permitted to contemplate passions as having been invited by Sir Pepin Rib poetic powers; he is bidden to appre- stone to an entertainment. He buyr ciate them as moral qualities. His pic- a small estate, tries to sink the apothe tures become sentences; he is a coun- cary, and shows off in the new glory of sellor rather than an observer, a judge a landed proprietor. Each of these rather than an artist. We see by what details is a concealed or evident sar machinery Thackeray has changed casm, which says to the reader : “My novel into satire.

good friend, remain the honest" Joha I open at random his three great Tomkins that you are; and for the works--Pendennis, Vanity Fair, The love of your son and yourself, avoid Newcomes. Every scene sets in relief taking the airs of a great nobleman.” á moral truth : the author desires that Old Pendennis dies. His son, the at every page we should form a judg. noble heir of the domain,

“ Prince of ment on vice and virtue; he has blamed Pendennis and Grand Duke of Fair or approved beforehand, and the dia. Oaks,” begins to reign over his mother, logues or portraits are to him only his cousin, and the servants. He sends means by which he adds our approba wretched verses to the county papers, tion to his approbation, our blame to begins an epic poem, a tragedy in his blame. He is giving us lessons; which sixteen persons die, a scathing and beneath the sentiments which he history of the Jesuits, and defends describes, as beneath the events which church and king like a loyal Tory. He he relates, we continually discover sighs after the ideal, wishes for an unrules for our conduct and the inten- known maiden, and falls in love with tions of a reformer.

an actress, a woman of thirty-two, who On the first page of Pendennis we learns her parts mechanically, as ig see the portrait of an old major, a man norant and stupid as can be. Young of the world, selfish and vain, seated folks, my dear friends, you are all af. comfortably in his club, at the table fected, pretentious, dupes of yourselves by the fire, and near the window, envied and of others. Wait to judge the by surgeon Glowry, whom nobody ever world until you have seen it, and do invites, seeking in the records of aris. not think you are masters when you are tocratic entertainments for his own scholars. name, gloriously placed amongst those The lesson continues and lasts as of illustrious guests. A family letter long as the life of Arthur. Like Le arrives. Naturally he puts it aside Sage in Gil Blas, and Balzac in Le and reads it carelessly last of all. He Pere Goriot, the author of Pendennis utters an exclamation of horror ; his depicts a young man having some talnephew wants to marry an actress. He ent, endowed with good feelings, even nas places booked in the coach (charg- generous, desiring to make a name, ing the sum which he disburses for the whilst, at the same time, he falls in with seats to the account of the widow and the maxims of the world ; but Le Sage the young scapegrace of whom he is only wished to amuse us, and Balzac guardian), and hastens to save the only wished to stir our passions : young fool. If there were a low mar. Thackeray, from beginning to end, lariage, what would become of his invi- bors to correct us. tations ? The manifest conclusion is : This intention becomes still more Let us not be selfish, or vain, or fond evident if we examine in detail one of of good living, like the major.

