THE WRITING TABLE AND CHAIR USED BY THACKERAY AT YOUNG STREET, ONSLOW SQUARE, AND PALACE GREEN
Reproduced by kind permission of Mrs. Richmond Ritchie
English novelists of the nineteenth century.
From a pencil drawing by Richard Doyle in the British Museum
W. M. THACKERAY
A paper dealing with Thackeray’s characters may not ignore the question of the “originals.” Great interest has always been taken in Thackeray’s originals. Much has been written about them which is worth reading; much also has been written that is misleading. The novelist was personal sometimes, but it was seldom that he modelled a character on a man or woman of his acquaintance. He told his daughters that he never wilfully copied anyone; and there is no reason to disbelieve his statement. The Marquis of Steyne was a sublimation of half a dozen characters, and so were Captain Shandon and Costigan; and Becky, Dobbin, Jos Sedley, and Colonel Newcome were wholly original—from the celebrity point of view at least. Many of the people in “Esmond” are portraits of historical personages—the Duke of Hamilton, Lord Mohun, and