Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.
Italic text is denoted by _underscores_ and bold text by =equal
signs=.
On page 204, "couch" should possibly be "conch".
On page 345, the quote should probably read "ut melior vir"...
THACKERAYANA.
LONDON: PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
[Illustration]
THACKERAYANA
NOTES AND ANECDOTES
Illustrated by Hundreds of Sketches
BY
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
Depicting Humorous Incidents in his School Life, and Favourite
Scenes and Characters in the Books of his Every-day Reading
A NEW EDITION
London
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
INTRODUCTION.
[Illustration]
A large portion of the public, and especially that smaller section of
the community, the readers of books, will not easily forget the shock,
as universal as it was unexpected, which was produced at Christmas,
1863, by the almost incredible intelligence of the death of William
Makepeace Thackeray. The mournful news was repeated at many a
Christmas table, that he, who had led the simple Colonel Newcome to
his solemn and touching end, would write no more. The circumstance was
so startling from the suddenness of the great loss which society at
large had sustained, that it was some time before people could realise
the dismal truth of the report.
It will be easily understood, without elaborating on so saddening a
theme, with how much keener a blow this heavy bereavement must have
struck the surviving relatives of the great novelist. It does not come
within our province to speak of the paralysing effect of such emotion;
it is sufficient to recall that Thackeray's death, with its
overwhelming sorrow, left, in the hour of their trial, his two young
daughters deprived of the fatherly active mind which had previously
shielded from them the graver responsibilities of life, with the
additional anxiety of being forced to act in their own interests at
the very time such exertions were peculiarly distracting.
It may be remembered that the author of 'Vanity Fair' had but recently
erected, from his own designs, the costly and handsome mansion in
which he anticipated passing the mellower years of his life; a
dwelling in every respect suited to the high standing of its owner,
and, as has been said by a brother writer, 'worthy of one who really
represented literature in the great world, and who, planting himself
on his books, yet sustained the character of his profession with all
the dignity of a gentleman.'
In such a house a portion of Thackeray's fortune might be reasonably
invested. To the occupant it promised the enjoyment he was justified
in anticipating, and was a solid property to bequeath his descendants
when age, in its sober course, should have called him hence. But
little more than a year later, to those deadened with the effects of
so terrible a bereavement as their loss must have proved when they
could realise its fulness, this house must have been a source of
desolation. Its oppressive size, its infinitely mournful associations,
the hopeful expectations with which it had been erected, the tragic
manner in which the one dearest to them had there been stricken down;
with all this acting on the sensibilities of unhealed grief, the
building must have impressed them with peculiar aversion; and hence it
may be concluded that their first desire was to leave it. The removal
to a house of dimensions more suitable to their requirements involved
the sacrifice of those portions of the contents of the larger mansion
with which it was considered expedient to dispense; and thus Messrs.
Christie, Manson, and Woods announced for sale a selection from the
paintings, drawings, part of the interesting collection of curious
porcelain, and such various objects of art or furniture as would
otherwise have necessitated the continuance of a house as large as
that at Palace Green. These valuable objects were accordingly
dispersed under the hammer, March 16 and 17, 1864, and on the
following day the remainder of Thackeray's library was similarly
offered to public competition. To anyone familiar with Thackeray's
writings, and more especially with his Lectures and Essays, this
collection of books must have been both instructive and fascinating;
seeing that they faithfully indicated the course of their owner's
readings, and through them might be traced many an allusion or curious
fact of contemporaneous manners, which, in the hands of this master of
his craft, had been felicitously employed to strengthen the purpose of
some passage of his own compositions.
Without converting this introduction into a catalogue of the contents
of Thackeray's library it is difficult to particularise the several
works found on his book-shelves. It is sufficient to note that all the
authorities which have been quoted in his Essays were fitly
represented; that such books, in many instances obscure and trivial in
themselves, as threw any new or curious light upon persons or
things--on the private and individual, as well as the public or
political history of men, and of the events or writings to which
their names owe notoriety, of obsolete fashions or of the changing
customs of society--were as numerous as the most ardent and
_dilettanti_ of Thackeray's admirers could desire.
The present volume is devised to give a notion, necessarily
restricted, of certain selections from these works, chiefly chosen
with a view of further illustrating the bent of a mind, with the
workings of which all who love the great novelist's writings may at
once be admitted to the frankest intercourse. It has been truly said
that Thackeray was 'too great to conceal anything.' The same candour
is extended to his own copies of the books which told of times and
company wherein his imagination delighted to dwell; for, pencil in
hand, he has recorded the impressions of the moment without reserve,
whether whimsical or realistic.
