Morris tribune., 1898-05-18
VANITY FAIR"
An InteS~Ating Thackeray Letter That Car"
ries His Characters Farther On.

An Interesting Thackeray Letter That Car
ries His Characters Farther On.
A real find appears in Longman' 8
Magazine in the shape of letter OF
ThaokeraE to his friend and Leigh
Hunts friend, the Duke Of Devon
shire. His grace had expressed his
regret at VANITY Fair" coming to
an end and his interest in the fur
Their adventures and fate of the char
acters. To crafty this curiosity
Thackeray wrote:
MY LORD DUKE-Mrs. Rawdon Crawleyl
whom l saw last week and whom informed
of your grace's desire to have her portrait
was good enough to permit me to copy little
drawing made of her Gin happier days" she
said, with sigh, by Since, the Royal acade-
mician.
Mrs. Crawley now lives in a small but very
pretty little house in Belgravia and Is conspic-
uous for her numerous charities, which always
get into the newspapers, and her unaffected
piety. Many of the most exalted and spotless OF
her own sex visit her and are Of opinion THAI
she is most injured woman. There is no sort
Of truth in the stories regarding Mrs Crawley
acter of that nobleman alone gave rise to re-
ports from which, alas, the most spotless life
and reputation cannot always defend them"
selves. The present Sir Rawdon Crawley, who
succeeded his late uncle, Sir Pitt, 1882 (Sir
Pitt died on the passing Of the reform billlV
does not see his mother, and his undutifulnesa
is cause of the deepest grief to that admira-
BILE lady. If it were not for higher things,
she says, how could she have borne up against
the worlds calumny, wicked husbands cru
city and falseness and the thanklessness, sharp
or than a serpent's tooth, of an adored childf
But she has been preserved, mercifully pre-
served, to bear all these griefs and awaits her
reward elsewhere.
She took the style and title of Lady Crawley
for some time after Sir Pitts death in 1882
but it turned out that Colonel Crawley, gOvs
ernor of Coventry island, had died of fever
three months before his brother, whereupon
Mrs. Rawdon was obliged to lay down the title
which she had prematurely assumed.
The late Joseph Sedley, Esq, Of the Bengal
civil service, left her two lakhs Of rupees, on
the interest of which the widow lives in the
practices of piety and benevolence before men
toned. She has lost what little good looks she
once possessed and wears false hair and teeth
(the latter give her rather CHASTITY look when
she smiles) and for pious woman is the best
crinolihed lady in Knightsbridge district.
Colonel and Mrs. W. Dobbin live in Hamp-
godmother' to their little girl, and the ladies
are exceedingly attached to each other. The
colonel's History Of the Punjaub" is looked
for with much anxiety in some circles.
Captain and Lieutenant Colonel g. Sedley-
Osborne Che wishes, he says, to be distinguish
ed from some other branches Of the Osborne
family and descended by the mothers side
from Sir Charles Sedley) is, l need not say,
we'll, for saw him in most richly embroider-
ed. cambria pink shirt, with diamond studs,
bowling to your grace at the last party in Dew
onshire House. He is in parliament, but the
property left him by his grandfather has, I
hear, been good deal overrated.
He was very sweet upon Miss Crawley, Sir
Pitts daughter, who married her cousin, the
present baronet, and a good deal cut up when
he was refused. He is not, however, man to
be permanently cast down by sentimental dis
appointments. His chief cause of annoyance
at the present moment is that he is growing
bald, but his whiskers are still without gray
hair and the finest in London.
think these are the latest particulars relat.
ing to number of persons about whom your
grace was good enough to express some inter
est am very glad to be enabled to give this
information and am your grace's very much
obliged servant, W. NJ. THAoKERAY.