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mentioned, and a matured beauty in the last,
which to the throng of readers will be more
attractive. At first reading, ' Vanity Fair '
has given to many an impression that the author
is too cynical. There was no man less ill-natured
than Mr. Thackeray, and if anybody doubts
this, we refer him to ' The Newcomes,' and ask
whether that book could be written by any but
a most kind-hearted man. We believe that one
of the greatest miseries which Mr. Thackeray
had to endure grew out of the sense that he, one
of the kindest of men, was regarded as an ill-
n.atured cynic,"
It is curious, as a reminiscence of Thack- eray's early days, to find Sir Henry Cole in his ' Fifty Years of Public Life ' (pp. 144-5) recommending Thackeray in these terms for employment to the Anti-Corn-Law agitators :
" The artist is a genius, both with his pencil and his pen. His vocation is literary. He would like to combine both writing, and drawing when sufficiently primed, and then he would write and illustrate ballads, or tales, or anything."
Two illustrations are given by Cole. The designs were suggested by Cobden. A note states that the first of these cuts was printed in No. 8 of The Anti-Corn Law Circular, July 23rd, 1839, and the second in No. 18, December 10th, 1839. "They were not republished in the volume of Thack- eray drawings .... These engravings are rare, but can be seen in the British Museum."
In reference to Thackeray's cynicism, The Athcnccum in its obituary notice, which appeared on the 2nd of January, 1864, attributes it in some measure to his early contributions to Fraser's Magazine :
" It may have been that, to suit the tone of that periodical, which was at that time sarcastic and unscrupulous, he exaggerated a humour for banter and indifference, occasional personality, and too habitual a resolution to look upon the* seamy side of life and manners, which, if not born with him, certainly grew into marking characteristics 'f his style and purpose as an author."
However, his close connexion with the many and powerful men who established Punch had a good influence ; they " could hit as hard as the best among the Maginns and Lockharts though let it not be for- gotten with meanings as generous as those of the Frascr squadron were otherwise."
Although a prominent member of the staff of Regina, Thackeray did not attain the honour of separate portraitship in the ' Gallery.' He has, however, a place in the cartoon of the " Fraserians " which appeared in the number for January, 1835, and a copy of which is now in my hand. To repair this omission Mr. William Bates in ' The Maclise Gallery,' published by Chatto & Windus in 1873, and now very
scarce, gives a reproduction of the portrait
belonging to his favourite club, the Garrick,
Whether the Fraser connexion influenced his writings or not, all who know the cir- cumstances of his life must admire the stout- hearted way in which he bore the great sorrow which cast a perpetual shadow on his home. The affliction from which his beloved wife suffered could never be out of his memory ; she survived him for nearly thirty years. Their short married life together had been perfectly happy, and though his " marriage was a wreck," he had such an affection for her that " he was prepared to do it over again." Very pathetic are the references to her in the ' Dictionary of National Biography,' as well as to his affection for his two daughters Anne Isabella, now Lady Ritchie, and Harriet Marian, who in 1867 married Leslie Stephen, and died on the 28th of November, 1875. These passages show him in quite a different light from that in which he was regarded by so many during his lifetime, who looked upon him as cynical and over- bearing.
These glimpses into his home life fill us with regret that Thackeray's strict injunc- tions that no biography of him should be written have prevented his daughter Lady Ritchie from giving to the world a biography which would no doubt have been to her a labour of love, and would have shown how greatly he was misunderstood by many who came in contact with him. Those who knew him well, however, could form with him the choicest friendship. His personal appearance and manners on first acquaintance caused him to be regarded as aggressive.
I well remember his presence at the burial of Macaulay in Poets' Corner on the 9th of January, 1860. There he stood head and shoulders above all the other mourners. Charlotte Bronte, after she had long gazed in silence at the portrait by Lawrence, exclaimed, " And there came up a Lion out of Judah " ; and Mr. W. L. Courtney in his valuable article which appeared in The Daily Telegraph on the 26th of last month said : "In many respects he was like a big boy, a giant of 6 feet 3 with the soul of a child." His brain was very large, weighing no less than 58 J ounces. Sir Richmond Thackeray Ritchie relates, in the biography which appears in ' Chambers' s Encyclo- paedia,' that when Thackeray was a child of five his aunt Mrs. Ritchie was surprised to find that her husband's hat fitted the little boy. In the life of Tennyson his son.