A collection of books of this character is doubly interesting. On the
one hand were found the remnants of earlier humourists, the quaint old
literary standards which became, in the hands of their owner,
materials from which were derived the local colouring of the times
concerning which it was his delightful fancy to construct romances, to
philosophise, or to record seriously.
On the other hand, the present generation was fitly represented. To
most of the writers of his own era it was an honour that a
presentation copy of their literary offspring should be found in the
library of the foremost author, whose friendship and open-handed
kindness to the members of his profession was one of many brilliant
traits of a character dignified by innumerable great qualities, and
tenderly shaded by instances uncountable of generous readiness to
confer benefits, and modest reticence to let the fame of his goodness
go forth.
Presentation copies from his contemporaries were therefore not scarce;
and whether the names of the donors were eminent, or as yet but little
heard of, the creatures of their thoughts had been preserved with
unvarying respect. The 'Christmas Carol,' that memorable Christmas
gift which Thackeray has praised with fervour unusual even to his
impetuous good-nature, was one of the books. The copy, doubly
interesting from the circumstances both of its authorship and
ownership, was inscribed in the well-known hand of that other great
novelist of the nineteenth century, 'W. M. Thackeray, from Charles
Dickens (_whom he made very happy once a long way from home_).'
Competition was eager to secure this covetable literary memorial,
which may one day become historical; it was knocked down at 25_l._
10_s._, and rumour circulated through the press, without foundation,
we believe with regret, that it had been secured for the highest
personage in the State, whose desire to possess this volume would have
been a royal compliment to the community of letters.
Nor were books with histories wanting. George Augustus Sala, in the
introduction to his ingenious series of 'Twice Round the Clock,'
published in 1862, remarks with diffidence: 'It would be a piece of
sorry vanity on my part to imagine that the conception of a Day and
Night in London is original. I will tell you how I came to think of
the scheme of "Twice Round the Clock." Four years ago, in Paris, my
then master in literature, Mr. Charles Dickens, lent me a little thin
octavo volume, which I believe had been presented to him by another
master of the craft, Mr. Thackeray.' A slight resemblance to this
opuscule was offered in 'A View of the Transactions of London and
Westminster from the Hours of Ten in the Evening till Five in the
Morning,' which was secured at Thackeray's sale for forty-four
shillings.
Thus, without presuming to any special privileges, we account for the
selection of literary curiosities which form settings for the
fragments gathered in 'Thackerayana,' The point of interest which
rendered this dispersion of certain of Thackeray's books additionally
attractive to us may be briefly set forth.
In looking through the pages of odd little volumes, and on the margins
and fly-leaves of some of the choicest works, presentation copies or
otherwise, it was noticed that pencil or pen-and-ink sketches, of
faithful conceptions suggested by the texts, touched in most cases
with remarkable neatness and decision, were abundantly dispersed
through various series.
It is notorious that their owner's gift of dexterous sketching was
marvellous; his rapid facility, in the minds of those critics who knew
him intimately, was the one great impediment to any serious
advancement in those branches of art which demand a lengthy
probationship; and to this may be referred his implied failure, or but
partial success, in the art which, to him, was of all cultivated
accomplishments the most enticing. The fact has been dwelt on gravely
by his friends, and was a source of regret to certain eminent artists
best acquainted with his remarkable endowments.
The chance of securing as many of these characteristic designs as was
in our power directed the selection of books which came into our
possession in consequence of the sale of Thackeray's library; it was
found they were richer in these clever pencillings than had been
anticipated.
An impulse thus given, the excitement of increasing the little
gathering was carried further; many volumes which had been dispersed
were traced, or were offered spontaneously when the fact of the
collection became known. From books wherein, pencil in hand, passages
had been noted with sprightly little vignettes, not unlike the telling
etchings which the author of 'Vanity Fair' caused to be inserted in
his own published works, we became desirous of following the evidence
of this faculty through other channels; seeing we held the Alpha, as
it were, inserted in the Charterhouse School books, and the later
pencillings, which might enliven any work of the hour indifferently,
as it excited the imagination, grotesque or artist-like, as the case
might be, of the original reader, whether the book happened to be a
modest magazine in paper or an _édition de luxe_ in morocco.