his dialogues and one of his pictures Chapter the second : Pendennis, the We will not find there impartial ener father of the young man in love, had gy, bent on copying nature, but atten"exercised the profession of apothecary tive thoughtfulness, bent on transformand surgeon,” but, being of good birth, ing into satire objects, words, and his “secret ambition had always been events. All the words of the character to be a gentleman." He comes into are chosen and weighed, so as to be money; is called Doctor, marries the odious or ridiculous. It accuses itself very distant relative of a lord, tries to is studious to display vice, and behind get acquainted with high families. He its voice we hear the voice of the boasts to the last day of his life of writer who judges, unmasks, and pun ishes it. Miss Crawley, a rich old the house, overwhelmed with preach woman, falls ill.* Mrs. Bute Crawley, ings, poisoned with pills, might die be her relative, hastens to save her, and to fore having changed her will, and leave save the inheritance. Her aim is to have all, alas, io her scoundrelly nephew excluded from the will a nephew, Instructive and formidable example Captain Rawdon, an old favorite, pre- Mrs. Bute, the honor of her sex, the sumptive heir of the old lady. This consoler of the sick, the counsellor of Rawdon is a stupid guardsman, a fre- her family, having ruined her health to quenter of taverns, a too clever gam- look after her beloved sister-in-law, Fler, a duellist, and a roué. Fancy the and to preserve the inheritance, was capital opportunity for Mrs. Bute, the just on the point, by her exemplary de respectable mother of a family, the votion, of putting the patient in her worthy spouse of a clergyman, accus. coffin, and the inheritance in the hands tomed to write her husband's sermons ! of her nephew. From sheer virtue she hates Captain Apothecary Clump arrives; he tremRawdon, and will not suffer that such bles for his dear client; she is worth to a good sum of money should fall into him two hundred a year; he is resolved such bad hands. Moreover, are we to save this precious life, in spite of not responsible for our families ? and Mrs. Bute. Mrs. Bute interrupts i'm, is it not for us to publish the faults of and says: “I am sure, my dear Mr. our relatives ? It is our strict duty, Clump, no efforts of mine have been and Mrs. Bute acquits herself of hers wanting to restore our dear invalid, conscientiously. She collects edifying whom the ingratitude of her nephew stories of her nephew, and therewith has laid on the bed of sickness. I she edifies the aunt. He has ruined so never shrink from personal discomfort; and so; he has wronged such a woman. I never rufuse to sacrifice myself. . . He has duped this tradesman ; he has I would lay down my life for my duty, killed this husband. And above all, or for any member of my husband's unworthy man, he has mocked his family.* The disinterested apothecaaunt! Will that generous lady con- ry returns to the charge heroically. tinue to cherish such a viper? Will she Immediately she replies in the finest suffer her numberless sacrifices to be re- strain; her eloquence flows from her paid by such ingratitude and such ridi- lips as from an over-full pitcher. She cule? We can imagine the ecclesiasti- cries aloud : “ Never, as long as natura cal eloquence of Mrs. Bute. Seated at supports me, will I desert the post of the foot of the bed, she keeps the pa- duty. As the mother of a family and the tient in sight, plies her with draughts, wife of an English clergyman, Í humbly enlivens her with terrible sermons, and trust that my principles are good. mounts guard at the door against the When my poor James was in the small. probable invasion of the heir. The siege pox, did I allow any hireling to nurse was well conducted, the legacy attacked him ? No!” The patient Clump so obstinately must be yielded up ; the scatters about sugared compliments, virtuous fingers of the matron grasped and pressing his point amidst interrupbeforehand and by anticipation the sub- tions, protestations, offers of sacrifice, stantial heap of shining sovereigns. railings against the nephew, at last hits And yet a carping spectator might have the mark. He delicately insinuates foun í some faults in her management that the patient “should have change, Mrs. Bute managed rather too well. fresh air, gayety.” “The sight of her She forgot that a woman persecuted horrible nephew casually in the Park, with sermons, handled like a bale of where I am told the wretch drives with goods, regulated like a clock, might the brazen partner of his crimes,” Mrs. take a dislike to so harassing an au- Bute said (ietting the cat of selfishness thority What is worse, she forgot out of the bag of secrecy), “would that a timid old woman, confined to cause her such a shock, that we should

have to bring her back to bed again. Vanity Fair. (Unless the original octavo She must not go out, Mr. Clump. She edition is mentioned,

the translator has always shall not go out as long as I remain to ased the collected edition of Thackeray's works in small octava, 1855-1868, 14 vols.]

* Vanity Fair, ch. six.

beer is

- Sweet

watch over her. And as for my health, | Even the servants in the kitcaen share in the what matters it? I give it cheerfully, general prosperity; and, somehow, during the sir. I sacrifice at the altar of my duty." stay of Miss MacWhirter's fat coachman, the It is clear that the author attacks Mrs. tion of tea and sugar in the nursery (where her

grown much stronger, and the consump Bute and all legacy-hunters. He gives maid takes her meals) is not regarded in the her ridiculous airs, pompous phrases, least, Is it so, or is it not so? | appeal to the

middle classes. Ah, gracious powers! I wish a transparent, coarse, and blustering you would send me an old aunt-a maiden aun hypocrisy. The reader feels hatred and -an aunt with a lozenge on her carriage, and disgust for her the more she speaks. a front of light coffee-coloured hair-how my He would unmask her; he is pleased to children should work workbags for her, and my

Julia and I would make her comfortab.el see her assailed, driven into a corner, Sweet

vision ! Foolish - foolist taken in by the polished maneuvres of dream!" * her adversary, and rejoices with the author, who tears from her and empha-er most resolved not to be warned, is

There is no disguising it. The read sizes the shameful confession of her warned. When we have an aunt with tricks and her greed.

a good sum to leave, we shall value Having arrived so far, satirical reAlection quits the literary form. In or their true worth. The author has ta

our attentions and our tenderness at der the better to develop, itself, it ex ken the place of our conscience, and hibits itself alone. Thackery now at the novel, transformed by reflection tacks vice himself, and in his own name. becomes a school of manners. No author is more fertile in dissertations; he constantly enters his story to

III. reprimand or instruct us ; he adds theoretical to active morality. We might

The lash is laid on very heavily in glean from his novels one or two vol- this school; it is the English taste. umes of essays in the manner of La About tastes and whips there is no dis. Bruyère or of Addison. There are puting; but without disputing we may essays on love, on vanity, on hypocrisy, understand, and the surest means of on meanness, on all the virtues, all the understanding the English taste is to vices; and turning over a few pages, compare it with the French taste. we shall find one on the comedies of I see in France, in a drawing-room of legacies, and on too attentive rela- men of wit,or in an artist's studio, a score tives :

of lively people : they must be amused, “What a dignity, it gives an old lady, that that is their character. You may speak balance at the banker's! How tenderly we

to them of human wickedness, but on look at her faults, if she is a relative (and may condition of diverting them. every reader have a score of such), what a kind, get angry, they will be shocked ; if you good-natured old creature we find her!

