Nonsense Books | Page 4

now
concerned. The first of these, originally published in 1846, and brought
out in an enlarged form in 1863, is exclusively devoted to
nonsense-verses of one type. Mr. Lear is careful to disclaim the credit
of having created this type, for he tells us in the preface to his third
book that "the lines beginning, 'There was an old man of Tobago,' were
suggested to me by a valued friend, as a form of verse leading itself to
limitless variety for Rhymes and Pictures." Dismissing the further
question of the authorship of "There was an old man of Tobago," we
propose to give a few specimens of Mr. Lear's Protean powers as
exhibited in the variation of this simple type. Here, to begin with, is a

favorite verse, which we are very glad to have an opportunity of giving,
as it is often incorrectly quoted, "cocks" being substituted for "owls" in
the third line:
"There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared!
Two Owls and a Hen, four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests
in my beard!'"
With the kindly fatalism which is the distinctive note of the foregoing
stanza, the sentiment of our next extract is in vivid contrast:--
"There was an Old Man in a tree, Who was terribly bored by a bee;
When they said, 'Does it buzz?' he replied, 'Yes, it does! It's a regular
brute of a Bee.'"
To the foregoing verse an historic interest attaches, if, that is, we are
right in supposing it to have inspired Mr. Gilbert with his famous
"Nonsense-Rhyme in Blank Verse." We quote from memory:--
"There was an Old Man of St. Bees, Who was stung in the arm by a
wasp. When they asked, 'Does it hurt?' he replied, 'No, it doesn't, But I
thought all the while 'twas a Hornet!'"
Passing over the lines referring to the "Young Person" of Crete to
whom the epithet "ombliferous" is applied, we may be pardoned--on
the ground of the geographical proximity of the two countries
named--for quoting together two stanzas which in reality are separated
by a good many pages:--
"There was a Young Lady of Norway, Who casually sat in a doorway;
When the doors queezed her flat, she exclaimed, 'What of that?' This
courageous young person of Norway."
"There was a Young Lady of Sweden, Who went by the slow train to
Weedon; When they cried, 'Weedon Station!' she made no observation,
But thought she should go back to Sweden."
A noticeable feature about this first book, and one which we think is
peculiar to it, is the harsh treatment which the eccentricities of the
inhabitants of certain towns appear to have met with at the hands of
their fellow-residents. No less than three people are "smashed,"--the
Old Man of Whitehaven "who danced a quadrille with a Raven;" the
Old Person of Buda; and the Old Man with a gong "who bumped at it
all the day long," though in the last-named case we admit that there was
considerable provocation. Before quitting the first "Nonsense-Book,"
we would point out that it contains one or two forms that are interesting;

for instance, "scroobious," which we take to be a Portmanteau word,
and "spickle-speckled," a favorite form of reduplication with Mr. Lear,
and of which the best specimen occurs in his last book, "He
tinkledy-binkledy-winkled the bell." The second book, published in
1871, shows Mr. Lear in the maturity of sweet desipience, and will
perhaps remain the favorite volume of the four to grown-up readers.
The nonsense-songs are all good, and "The Story of the Four little
Children who went Round the World" is the most exquisite piece of
imaginative absurdity that the present writer is acquainted with. But
before coming to that, let us quote a few lines from "The Jumblies,"
who, as all the world knows, went to sea in a sieve:--
"They sailed to the Western Sea, they did, To a land all covered with
trees. And they bought an Owl, and a useful Cart, And a pound of Rice,
and a Cranberry Tart, And a hive of silvery Bees. And they bought a
Pig, and some green Jack-Daws, And a lovely Monkey with lollipop
paws, And forty bottles of Ring-Bo-Ree, And no end of Stilton Cheese.
_Far and few, far and few, Are the lands where the Jumblies live. Their
heads are green, and their hands are blue, And they went to sea in a
sieve._ And in twenty years they all came back, In twenty years or
more, And every one said, 'How tall they've grown! For they've been to
the Lakes, and the Torrible Zone, And the hills of the Chankly Bore.'"
From the pedestrian excursion of the Table and the Chair, we cannot
resist