Kitty Riddle

The "Kitty Riddle" in Emma

Additional information from way down deep in the rabbit hole

My article about Mr. Woodhouse's riddle "Kitty, a Fair But Frozen Maid," appears in the 2022 Persuasions online, the journal of the Jane Austen Society of North America. Here's the introduction to the article:

“Kitty, a Fair but Frozen Maid,” the riddle that Mr. Woodhouse attempts to recall in Emma, is a real poem dating from 1750 or possibly earlier. Traditionally the riddle has been read as full of clever double meanings that point to “Cupid” as the answer when the correct answer is “a chimneysweep,” but in modern times two prominent Austen scholars have argued that the riddle is really about prostitution and venereal disease. Their interpretation has been widely accepted and promulgated and is used to support the argument that Austen was more severely critical of her times than prior scholarship has acknowledged.

Cupid and Chimneysweep

My Persuasion article lays out the research I've done to support my argument that this modern interpretation of the riddle is mistaken. If you want to hear the other side of the argument , an episode of the podcast "The Thing about Austen" with guest scholar Lynn Festa discusses the Kitty riddle from the point of view of it's being an x-rated riddle. Below, I share some information and research that didn't make it into the article.

The "Kitty" riddle, 3 stanza version, copied into a private 18th c. "common-place" book, Courtesy Leeds University Library Special Collections

David Garrick, (1717-1779) actor, playwright and theatrical manager

Authorship of the riddle

The Kitty riddle was discussed by R.W. Chapman, the pioneering Austen scholar, in 1926. At that time, the only source he knew of for the riddle was a 1771 book called The New Foundling Hospital for Wit. But the poem is a lot older than that. The earliest version I've found dates back to 1750, and I am pretty sure some earlier versions will be discovered. Further, many variations have been published since then, so obviously many different hands have tinkered with it. Since it is a riddle, it was intended to be read or recited aloud as a parlor game so it spread orally as well as by print.
We can’t be certain who wrote Kitty, a Fair and Frozen Maid. As we know from the internet, there is a strange breed of person who likes to incorrectly ascribe quotes and stories to famous people, such as those who claim that Jane Austen said, “It isn't what we say or think that defines us, but what we do.” This happened in the pre-internet world as well. The Kitty riddle is most often credited to playwright David Garrick (1717-1779). It was attributed to “D____ G____, Esq.” before Garrick’s death and the four-stanza version appeared in biographies of Garrick after his death. The editor of the 1785 Poetical Works says Garrick was “careless and indifferent about his smaller productions [and] dispersed them in such a variety of publications that, had he been now living, he would probably have found some difficulty in assembling them together, or even, without assistance, to recollect them.”
However, the riddle has also been ascribed to others as shown below, including the noted essayist and wit Lord Chesterfield.
The date shown below is the date the attribution was made, not necessarily when the poem is alleged to have been authored.

The riddle has been attributed to....

1750? “A young gentleman, on [the occasion of] the maid setting fire to the chimney”
1757 “A Lady, whose Maid had set her Chimney on Fire.”
1764 David Garrick. David Garrick would have been 33 in 1750, so, entirely possible.
1772 Snowball
1773 Lord Chesterfield (1694- 1773)
1789 Camillus (using a Latin name used to be a popular way to being anonymous)
1837 Corsely Davis (I have found no records of this person)
1857 Sam Rogers. If this is Samuel Rogers (1763 - 1855) a poet from Newington Green, he is too young to have authored the original Kitty riddle. This anecdote of the family claims: “Sam Rogers loved frolic and humour and wit as much as any Sam that ever lived.” The memoir also recounts when the riddle was written but does not supply a date: “The Roger’s kitchen chimney was twice on fire. On the second occasion the cook’s anxiety for the arrival of that departed victim the sweep was so ludicrously intermingled with lamentable recollections of the damage and dabs left behind him on the first, that the “lively touches” of her master’s humour were inspired, and the event honored by this playful tribute from the harmonious, and then rising and mirthful, muse of ‘Sam.’” His version is reproduced below.
1897 Lady Anne Barnard (1750 –1825). The unique version ascribed to Lady Anne Barnard, a Scottish socialite and travel writer, is reproduced below; however, since the riddle was in circulation when she was seven years old, if not earlier, she could not have been the original author.

See also Appendix A: Publication History (pdf), part of my Persuasions article.

See here for more examples of Georgian love poetry which used the words "flames," "victims," "bleeding" and so forth to describe unrequited love or lust.

Typical version of the riddle:

Kitty, a fair, but frozen maid,
Kindled a flame I still deplore;
The hood-wink’d boy I call’d in aid,
Much of his near approach afraid,
So fatal to my suit before.

At length, propitious to my pray’r,
The little urchin came;
At once he sought the midway air,
And soon he clear’d, with dextrous care,
The bitter relicks of my flame.

To Kitty, Fanny now succeeds,
She kindles slow, but lasting fires:
With care my appetite she feeds;
Each day some willing victim bleeds,
To satisfy my strange desires.

Say, by what title, or what name,
Must I this youth address?
Cupid and he are not the same,
Tho’ both can raise, or quench a flame--
I’ll kiss you, if you guess.

