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Prelude It happened that the undersigned spent the last Christmas season in a foreign city where there were many English children.* In that city, if you wanted to give a child’s party, you could not even get a magic lantern or buy Twelfth-Night characters...

—henJ°s’s fine carriage drove up to the inn door at Chatham, the first face which Amelia recognized was the friendly countenance of Captain Dobbin, who had been pacing the streetforanhourpast in expectation of his friends’ arrival. The captain,...

othe mourning being ready, and Sir Pitt Crawley warned of their arrival, Colonel Crawley and his wife took a couple of places in the same old ‘ Highflyer ’ coach*, by which Rebecca had travelled in the defunct baronet’s company, on...

onducted to the ladies, at the Ship Inn, Dobbin assumed a jovial and rattling manner, which proved that this young officer was becoming a more consummate hypocrite every day of his life. He was trying to hide his own private feelings, first upon...

The day after the meeting at the play-table, Jos had himself arrayed with unusual care and splendour, and without thinking it necessary to say a word to any member of his family regarding the occurrences of the previous night, or asking for their...

urold friends the Crawleys’ family house* in Great Gaunt Street, still bore over its front the hatchment which had been placed there as a token of mourning for Sir Pitt Crawley’s demise, yet this heraldic emblem was in itself a very...

nd now, being received as a member of the amiable family whose portraits we have sketched in the foregoing pages, it became naturally Rebecca’s duty to make herself, as she said, agreeable to her benefactors, and to gain their confidence to the utmost...

After Becky’s appearance at my Lord Steyne’s private and select parties the claims of that estimable woman as regards fashion, were settled ; and some of the very greatest and tallest doors in the metropolis were speedily opened to her—doors so great and...

e have seen how Mrs. Firkin, the lady’s-maid, as soon as any event of importance to the Crawley family came to her knowledge, felt bound to communicate it to Mrs. Bute Crawley, at the Rectory; and have before mentioned how particularly kind and...

R. Jos had hired a pair of horses for his open carriage, with which cattle, and the smart London vehicle, he made a very tolerable figure in the drives about Brussels. George purchased a horse for his private riding, and he and Captain Dobbin...

henews of the great fights of Quatre Bras and Waterloo reached England at the same time. The Gazette first published the result of the two battles ; at which glorious intelligence all England thrilled with triumph and fear. Particulars then followed...

* When Lord Steyne was benevolently disposed, he did nothing by halves, and his kindness towards the Crawley family did the greatest honour to his benevolent discrimination. His lordship extended his goodwill to little Rawdon: he pointed out to the boy’s parents the necessity...

Whatever Becky’s private plan might be by which Dobbin’s true love was to be crowned with success, the little woman thought that the secret might keep, and indeed, being by no means so much interested about anybody’s welfare as about her own, she...

As the Manager of the Performance sits before the curtain on the boards, and looks into the Fair, a feeling of profound melancholy comes over him in his survey of the bustling place. There is a great quantity of eating and drinking, making love and...

at having prepared the sisters, Dobbin hastened away to the City to perform the rest and more difficult part of the task which he had undertaken. The idea of facing old Osborne rendered him not a little nervous, and more than once he...

llthe world knows that Lord Steyne’s town palace stands in Gaunt Square, out of which Great Gaunt Street leads*, whither we first conducted Rebecca, in the time of the departed Sir Pitt Crawley. Peering over the railings and through the black...

Friend Rawdon drove on then to Mr. Moss’s mansion in Cursitor f Street, and was duly inducted into that dis-mal place of hospitality. Morning was breaking over the cheerful house-tops of Chancery Lane as the rattling cab woke up the echoes there. A...

ir Pitt Crawley was a philosopher with a taste for what is called low life. His first marriage with the daughter of the noble Binkie had been made under the auspices of his parents ; and as he often told Lady Crawley in...

Frankness and kindness like Amelia’s were likely to touch even such a hardened little reprobate as Becky. She returned Emmy’s caresses and kind speeches with something very like gratitude, and an emotion which, if it was not lasting, for a moment was almost...

