Excerpt
When Betsinda held the RoseAnd the Ring decked Giglio’s fingerThackeray! ’twas sport to lingerWith thy wise, gay-hearted prose.Books were merry, goodness knows!When Betsinda held the Rose. Who but foggy drudglings dozeWhile Rob Gilpin toasts thy witches,While the Ghost waylays thy breeches,Ingoldsby? Such tales as thoseExorcised our peevish woesWhen Betsinda held the Rose. Realism, thou specious pose!Haply it is good we met thee;But, passed by, we’ll scarce regret thee;For we love the light that glowsWhere Queen Fancy’s pageant goes,And Betsinda holds the Rose. Shall we dare it? Then let’s closeDoors to-night on things statistic,Seek the hearth in circle mystic,Till the conjured fire-light showsWhere Youth’s bubbling Fountain flows,And Betsinda holds the Rose.
We two—the author and his illustrator—did not know what we had done until the newspapers told us. But the press has explained it in the following poised and consistent criticism:
“Too many suggestions of profanity.”—Congregationalist, Boston, 8 Dec. ’92.
“It ought to be the delight of the nursery.”—National Tribune, Washington, 22 Dec. ’92.
“Grotesque and horrible.”—Zion’s Herald, Boston, 21 Dec. ’92.
“Some excellent moral lessons.”—Citizen, Brooklyn, 27 Nov. ’92.
“If it has any lesson to teach, we have been unable to find it.”—Independent, New York, 10 Nov. ’92.
“The story is a familiar one.”—Detroit Free Press, 28 Nov. ’92.
“Refreshingly novel.”—Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, 17 Dec. ’92.
“It is a burlesque.”—Atlantic Monthly, Dec. ’92.
“All those who love lessons drawn from life will enjoy this book.”—Christian Advocate, Cincinnati, 2 Nov. ’92.
“The style of this production is difficult to define.”—Court Journal, London, 26 Nov. ’92.
“One wonders why writer and artist should put so much labor on a production which seems to have so little reason for existence.”—Herald and Presbyterian, Cincinnati.
Now the public knows exactly what sort of book this is, and we cannot be held responsible.
PAGE How Sir Godfrey came to lose his Temper How his Daughter, Miss Elaine, behaved herself in Consequence Reveals the Dragon in his Den Tells you more about Him than was ever told before to Anybody In which the Hero makes his First Appearance and is Locked Up immediately In which Miss Elaine loses her Heart, and finds Something of the Greatest Importance Shows what Curious Things you may see, if you don’t go to Bed when you are sent Contains a Dilemma with two simply egregious Horns Leaves much Room for guessing about Chapter Ten The great White Christmas at Wantley Page 3 4 7 9 11 13 17 19 27 32 33 34 35 39 41 43 49 51 52 55 61 62 69 75 76 77 84 89 90 91 96 101 111 112 113 120 128 135 136 142 148 155, 156 167 168 176 181 185 186 187 192 198 203 208
here was something wrong in the cellar at Wantley Manor....