History & The Arts
Edward Lear's Nonsense Songs
...writing. Edward Lear – the 20th child of a bankrupt and widowed businessman - was brought up by his elder sister. The young Lear had epilepsy – a condition stigmatised at the time, but he also had precocious artistic gifts. As a young man he was summoned to Knowsley Hall in Merseyside to paint the Earl of Derby’s menagerie. The aboriginal names of some of the exotic...