The Dragon of Wantley: His Tale

The Dragon of Wantley: His Tale
Owen Wister

Wister Owen

The Dragon of Wantley: His Tale

TO

MY ANCIENT PLAYMATES IN APPIAN

WAY CAMBRIDGE THIS LIKELY

STORY IS DEDICATED FOR REASONS

BEST KNOWN TO THEMSELVES

Preface

When Betsinda held the Rose
And the Ring decked Giglio’s finger
Thackeray! ’twas sport to linger
With thy wise, gay-hearted prose.
Books were merry, goodness knows!
When Betsinda held the Rose.

Who but foggy drudglings doze
While Rob Gilpin toasts thy witches,
While the Ghost waylays thy breeches,
Ingoldsby? Such tales as those
Exorcised our peevish woes
When 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 glows
Where Queen Fancy’s pageant goes,
And Betsinda holds the Rose.

Shall we dare it? Then let’s close
Doors to-night on things statistic,
Seek the hearth in circle mystic,
Till the conjured fire-light shows
Where Youth’s bubbling Fountain flows,
And Betsinda holds the Rose.

Preface to the second edition

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.

CHAPTER I.

How Sir Godfrey came to lose his Temper