Complete Works of Lewis Carroll (229 page)

JUSTICE DENMAN.

From a photograph by Lewis Carroll
.

At the beginning of 1869 his "Phantasmagoria," a collection of poems grave and gay, was published by Macmillan.
Upon the whole he was more successful in humorous poetry, but there is an undeniable dignity and pathos in his more serious verses.
He gave a copy to Mr.
Justice Denman, with whom he afterwards came to be very well acquainted, and who appreciated the gift highly.
"I did not lay down the book," he wrote, "until I had read them [the poems] through; and enjoyed many a hearty laugh, and something like a cry or two.
Moreover, I hope to read them through (as the
old man
said) 'again and again.'"

It had been Lewis Carroll's intention to have "Phantasmagoria" illustrated, and he had asked George du Maurier to undertake the work; but the plan fell through.
In his letter to du Maurier, Mr.
Dodgson had made some inquiries about Miss Florence Montgomery, the authoress of "Misunderstood."
In reply du Maurier said, "Miss Florence Montgomery is a very charming and sympathetic young lady, the daughter of the admiral of that ilk.
I am, like you, a very great admirer of "Misunderstood," and cried pints over it.
When I was doing the last picture I had to put a long white pipe in the little boy's mouth until it was finished, so as to get rid of the horrible pathos of the situation while I was executing the work.
In reading the book a second time (knowing the sad end of the dear little boy), the funny parts made me cry almost as much as the pathetic ones."

A few days after the publication of "Phantasmagoria," Lewis Carroll sent the first chapter of his new story to the press.
"Behind the Looking-Glass and what Alice saw there" was his original idea for its title; it was Dr.
Liddon who suggested the name finally adopted.

During this year German and French translations of "Alice in Wonderland" were published by Macmillan; the Italian edition appeared in 1872.
Henri Bué, who was responsible for the French version, had no easy task to perform.
In many cases the puns proved quite untranslatable; while the poems, being parodies on well-known English pieces, would have been pointless on the other side of the Channel.
For instance, the lines beginning, "How doth the little crocodile" are a parody on "How doth the little busy bee," a song which a French child has, of course, never heard of.
In this case Bué gave up the idea of translation altogether, and, instead, parodied La Fontaine's "Maître Corbeau" as follows:—

Maître Corbeau sur un arbre perché

Faisait son nid entre des branches;

Il avait relevé ses manches,

Car il était très affairé.

Maître Renard par là passant,

Lui dit: "Descendez donc, compère;

Venez embrasser votre frère!"

Le Corbeau, le reconnaissant,

Lui répondit en son ramage!—

"Fromage."

The dialogue in which the joke occurs about "tortoise" and "taught us" ("Wonderland," p.
142) is thus rendered:—

"La maîtresse était une vieille tortue; nous l'appelions chélonée."

"Et pourquoi l'appeliez-vous chélonée, si ce n'était pas son nom?"

"Parcequ'on ne pouvait s'empêcher de s'écrier en la voyant: Quel long nez!"
dit la Fausse-Tortue d'un ton fâché; "vous êtes vraiment bien bornée!"

At two points, however, both M.
Bué and Miss Antonie Zimmermann, who translated the tale into German, were fairly beaten: the reason for the whiting being so called, from its doing the boots and shoes, and for no wise fish going anywhere without a porpoise, were given up as untranslatable.

LORD SALISBURY

AND HIS TWO SONS.

From a photograph

by Lewis Carroll
.

At the beginning of 1870 Lord Salisbury came up to Oxford to be installed as Chancellor of the University.
Dr.
Liddon introduced Mr.
Dodgson to him, and thus began a very pleasant acquaintance.
Of course he photographed the Chancellor and his two sons, for he never missed an opportunity of getting distinguished people into his studio.

In December, seven "Puzzles from Wonderland" appeared in Mrs.
Gatty's paper,
Aunt Judy's Magazine
.
They had originally been written for the Cecil children, with whom Lewis Carroll was already on the best terms.
Meanwhile "Through the Looking-Glass" was steadily progressing—not, however, without many little hitches.
One question which exercised Mr.
Dodgson very much was whether the picture of the Jabberwock would do as a frontispiece, or whether it would be too frightening for little children.
On this point he sought the advice of about thirty of his married lady friends, whose experiences with their own children would make them trustworthy advisers; and in the end he chose the picture of the White Knight on horseback.
In 1871 the book appeared, and was an instantaneous success.
Eight thousand of the first edition had been taken up by the booksellers before Mr.
Dodgson had even received his own presentation copies.
The compliments he received upon the "Looking-Glass" would have been enough to turn a lesser man's head, but he was, I think, proof against either praise or blame.

