Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (224 page)

In November he gave a lecture at a meeting of the Ashmolean Society on "Where does the Day begin?"
The problem, which was one he was very fond of propounding, may be thus stated: If a man could travel round the world so fast that the sun would be always directly above his head, and if he were to start travelling at midday on Tuesday, then in twenty-four hours he would return to his original point of departure, and would find that the day was now called Wednesday—at what point of his journey would the day change its name?
The difficulty of answering this apparently simple question has cast a gloom over many a pleasant party.

On December 12th he wrote in his Diary:—

Visit of the Queen to Oxford, to the great surprise of everybody, as it had been kept a secret up to the time.
She arrived in Christ Church about twelve, and came into Hall with the Dean, where the Collections were still going on, about a dozen men being in Hall.
The party consisted of the Queen, Prince Albert, Princess Alice and her intended husband, the Prince of Hesse-Darmstadt, the Prince of Wales, Prince Alfred, and suite.
They remained a minute or two looking at the pictures, and the Sub-Dean was presented: they then visited the Cathedral and Library.
Evening entertainment at the Deanery,
tableaux vivants
.
I went a little after half-past eight, and found a great party assembled—the Prince had not yet come.
He arrived before nine, and I found an opportunity of reminding General Bruce of his promise to introduce me to the Prince, which he did at the next break in the conversation H.R.H.
was holding with Mrs.
Fellowes.
He shook hands very graciously, and I began with a sort of apology for having been so importunate about the photograph.
He said something of the weather being against it, and I asked if the Americans had victimised him much as a sitter; he said they had, but he did not think they had succeeded well, and I told him of the new American process of taking twelve thousand photographs in an hour.
Edith Liddell coming by at the moment, I remarked on the beautiful
tableau
which the children might make: he assented, and also said, in answer to my question, that he had seen and admired my photographs of them.
I then said that I hoped, as I had missed the photograph, he would at least give me his autograph in my album, which he promised to do.
Thinking I had better bring the talk to an end, I concluded by saying that, if he would like copies of any of my photographs, I should feel honoured by his accepting them; he thanked me for this, and I then drew back, as he did not seem inclined to pursue the conversation.

A few days afterwards the Prince gave him his autograph, and also chose a dozen or so of his photograph (sic).

MRS.
ROSSETTI AND HER CHILDREN

DANTE GABRIEL, CHRISTINA, AND WILLIAM.

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll)
.

CHAPTER III

(1861—1867)

Jowett—Index to "In Memoriam"—The Tennysons—The beginning of "Alice"—Tenniel—Artistic friends—"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"—"Bruno's Revenge"—Tour with Dr.
Liddon—Cologne—Berlin architecture—The "Majesty of Justice"—Peterhof—Moscow—A Russian wedding—Nijni—The Troitska Monastery—"Hieroglyphic" writing—Giessen.

It is my aim in this Memoir to let Mr.
Dodgson tell his own story as much as possible.
In order to effect this object I have drawn largely upon his Diary and correspondence.
Very few men have left behind them such copious information about their lives as he has; unfortunately it is not equally copious throughout, and this fact must be my apology for the somewhat haphazard and disconnected way in which parts of this book are written.
That it is the best which, under the circumstances, I have been able to do needs, I hope, no saying, but the circumstances have at times been too strong for me.

Though in later years Mr.
Dodgson almost gave up the habit of dining out, at this time of his life he used to do it pretty frequently, and several of the notes in his Diary refer to after-dinner and Common Room stories.
The two following extracts will show the sort of facts he recorded:—

January 2, 1861.
—Mr.
Grey (Canon) came to dine and stay the night.
He told me a curious old custom of millers, that they place the sails of the mill as a Saint Andrew's Cross when work is entirely suspended, thus x, but in an upright cross, thus +, if they are just going to resume work.
He also mentioned that he was at school with Dr.
Tennyson (father of the poet), and was a great favourite of his.
He remembers that Tennyson used to do his school-translations in rhyme.

May 9th.
—Met in Common Room Rev.
C.F.
Knight, and the Hon'ble.
F.J.
Parker, both of Boston, U.S.
The former gave an amusing account of having seen Oliver Wendell Holmes in a fishmonger's, lecturing
extempore
on the head of a freshly killed turtle, whose eyes and jaws still showed muscular action: the lecture of course being all "cram," but accepted as sober earnest by the mob outside.

Old Oxford men will remember the controversies that raged from about 1860 onwards over the opinions of the late Dr.
Jowett.
In my time the name "Jowett" only represented the brilliant translator of Plato, and the deservedly loved master of Balliol, whose sermons in the little College Chapel were often attended by other than Balliol men, and whose reputation for learning was expressed in the well-known verse of "The Masque of Balliol":—

First come I, my name is Jowett.

There's no knowledge but I know it;

I am Master of this College;

What I don't know isn't knowledge.

But in 1861 he was anything but universally popular, and I am afraid that Mr.
Dodgson, nothing if not a staunch Conservative, sided with the majority against him.
Thus he wrote in his Diary:—

November 20th.
—Promulgation, in Congregation, of the new statute to endow Jowett.
The speaking took up the whole afternoon, and the two points at issue, the endowing a
Regius
Professorship, and the countenancing Jowett's theological opinions, got so inextricably mixed up that I rose to beg that they might be kept separate.
Once on my feet, I said more than I at first meant, and defied them ever to tire out the opposition by perpetually bringing the question on (
Mem
.: if I ever speak again I will try to say no more than I had resolved before rising).
This was my first speech in Congregation.

At the beginning of 1862 an "Index to In Memoriam," compiled by Mr.
Dodgson and his sisters, was published by Moxon.
Tennyson had given his consent, and the little book proved to be very useful to his admirers.

