A Train of Thought.

Now then Emily,

I know we said Humpty Dumpty tonight, and I know I said so for two nights running- but we have read it before Emily you remember?

Anyway GiGi wants to tell you how Alice ended up as a train journey of thought, and how this figured in Dodgson's idea for a sequel.

All right, ok, I'm sorry, and I will tell you about Humpty again I promise. Look, here's a nice new picture of Alice for you. She's on a train...

Not only that Em, but the inspiration for this one ( though GiGi's colouring in lends itself more to Modigliani met Van Gogh on an off day- but then your Daddy paints like that too! ) was your very own Millais!

'My first sermon' Millais

1863

So there you are Em, pre-raph your little heart out on that one ( you'd look good in red by the way. )

Back to business.

So, Dodgson says of his first visit to Wighty, that he happened to come down and stay with an old friend, and that he wasn't coming down just to see Tennyson. Ok. Well, 'Collyns'- said friend wasn't actually in the area, he was on the way- and could easily have been picked up and brought to the Isle, by train or horse. Collyns taught at the school in Hampshire that Dean Liddell's son Harry was a pupil at ( Dodgson's first child friend- he had first met all the Liddells also on a train journey in 1856, just before he accidentally met them again at Oxford whilst photographing the Chapel.) In 1857, there were rumours of an affair with the Liddell's governess- 'Miss Prickett' ( some indicate this as the key to his duality of personality- a broken heart peut-etre. ) We won't bother with the conjecture.

However, when Dodgson came down for the third time, in 1864, after the famous boat-trip that inspired his tale in - he had also had a similarly inspiring train journey with the Liddells in Spring 1863, during which tales were as usual told- but hadn't made it into his debut tome. ( This journey does make it  into chapter three of 'Looking Glass', with a pastiche of Disreali- Tenniel in Punch-stylee dressed in his 'White Paper'. )

Dodgson liked train journeys, and by the time he came down for his 1864 visit- the impending railway route from Yarmouth to Freshwater was still twenty-four years away from fruition- Tennyson being a vociferous objector. 

But this particular journey, prior to the publication of 'Alice in Wonderland' lay dormant, whilst putting said book to bed. 

The characters he met and lampooned here, were woven into an altogether darker sequel. The grotesque, the pre-surrealistic animals ( inspired by the zeit-geist of 'Grandeville' who was Tenniels French protagenist- who has been heralded as the precursor of the Surrealist movement ) and the twisted tangled turn of mind have all distilled into the sequel combining into the most famous childrens books of all time.

There we are Emily, I made my point. 

Hope you liked the pictures.

Sleep well, little one.

Your ever-loving Grand-mother- GiGi xxx

Meeting my thoughts coming back.

Hello Emily,

Brr 'tis cold today. Got to get Miss Emilia and Mr Marley exercised though- up the Down and towards the Monument. When you reach the top and look down towards Yarmouth you can see the view that Dodgson ( a keen walker as well as stalker ) would have seen- which is pertinent to our Chapter today- so shall muffle up and get up there for a piccie for you!

So, Emily, I wrote the above bit this morning- and had intended to do a little bit about the scenery and where Dodgson was inspired to set his characters- and then we were moving on to the Edward Lear chapter. But, me-thinks we shall alight here as it's probably worth a post of its own!

Here's a War department map of the time. Just to the left of the Bay, is Plumbly's Hotel where Dodgson was staying for three weeks in July/August 1864.
Dodgson was known to be a keen walker- often covering 20-30 miles a day. You can see Farringford in the middle of the map, surrounded by trees and meadows, defined by hedges and trees. Just to the bottom of the estate is a plot surrounded by woodland coined 'The Wilderness' ( which crops up in 'Through the Looking Glass'. )

If one takes a diagonal route up from Plumbly's and over the Down through the Wilderness and then onwards off the map to the left, one reaches The Needles- and the then 'Needles Hotel' where we know Dodgson walked to visit friends. That he took this route more than once is also known- and as it is a walk of outstanding natural beauty, plus it means you get a good look at the Farringford Estate, from what we have already learned about Dodgson, it's highly likely he tromped around quite a bit.

