Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/103

Thackeray in 'Pendennis,' is said to have been in some degree a portrait—according to Mr. Jeaffreson, a flattering portrait—of an acquaintance. The resemblances can only be taken as generic, but a good cap fits many particular heads.

The success of the 'Snob Papers' perhaps led Thackeray to insist a little too frequently upon a particular variety of social infirmity. He was occasionally accused of sharing the weakness which he satirised, and would playfully admit that the charge was not altogether groundless. It is much easier to make such statements than to test their truth. They indicate, however, one point which requires notice. Thackeray was at this time, as he remarks in 'Philip' (chap, v.), an inhabitant of 'Bohemia,' and enjoyed the humours and unconventional ways of the region. But he was a native of his own 'Tyburnia,' forced into 'Bohemia' by distress and there meeting many men of the Bludyer type who were his inferiors in refinement and cultivation. Such people were apt to show their 'unconventionally' by real coarseness, and liked to detect 'snobbishness' in any taste for good society. To wear a dress-coat was to truckle to rank and fashion. Thackeray, an intellectual aristocrat though politically a liberal, was naturally an object of some suspicion to the rougher among his companions. If he appreciated refinement too keenly, no accusation of anything like meanness has ever been made against him. Meanwhile it was characteristic of his humour that he saw more strongly than any one the bad side of the society which held out to him the strongest temptations, and emphasised, possibly too much, its 'mean admiration of mean things' (Snob Papers, chap, ii.)

Thackeray in 1848 received one proof of his growing fame by the presentation of a silver inkstand in the shape of 'Punch' from eighty admirers at Edinburgh, headed by Dr. (1810-1882) [q. v.], afterwards a warm friend and appreciative critic. His reputation was spreading by other works which distracted his energies from 'Punch.' He continued to contribute occasionally. The characteristic 'Bow Street Ballads' in 1848 commemorate, among other things, his friendship for [q. v.], one of whose articles, 'A Plea for Plush,' is erroneously included in the last volume of Thackeray's works (, p. 321 n.) Some final contributions appeared in 1854, but his connection ceased after 1851, in which year he contributed forty-one articles and twelve cuts. Thackeray had by this time other occupations which made him unwilling to devote much time to journalism. He wrote a letter in 1855 to one of the proprietors, explaining the reasons of his retirement. He was annoyed by the political line taken by 'Punch' in 1851, especially by denunciations of Napoleon III, which seemed to him unpatriotic and dangerous to peace (, pp. 323-4, and the review of John Leech). He remained, however, on good terms with his old colleagues, and occasionally attended their dinners. A sentence in his eulogy upon Leech (1854) appeared to disparage the relative merits of other contributors. Thackeray gave an 'atonement dinner' at his own house, and obtained full forgiveness (, p. 42;, p. 87). The advantages had been reciprocal, and were cordially admitted on both sides. 'It was a good day for himself, the journal, and the world when Thackeray joined "Punch,"' said Shirley Brooks, afterwards editor; and Thackeray himself admitted that he 'owed the good chances which had lately befallen him to his connection with 'Punch' (ib. pp. 308, 326).

From 1846 to 1850 he published yearly a 'Christmas book,' the last of which, 'The Kickleburys on the Rhine,' was attacked in the 'Times.' Thackeray's reply to this in a preface to the second edition is characteristic of his own view of the common tone of criticism at the time. Thackeray's 'May Day Ode' on the opening of the exhibition of 1851 appeared in the 'Times' of 30 April, and probably implied a reconciliation with the 'Thunderer.'

Thackeray had meanwhile made his mark in a higher department of literature. His improving position had now enabled him to make a home for himself. In 1846 he took a house at 13 Young Street, whither he brought his daughters, and soon afterwards received long visits from the Smyths (Brookfield Correspondence). There he wrote 'Vanity Fair.' Dickens's success had given popularity to the system of publishing novels in monthly numbers. The first number of 'Vanity Fair' appeared in January 1847, and the last (a double number) in July 1848. It has been said that 'Vanity Fair' was refused by many publishers, but the statement has been disputed (cf., i. 281 &c.) He received fifty guineas a number, including the illustrations. The first numbers were comparatively unsuccessful, and the book for a time brought more fame than profit. Gradually it became popular, and before it was ended his position as one of the first of English novelists was generally recognised. On 16 Sept. Mrs. Carlyle wrote to her husband that the last four