I can say with a clear head and conscience [wrote Henry Kingsley] that your new book is the finest thing we have had since "Martin Chuzzlewit."
...
I can only say, in comparing the new "Alice" with the old, "this is a more excellent song than the other."
It is perfectly splendid, but you have, doubtless, heard that from other quarters.
I lunch with Macmillan habitually, and he was in a terrible pickle about not having printed enough copies the other day.

Jabberwocky
[017]
was at once recognised as the best and most original thing in the book, though one fair correspondent of
The Queen
declared that it was a translation from the German!
The late Dean of Rochester, Dr.
Scott, writes about it to Mr.
Dodgson as follows:—

Are we to suppose, after all, that the Saga of Jabberwocky is one of the universal heirlooms which the Aryan race at its dispersion carried with it from the great cradle of the family?
You must really consult Max Müller about this.
It begins to be probable that the
origo originalissima
may be discovered in Sanscrit, and that we shall by and by have a
Iabrivokaveda
.
The hero will turn out to be the Sun-god in one of his
Avatars
; and the Tumtum tree the great Ash
Ygdrasil
of the Scandinavian mythology.

In March, 1872, the late Mr.
A.A.
Vansittart, of Trinity College, Cambridge, translated the poem into Latin elegiacs.
His rendering was printed, for private circulation only, I believe, several years later, but will probably be new to most of my readers.
A careful comparison with the original shows the wonderful fidelity of this translation:—

"MORS IABROCHII"

Coesper
[018]
erat: tunc lubriciles
[019]
ultravia circum

Urgebant gyros gimbiculosque tophi;

Moestenui visae borogovides ire meatu;

Et profugi gemitus exgrabuêre rathae.

O fuge Iabrochium, sanguis meus!
[020]
Ille recurvis

Unguibus, estque avidis dentibus ille minax.

Ububae fuge cautus avis vim, gnate!
Neque unquam

Faedarpax contra te frumiosus eat!

Vorpali gladio juvenis succingitur: hostis

Manxumus ad medium quaeritur usque diem:

Jamque via fesso, sed plurima mente prementi,

Tumtumiae frondis suaserat umbra moram.

Consilia interdum stetit egnia
[021]
mente revolvens:

At gravis in densa fronde susuffrus
[022]
erat,

Spiculaque
[023]
ex oculis jacientis flammea, tulscam

Per silvam venit burbur?
[024]
Iabrochii!

Vorpali, semel atque iterum collectus in ictum,

Persnicuit gladio persnacuitque puer:

Deinde galumphatus, spernens informe cadaver,

Horrendum monstri rettulit ipse caput.

Victor Iabrochii, spoliis insignis opimis,

Rursus in amplexus, o radiose, meos!

O frabiose dies!
CALLO clamateque CALLA!

Vix potuit laetus chorticulare pater.

Coesper erat: tunc lubriciles ultravia circum

Urgebant gyros gimbiculosque tophi;

Moestenui visae borogovides ire meatu;

Et profugi gemitus exgrabuêre rathae.

A.A.V.

JABBERWOCKY.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves

Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;

All mimsy were the borogroves,

And the mome raths outgrabe.

"Beware the Jabberwock, my son!

The jaws that bite, the claws that scratch!

Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun

The frumious Bandersnatch!"

He took his vorpal sword in hand:

Long time the manxome foe he sought—

So rested he by the Tumtum tree,

And stood awhile in thought.

And as in uffish thought he stood,

The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,

Came whiffling through the tulgey wood

And burbled as it came!

One, two!
One, two!
And through and through

The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!

He left it dead, and with its head

He went galumphing back.

"And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?

Come to my arms, my beamish boy!

O frabjous day!
Callooh!
Callay!"

He chortled in his joy.

'Twas brillig, and the slithy toves