New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-05-27


as foundation scholar and his place
rs monitor can be pointed out, and ING
room where he was birched for neglcc''hs
study. and the traditional scene OF h''
fight with Venables. from which TIC
emerged with broken nose. dishgured for
life, can be found AS many as seven OF
his prominent characters were sent 10
the Charterhouse in boyhood, and his de-
scriptions Of the sombre. monastic build
ings and the pensioners courts and scr
vices are faithful transcripts OF wha'
may be seen to-day Thackeray topog-
raphy virtually ends with Charterhouse
Square. He lacked Balzac's love or de-
tails and Dickens's genius for catching
the inspiration of environment. lie
knew the Inns Of Courts as we'll as DICK
ems did. but he did not have the faculty
for interesting readers In them. he
housed his characters under roofs IN
Bloomsbury and Mayfair and could al
ways tell where they We're when he was
writing his stories; and yet the stage
setting did not interest him. He was
content with naming streets where his
people lived.
When Thackeray left the Charterhouse
in 1923 he went to Ottery st. Mary in
DeNonshire where his mother was Nv
ing after a second marriage, and while
he was there, borrowing books from the
Vicar. Illustrating Aristophanes's Birds
with crude sketches, and writing poems
and essays for the country papers. ne
often rode to Sidmouth and Exeter. The
story Of that period Of indecision was
told years afterward in "Pendennis," the
most photographed Of his novels; and
yet the references to the three towns
were vague and uncertain. Either Dick
ems or Hardy would have impaired vivid
ness and de1nteness to the topography
Of the story. That was not his GIT
Equally defective are Thackeray's scenic
effects in London. Gaunt House, where
sa satisfactorily identified as HEREFORD
House. Of the Wallace Collection. and
Colonel Newcomers home In F1tzroy
Square may be found with fair degree
of certainty, but Becky Sharp's narrow
house with the high railing has disap-
peared from the west end OF Curzon
street along with the Rev. Charles
Honeymans Chapel; and who can say
where the Sedleys and Osbornes lived in
Russell Square. or where Lady Kew re-
ceived her visitors with cynical sar-
casms?
Paternoster Row has been completely
rebuilt since Warrington found a pub
Usher for Pendennis's lyric and starteq
him on a literary career. The joyous
haunts of Bohemia described in "The
Newcomes" and "Pendennis" with SYM
pathetic touch have shared the tate OF
Dickenss London inns. Who can now
find THE Cave Of Harmony In the
course Of a nights stroll. or come
TO a snug anchorage in The Back
Kitchen" among congenial cronies?
Thackerays clubs still have his faVorite
corners. chairs and windows which are
pointed out to visitors; and his four
houses in Great Coram street, Young
street Onslow Square and Palace Green
are goals Of literary pilgrimage Tor
American tourists after they have seen
the Charterhouse. These are realities IN
the shadowy, Elusive realm or mack
eray's London, where so many OF MS
characters and puppets are virtually
| homeless This summer for a snort sea
son there is to be a more interesting
ouest ;or these sentimental ramblers.
This is the exhibition Of Thackeray
relies. manuscripts and portraits. when
will be opened by Lord Rosebery at the
! Charterhouse toward the end of June.
Some of the earliest pen and ink draw
ines and caricatures OF Thackeray
school DAYS will be lent from the library
az Godalming. and to these will be added
marginal illustrations and sketches mace
at Ottery St. Mary and Cambridge. HIS
sketch books in Paris and Germany VIII
also be shown, with scores OF drawings
dashed off for Punch" during his pro-
longed period OF literary apprenticeship.
There will be a complete set Of corrected
proofsheets of THE Newcomes," and the
manuscript Of the book in his own hand
or in his amanuensis's script and there
will be many rare editions Of his works
and numerous letters written to his chill
dren and to intimate friends. Lady
Richie will lend several portraits and
busts from the family treasures. Among
these Will be painting BY Frank Stone,
sketch by Mllais, a plaster bust by
Devie and a drawing by Frederick
Walker Maclise's drawings and Sir
John Gilbert's portrait at the Garrick
Club may not be available, nor the
Boehm busts at the Athenaum and the
Reform Club; but there are sketches by
F. NJ. Ward, Samuel Laurence and other
artists in private collections which are to
be exhibited, with replicas Of busts by
several sculptors and few OF Thack-
erays humorous caricatures Of himself.
In these images Of the grave. kind face
Thackeray will return TO the scene where
he once wore the scholars gown and
dreaded a Gaming after prayers. II will
not be like Thomas Newcomers retreat
from the world to end his days as a man
Of sorrows and childlike faith among the
black coated pensioners, as Pendennis
saw him Unexpectedly with fearful eyes
II will be the TRANSPORTATION OF the old |
Carthusian satirist into an intensely hui |
man social monitor. The bengnant face |
which has not been seen for nearly half |
a century will again be revealed in the |
old school, and in pensive retrospection |
y,il no I,rI