A demand created, the supply, though of necessity limited, was for a
time forthcoming. The energy, which fosters a mania for collecting,
was aided by one of those unlooked-for chances which sustain such
pursuits, and, from such congenial sources as the early companions of
the author, sufficient material came into our possession to enable us
to trace Thackeray's graphic ambition throughout his career with an
approach to consistency, following his efforts in this direction
through his school days, in boyish diversions, and among early
favourites of fiction; as an undergraduate of Cambridge; on trips to
Paris; as a student at Weimar and about Germany; through magazines,
to Paris, studying in the Louvre; to Rome, dwelling among artists;
through his contributions to 'Fraser's,' and that costly abortive
newspaper speculation the 'Constitutional;' through the slashing
Bohemian days, to the period of 'Vanity Fair;' through successes,
repeated and sustained--Lectures and Essays; through travels at home
and abroad--to America, from Cornhill to Grand Cairo, to Scotland, to
Ireland, 'Up the Rhine,' Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland, and
wherever Roundabout 'sketches by the way' might present themselves.
The study which had attracted an individual, elicited the sympathy of
a larger circle. The many who preserve mementos similar to those
dispersed through 'Thackerayana' enlarged on the general interest of
the materials, and especially upon the gratification which that part
of the public representing Thackeray's admirers would discover in such
original memorials of our eminent novelist; and which, from the nature
of his gifts, and the almost unique propensity for their exercise,
would be impossible in the case of almost any other man of kindred
genius.
Selections from the sketches were accordingly produced in _facsimile_,
only such subjects being used as, from their relation to the context,
derived sufficient coherence to be generally appreciable.
The writer is aware that many such memorials exist, some of them
unquestionably of greater worth in themselves than several that are
found in the present gathering; but it is not probable, either from
their private nature, the circumstances of their ownership, or from
the fact that, in their isolated condition, they do not illustrate any
particular stage of their author's progress, that the public will ever
become familiar with them.
'Thackerayana' is issued with a sense of imperfections; many more
finished or pretentious drawings might have been offered, but the
illustrations have been culled with a sense of their fitness to the
subject in view. It is the intention to present Thackeray in the
aspect his ambition preferred--as a sketcher; his pencil and pen
bequeath us matter to follow his career; we recognise that delightful
gift, a facility for making rapid little pictures on the inspiration
of the moment; it is an endless source of pleasure to the person who
may exercise this faculty, and treasures up the most abundant and
life-like reminiscences for the delectation of others. It will be
understood as no implied disparagement of more laboured masterpieces
if we observe that the composition of historical works, the conception
and execution of _chefs-d'œuvre_, are grave, lengthy, and
systematic operations, not to be lightly intruded on; they involve
much time and preparation, many essays, failures, alterations,
corrections, much grouping of accessories, posing of models, and
setting of lay-figures; they become oppressive after a time, and
demand a strain of absorption to accomplish, and an effort of mind to
appreciate, which are not to be daily exerted; long intervals are
required to recruit after such labours; but the bright, ready
_croquis_ of the instant, if not profound, embalms the life that is
passing and incessant; the incident too fleeting to be preserved on
the canvas, or in a more ambitious walk of the art, lives in the
little sketch-book; it is grateful to the hand which jots it down, and
has the agreeable result of being able to extend that pleasure to all
who may glance therein. If it was one of Thackeray's few fanciful
griefs that he was not destined for a painter of the grand order, it
doubtless consoled him to find that the happier gift of embodying
that abstract creation--an idea--in a few strokes of the pencil was
his beyond all question; and this graceful faculty he was accustomed
to exercise so industriously, that myriads of examples survive of the
originality of his invention as an artist, in addition to the
brilliant fancy and sterling truth to be found in his works as an
author.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Voyage from India -- Touching at St. Helena -- School days at the
Charterhouse -- Early Reminiscences -- Sketches in School Books
-- Boyish Scribblings -- Favourite Fictions -- Youthful
Caricatures -- Souvenirs of the Play 1
CHAPTER II.
Early Favourites -- The 'Castle of Otranto' -- Rollin's 'Ancient
History' 18
CHAPTER III.
Thackeray's last visit to the Charterhouse -- College days --
Pendennis at Cambridge -- Sketches of Universities -- Sporting
subjects -- Etchings at Cambridge -- Pencillings in old authors
-- Pictorial Puns -- The 'Snob,' a Literary and Scientific
Journal -- 'Timbuctoo,' a Prize Poem 47
CHAPTER IV.
Early Favourites -- Fielding's 'Joseph Andrews' -- Imitators of
Fielding -- The 'Adventures of Captain Greenland' -- 'Jack
Connor' -- 'Chrysal; or, the Adventures of a Guinea' 71
CHAPTER V.
Continental Rambles -- A Stolen Trip to Paris -- Residence at
Weimar -- Contributions to Albums -- Burlesque State -- German
Sketches and Studies -- The Weimar Theatre -- Goethe -- Souvenirs
of the Saxon city -- 'Journal kept during a Visit to Germany' 89
CHAPTER VI.
