEWIS CARROLL
From a photograph.
THE CHESTNUTS, GUILDFORD
From a photograph.
LEWIS CARROLL'S GRAVE
From a photograph.
LORINA AND ALICE LIDDELL
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.
ALICE LIDDELL
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.
XIE KITCHIN
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.
XIE KITCHIN AS A CHINAMAN
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll.
ALICE AND THE DORMOUSE
From a photograph by Elliott and Fry.
FACSIMILE OF A "LOOKING-GLASS" LETTER FROM LEWIS CARROLL TO MISS EDITH BALL
ARTHUR HUGHES AND HIS DAUGHTER AGNES
From a photograph by Lewis Carroll, 1863.
"WHAT I LOOK LIKE WHEN I'M LECTURING"
From a drawing by Lewis Carroll.

[CHAPTER I]

(1832—1850.)

Lewis Carroll's forebears—The Bishop of Elphin—Murder of Captain Dodgson—Daresbury—Living in "Wonderland"—Croft—Boyish amusements—His first school-Latin verses—A good report—He goes to Rugby—The Rectory Umbrella—"A Lay of Sorrow."


ARCHDEACON DODGSON
AS A YOUNG MAN

The Dodgsons appear to have been for a long time connected with the north of England, and until quite recently a branch of the family resided at Stubb Hall, near Barnard Castle.

In the early part of the last century a certain Rev. Christopher Dodgson held a living in Yorkshire. His son, Charles, also took Holy Orders, and was for some time tutor to a son of the then Duke of Northumberland. In 1762 his patron presented him to the living of Elsdon, in Northumberland, by no means a desirable cure, as Mr. Dodgson discovered. The following extracts from his letters to various members of the Percy family are interesting as giving some idea of the life of a rural clergyman a hundred years ago:

I am obliged to you for promising to write to me, but don't give yourself the trouble of writing to this place, for 'tis almost impossible to receive 'em, without sending a messenger 16 miles to fetch 'em.
'Tis impossible to describe the oddity of my situation at present, which, however, is not void of some pleasant circumstances.
A clogmaker combs out my wig upon my curate's head, by way of a block, and his wife powders it with a dredging-box.
The vestibule of the castle (used as a temporary parsonage) is a low stable; above it the kitchen, in which are two little beds joining to each other. The curate and his wife lay in one, and Margery the maid in the other. I lay in the parlour between two beds to keep me from being frozen to death, for as we keep open house the winds enter from every quarter, and are apt to sweep into bed to me.
Elsdon was once a market town as some say, and a city according to others; but as the annals of the parish were lost several centuries ago, it is impossible to determine what age it was either the one or the other.
There are not the least traces of the former grandeur to be found, whence some antiquaries are apt to believe that it lost both its trade and charter at the Deluge.
... There is a very good understanding between the parties [he is speaking of the Churchmen and Presbyterians who lived in the parish], for they not only intermarry with one another, but frequently do penance together in a white sheet, with a white wand, barefoot, and in the coldest season of the year. I have not finished the description for fear of bringing on a fit of the ague. Indeed, the ideas of sensation are sufficient to starve a man to death, without having recourse to those of reflection.
If I was not assured by the best authority on earth that the world is to be destroyed by fire, I should conclude that the day of destruction is at hand, but brought on by means of an agent very opposite to that of heat.
I have lost the use of everything but my reason, though my head is entrenched in three night-caps, and my throat, which is very bad, is fortified by a pair of stockings twisted in the form of a cravat.
As washing is very cheap, I wear two shirts at a time, and, for want of a wardrobe, I hang my great coat upon my own back, and generally keep on my boots in imitation of my namesake of Sweden. Indeed, since the snow became two feet deep (as I wanted a 'chaappin of Yale' from the public-house), I made an offer of them to Margery the maid, but her legs are too thick to make use of them, and I am told that the greater part of my parishioners are not less substantial, and notwithstanding this they are remarkable for agility.

In course of time this Mr. Dodgson became Bishop of Ossory and Ferns, and he was subsequently translated to the see of Elphin. He was warmly congratulated on this change in his fortunes by George III., who said that he ought indeed to be thankful to have got away from a palace where the stabling was so bad.