THE
LIFE AND LETTERS
OF
LEWIS CARROLL
(REV. C. L. DODGSON)
BY
STUART DODGSON COLLINGWOOD
B.A. CHRIST CHURCH, OXFORD
1898
TO THE
CHILD FRIENDS
OF
LEWIS CARROLL
AND TO ALL WHO LOVE HIS WRITINGS
THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED
PREFACE
It is with no undue confidence that I have accepted the
invitation of the brothers and sisters of Lewis Carroll to write
this Memoir. I am well aware that the path of the biographer is
beset with pitfalls, and that, for him, _suppressio veri_ is
almost necessarily _suggestio falsi_--the least omission may
distort the whole picture.
To write the life of Lewis Carroll as it should be written
would tax the powers of a man of far greater experience and
insight than I have any pretension to possess, and even he would
probably fail to represent adequately such a complex personality.
At least I have done my best to justify their choice, and if in
any way I have wronged my uncle's memory, unintentionally, I
trust that my readers will pardon me.
My task has been a delightful one. Intimately as I thought I
knew Mr. Dodgson during his life, I seem since his death to have
become still better acquainted with him. If this Memoir helps
others of his admirers to a fuller knowledge of a man whom to
know was to love, I shall not have written in vain.
I take this opportunity of thanking those who have so kindly
assisted me in my work, and first I must mention my old
schoolmaster, the Rev. Watson Hagger, M.A., to whom my readers
are indebted for the portions of this book dealing with Mr.
Dodgson's mathematical works. I am greatly indebted to Mr.
Dodgson's relatives, and to all those kind friends of his and
others who have aided me, in so many ways, in my difficult task.
In particular, I may mention the names of H.R.H. the Duchess of
Albany; Miss Dora Abdy; Mrs. Egerton Allen; Rev. F. H. Atkinson;
Sir G. Baden-Powell, M.P.; Mr. A. Ball; Rev. T. Vere Bayne; Mrs.
Bennie; Miss Blakemore; the Misses Bowman; Mrs. Boyes; Mrs.
Bremer; Mrs. Brine; Miss Mary Brown; Mrs. Calverley; Miss
Gertrude Chataway; Mrs. Chester; Mr. J. C. Cropper; Mr. Robert
Davies; Miss Decima Dodgson; the Misses Dymes; Mrs. Eschwege;
Mrs. Fuller; Mr. Harry Furniss; Rev. C. A. Goodhart; Mrs.
Hargreaves; Miss Rose Harrison; Mr. Henry Holiday; Rev. H.
Hopley; Miss Florence Jackson; Rev. A. Kingston; Mrs. Kitchin;
Mrs. Freiligrath Kroeker; Mr. F. Madan; Mrs. Maitland; Miss M. E.
Manners; Miss Adelaide Paine; Mrs. Porter; Miss Edith Rix; Rev.
C. J. Robinson, D.D.; Mr. S. Rogers; Mrs. Round; Miss Isabel
Standen; Mr. L. Sergeant; Miss Gaynor Simpson; Mrs. Southwall;
Sir John Tenniel; Miss E. Gertrude Thomson; Mrs. Woodhouse; and
Mrs. Wyper.
For their help in the work of compiling the Bibliographical
chapter and some other parts of the book, my thanks are due to
Mr. E. Baxter, Oxford; the Controller of the University Press,
Oxford; Mr. A. J. Lawrence, Rugby; Messrs. Macmillan and Co.,
London; Mr. James Parker, Oxford; and Messrs. Ward, Lock and Co.,
London.
In the extracts which I have given from Mr. Dodgson's Journal
and Correspondence it will be noticed that Italics have been
somewhat freely employed to represent the words which he
underlined. The use of Italics was so marked a feature of his
literary style, as any one who has read his books must have
observed, that without their aid the rhetorical effect, which he
always strove to produce, would have been seriously marred.
S. DODGSON COLLINGWOOD
GUILDFORD, _September_, 1898.
CONTENTS
PREFACE
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
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"