Thackeray's Predilections for Art -- A Student in Paris -- First
Steps in the Career -- An Art Critic -- Introduction to Marvy's
'English Landscape Painters' -- Early Connection with Literature
-- Michael Angelo Titmarsh, a contributor to 'Fraser's Magazine'
-- French Caricature under Louis Philippe -- Political Satires --
A Young Artist's life in Paris -- Growing Sympathy with
Literature 114
CHAPTER VII.
'Elizabeth Brownrigge: a Tale,' 1832 -- 'Comic Magazine,' 1832-4
-- 'National Standard and Literary Representative,' 1833-4 --
'Flore et Zéphyr, Ballet Mythologique,' 1836 -- On the Staff of
'Fraser's Magazine' -- Early Connection with Maginn and his
Colleagues -- The Maclise Cartoon of the Fraserians --
Thackeray's _Noms de Plume_ -- Charles Yellowplush as a Reviewer
-- Skelton and his 'Anatomy of Conduct' -- Thackeray's Proposal
to Dickens to illustrate his Novels -- Gradual Growth of
Thackeray's Notoriety -- His Genial Admiration for 'Boz' --
Christmas Books and Dickens's 'Christmas Carol' -- Return to
Paris -- Execution of Fieschi and Lacénaire -- Daily Newspaper
Venture -- The 'Constitutional' and 'Public Ledger' -- Thackeray
as Paris Correspondent -- Dying Speech of the 'Constitutional' --
Thackeray's Marriage -- Increased Application to Literature --
The 'Shabby Genteel Story' -- Thackeray's Article in the
'Westminster' on George Cruikshank -- First Collected Writings --
The 'Paris Sketch-Book' -- Dedication to M. Aretz -- 'Comic Tales
and Sketches,' with Thackeray's original Illustrations -- The
'Yellowplush Papers' -- The 'Second Funeral of Napoleon,' with
the 'Chronicles of the Drum' -- The 'History of Samuel Titmarsh
and the great Hoggarty Diamond' -- 'Fitzboodle's Confessions' --
The 'Irish Sketch-Book,' with the Author's Illustrations -- The
'Luck of Barry Lyndon' -- Contributions to the 'Examiner' --
Miscellanies -- 'Carmen Lilliense' -- 'Notes on a Journey from
Cornhill to Grand Cairo,' with the Author's Illustrations --
Interest excited in Titmarsh -- Foundation of 'Punch' --
Thackeray's Contributions -- His comic Designs -- The 'Fat
Contributor' -- 'Jeames's Diary' 124
CHAPTER VIII.
Increasing reputation -- Later writings in 'Fraser' -- 'Mrs.
Perkins's Ball,' with Thackeray's Illustrations -- Early
Vicissitudes of 'Pencil Sketches of English Society' --
Thackeray's connection with the Temple -- Appearance of 'Vanity
Fair,' with the Author's original Illustrations -- Appreciative
notice in the 'Edinburgh Review' -- The impression produced --
'Our Street,' with Titmarsh's Pencillings of some of its
Inhabitants -- The History of Pendennis,' illustrated by the
Author -- 'Dr. Birch and his Young Friends,' with illustrations
by M. A. Titmarsh -- 'Rebecca and Rowena' -- The Dignity of
Literature and the 'Examiner' and 'Morning Chronicle' newspapers
-- Sensitiveness to Hostile Criticism -- The 'Kickleburys on the
Rhine,' with illustrations by M. A. Titmarsh -- Adverse bias of
the 'Times' newspaper -- Thackeray's reply -- An 'Essay on
Thunder and Small Beer' 161
CHAPTER IX.
Commencement of the Series of Early Essayists -- Thackeray as a
Lecturer -- The 'English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century' --
Charlotte Brontë at Thackeray's Readings -- The Lectures repeated
in Edinburgh -- An invitation to visit America -- Transatlantic
popularity -- Special success attending the reception of the
'English Humourists' in the States -- 'Week-day Preachers' --
Enthusiastic Farewell -- Appleton's New York edition of
Thackeray's Works; the Author's introduction, and remarks on
International Copyright -- Thackeray's departure -- Cordial
impression bequeathed to America -- The 'History of Henry
Esmonde, a story of Queen Anne's Reign' -- The writers of the
Augustan Era -- The 'Newcomes' -- An allusion to George
Washington misunderstood -- A second visit to America -- Lectures
on the 'Four Georges' -- The series repeated at home -- Scotch
sympathy -- Thackeray proposed as a candidate to represent Oxford
in Parliament -- His liberal views and impartiality 171
CHAPTER X.