How the junior partner of Hobbs and Dobbs leads teach a lesson, they will yawn. Laugh, her smiling to the carriage with the lozenge it is the rule here--not cruelly, or from upon it, and the fat wheezy coachman! How, manifest enmity, but in good humor and when she comes to pay us a visit, we generally in lightness of spirit. This nimble wit find an opportunity to let our friends know her station in the world ! We say (and with per

must act; the discovery of a clean fect truth) I wish I had Miss MacWhirter's piece of folly is a fortunate hap for it signature to a cheque for five thousand pounds. As a light flame, it glides and flickers She wouldn't miss it, says your wife. She is in sudden outbreaks on the mere surny aunt, say you, in an easy careless

way, when your friend asks if Miss MacWhirter is face of things. Satisfy it by imitating any relative ? Your wife is perpetually sending it, and to please gay people be gay. Be her little testimonies of affection ; your little polite, that is the second command girls work endless worsted baskets, cushions, and foot-stools for her. What a good fire ment, very like the other. You speak to there is in her room when she comes to pay you sociable, delicate, vain men, whom you a visit, although your wife laces her stays with must take care not to offend, but whom

The house during her stay assumes you must Aatter. You would wound a festive, neat, warm, jovial, snug appearance them by trying to carry conviction by not visible at other seasons. You yourself dear sır, forget to go to sleep after dinner, and force, by dint of solid arguments, by a find yoursell all of a sudden (though you in- display of eloquence and indignation. variably lose) very fond of a rubber.

If you

they understand you at the first word, in motion. Let us also not forget that that a hinted smile is to them as good our hearers are practical minds, lovers as a sound syllogism, that a fine allu- of the useful; that they come here to sion caught on the wing reaches them be taught; that we owe them solid better than the heavy onset of a dull truths; that their common sense, some. geometrical satire. Think, lastly (be. what contracted, does not fall in with tween ourselves), that, in politics as in hazardous extemporizations or doubtful religion, they have been for a thousand hints; that they demand worked out years very well governed,over governed; refutations and complete explanations; that when a man is bored he desires to and that if they have paid to come in, be so no more; that a coat too tight it was to hear advice which they might splits at the elbows and elsewhere. apply, and satire founded on praf. They are critics from choice; from Their mood requires strong emotioiis ; choice they like to insinuate forbidden their mind asks for precise demonstra hings; and often, by abuse of logic, tions. To satisfy their mood, we must by transport, by vivacity, from ill hu- not merely scratch, but torture vice; to mor, they strike at society through satisfy their mind we must not rail in government, at morality through re- sallies, but by arguments. One word ligion. They are scholars who have more: down there, in the midst of the been too long under the rod; they assembly, behold that gilded, splendid break the windows in opening the book, resting royally on a velvet cushdoors. I dare not tell you to please ion. It is the Bible; around it there them: I simply remark that, in order are fifty moralists, who a while ago met to please them, a grain of seditious at the theatre and pelted an actor off humor will do no harm.

the stage with apples, who was guilty I cross seven leagues of sea, and of having the wife of a citizen for his here I am in a great unadorned hall, mistress. If with our finger-tip, with with a multitude of benches, with gas all the compliments and disguises in burners, swept, orderly, a debating club the world, we touch a single sacred or a preaching house." There are five leaf,or the smallest moral conventionalhundred long faces, gloomy and sub- ism, immediately fifty hands will fasten dued'; * and at the first glance it is themselves on our coat collar and put clear that they are not there to amuse us out at the door. With Englishmen themselves. In this land a grosser we must be English, with their passion mood, overcharged with a heavier and and their common sense adopt their stronger nourishment, has deprived im- leading-strings. Thus confined to recpressions of their swift nobility, and ognize truths, satire will become more thought, less facile and prompt, has bitter, and will add the weight of public lost its vivacity and its gayety. If we belief to the pressure of logic and the rail before them, we must think that we force of indignation. are speaking to attentive, concentrated men, capable of durable and profound

