Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 4.djvu/150

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NOTES AND QUERIES. [n s. iv. AUG. 19, 1011.

a simple friend. I am glad to be able to add tha the money was quickly repaid."

Trollope adds : "I could tell various stories of the same kind."

The prose works of Thackeray take sue! prominence that one is apt to forget that he was also a poet. Mr. Herman Merivale wrote in 1891 that there are poems of his that " are household words with half the world." One doubts as to this being the case at the present time ; but let us hope for -a revival. In Theodore Martin's ' Life of the Prince Consort ' it is recorded that the Prince preserved among his private records of the Great Exhibition Thackeray's 'May Day Ode ' which appeared in The Times :

As though 'twere by a wizard's rod, A blazing arch of lucid glass

Leaps like a fountain from the grass To meet the sun !

No notes about Thackeray would be com- plete without a reference to "The G.," as he affectionately called the Garrick, which he joined in 1833, not two years after its estab- lishment, when he was only twenty- two. I have Percy Fitzgerald's history of the Club, presented to me " with affectionate regards. Joseph Knight, Garrick Club, 14th Decem- ber, 1901." Facing the frontispiece is 'Sir John Gilbert's portrait of Thackeray belonging to the Club. In addition to this, his bust, given to the Club by Durham, stands at the top of the stair. There is also in the dining-room a statuette by Boehm, in which the novelist is represented in a familiar attitude his hands in his pockets. This was published by Mr. Brucciani.

The Thackeray Centenary was duly commemorated by The Cornhill in its number for July, which contained a poem by Mr. Austin Dobson, and some Thackeray mate- rial recently discovered, with a preface by Lady Ritchie, already noted in the columns of * N. & Q.' There is also an article on ' Thackeray and his Father's Family,' by Mrs. Warre Cornish, to which is appended the following note :

" Thackeray is the only Englishman of letters who had and retains a popular name with the Parisians at large. The restaurant where his portrait in oils, as a young man, is preserved in a small panelled dining-room is Therion's, Boule- vard St. Germain (Rive Gauche). Outside the restaurant hangs a sign. It represents the present Therion in the company of the novelist."

In connexion with this I would note that the Paris correspondent of The Daily Tele- graph in that paper of the 10th inst. states that M. Robert Charvay is at last about to carry out his pet scheme, and * Les A ventures de Mr. Pickwick ' will be brought out at the

Athenee theatre next month; so it would seem that Dickens has now a chance of also becoming popular with the Parisians.

In the August number the Marchesa Peruz/i de' Medici relates how Thackeray was the friend of her childhood, and how her heart went out to him from the first : " It was a black day when the dear giant did not come, and my restless eyes were often turned to the door in expectancy." She thus closes her testimony of affection : " In these days, when laurel crowns and palms will be brought in his honour, I only bring in tribute to his great tender heart a daisy -chain from the child Edith Story."

Very appropriately the celebrations to commemorate the Centenary began with an exhibition at the old Charterhouse, which was opened by the Earl of Rosebery on the 30th of June, his address being fully reported in The Daily Telegraph of the following day. Lady Ritchie's collection included a drawing by Chinnery of Richmond Thackeray, his wife and child (W. M. Thack- eray at three years of age) ; a bust byDevile, about 1824 ; a painting by Stone of Thack- Tay at the age of 25 ; a drawing of Thack- eray's back, by Walker, I860; and a drawing from memory by Millais. There were sketch-books and framed drawings ; the silver Punch presented by Edinburgh ad- mirers in 1848 ; a number of other por- traits and busts ; also many manuscripts and letters. In one letter in 1853 Thackeray says : "I write at the rate of five thousand betters a year " ; in another to F. M. Evans ie gives an account of his reasons for retiring
 * rom Punch. There were some of the

valentines with which, Miss Henrietta Cole tells me, Thackeray would delight the children of Sir Henry Cole.

Among other exhibits were Tht Snob, 1829 ; The Gownsnmn, 1830 ; The National Standard, vol. i., 1833; and 'The Exqui- sites,' 1839, a copy of which, as I have Iready mentioned "(p. 102), fetched 58L at Sotheby's. There was also the first number if ' Vanity Fair ' with the suppressed wpod- ut of the Marquis of Steyne. The exhibition onsisting of 395 articles, was wonderfully omplete, thanks to those who had kindly ent their treasures ; and acknowledgment was made of the invaluable assistance endered by Mr. W. J. Williams.

The celebrations were brought to a close n a way so beautiful as never to be forgotten

r those who took part in it. On the 18th July, which was one of the most glorious ays in the ever-memorable summer of this year, a party was given by Lady Ritchie