Curious Authors from Thackeray's Library, indicating the course
of his Readings -- Early Essayists illustrated with the
Humourist's Pencillings -- Bishop Earle's 'Microcosmography; a
piece of the World Characterised,' 1628 -- An 'Essay in Defence
of the Female Sex,' 1697 -- Thackeray's Interest in Works on the
Spiritual World -- 'Flagellum Dæmonum, et Fustis Dæmonum. Auctore
R. P. F. Hieronymo Mengo,' 1727 -- 'La Magie et L'Astrologie,'
par L. F. Alfred Maury -- 'Magic, Witchcraft, Animal Magnetism,
Hypnotism, and Electro Biology,' by James Baird, 1852 186
CHAPTER XI.
ENGLISH ESSAYISTS OF THE GEORGIAN ERA.
Early Essayists whose Writings have furnished Thackeray with the
Accessories of Portions of his Novels and Lectures -- Works from
the Novelist's Library, elucidating his Course of Reading for the
Preparation of his 'Lectures' -- 'Henry Esmond,' 'The
Virginians,' &c. -- Characteristic Passages from the Lucubrations
of the Essayists of the Augustan Era illustrated with original
Marginal Sketches, suggested by the Text, by Thackeray's hand --
The 'Tatler' -- Its History and Influence -- Reforms introduced
by the purer Style of the Essayists -- The Literature of Queen
Anne's Reign -- Thackeray's Love for the Writings of the Period
-- His Gift of reproducing their masterly and simple style of
Composition; their Irony, and playful Humour -- Extracts from
notable Essays; illustrated with original Pencillings from the
Series of the 'Tatler,' 1709 221
CHAPTER XII.
THACKERAY'S RESEARCHES AMONGST THE WRITINGS OF THE
EARLY ESSAYISTS -- _Continued._
Extracts of Characteristic Passages from the Works of the
'Humourists,' from Thackeray's Library, illustrated with Original
Marginal Sketches by the Author's hand -- The Series of THE
'GUARDIAN,' 1713 -- Introduction -- Steele's Programme -- Authors
who contributed to the 'Guardian' -- Paragraphs and Pencillings
275
CHAPTER XIII.
THACKERAY'S RESEARCHES AMONGST THE WRITINGS OF THE
EARLY ESSAYISTS -- _Continued._
Characteristic passages from the Works of Humorous Writers of the
'Era of the Georges,' from Thackeray's Library, illustrated with
original Marginal Sketches by the Author's hand -- THE
'HUMOURIST,' 1724 -- Extracts and Pencillings 299
CHAPTER XIV.
THACKERAY'S RESEARCHES AMONGST THE WRITINGS OF THE
EARLY ESSAYISTS -- _Continued._
Characteristic Passages from the Works of the 'Humourists,' from
Thackeray's Library, illustrated by the Author's hand, with
Marginal Sketches suggested by the Text -- THE 'WORLD,' 1753 --
Introduction -- Its Difference from the Earlier Essays --
Distinguished Authors who contributed to the 'World' --
Paragraphs and Pencillings 318
CHAPTER XV.
THACKERAY'S FAMILIARITY WITH THE WRITINGS OF THE
SATIRICAL ESSAYISTS -- _Continued._
Characteristic Passages from the compositions of the 'Early
Humourists,' from Thackeray's Library, illustrated by the
Author's hand with original Marginal Sketches suggested by the
Text -- The 'CONNOISSEUR,' 1754 -- Introduction -- Review of
Contributors -- Paragraphs and Pencillings 357
CHAPTER XVI.
THACKERAY'S RESEARCHES AMONGST THE WRITINGS OF THE
EARLY ESSAYISTS -- _Continued._
Characteristic Passages from the Works of the 'Humourists,' from
Thackeray's Library; illustrated by the Author's hand with
Marginal Sketches suggested by the Text -- THE 'RAMBLER,' 1749-50
-- Introduction -- Its Author, Dr. Johnson -- Paragraphs and
Pencillings 370
CHAPTER XVII.
THACKERAY'S FAMILIARITY WITH THE WRITINGS OF THE
SATIRICAL ESSAYISTS -- _Continued._
Characteristic Passages from the Works of the 'Early Humourists,'
from Thackeray's Library, illustrated by the Author's hand with
original Marginal Sketches suggested by the Text -- The 'MIRROR,'
Edinburgh, 1779-80 -- Introduction -- The Society in which the
'MIRROR,' and 'Lounger' originated -- Notice of Contributors --
Paragraphs and Pencillings 408
CHAPTER XVIII.
