MT did meet Darwin at least once, 1879 I think; in the UK, up at CD's country place in the Lake District. There is a fair amount written about this MT-CD connection, such as in Baetzhold's very thorough book and also the excellent one by Sherwood Cummings, two gems from the past. -hb On Thu, Dec 10, 2015 at 2:38 PM, Peter Salwen <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > This is new to me, though it may be familiar to many of you already. It's > from the New York Times of 1/8/1908: > > Darwin and Alice in the "Looking Glass." > > Col Higginson in The Atlantic Monthly. > > I remember that at my first visit, in 1872, I was telling him of an > address before the Philological Society by Dr. Andrew J. Ellis, in which he > had quoted from Alice in the "Looking Glass" the description of what were > called portmanteau words, into which various meanings were crammed. As I > spoke, Mrs. Darwin glided quietly away, got the book, and looked up the > passage. "Read it out, my dear," said her husband, and as she read the > amusing page he laid his head back and laughed heartily. > > Here was the man who had revolutionized the science of the world giving > himself wholly to the enjoyment of Alice and her pretty nonsense. Akin to > this was his hearty enjoyment of Mark Twain, who then had hardly begun to > be regarded as above the Josh Billings grade of humorist, but Darwin was > amazed that I had not read "The Jumping Frog," and said that he always kept > it by his bedside for midnight amusement. > *_________________________________* > > *Peter Salwen /* salwen.com > *114 W 86, NYC 10024 | 917-620-5371* > -- Prof. Harold K. Bush Professor of English 3800 Lindell Saint Louis University St. Louis, MO 63108 314-977-3616 (w); 314-771-6795 (h) <www.slu.edu/x23809.xml>