Page:Complete Works of Lewis Carroll.djvu/534

514 SYLVIE AND BRUNO CONCLUDED In the Preface to Vol. I., at p. 278, 1 gave an account of the origination of some of the ideas embodied in the book. A few more such details may perhaps interest my Readers : — I. p. 395. The very peculiar use, here made of a dead mouse, comes from real life. I once found two very small boys, in a garden, playing a microscopic game of "Single- Wicket." The bat was, I think, about the size of a table- spoon; and the utmost distance attained by the ball, in its most daring flights, was some 4 or 5 yards. The exact length was of course a matter of supreme importance; and it was always carefully measured out (the batsman and the bowler amicably sharing the toil) with a dead mouse! I. p. 425. The two quasi-mathematical Axioms, quoted by Arthur at p. 425 of Vol. I., ("Things that are greater than the same are greater than one another," and "All angles are equal") were actually enunciated, in all seri- ousness, by undergraduates at a University situated not 100 miles from Ely. II. p. 528. Bruno's remark ("I can, if I like, &c.") was actually made by a little boy. II. p. 529. So also was his remark ("I know what it doesn't spell.") And his remark ("I just twiddled my eyes, &c.") I heard from the lips of a little girl, who had just solved a puzzle I had set her. II. p. 554. Bruno's soliloquy ("For its father, &c.") was actually spoken by a little girl, looking out of the window of a railway-carriage. II. p. 599. The remark, made by a guest at the dinner- party, when asking for a dish of fruit ("I've been wishing for them, &c.") I heard made by the great Poet-Laureate, whose loss the whole reading-world has so lately had to deplore.