Thackeray as an Illustrator -- The 'North British Review' on
Thackeray -- Illustrations to 'Men of Character' -- 'The
Whitey-brown Paper Magazine' -- 'Comic Tales,' illustrated by
Thackeray -- Allusions to Caricature Drawing found throughout his
writings -- Skits on Fashion -- Titmarsh on 'Men and Clothes' --
Bohemianism in youth -- Hatred of Conventionality -- Sketches of
Contemporary Habits and Manners -- Imaginative Illustrations to
Romances -- Skill in Ludicrous Parody -- Burlesque of the
'Official Handbook of Court and State' 436
CHAPTER XIX.
Thackeray as a Traveller -- Journey in Youth from India to
England -- Little Travels at Home -- Sojourn in Germany -- French
Trips -- Residence in Paris -- Studies in Rome -- Sketches and
Scribblings in Guide-Books -- Little Tours and Wayside Studies --
Brussels -- Ghent and the Béguines -- Bruges -- _Croquis_ in
Murray's 'Handbooks to the Continent' -- Up the Rhine -- 'From
Cornhill to Grand Cairo' -- Journeys to America -- Switzerland --
'A Leaf out of a Sketch-Book' -- The Grisons -- Verona --
'Roundabout Journeys' -- Belgium and Holland 465
CHAPTER XX.
Commencement of the 'Cornhill Magazine' -- 'Roundabout Papers' --
'Lovel the Widower' -- The 'Adventures of Philip on his Way
through the World' -- Lectures on the 'Four Georges' -- Editorial
Penalties -- The 'Thorn in the Cushion' -- Harass from
disappointed Contributors -- Vexatious Correspondents --
Withdrawal from the arduous post of Editor -- Building of
Thackeray's House in Kensington Palace Gardens -- Christmas 1863
-- Death of the great Novelist -- The unfinished Work --
Circumstances of the Author's last Illness -- His Death 488
THACKERAYANA.
CHAPTER I.
Voyage from India -- Touching at St. Helena -- School days at the
Charterhouse -- Early Reminiscences -- Sketches in School Books
-- Boyish Scribblings -- Favourite Fictions -- Youthful
Caricatures -- Souvenirs of the Play.
[Illustration: View of Life as seen through the Charterhouse Gates]
The fondness of Thackeray for lingering amidst the scenes of a boy's
daily life in a public grammar school, has generally been attributed
to his early education at the Charterhouse, that celebrated
monastic-looking establishment in the neighbourhood of Smithfield,
which he scarcely disguised from his readers as the original of the
familiar 'Greyfriars' of his works of fiction. Most of our novelists
have given us in various forms their school reminiscences; but none
have produced them so frequently, or dwelt upon them with such
manifest bias towards the subject, as the author of 'Vanity Fair,'
'The Newcomes,' and 'The Adventures of Philip.' It is pleasing to
think that this habit, which Thackeray was well aware had been
frequently censured by his critics as carried to excess, was, like his
partiality for the times of Queen Anne and the Georges, in some degree
due to the traditional reverence of his family for the memory of their
great-grandfather, Dr. Thomas Thackeray, the well-remembered
head-master of Harrow.
[Illustration: An Exile]
[Illustration: A Sentry]
Sketches of Indian life and Anglo-Indians generally are abundantly
interspersed through Mr. Thackeray's writings, but he left India too
early to have profited much by Indian experiences. He is said,
however, to have retained so strong an impression of the scene of his
early childhood, as to have wished in later life to revisit it, and
recall such things as were still remembered by him. In his seventh
year he was sent to England, and when the ship touched at St. Helena,
he was taken up to have a glimpse of Bowood, and there saw that great
Captain at whose name the rulers of the earth had so often trembled.
It is remarkable that in his little account of the second funeral of
Napoleon, which he witnessed in Paris in 1840, no allusion to this
fact appears; but he himself has described it in one of his latest
works--the lectures on 'The Four Georges,' first delivered in the
United States in 1855-56, and afterwards described by the _Athenæum_
as 'an airy, humorous, and brilliant picture of English life and
manners, produced by honest reading out of many books, and lighted
with the glow of individual sympathy and intellect.'
[Illustration: A highly respectable Member of Society]
[Illustration: A Master of Arts]
We fancy that Thackeray was placed under the protection of his
grandfather, William Makepeace Thackeray, who had settled with a good
fortune, the fruit of his industry in India, at Hadley, near Chipping
Barnet, a little village, in the churchyard of which lies buried the
once-read Mrs. Chapone, the authoress of the 'Letters on the
Improvement of the Mind,' the correspondent of Richardson, and the
intimate friend of the learned Mrs. Carter and other blue-stocking
ladies of that time.
