Transcriber's Note:
Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the originaldocument have been preserved.
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
THACKERAYANA
NOTES AND ANECDOTES
Illustrated by Hundreds of Sketches
BY
WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY
Depicting Humorous Incidents in his School Life, and Favourite Scenes andCharacters in the Books of his Every-day Reading
A NEW EDITION
London
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
INTRODUCTION.
A LARGE portion of the public, andespecially that smaller section of thecommunity, the readers of books, willnot easily forget the shock, as universalas it was unexpected, whichwas produced at Christmas, 1863, bythe almost incredible intelligence ofthe death of William MakepeaceThackeray. The mournful news wasrepeated at many a Christmas table,that he, who had led the simpleColonel Newcome to his solemn and touching end, wouldwrite no more. The circumstance was so startling fromthe suddenness of the great loss which society at large hadsustained, that it was some time before people couldrealise the dismal truth of the report.
It will be easily understood, without elaborating on sosaddening a theme, with how much keener a blow thisheavy bereavement must have struck the surviving relativesof the great novelist. It does not come within ourprovince to speak of the paralysing effect of such emotion;it is sufficient to recall that Thackeray's death, with itsviiioverwhelming sorrow, left, in the hour of their trial, histwo young daughters deprived of the fatherly active mindwhich had previously shielded from them the graverresponsibilities of life, with the additional anxiety of beingforced to act in their own interests at the very time suchexertions were peculiarly distracting.
It may be remembered that the author of 'VanityFair' had but recently erected, from his own designs, thecostly and handsome mansion in which he anticipatedpassing the mellower years of his life; a dwelling inevery respect suited to the high standing of its owner,and, as has been said by a brother writer, 'worthy of onewho really represented literature in the great world, andwho, planting himself on his books, yet sustained thecharacter of his profession with all the dignity of a gentleman.'
In such a house a portion of Thackeray's fortune mightbe reasonably invested. To the occupant it promised theenjoyment he was justified in anticipating, and was a solidproperty to bequeath his descendants when age, in itssober course, should have called him hence. But littlemore than a year later, to those deadened with the effectsof so terrible a bereavement as their loss must haveproved when they c