The Dragon of Wantley: His Tale

by Owen Wister

  Produced by Irma Spehar and the Online DistributedProofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file wasproduced from images generously made available by TheInternet Archive/American Libraries.)

  THE DRAGON OF WANTLEY

  HIS TALE

  _By_ Owen Wister

  _Illustrations by John Stewardson_

  SECOND EDITION

  Philadelphia J.B.LIPPINCOTT COMPANY 1895

  .COPYRIGHT.1892.

  .BY.J.B.LIPPINCOTT.COMPANY.

  PRINTED.BY.J.B.LIPPINCOTT.COMPANY

  .PHILADELPHIA.USA.]

  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 doneuntil the newspapers told us. But the press has explained it in thefollowing 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 cannotbe held responsible.