Page:More Nonsense, Pictures, Rhymes, Botany, etc. (1872).djvu/13

Rh ‘‘The name is ‘Edward Lear,’” said one of the ladies.

“Ah!” said the first-speaker; ‘‘so it is printed, but that is only a whim of the real author, the Earl of Derby. ‘Edward’ is his christian name, and, as you may see, is only  transposed.”

‘‘But,’’ said the lady, doubtingly, ‘‘here is a dedication to the great-grand-children, grand-nephews, and grand-nieces of Edward, thirteenth Earl of Derby, by the author, Edward Lear.”

‘‘That,” replied the other, ‘‘is simply a piece of mystification; I am in a position to know that the whole book was composed and illustrated by Lord Derby himself. In fact, there is no such a person at all as Edward Lear.”

“Yet,’’ said the other lady, ‘‘some friends of mine tell me they know Mr. Lear.”

‘‘Quite a mistake! completely a mistake!” said the old gentleman, becoming rather angry at the contradiction, ‘‘I am well aware of what I am saying: I can inform you, no such a person as ‘Edward Lear’ exists!”

Hitherto I had kept silence, but as my hat was, as well as my handkerchief and stick, largely marked inside with my name, and, as I happened to have in my pocket several letters addressed to me, the temptation was too great to resist, so, flashing all these articles at once on my would-be extinguisher’s attention, I speedily reduced him to silence.

The second volume of Nonsense, commencing with the verses, “The Owl and the Pussy Cat,’’ was written at different times; and for different sets of children: the whole being collected in