In the course of time--we believe in his twelfth year--Thackeray was
sent to the Charterhouse School, and remained there as a boarder in
the house of Mr. Penny. He appears in the Charterhouse records for the
year 1822 as a boy on the tenth form. In the next year we find him
promoted to the seventh form; in 1824 to the fifth; and in 1828, when
he had become a day-boy, or one residing with his friends, we find him
in the honourable positions of a first-form boy and one of the
monitors of the school. He was, however, never chosen as one of the
orators, or those who speak the oration on the Founder's Day, nor does
he appear among the writers of the Charterhouse odes, which have been
collected and printed from time to time in a small volume. We need
feel no surprise that Thackeray's ambition did not lead him to seek
this sort of distinction; like most keen humorists, he preferred
exercising his powers of satire in burlesquing these somewhat trite
compositions to contributing seriously to swell their numbers. Prize
poems ever yielded the novelist a delightful field for his sarcasms.
[Illustration: A Man of Letters]
[Illustration: Early efforts at Drawing]
While pursuing his studies at 'Smiffle,' as the Carthusians were
pleased to style 'Greyfriars,' Thackeray gave abundant evidences of
the gifts that were in him. He scribbled juvenile verses, towards the
close of his school days, displaying taste for the healthy sarcasm
which afterwards became one of his distinctive qualities, at the
expense of the prosaic compositions set down as school verses. In one
of his class books, 'Thucydides,' with his autograph, 'Charter House,
1827,' are scribbled two verses in which the tender passion is treated
somewhat realistically:--
Love 's like a mutton chop,
Soon it grows cold;
All its attractions hop
Ere it grows old.
Love 's like the cholic sure,
Both painful to endure;
Brandy 's for both a cure,
So I've been told.
When for some fair the swain
Burns with desire,
In Hymen's fatal chain
Eager to try her,
He weds as soon as he can,
And jumps--unhappy man--
Out of the frying pan
Into the fire.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
As to the humorist's pencil, even throughout these early days, it must
have been an unfailing source of delight, not only to the owner but to
the companions of his form. 'Draw us some pictures,' the boys would
say; and straightway down popped a caricature of a master on slate or
exercise paper. Then school books were brought into requisition, and
the fly-leaves were adorned with whimsical travesties of the subjects
of their contents. Abbé Barthélemy's 'Travels of Anacharsis the
Younger' suggested the figure of a wandering minstrel, with battered
hat and dislocated flageolet, piping his way through the world in the
dejected fashion in which those forlorn pilgrims might have presented
themselves to the charitable dwellers in Charterhouse Square; while
Anacharsis, Junior, habited in classic guise, was sent (pictorially)
tramping the high road from Scythia to Athens, with stick and bundle
over his back, a wallet at his side, sporting a family umbrella of the
defunct 'gingham' species as a staff, and furnished with lace-up
hob-nailed boots of the shape, size, and weight popularly approved by
navvies.
[Illustration: 'A Gingham']
Then Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary was turned into a sketch book, and
supplemented with studies of head-masters, early conceptions of Roman
warriors, primitive Carthusians indulging disrespectful gestures,
known as 'sights,' at the rears of respectable governors, and boys of
the neighbouring 'blue coat' foundation, their costume completed with
the addition of a fool's or dunce's long-eared cap.
Fantastic designs, even when marked by the early graphic talent which
Thackeray's rudest scribblings display, are apt to entail unpleasant
consequences when discovered in school-books, and greater attractions
were held out by works of fiction.
[Illustration: In a state of suspense]
Pages of knight-errantry were the things for inspiration: Quixote,
Orlando Furioso, Valentine and Orson, the Seven Champions, Cyrus the
Grand (and interminable), mystic and chivalrous legends, quite
forgotten in our generation, but which, in Thackeray's boyhood, were
considered fascinating reading;--quaint romances, Italian, Spanish,
and Persian tales, familiar enough in those days, and oft referred to,
with accents of tender regret, in the reminiscences of the great
novelist. What charms did the 'Arabian Nights' hold out for his
kindling imagination,--how frequently were its heroes and its episodes
brought in to supply some apt allusion in his later writings! It
seems that Thackeray's pencil never tired of his favourite stories in
the 'Thousand and One Nights,' precious to him for preserving ever
green the impressions of boyhood. How numerous his unpublished designs
from these tales, those who treasure his numberless and diversified
sketches can alone tell. We see the thrilling episode of 'Ali Baba'
perched among the branches, while the robbers bear their spoil to the
mysterious cave, repeated with unvarying interest, and each time with
some fresh point of humour to give value to the slight tracings.
