THACKERAY, WILLIAM MAKEPEACE, one of the greatest writers of
fiction in the nineteenth century, was born in Calcutta, in 1811,
but was sent to England while a child and educated in the
Charterhouse School, which he has immortalized in his great story,
_The Newcomes_. On the death of his parents, he found himself in
possession of a handsome fortune, but it soon vanished and he was
compelled to earn his subsistence. He dallied with law, courted
art, and finally--a resolution which for the lovers of high fiction
will never cease to be grateful--resolved to devote himself to
literature. Then came from his pen the series of books which made
him famous. It is a remarkable fact, however, that while
Thackeray's writings were comparatively neglected in England, they
enjoyed an extensive popularity in the United States, where they
are still read with eagerness and delight by all who look beneath
the surface of novels into the soul which animates them. It is
impossible to do justice to the characteristics of Thackeray as a
writer within the limits of this brief notice, but one or two of
them may be briefly mentioned. He was a cynic, though a kindly one;
he was a keen student of human nature, quick to recognize and
denounce its weaknesses; yet he apparently found his deepest
pleasure in depicting its features and recording its noblest
manifestations. Nor is Thackeray an author from whose greater works
an appropriate and satisfactory selection may be taken for a work
of this kind. It has been thought wiser, therefore, to give a
selection from his _Rose and the Ring_, as being suitable for
younger readers and at the same time exhibiting his humour. Several
of his charming ballads are also given.