CONTENTS [This novel was issued in monthly parts from January 1847 to July II. IN WHICH MISS SHARP AND MISS SEDLEY PREPARE TO 13 XV. IN WHICH REBECCA'S HUSBAND APPEARS FOR A SHORT XVIII. WHO PLAYED ON THE PIANO CAPTAIN DOBBIN BOUGHT? 211 / OF HYMEN XX. IN WHICH CAPTAIN DOBBIN ACTS AS THE MESSENGER 224 235 CHAPTER PAGE - 248 200 269 XXI. A QUARREL ABOUT AN HEIRESS XXII. A MARRIAGE AND PART OF A HONEYMOON XXV. IN WHICH ALL THE PRINCIPAL PERSONAGES THINK FIT - 276 292 XXX. THE GIRL I LEFT BEHIND ME' XXXI. IN WHICH JOS SEDLEY TAKES CARE OF HIS SISTER XXXII. IN WHICH JOS TAKES FLIGHT, AND THE WAR IS BROUGHT TO A CLOSE XXXIII. IN WHICH MISS CRAWLEY'S RELATIONS ARE VERY 361 373 386 XXXVI. HOW TO LIVE WELL ON NOTHING A YEAR 452 XLI. IN WHICH BECKY XXXIX. A CYNICAL CHAPTER XL. IN WHICH BECKY IS RECOGNIZED BY THE FAMILY 498 510 ANCESTORS - 522 XLII. WHICH TREATS OF THE OSBORNE FAMILY 535 XLIII. IN WHICH THE READER HAS TO DOUBLE THE CAPE XLVIII. IN WHICH THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO THE VERY BEST OF COMPANY - 598 CHAPTER XLIX. IN WHICH WE ENJOY THREE COURSES AND A DESSERT PAGE L. CONTAINS A VULGAR INCIDENT 621 LI. IN WHICH A CHARADE IS ACTED WHICH MAY OR MAY 633 LII. IN WHICH LORD STEYNE SHOWS HIMSELF IN A MOST 657 LXVII. WHICH CONTAINS BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS 856 812 830 - 839 APPENDIX 881 LIST OF PLATES PAGE Frontispiece W. M. THACKERAY. From a Drawing by Samuel Laurence, FACSIMILE OF WRAPPER TO ONE OF THE ORIGINAL MONTHLY REBECCA'S FAREWELL MR. JOSEPH ENTANGLED MR. JOSEPH IN A STATE OF EXCITEMENT REBECCA MAKES ACQUAINTANCE WITH A LIVE BARONET V vi 11 45 67 79 РАСЕ MISS SHARP IN HER SCHOOLROOM MISS CRAWLEY'S AFFECTIONATE RELATIVES LIEUTENANT OSBORNE AND HIS ARDENT LOVE-LETTERS MR. OSBORNE'S WELCOME TO AMELIA THE NOTE ON THE PINCUSHION AN ELEPHANT FOR SALE MR. SEDLEY AT THE COFFEE-HOUSE MISS SWARTZ REHEARSING FOR THE DRAWING-ROOM 299 MRS. OSBORNE'S CARRIAGE STOPPING THE WAY 333 345 363 MR. JOS SHAVES OFF HIS MOUSTACHIOS 403 · MR. JAMES'S PIPE IS PUT OUT MAJOR SUGARPLUMS MRS. RAWDON'S DEPARTURE. FROM PARIS GEORGY MAKES ACQUAINTANCE WITH A WATERLOO MAN GLORVINA TRIES HER FASCINATION ON THE MAJOR THE ARRIVAL AT QUEEN'S CRAWLEY BECKY IN LOMBARD STREET GEORGY GOES TO CHURCH GENTEELLY THE TRIUMPH OF CLYTEMNESTRA COLONEL CRAWLEY IS WANTED SIR PITT'S STUDY-CHAIR GEORGY A GENTLEMAN MR. Jos's HOOKAHBADAR A FINE SUMMER EVENING 433 449 459 480 - 507 25 34 INTRODUCTION 2 IN this and the following Introductions we have no 24 longer to arrange, and comment upon, a mosaic of pro3 ductions smaller and larger, better or worse, but hetero36 geneous, except as pervaded by the spirit of their author. Nor have we to contemplate any longer the spectacle 4 of that good man struggling with adversity-a spectacle 44 which may be legitimately attractive to gods, but which 4 has very little legitimate attraction for fellow men. Each 50 48 volume will now contain either, as in the case of most, 51 a single and substantial masterpiece, or, as in one or two, 5a group of pieces the worst of which could not have been 5 written except by a master. And although Vanity Fair, the 6first of them, did not immediately receive the welcome it deserved though it needed (or is said to have needed) a friendly shove from Hayward to clear it of the launchingways, a sisterly haul from the little tug' Mrs. Perkins's Ball to get it out of the shallows-yet before long it had its share at last of triumph and of gale. There are some odd chronological coincidences about it. Not only was Thackeray just at the middle of the career of our life' when the first number appeared on New Year's Day, 1847, but, still more curiously, he had reached almost the exact centre of his own much shorter career of literature. Between the Snob and Vanity Fair almost exactly the same space of years passed as between Vanity Fair and the last Roundabout or chapter of Denis Duval. His experiences were to be happier in the second period than in the first. The gods showed themselves at last not helpless in the fight with stupidity. But that fight never entirely |