IV. sensations, incapable of changeable and sudden emotion. Those immobile and No writer was better gifted than contracted faces will preserve the same Thackeray for this kind of satire, beattitude; they resist Heeting and half- cause no faculty is more proper to satire formed smiles ; they cannot unbend; than reflection. Reflection is concen and their laughter is a convulsion as trated attention, and concentrated at. stiff as their gravity. Let us not skim tention increases a hundredfold the over our subject, but lay stress upon force and duration of emotions. He it; let us not pass over it lightly, but who is immersed in the contemplation impress it; let us not dally, but strike; of a vice, feels a hatred of vice, and the be assured that we must' vehemently intensity of his hatred is measured by move vehement passions, and that the intensity of his contemplation. At shocks are needed to set these nerves first anger is a generous wine, which

intoxicates and excites; when preserv. • Thackeray, in his Book of Snobs, says: led and shut up, it becomes a liquor "Their usual English expression of intense gloom and subdued agony."

burning all that it touches, and corrod

a

ing even tłe vessel which contains it. I against himself, and constrains himselt Of all satirists, Thackeray, after Swift, to take the part of his adversary. On is the inost gloomy. Even his country- the other hand, this painful and volun men have reproached him with depict. tary attitude is the sign of excessive ing the world uglier than it is.* Indig- scorn; the protection which apparently nation, grief, scorn, disgust, are his is afforded to an enemy is the worst of ordinary sentiments. When he di- insults. The author seems to say: “I gresses, and imagines tender souls, he am ashamed to attack you; you are so exaggerates their sensibility, in order weak that, even supported, you muss to render their oppression more odious. fall; your reasonings are your shame. The selfishness which wounds them and your excuses are your condemna appears horrible, and their resigned tion.” Thus the more serious the irony. sweetness is a mortal insult to their the stronger it is; the more you take tyrants : it is the same hatred which care to defend your adversary, the more has calculated the kindliness of the you degrade him ; the more you seem to victims and the harshness of the perse- aid him, the more you crush him. This cutors.

is why Swift's grave sarcasm is su This anger, exasperated by reflection, terrible ; we think he is showing re is also armed by reflection. It is clear spect, and he slays ; his approbation is that the author is not carried away aflagellation. Amongst Swift's pupils, by passing indignation or pity. He Thackeray is the first. Several chap has mastered himself before speaking. ters in the Book of Snobs—that, for inHe has often weighed the rascality stance, on literary snobs-are worthy which he is about to describe. He is of Gulliver. The author has been passin possession of the motives, species, ing in review all the snobs of England; results, as a naturalist is of his classifi- what will he say of his colleagues, the cations. He is sure of his judgment, literary snobs ?' Will he dare to speak and has matured it. He punishes like of them ? Certainly: a man convinced, who has before him a heap of proofs, who advances noth- the Schoolmaster flog so resolutely as his own

“My dear and excellent querist, whom does ing without a document or an argu- sou? Didn't Brutus chop his offspring's head ment, who has foreseen all objections off? You have a very bad opinion indeed of and refuted all excuses, who will never the present state of Literature and of literary pardon, who is right in being inflexible, hesitate to stick a knife into his neighbour pen

you fancy that any one of us would who is conscious of his justice, and who man, if the latter's death could do the State rests his sentence and his vengeance any servic" on all the powers of meditation and "But the is, that in the literary profes

sion there are no Śnobs. Look round at the equity. The effect of this justified and whole body of British men of letters, and I contained hatred is overwhelming. defy you to point out among them a single in. When we have read to the end of Bal- stance of vulgarity, or envy, or assumption. zac's novels, we feel the pleasure of a them, they are all modest in their demeanour,

“Men and women, as far as I have known naturalist walking through a museum, elegant in their manners, spotless in their lives. past a fine collection of specimens and and honourable in their conduct to the world and monstrosities. When we have read to to each other. You may occasionally, it is true. the end of Thackeray, we feel the shud- hear one literary man abusing his brother ; but

why? Not in the least out of malice; not at der of a stranger brought before a mat- all from envy ; merely from a sense of truth bress in the operating-room of an hos- and public duty. Suppose, for instance, I goon pital, on the day when cautery is ap- naturedly point out a blemish in my friend Mr.

Punch's person, and Mr. P. has a hump. plied or a limb is taken off.

back, and his nose and chin are more crooked In such a case the most natural than those features in the Apollo or Antinous, weapon is serious irony, because it which we are accustomed to consider as ou: bears witness to concentrated hatred : standards of beauty, does this argue malice he who employs it suppresses his first on my part towards Mr. Punch! Not in the

least. It is the critic's duty to point out defects feeling; he feigns to be speaking as well as merits, and he invariably does his

duty with the utmost gentleness and can • The Edinburgh Revicu.

† See the character of Amelia in Vanity “ That sense of equality and fraternity Pair, and of Colonel Newcome in the Newes amongst Authors has always struck me as one a

the most amiable characteristics of the class. It

i

say

doux.