I've been convinced that this particular scenery was where Dodgson placed his story since we moved here last June- it was the scenery that actually gave me the first clues. The Wilderness is mentioned, and each precise Tenniel illustration sums up the woodlands and copses succintly for me.

But to try and show the reader my birds-eye view? Tricky.

Anyhows, off I went Em armed with two Labradors to get some shots that aid my notes.
Here they are:-

This is on the way up towards the High Down, ie across a field from Plumbly's towards the Wilderness.

( We'll go into the Wilderness another time ) This one is when you turn around and start to come back, and look across the meadows towards the Farringford.

Turning your head towards the right you start to see squarish meadows cutting the landscape into chunks edged with hedgerows.

Looking further to the right again, you can see GiGi's house in the middle and Freshwater Bay peeking out on the right. This scenery was also intersected with Hedgerow in the 1860's, you can see some of this on the map.

And there you are, on your way back to Plumbly's with the Bay in full sight ( again, remember the fields were at that time intersected and outlined with hedgerows. )

So there we were Em, I thought that was adequate to show where I was coming from on this- so to speak. So I sat down to do a 'colouring in'...

And, whaddya know... It was there all along! Tenniel had already drawn the Bay in the top right hand corner I just hadn't seen it before...

Lucky old GiGi, saves a bit of doubt for the reader eh Em!

Tomorrow, we'll get on to Humpty Dumpty I expect.

Yours as always- ever-loving Grand-mother GiGi xxx

The Lion and the Unicorn

Dearest Em,

Benjamin Disraeli, British Prime Minister and Statesman (1804-1881) wrote "The best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write a book about it." So now he crops up in ours.

The Chap here on the left is William Ewart Gladstone. Born in 1809, and from a wealthy upper middle class family, and educated at  Christchurch Oxford, where he from 1828- matriculating in 1831 ( twenty years before Dodgson matriculated there. ) In 1847, he was elected at Oxford to represent the MA  Graduates. Gladstone entered Parliament as a High Tory in 1832, having been given Office by Lord Peel. When the Conservatives split- Gladstone became a 'Peelite' and henceforth, a Liberal Statesman.

Queen Victoria was not amused with him, and is on record as saying " He always addresses me as if he were at a public meeting".

Famously short-sighted, he is mentioned in Lord Eversley's book 'Gladstone and Ireland' thus..

" He missed his way to the trench, in Sebastapol, and found himself in the lines of the enemy ".

Another arch-enemy was the fellow on the right- Benjamin Disreali. Born in 1804, this Italian Jew was not of high-born stock. Educated in Walthamstow, writing books to pay off creditors, and then suffering a nervous break-down, Disraeli married a rich woman and sought a career in Politics as a Tory. Being passed over by Peel in 1832 for a place at Parliament in favour of Gladstone, their vitriolic feud began- and it never ended.

The first Prime Minister of Jewish ethnicity he served from 27 February to 1st December 1868, when Gladstone succeeded him, and again in 1874, until 1880 ( when Gladstone succeeded him again! )

A Dandy and a keen horseman one of his many sayings was " A canter is a cure for all evil ".

Queen Victoria was amused by Disraeli. When he died, it was not correct for her to attend his funeral. So she visited privately and took flowers instead.

The lion and the unicorn

Were fighting for the crown

The lion beat the unicorn

All around the town.

Some gave them white bread,

And some gave them brown;

Some gave them plum cake

and drummed them out of town

Lewis Carroll's Lion wears glasses, and the Unicorn with his long spike in the centre of his forehead is part-horse. 

What do you think Em? Likely suspects Gladstone and Disreali? I reckon so...

This is such fun!

Your ever-loving Grand-mother, GiGi xxx