Mr Corvill
A travelling lantern showman, a day early and a little doubtful about Venice.
Look closer at the illustration ↗Mr Corvill's public show is tomorrow. The trains have arranged things so that he must spend tonight in Little Tallowmere too, so he asks for somewhere to try a few newly coloured slides. His travelling lantern stands on the teacher's desk beside a wooden case of narrow compartments.
He had put the Venice slide with the doubtful ones, because the water is rather freely coloured. Shown on the sheet, it holds its place. He tells his audiences that the views are coloured by hand; he does not know the painter's name, as the pictures came to him with several others.
He carries a seed merchant's catalogue in an inner pocket, with a drawing of a cauliflower almost as wide as the man holding it. He has a small patch behind the house where he lodges between engagements, and likes to consider other varieties of pea, though the neighbour who minds the patch grows whichever did well the year before.
People they know
Miss Ansty · From the illustrated world of Candlebury Miss Ansty
His first audience for the new slides
Miss Ansty lends the schoolroom and watches Mr Corvill try his newly coloured slides before the public show.
Places in their stories
Little Tallowmere
A village green, pale stone, and an inn just beyond.
Little Tallowmere schoolhouse, from The Lantern Show.
Little Tallowmere schoolroom
Miss Ansty’s schoolroom, with a lime tree outside and a lantern show after lessons.
Customs & details
Stories
The Lantern Show at Little Tallowmere
After the schoolroom’s bustle, Miss Ansty and Mr Corvill have time for a smaller lantern show of their own.
With Miss Ansty, Mr Corvill