Answer: a chimney-sweep

Three-Stanza and Four-Stanza Version -- some speculation

I suggest that the three-stanza version is the earliest version, and the additional stanza about the willing victim[s] who bleed is a later interposition. That third stanza stands out for more than one reason. It has a connection to Cupid in terms of the idiomatic expressions which were used in the 18th century, in that the victim is sacrificed on the altar of love, just as a log is tossed on the fire. But the verse doesn't give us a clue to help us solve the riddle. We have a careful maid building fires and satisfying someone's warm desires. The emphasis is on the fire in the hearth, not on the "little urchin." The clues are there in the first two stanzas (suit/soot) and the final stanza gives one final clue about raising or quenching a flame.
The publication history of the riddle shows that sometimes the four stanza version, and sometimes the three stanza version, was published. It's true that the three-stanza version is often used in publications aimed at women or young people and some researchers have referred to the three-stanza version as the "bowdlerized" version. Is there any significance to this? Did some editors find the "willing victims" stanza too jarring? Or did they notice that it doesn't contain any clues? Or they just weren't familiar with this version? We can only speculate.

So which version of the riddle was Jane Austen acquainted with, the three-stanza or four-stanza version? We will never know, and we don’t know where she first saw it, or if someone recited the riddle to her. Scholars who assert that she must have seen it in this or that publication, such as in the 1771 The New Foundling Hospital for Wit, are probably unaware of just how widely it was re-published and copied into private riddle collections like Harriet Smith's. We also can't know how often it was simply passed along orally as a parlor entertainment.
Other and earlier versions may come to light as more old material is digitized.

Graphic and obscene riddle is okay for children?

As I point out in my main article in Persuasions, the Kitty riddle appears in many publications for women and children. I will grant you that very often, the version used is the "three stanza" version, without the verse about the willing victims who bleed (see full riddle above). However, according to the modern analysis, there are still plenty of sexual allusions in the three stanza version--references to sex, prostitutes and venereal disease. And, if many parents knew the full length, supposedly filthy version of the riddle, would they not object to its inclusion in a children's book anyway?

Illustration and introduction from The Sphinx; Or, Allegorical Lozenges. By a Descendant of Cleobulina, an Ancient Composer of Enigmas,&c. United Kingdom, W. Darton,, 1812 "Kitty" is "Chloe" in this version.

Variations of the riddle

Many minor variations of the riddle have appeared, especially variations of the final line. The difference between “I’ll kiss you if you guess,” and “Tis now for you to guess,” might be the difference between a riddle intended to be read aloud as a parlour game, and a riddle reproduced in a periodical.

Variations to the first stanza:

“Kitty” is given as “Chloe,” “Delia,” “Nancy,” and "Mary"
Kitty a fair but forward maid
Kitty a fair but froward maid
Kitty, a fair but thoughtless maid

The hoodwink’d boy she called in aid
The love-winked boy I called in aid

Variations to the second stanza:

At length the little urchin came
From earth I saw him mount the air
And by his wand he cured my flame
and Soothed my woe with anxious care

I saw him spurn the humble ground
And wave aloft his Conquering Arms
Til high in the air I heard him sound
His conquest o’er my vain alarms.

Variations to the third stanza:

To Kitty, Sally now succeeds,
Who kindles slow, but lasting Fires,
Each Appetite of mine she feeds
(or with care my appetite she feeds)
While ev’ry day a Victim bleeds,
(or “each day a willing victim bleeds,”)
To satisfy my strange (or warm) Desires.

Each Appetite of mine she feeds
each day a willing victim bleeds

Lady Anne Barnard

Lady Anne’s version uses four-line stanzas instead of five line stanzas. It omits the “bleeding victims” stanza but the second stanza is elaborated over two stanzas.[i]

A Cold and Heedless Maid

When late a cold and heedless maid
Had raised a flame I still deplore
The Hoodwink’d boy I called in aid
Tho’ fatal to my suit before.

At length propitious to my prayer
The clever little urchin came
And soon remov’d with dextrous care
The bitter cause of this sad flame.

I saw him spurn the humble ground
And wave aloft this Conquering Arms
Till high in air I heard him sound
His conquest o’er my vain alarms.

Say by what title or what name
Shall I this youthful Boy address?
Cupid and he are not the same
I’ll Kiss you Lady if you guess.

Forbes, Margaret Alice, and Dick, Alexander. Curiosities of a Scots Charta Chest, William Brown, 1897.

Variations to the fourth stanza:

Cupid and he are not the same/He raises, this prevents a flame
Shall I this youthful boy address?

Final lines:

Tis now for you to guess
I’ll kiss you if you guess
This riddle please to guess
I’m sure twill please you if you guess
Applause waits if you guess.
I’ll kiss you Lady if you guess.

Hoodwink'd boy

In Sam Roger's version, it is Kitty who calls the hoodwink’d boy for aid, even though she’s afraid. The second stanza continues with Kitty as a main character and observer of the Cupid/chimney-sweep figure. "Suit" becomes "soot."

Kitty a fair but frozen maid
Kindled a flame I yet deplore
The hoodwinked boy she called to aid
But at his near approach afraid,
So fatal was his soot before.

With glowing cheek, and anxious care
She saw him mount from earth to air
To aid yet share her heart’s distress
The little urchin warmer grew
Than Kitty, but, I tell you true,
Cupid and he are not the same
Though both can raise and quench a flame
What then? I’ll kiss you if you guess.

Sharpe's London magazine, a journal of entertainment and instruction. conducted by Mrs. S.C. Hall. United Kingdom. 1857?

A 1905 one stanza version has nine lines and combines the first stanza with a variation of the final stanza:

Tell me, ye fair, this urchin’s name
Who still mankind annoys;
Cupid and he are not the same… etc.