Chapter 4

Thackeray. Original drawing for Vanity Fair: “Mr. Joseph in a state of excitement.” Pencil, ca. 1846.

This drawing, and its corresponding image for Chapter 6, depicts George Osborne, in the foreground, and a drunken Joseph Sedley at the back, making a scene at Vauxhall. “The young ladies did not drink it; Osborne did not like it; and the consequence was, the Jos, the fat gourmand drank up the whole contents of the bowl; and the consequence of his drinking up the whole content of the bowl was, a liveliness which at first was astonishing, and then became almost painful... Mr. Osborne was just on the point of knocking down a gentleman in top-boots, who proposed to take advantage of this invitation, and a commotion seemed to be inevitable, when by the greatest good luck a gentleman of the name of Dobbin, who had been walking about the gardens, stepped up to the box.”

f HEW 12.12.23. Harry Elkins Widener Collection.