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 Mueller 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 exgrabuere 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.