What do you think Lewis Carroll was talking about in the poem when
referring
to the lace making beaver, he said:
Though the Barrister tried to appeal to its pride
And vainly proceeded to cite
A number of cases, in which making laces
Had been proved an infringement of right
I'm supposing that there might be some word play intended with
"fringe" but
I think there must be more to it than that.
Devon
Not a scholar -- haven't even read the Annotated that Noelene mentioned
-- but my early Marxist indoctrination would suggest the following
argument:
1) All the crew is lower and middle class (from Boots and Bellman
through Butcher and Baker to Barrister and Broker. I wonder if there's
any significance in all those Bs ? <g>), and they're hunting for a
Snark, whose description is suspiciously like that of an aristocrat
(see the end of the Fit the Second)
2) In their common pursuit, they not only forgo some of their natural
animosities, but engage in labours that are outside their usual area:
The Boots and the Broker were sharpening a spade—
Each working the grindstone in turn:
Not all of them, however:
But the Beaver went on making lace, and displayed
No interest in the concern:
The Beaver not only doesn't participate in the grunt work; he (I doubt
it's a she; there seeem to be no "she-s" on that ship. OTOH, I could,
probably, cobble up an argument to the contrary, too <g>) continues
with his normal work. And it's work that produces something rather
frivolous. So, has he sold out to the other side? Is his commitment to
the hunting of the Snark serious? Perhaps it needs some bolstering?
That's when we get the stanza that Devon's asking about:
Though the Barrister tried to appeal to its pride,
And vainly proceeded to cite
A number of cases, in which making laces
Had been proved an infringement of right.
3) If we assume 1 & 2, then the reference is, probably... to the
sumptuary laws, which didn't allow the lower and middle classes to wear
laces, infringing on their right to do so, even supposing that some of
them could afford to (obviously, the Butcher isn't short a bob)
And yes, the juxtopposition of "laces" and "infringement" (play on
"fringe") feeds into it -- cleverly -- as well. If you go back to the
description of Snarks, you'll find that they do not like puns... :)
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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