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."

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 be