lOO ■ PROCEKDINGS MANCHESTER INSTITUTE 



folks ; I find none in the world ; but I will give you character in 

 place of perfection ; I will give you erring, weak and fallible hu- 

 manity. I give you men you can never think of afterward with- 

 out a glow around the heart, lank and faithful Major Dobbin, 

 bearing the burdens of a host of others, Colonel Newcome, with 

 his childlike honor and purity of soul, Esmond, a soldier of 

 coolness, patience and magnanimity." He saw through them 

 all. And still we love them the more, just as we do our own 

 folks. If his is not the clarion note of faith, he has in noblest, 

 fullest form the heart song of charity. " And the greatest of 

 these " — it was said long ago. 



When we pass from the qualities of substance to the qualities 

 of form we simply acknowledge in Thackeray the master of our 

 Knglish speech. His is the well-nigh perfect power of expres- 

 sion in language, so that you are hardly conscious, without ex- 

 amination and study-, how fine his skill. We forget he has a 

 style in the mere pleasure of listening. In a far wider and truer 

 sense than of Goldsmith it might be said, " He touched nothing 

 he did not adorn." It seems to make little difference what his 

 immediate subject may be, even though in itself rough and re- 

 pellent, you want to have him keep on talking, and the end of 

 the chapter always comes too soon. For with him the words 

 are never in the way. They have the precision and deftness of 

 a perfect machine. You like to watch the machine's smooth, 

 swift motion whether the machine is producing anything or not. 

 Thackeray is discursive, following one pleasant path after an- 

 other, while his characters wait in awkward situations ; but you 

 do not care so long as your ears are beguiled with that pleasant 

 and charming music. He makes long and sometimes exasperat- 

 ing comments on his characters, minutely describing the mech- 

 anism of his puppet show, where you would much prefer to have 

 them speak for themselves. "Why can't he let them be ! " 

 But never mind. The talk is so beautiful in itself, the sentences 

 flow with such simplicity and naturalness, the terms are so fit, 

 so full of meaning, without a particle of exaggeration, that you 

 want him to go on commenting forever, He scolds ; but was 

 there ever such admirable scolding: ? That is the trouble with 



