Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/104

Thackeray numbers were 'very good indeed' he 'beats Dickens out of the world.'

Abraham Hayward [q. v.], an old friend, had recommended Thackeray to Macvey Napier in 18-45 as a promising 'Edinburgh Reviewer.' Thackeray had accordingly written an article upon N. P. Willis's 'Dashes at Life,' which Napier mangled and Jeffrey condemned (Napier Correspondence, 498, 506; Hayward Correspondence, i. 105). Hayward now reviewed the early numbers of 'Vanity Fair' in the 'Edinburgh' for January 1848. It is warmly praised as 'immeasurably superior' to all his known works. Edward FitzGerald speaks of its success a little later, and says that Thackeray has become a great man and goes to Holland House. Monckton Milnes writes (19 May) that Thackeray is 'winning great social success, dining at the Academy with Sir Robert Peel,' and so forth. Milnes was through life a very close friend; he had been with Thackeray to see the second funeral of Napoleon, and had accompanied him 'to see a man hanged' (an expedition described by Thackeray in Fraser's Mag, August 1840). He tried to obtain a London magistracy for Thackeray in 1849. It was probably with a view to such an appointment, in which he would have succeeded Fielding, that Thackeray was called to the bar at the Middle Temple on 26 May 1848. As, however, a magistrate had to be a barrister of seven years' standing, the suggestion came to nothing (, Monckton Milnes, i. 427). Trollope says (p. 34) that in 1848 Lord Clanricarde, then postmaster-general, proposed to make him assistant secretary at the post office, but had to withdraw an offer which would have been unjust to the regular staff. Thackeray, in any case, had become famous outside of fashionable circles. In those days youthful critics divided themselves into two camps of Dickens and Thackeray worshippers. Both were popular authors of periodical publications, but otherwise a 'comparison' was as absurd as most comparisons of disparate qualities. As a matter of fact, Dickens had an incomparably larger circulation, as was natural to one who appealed to a wider audience. Thackeray had as many or possibly more adherents among the more cultivated critics; but for some years the two reigned supreme among novelists. Among Thackeray's warmest admirers was Miss Bronte, who had published 'Jane Eyre' anonymously. The second edition was dedicated in very enthusiastic terms to the 'Satirist of Vanity Fair.' He was compared to a Hebrew prophet, and said to 'resemble Fielding as an eagle does a vulture.' An absurd story to the effect that Miss Bronte was represented by Becky Sharp and Thackeray by Mr. Rochester became current, and was mentioned seriously in a review of 'Vanity Fair' in the 'Quarterly' for January 1849. Miss Bronte came to London in June 1850, and was introduced to her hero. She met him at her publisher's house, and dined at his house on 12 June. Miss Bronte's genius did not include a sense of humour, and she rebuked Thackeray for some 'errors of doctrine,' which he defended by 'worse excuses.' They were, however, on excellent terms, though the dinner to which he invited her turned out to be so oppressively dull that Thackeray sneaked off to his club prematurely (, Chapters, &c., p. 62). She attended one of his lectures in 1851, and, though a little scandalised by some of his views, cordially admired his great qualities.

'Vanity Fair' was succeeded by 'Pendennis,' the first number of which appeared in November 1848. The book has more autobiography than any of the novels, and clearly embodies the experience of Thackeray's early life so fully that it must be also pointed out that no stress must be laid upon particular facts. Nor is it safe to identify any of the characters with originals, though Captain Shandon has been generally taken to represent Maginn; and Mrs. Carlyle gives a lively account in January 1851 of a young lady whom she supposed to be the original of Blanche Amory (Memorials, ii. 143-7). When accused of 'fostering a baneful prejudice against literary men,' Thackeray defended himself in a letter to the 'Morning Chronicle' of 12 Jan. 1850, and stated that he had seen the bookseller from whom Bludyer robbed and had taken money 'from a noble brother man of letters to some one not unlike Captain Shandon in prison' (Hannay says that it is 'certain' that he gave Maginn 500l.) The state of Thackeray's finances up to Maginn's death (1842) seems to make this impossible, though the statement (see above) made by Father Prout suggests that on some pretext Maginn may have obtained such a sum from Thackeray. Anyway the book is a transcript from real life, and shows perhaps as much power as 'Vanity Fair,' with less satirical intensity. A severe illness at the end of 1849 interrupted the appearance of 'Pendennis,' which was not concluded till December 1850. The book is dedicated to Dr. John Elliotson [q. v.], who would 'take no other fee but thanks,' and to whose attendance he ascribed his recovery.

On 25 Feb. 1851 Thackeray was elected member of the Athenæum Club by the 