"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.