And, go.

...It was a picture, though, worth seeing--the princess sitting in the nursery...at a great table covered with her toys. If the artist would like to draw this, I should advise him not to meddle with the toys. I am afraid of attempting to describe them, and I think he had better not try to draw them. He had better not.

More from The Princess and the Goblin--though less princess than goblin.

A quick peek at the strange relationship MacDonald cultivates with his phantom illustrator. There's a smattering more of don't-evens, a handful of have-at-its, and endless smugness which essentially amounts to him triple dog daring any doodler wanting to try their hand. My own copy is illustration-free (Digireads--you get what you pay for), so who knows if his injunctions were obeyed. But I'm willing to bet they served only to goad any artist with even the barest of tempers.