Chapter 5

Vanity Fair brought Thackeray much recognition, in literary circles and among the reading public. He no longer needed to rely on freelance work to ensure a steady income; he could focus on longer works of fiction.

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- He remained humble, as evidenced in a letter he wrote to Tennyson: “When I have dined, sometimes I believe myself to be equal to the greatest painters and poets. That delusion goes off; and then I know what a small fiddle mine is and what small tunes I play upon it.” While many of his old acquaintances resented Thackeray’s newfound fame, Thackeray’s social circle continued to include many old friends and fellow writers. Thackeray also made the acquaintance of Charlotte Brontë, who venerated him and his work. Dickens and Thackeray had been on friendly terms since first meeting in 1836, although Thackeray, by his own standards, could never quite view Dickens as a gentleman. Their friendly relationship lasted until the publication of Vanity Fair, when Thackeray observed that Dickens “can't forgive me for my success with Vanity Fair; as if there were not room in the world for both of us!”
  
  During the late 1840s, Thackeray was also much in the company of another Cambridge friend, William Brookfield, and Brookfield’s wife Jane. Over time, Thackeray became closer to the wife than the husband, and while their relationship remained chaste, it was also quite passionate and one of the most important of Thackeray’s life. The Brookfield’s marriage was strained and unhappy, and Thackeray and Jane were both able to offer each other companionship and solace. In 1851, William Brookfield ultimately forbade the two of them to meet, and the friendship ended.
  
  Thackeray’s main comfort and refuge continued to be at home with his daughters. Parenting alone, Thackeray was in many ways an unconventional Victorian father; his daughters were very much a part of his life, and he treated them as people, supporting their individual interests and eagerly watching the development of their personalities. Of Anny, he wrote, “I am afraid very much she is going to be a man of genius: I would far sooner have her an amiable and affectionate woman - But little Minny will be that, please God.” His daughters adored him in kind, and did not notice the eccentricity of their lives until much later. Anny later wrote, “Ours was more or less a bachelor’s establishment, and the arrangements of the house varied between certain fastidiousness and the roughest simplicity. We had shabby tablecloths, alternating with some of my grandmother’s fine linen…also three cracked cups and saucers of unequal patterns and sizes…Our London home was a happy [home].”

In this section

	Thackeray self portrait, ca. 1848.	The Book of Snobs (London: Punch Office, 1848).

	Manuscript portion from The History of Pendennis, [1850?]	Thackeray’s original drawing for Pendennis: “A Recognition.”

	Charlotte Brontë’s admiration for Thackeray, 11 March 1848.	Charlotte Brontë dedicates Jane Eyre to Thackeray (London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1848).

	Thackeray’s portrait of Jane Brookfield, undated.	“Though we never say it/ Yet the secret rests”, undated.

	Rebecca and Rowena, inscribed to the Brookfields (London: Chapman & Hall, 1850).	Thackeray writes to Anny and Minny from Edinburgh, 9 December 1851.

	Thackeray. Two drawings, undated.	Thackeray’s ivory and brass “aide-mémoire” sketchbook. Undated.

	Thackeray’s gold pen.