In 1853 Archdeacon Dodgson was collated and installed as one of the Canons of Ripon Cathedral.  This appointment necessitated a residence of three months in every year at Ripon, where Dr. Erskine was then Dean.  A certain Miss Anderson, who used to stay at the Deanery, had very remarkable “clairvoyant” powers; she was able—­it was averred—­by merely holding in her hand a folded paper containing some words written by a person unknown to her, to describe his or her character.  In this way, at what precise date is uncertain, she dictated the following description of Lewis Carroll:  “Very clever head; a great deal of number; a great deal of imitation; he would make a good actor; diffident; rather shy in general society; comes out in the home circle; rather obstinate; very clever; a great deal of concentration; very affectionate; a great deal of wit and humour; not much eventuality (or memory of events); fond of deep reading; imaginative, fond, of reading poetry; may compose.”  Those who knew him well will agree that this was, at any rate, a remarkable coincidence.

Longley, afterwards Primate, was then Bishop of Ripon.  His charming character endeared him to the Archdeacon and his family, as to every one else who saw much of him.  He was one of the few men whose faces can truly be called beautiful; it was a veil through which a soul, all gentleness and truth, shone brightly.

In the early part of 1854 Mr. Dodgson was reading hard for “Greats.”  For the last three weeks before the examination he worked thirteen hours a day, spending the whole night before the viva voce over his books.  But philosophy and history were not very congenial subjects to him, and when the list was published his name was only in the third class.

[Illustration:  Archbishop Longley.]

He spent the Long Vacation at Whitby, reading Mathematics with Professor Price.  His work bore good fruit, for in October he obtained First Class Honours in the Final Mathematical School.  “I am getting quite tired of being congratulated on various subjects,” he writes; “there seems to be no end of it.  If I had shot the Dean I could hardly have had more said about it.”

In another letter dated December 13th, he says: 

Enclosed you will find a list which I expect you to rejoice over considerably; it will take me more than a day to believe it, I expect—­I feel at present very like a child with a new toy, but I daresay I shall be tired of it soon, and wish to be Pope of Rome next....  I have just been to Mr. Price to see how I did in the papers, and the result will I hope be gratifying to you.  The following were the sums total for each in the First Class, as nearly as I can remember:—­

    Dodgson ... ... ... 279
    Bosanquet ... ... ... 261
    Cookson ... ... ... 254
    Fowler ... ... ... 225
    Ranken ... ... ... 213