Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-28
NOTES AND QUERIES.
Originals Of Some of the Characters
in Thackeray's Novels.
THE TWELVE LABORs OFHERCULES
Citizenship Of the Son of Father Who
Vas Never Haturalized.
'rAEDING ARMIES OF THE WORLD
WRITTEN FOR THE DISPATCH. !

WRITTEN FOR THE DIsPArcHI
Every once in . while somebody asks who
were the originals of come of Thackeray's 3
characters, for instance those In 'sVauity
Fair" and "Pendennist" There has been
difference of opinion as to whether
Thackeray had recognizable originals for
his characters. but it Is suggested that some
Of the characters, especially in the novels
mentioned, have these persons as proto-
types: In 'evanity Fair" the Marquis of
j Steyne is the Marquis of Hertford, the
third of the title; Becky Sharp is perhaps
Lola Montez though she might have had a
dozen other originals. Amelia, Thackeray
admits, is patterned after Mrs BrooF6 field,
his own mother, and. his wife; we do not
find that originals have been discovered for
the other characters, even for Sir Pitt
Crawley.
"Pendennis" has had its characters
pretty we'll identified: Pendennis is Thack-
cray himself; Helen, his mother, is Thack-
eray's mother; Captain Costigan is said
variously to have had as original William
John O'Connell, cousin of the liberator;
the O'Gorman Mahon (who died a few
months ago) and William Maginn. The
Fotheringay Is said to be modelled on the
famous Catherine O'Neill, the Irish actress
who married Mr.. (afterward Sir William)
Becher; Blanche Amory is said to be made
up of Miss Blanche Stanley and Miss
Grantley, who, however, are not identified
themselves. Dr. Portman was DR.. Cornish,
the vicar of Ottery St. Mary; Warrington
was Thackeray himself to some extent, but
was copied chiefly from George M. Crxw-
ford, the Paris correspondent of the London
dene, Norfolk squire; Captain Shandy, of
the Pail Mall Gazette, was Jack Sheehan, and
Wagg-there is no doubt about his identifca-
tion-was Theodore Hook, the notorious
practical joker; Mr.. Wenham was. Hay
ward, famous for his memoirs"
In "The Newcomes" Colonel Newcome
is taken from Major Carmichael Smyth,
Thackeray's stepfather, on whose memorial
in the church at AYR, in Scotland, Mrs.
Ritchie, Thackeray's daughter, had the
word "Ads1m" cut. Fred Bayham, in the
same story, represents William Bolland,
famous club man in Thackeray's time; and
the MARQUIS of Farintosh takes after the
Earl Of Hereford. Young Grubstreet in
''The Virginians" was an allusion to Ed
mond Yates, now editor of the London
World; and Captain Shindy, described in the
Book of Snobs, was Stephen Price, man.
ager of the Park Theater, New York City,
and of Drury Lane Theater, London.
What were the feats that made Hercules
famous among the ancientsf LrHLErE
Hercules performed Twelve Labors,"
and in doing SO, incidentally did great feats
of strength. He was the chief national
hero of Greece, and was the son Of Zeus
and Alcmena Hera, the wife of Zeus,
sent two serpents to destroy the child, but
Hercules. only day old, strangled them
both. When he grew up he married
Megara, daughter of Creon, King of Thebes;
but while crazed he slew all his chill
dren. AS punishment he was sent by the
Oracle to serve Eurytheus, who sent him to
perform the Twelve Labors;" to wrestle
with the gigantic lion in Nemea; to destroy
the many-headed HYDRA; to capture the Ar
cadian hind, fierce deer; to capture the
huge boar Of Erymanthus; to cleanse the
stables of the giant Augeas, which he
did by turning the rivers AIpheus and
Peneus through them; to shoot the birds
that lowered over the Stymphaliau swamp;
to capture the Cretan bull; to capture the
man-eating mares of the Thracian Diamedes;
to obtain the girdle worn by the Queen of
the Amazons; to bring the oxen of Geryones
from the far West; to bring the golden ap-
Piles from the garden of the Hesperides,
which were watched by a dragon; to bring
neither to the upper world. All of the
troubles of Hercules came from the hatred
which Hera, the real wife of Zeus, bore
against him. Finally he killed the Centaur
Nessus, who told him that if he dipped his
shirt in his, the Centaur's blood, it would
serve as a love-charm. When he put the
shirt on, however, it burned him, and in his
death-agony he gave his bow and arrow to
Philotetes. who kindled the funeral pyre on
which the hero perished.
To what race OF people does the name
Yankee applyf DC
The white natives of New England are
the original Yankees The best e1plana-
tion of the names makes it an Indian cor
ruption OF the name English or L'Anglass,
which at first became Yengees, and so Yam
KEGS. But it is said that Yankee Doodle
was Oliver Cromwell, whom the Cavaliers
called Nankee or Yankee; the name, from
being applied only to him, became fastened |
upon his followers, and in time was revived |
for the Americans, whom the British DUR |
ing the Revolution ridiculed until we
made 'em laugh oat OF the other side of |
their mouth" The Persians call this con-
sinent Yenghee Dunich or Yenghee DunIa,
and so do the Arabs, if We recollect Bayard |
Taylor rightly. During the Civil War all !
he Northern troops were known a. Yam
1ees, perhaps because the Southerners
ooked upon the New Englanders a. respon-
'ible for the war. If Oliver Cromwell vas
he first Yankee Doodle, and did ride to
Oxford with feather in his cap as the
or dandies wore, perhaps In the
Doodle there may be . hint of our word
dude"
How do you change the difference Of time
% difference Of longitude, and vice versa7
C. r.
The sun passes over degree of longitude
n four minutes, or fifteen degrees in one
,our. That fact enables US, knowing what
he difference of time is between any two
places, to learn how many degrees of longi-
ude separate them. For instance, Boston
ime is about ii minutes earlier than New
York time; therefore Boston is about two
legrees, 45 minutes east OF New York.
Then knowing the difference of longitude,
We can ascertain the difference of time be-
ween any two places. Thls, London time
8 about FIVE hours faster than .Philadelphia
ime; SO the longitude of Philadelphia,
Iondon's longitude being 0, is about 20
aoraea vast So all the world over. " hon |