On January 27th Morning Prayer was for the first time read in English at the Christ Church College Service.
On the same day Mr.
Dodgson moved over into new rooms, as the part of the College where he had formerly lived (Chaplain's Quadrangle) was to be pulled down.

During the Easter Vacation he paid another visit to the Tennysons, which he describes as follows:—

After luncheon I went to the Tennysons, and got Hallam and Lionel to sign their names in my album.
Also I made a bargain with Lionel, that he was to give me some MS.
of his verses, and I was to send him some of mine.
It was a very difficult bargain to make; I almost despaired of it at first, he put in so many conditions—first, I was to play a game of chess with him; this, with much difficulty, was reduced to twelve moves on each side; but this made little difference, as I check-mated him at the sixth move.
Second, he was to be allowed to give me one blow on the head with a mallet (this he at last consented to give up).
I forget if there were others, but it ended in my getting the verses, for which I have written out "The Lonely Moor" for him.

Mr.
Dodgson took a great interest in occult phenomena, and was for some time an enthusiastic member of the "Psychical Society."
It was his interest in ghosts that led to his meeting with the artist Mr.
Heaphy, who had painted a picture of a ghost which he himself had seen.
I quote the following from a letter to his sister Mary:—

During my last visit to town, I paid a very interesting visit to a new artist, Mr.
Heaphy.
Do you remember that curious story of a ghost lady (in
Household Words
or
All the Year Round
), who sat to an artist for her picture; it was called "Mr.
H.'s Story," and he was the writer....
He received me most kindly, and we had a very interesting talk about the ghost, which certainly is one of the most curious and inexplicable stories I ever heard.
He showed me her picture (life size), and she must have been very lovely, if it is like her (or like it, which ever is the correct pronoun)....
Mr.
Heaphy showed me a most interesting collection of drawings he has made abroad; he has been about, hunting up the earliest and most authentic pictures of our Saviour, some merely outlines, some coloured pictures.
They agree wonderfully in the character of the face, and one, he says, there is no doubt was done before the year 150....
I feel sure from his tone that he is doing this in a religious spirit, and not merely as an artist.

On July 4, 1862, there is a very important entry: "I made an expedition
up
the river to Godstow with the three Liddells; we had tea on the bank there, and did not reach Christ Church till half-past eight."

LORINA, ALICE, AND EDITH LIDDELL.

(From a photograph by Lewis Carroll)
.

On the opposite page he added, somewhat later, "On which occasion I told them the fairy-tale of 'Alice's Adventures Underground,' which I undertook to write out for Alice."

These words need to be supplemented by the verses with which he prefaced the "Wonderland":—

All in the golden afternoon

Full leisurely we glide;

For both our oars, with little skill,

By little arms are plied,

While little hands make vain pretence

Our wanderings to guide.

Ah, cruel Three!
In such an hour,

Beneath such dreamy weather,

To beg a tale of breath too weak

To stir the tiniest feather!

Yet what can one poor voice avail

Against three tongues together?

Imperious Prima flashes forth

Her edict "to begin it"—

In gentler tones Secunda hopes

"There will be nonsense in it!"

While Tertia interrupts the tale

Not
more
than once a minute.

Anon, to sudden silence won,

In fancy they pursue

The dream-child moving through a land

Of wonders wild and new,

In friendly chat with bird or beast—

And half believe it true.

And ever, as the story drained

The wells of fancy dry,

And faintly strove that weary one

To put the subject by,

"The rest next time"—"It
is
next time!"

The happy voices cry.

Thus grew the tale of Wonderland:

Thus slowly, one by one,

Its quaint events were hammered out—

And now the tale is done,

And home we steer, a merry crew,

Beneath the setting sun.

"Alice" herself (Mrs.
Reginald Hargreaves) has given an account of the scene, from which what follows is quoted:—

Most of Mr.
Dodgson's stories were told to us on river expeditions to Nuneham or Godstow, near Oxford.
My eldest sister, now Mrs.
Skene, was "Prima," I was "Secunda," and "Tertia" was my sister Edith.
I believe the beginning of "Alice" was told one summer afternoon when the sun was so burning that we had landed in the meadows down the river, deserting the boat to take refuge in the only bit of shade to be found, which was under a new-made hayrick.
Here from all three came the old petition of "Tell us a story," and so began the ever-delightful tale.
Sometimes to tease us—and perhaps being really tired—Mr.
Dodgson would stop suddenly and say, "And that's all till next time."
"Ah, but it is next time," would be the exclamation from all three; and after some persuasion the story would start afresh.
Another day, perhaps, the story would begin in the boat, and Mr.
Dodgson, in the middle of telling a thrilling adventure, would pretend to go fast asleep, to our great dismay.

"Alice's Adventures Underground" was the original name of the story; later on it became "Alice's Hour in Elfland."
It was not until June 18, 1864, that he finally decided upon "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
The illustrating of the manuscript book gave him some trouble.
He had to borrow a "Natural History" from the Deanery to learn the correct shapes of some of the strange animals with which Alice conversed; the Mock Turtle he must have evolved out of his inner consciousness, for it is, I think, a species unknown to naturalists.

He was lucky enough during the course of the year to see a ceremony which is denied to most Oxford men.
When degrees are given, any tradesman who has been unable to get his due from an undergraduate about to be made a Bachelor of Arts is allowed, by custom, to pluck the Proctor's gown as he passes, and then to make his complaint.
This law is more honoured in the breach than in the observance; but, on the occasion of this visit of Mr.
Dodgson's to Convocation, the Proctor's gown was actually plucked—on account of an unfortunate man who had gone through the Bankruptcy Court.