Chapter 2

Following his early departure from Cambridge, Thackeray attempted a number of occupations, including law, bill-discounting, journalism, and illustration.

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- While studying art in Paris in 1835, Thackeray met Isabella Shawe, an Irish girl five years his junior. Despite her mother’s disapproval of Thackeray, and the Shawe family’s impoverished circumstances, the two fell in love, compelling Thackeray to settle on a career and to earn a reliable source of income. In 1836, Thackeray’s stepfather purchased the radical London newspaper The Constitutional and Public Ledger, and established Thackeray as its Paris correspondent, allowing Isabella and Thackeray to marry.
  
  In December of 1836, Isabella became pregnant, and Thackeray was forced to seek work that was more stable and offered better compensation. After too many failed attempts to be an artist, Thackeray settled on writing. He and Isabella moved to London, where Thackeray became an increasingly frequent contributor to a number of periodicals, and began writing longer works of fiction for serial publication. Their first child, Anne Isabella Thackeray, was born on June 9, 1837.

In this section

	Thackeray’s series of “Simple Melodies”	Owning and editing The National Standard, May 1833-February 1834

	Thackeray describes the “Adventures of a French Count”	Engagement ring given to Isabella

	Thackeray illustrates Flore et Zéphyr (London: J. Mitchell, 1836).	Mr. and Mrs. Thackeray.

	“Mr Pickwick’s lucky escape”: Thackeray’s sketches for Dickens	Thackeray publishes The Yellowplush Correspondence (New York: Carey & Hart, 1838)