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Fancy sketch]
[Illustration: A worthy Cit]
[Illustration: A Grey Friar]
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
'Make us some faces,' his school-companions would cry. 'Whom will you
have? name your friends,' says the young artist. Perhaps one young
rogue, with a schoolboy's taste for personalities, will cry, 'Old
Buggins;' and the junior Buggins blushes and fidgets as the ideal
presentment of his progenitor is rapidly dashed off and held up to the
appreciation of a circle of rapturous critics. 'Now,' says the wounded
youngster, glad to retaliate, 'you remember old Figgins' pater when he
brought Old Figs back and forgot to tip--draw him!' and a faithful
portraiture of that economic civic ornament is produced from
recollection.
[Illustration: Blueskin]
The gallery of family portraits is doubtless successfully exhausted,
and each of the boys who love books, calls for a different favourite
of fiction, or the designer exercises his budding fancy in summoning
monks, Turks, ogres, bandits, highwaymen, and other heroes,
traditional or imaginary, from that wonderful well of his, which, in
after years, was to pour out so frankly from its rich reservoirs for
the recreation, and improvement too, of an audience more numerous, but
perhaps less enthusiastic, than that which surrounded him at
Greyfriars.
[Illustration: Virtue triumphant]
[Illustration: Early Recreations--Marbles]
[Illustration]
Holidays came, and with them the chance of visiting the theatres.
Think of the plays in fashion between 1820 and '30; what juvenile
rejoicings over the moral drama, over the wicked earl unmasked in the
last Act, the persecuted maiden triumphant, and virtue's defenders
rewarded. Recall the pieces in vogue in those early days, to which the
novelist refers with constant pleasure; how does he write of nautical
melodramas, of 'Black Ey'd Seusan,' and such simply constructed
pieces as he has parodied in the pages of 'Punch:' such as Theodore
Hook is described hitting off on the piano after dinner. Think of
Sadler's Wells, and the real water, turned on from the New River
adjacent. Remember Astley's, and its gallant stud of horses. How faded
are all these glories in our time, yet they were gorgeous subjects for
young Thackeray's hand to work out; and we can well conceive eager
little Cistercians, in miniature black gowns and breeches, revelling
over the splendid pictures, perhaps made more glorious with the colour
box. How many of these scraps have been treasured to this day, and are
now gone with the holders, heaven knows where?
[Illustration]
Then there was 'Shakespeare,' always a favourite with 'Titmarsh.'
Think of the obsolete, conventional trappings in which the characters
of the great playwright were then condemned to strut about to the
perfect satisfaction of the audience, before theatrical 'costume'
became a fine art! And then there were Braham, and Incledon, and the
jovial rollicking tuneful 'Beggar's Opera.' Behold the swaggering
Macheath, reckless in good fortune, and consistently light-hearted up
to his premature exit.
[Illustration: The Captain]
'_Since laws were made for ev'ry degree,
To curb vice in others, as well as me,
I wonder we han't better company
Upon_ Tyburn _tree!_
_But gold from law can take out the sting:
And if rich men like us were to swing,
'Twould thin the land, such numbers to string
Upon_ Tyburn _tree!_'
* * * * *
'_The charge is prepar'd, the Lawyers are met;
The Judges all rang'd (a terrible show!)
I go undismay'd--for death is a debt,
A debt on demand,--so take what I owe._
_Then, farewell, my love--dear charmers, adieu;
Contented I die--'tis the better for you;
Here ends all dispute the rest of our lives,
For this way at once I please all my wives._'
[Illustration]
In his 'English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century,' our author does
not forget to pay his honest tribute to Gay, some of whose verses we
have just quoted.
[Illustration]
'_At the tree I shall suffer with pleasure,
At the tree I shall suffer with pleasure,
Let me go where I will,
In all kinds of ill,
I shall find no such Furies as these are._'
Thackeray's predilections for the stage survived the first flush of
enthusiasm, and, like most of his pleasures, flourished vigorously
almost throughout his career.
It may be fresh in the recollections of most of his admirers how in
1848 he describes, in his great work, _Vanity Fair_, a visit to Drury
Lane Theatre--the vivid colouring of which picture outshines his
entire gallery of theatrical sketches.
The stout figure and slightly Mosaic cast of countenance of Braham
will be recognised opposite, gorgeous in stage trappings, as he
appeared in the opera of the 'Lion of Judah;' Thackeray also
dedicated to him another portrait, with a copy of mock laudatory
verses, in the 'National Standard,' to which engaging production some
allusion will be found under the notice of the author's earlier
contributions to periodical literature.
[Illustration: Mr. Braham]
[Illustration]
[Illustration: Speculation]
[Illustration: Quixote]
[Illustration: A formidable foe]
[Illustration: A Roman sentry]
[Illustration: A Spanish Don]
[Illustration: Rouge et Noir]