Part 8 (1/2)

_Sept 5th_--At h a very interesting country--valleys winding away in all directions a hills clothed with trees to the very top, and white villages nestling aherever there was a comfortable corner to hide in The trees were so save to theof the effect of banks covered with moss The really unique feature of the scenery was the way in which the old castles seerow, rather than to have been built, on the tops of the rocky pro the trees I have never seen architecture that seemed so entirely in harmony with the spirit of the place By some subtle instinct the old architects see of the toith their pointed spires, and the two neutral tints, light grey and brown, on the walls and roof, so as to produce buildings which look as naturally fitted to the spot as the heath or the harebells And, like the flowers and the rocks, they see than rest and silence

And with these beautiful words my extracts from the Diary may well conclude Lewis Carroll's mind was completely at one with Nature, and in her pleasant places of calht his rest--and has found it

[Illustration: Sir John Tenniel _Froraph by Bassano_]

CHAPTER IV

(1868-1876)

Death of Archdeacon Dodgson--Lewis Carroll's roooria”--Translations of ”Alice”--”Through the Looking-Glass”--”Jabberwocky” in Latin--CS

Calverley--”Notes by an Oxford Chiel”--Hatfield--Vivisection--”The Hunting of the Snark”

The success of ”Alice in Wonderland” teson to make another essay in the saiarised, as it was afterwards, though the book had of course been parodied, a notable instance being ”Alice in Blunderland,” which appeared in _Punch_ It was very different when he came to write ”Sylvie and Bruno”; the countless imitations of the two ”Alice” books which had been foisted upon the public forced hi before the publication of his second tale, people had heard that Lewis Carroll riting again, and the editor of a well-known h rate of pay in those days, for the story, if he would allow it to appear in serial form

The central idea was, as every one knows, the adventures of a little girl who had solass The first difficulty, however, was to get her through, and this question exercised his ingenuity for so was to secure Tenniel's services again At first it seemed that he was to be disappointed in this matter; Tenniel was so fully occupied with other work that there see able to undertake any more He then applied to Sir Noel Paton, hose fairy-pictures he had fallen in love; but the artist was ill, and wrote in reply, ”Tenniel is _the_ man” In the end Tenniel consented to undertake the work, and once son was no easy man to ith; no detail was too sive Alice so ht must not have whiskers; he must not be made to look old”--such were the directions he was constantly giving

On June 21st Archdeacon Dodgson died, after an illness of only a few days' duration Lewis Carroll was not summoned until too late, for the illness took a sudden turn for the worse, and he was unable to reach his father's bedside before the end had come This was a terrible shock to hientleman should be, and it seemed to him at first as if a cloud had settled on his life which could never be dispelled Two letters of his, both of theive one sorief which his father's death, and all that it entailed, caused hi afterwards, to one who had suffered a similar bereavement In this letter he said:--

We are sufficiently old friends, I feel sure, forabout your great sorrow The greatest blow that has ever fallen on _o, ofyou my sincere sympathy, I write as a fellow-sufferer And I rejoice to know that we are not only fellow-sufferers, but also fellow-believers in the blessed hope of the resurrection fro holy and beautiful, instead of being merely a blank despair

The second ritten to a young friend, Miss Edith Rix, who had sent him an illuminated text:

My dear Edith,--I can now tell you (what I wanted to do when you sent me that text-card, but felt I could not say it to _two_ listeners, as it were) _why_ that special card is one I like to have That text is consecrated for reatest sorrows I have known--the death of my dear father In those solemn days, e used to steal, one by one, into the darkened room, to take yet another look at the dear calth, the one feature in the room that I remember was a fralad, because they are at rest; and so he bringeth them into the haven where they would be!” That text will always have, for ain for sending it me Please don't mention this e meet I can't _talk_ about it

Always affectionately yours,

C L DODGSON

The object of his edition of Euclid Book V, published during the course of the year, was to meet the requirements of the ordinary Pass Examination, and to present the subject in as short and simple a fornitudes was oh, as the author himself said in the Preface, to do so rendered the work incoical point of view, valueless He hinted pretty plainly his own preference for an equivalent aebra, which would be complete in itself It is easy to understand this preference in a ical as his

So far as the object of the book itself is concerned, he succeeded admirably; the propositions are clearly and beautifully worked out, and the hints on proving Propositions in Euclid Book V, are ain moved into new rooms at Christ Church; the suite which he occupied from this date to the end of his life was one of the best in the College Situated at the north-west corner of Tom Quad, on the first floor of the staircase from the entrance to which the Junior Co-rooms and about an equal number of bedrooms, besides rooms for lumber, &c Froe roof Mr

Dodgson saw at once that here was the very place for a photographic studio, and he lost no ti the consent of the authorities to erect one Here he took innuraphs of his friends and their children, as indeed he had been doing for some time under less favourable conditions One of his earliest pictures is an excellent likeness of Professor Faraday

[Illustration: Prof Faraday _Froraph by Lewis Carroll_]

His study was characteristic of the hes, Mrs Anderson, and Heaphy proclaieon-holes, each neatly labelled, showed his love of order; shelves, filled with the best books on every subject that interested hi His library has now been broken up and, except for a few books retained by his nearest relatives, scattered to the winds; such dispersions are inevitable, but they are none the less regrettable It always sees about the death of a literary -up of his collection of books alood library, the work of a lifetienerations are concerned Talent, yes, and genius too, are displayed not only in writing books but also in buying them, and it is a pity that the ruthless hay and skill fruitless

[Illustration: Lewis Carroll's Study at Christ Church, Oxford]