Miss Rebecca Sharp to Miss Amelia Sedley, Russell Square, London (Free*.—Pitt Crawley.) My Dearest, Sweetest Amelia—With what mingled joy and sorrow do I take up the pen to write to my dearest friend ! Oh, what a change...

At last Becky’s kindness and attention to the chief of her husband’s family, were destined to meet with an exceeding great reward; a reward which, though certainly somewhat unsubstantial, the little woman co veted with greater eagerness than more positive benefits. If she...

ithout knowing how, Captain William Dobbin found himself the great promoter, arranger, and manager of the match between George Osborne and Amelia. But for him it never would have taken place : he could not but confess as much to himself, and smiledrather...

very reader of a sentimental turn (and we desire no other) must have been pleased with the tableau with which the last act of our little drama concluded ; for what can be prettier than an image of Love on his knees before...

Good fortune now begins to smile upon Amelia. We are glad to get her out of that low sphere in which she has been creeping hitherto, and introduce her into a polite circle, not so grand and refined as that in which our...

esides these honest folks at the Hall (whose simplicity and sweet rural purity surely show the advantage of a country life over a town one), we must introduce the reader to their relatives and neighbours at the Rectory, Bute Crawley and his wife...

ur friends at Brompton were meanwhile passing their Christmas after their fashion, and in a manner by no means too cheerful. Out of the hundred pounds a year*, which was about the amount of her income, the widow Osborne had been in the...

f here is any exhibition in all Vanity Fair which Satire and Sentiment can visit arm-in-arm together ; where you light on the strangest contrasts laughable and tearful : where you may be gentle and pathetic, or savage and cynical with perfect propriety...

uff’s fight with Dobbin, and the unexpected issue of that contest, will long be remembered by every man who was educated at Dr. Swishtail’s famous school. The latter youth (who used to be called Heigh-ho Dobbin, Gee-ho Dobbin, and by many other names...

heamiable behaviour of Mr. Crawley, and Lady Jane’s kind reception of her, highly flattered Miss Briggs, who was enabled to speak a good word for the latter, after the cards of the Southdown family had been presented to . Miss Crawley....

The major’s visit left old John Sedley in a great state of agita-tion and excitement. His daughter could not induce him to settle down to his customary occupations or amusements that night. He passed the evening fumbling amongst his boxes and desks, untying...

ove may be felt for any young lady endowed with such qualities as Miss Swartz possessed; and a great dream of ambition entered into old Mr. Osborne’s soul, which she was to realize. He encouraged, with the utmost enthusiasm and friendliness, his daughters’...

ir Pitt Crawleyhad done more than repair fences and restore dilapidated lodges on the Queen’s Crawley estate. Like a wise man he had set to work to rebuild the injured popularity of his house, and stop up the gaps and ruins in which...

emust suppose little George Osborne has ridden from Knightsbridge towards Fulham, and will stop and make inquiries at that village regarding some friends whom we have left there. How is Mrs. Amelia after the storm of Waterloo ? Is she living and thriving...

Here came a day when the round of decorous pleasures and solemn gaieties in which Mr. Jos Sedley’s family indulged, was interrupted by an event which happens in most houses. As you ascend the staircase of your house from the drawing-towards the bed-room...

nquitting Brighton, our friend George, as became a person of rank and fashion, travelling in a barouche* with four horses, drove in state to a fine hotel in Cavendish Square,* where a suite of splendid rooms, and a table...

he astonished reader must be called upon to transport himself ten thousand miles to the military station of Bundlegunge, in the Madras division of our Indian empire, where our gallant old friends of the—th regiment are quartered under the command of the brave...

nthe first place, and as a matter of the greatest necessity, we are bound to \ describe how a house may be got for I nothing a year. These mansions are I to be had either unfurnished, where, f if you...

mong the most respected of the names beginning in C, which the Court-Guide contained, in the year 18—, was that of Crawley, Sir Pitt, Baronet, Great Gaunt Street, and Queen’s Crawley, Hants. This honourable name had figured constantly also in the Parliamentary list...

hekind reader must please to remember—while the army is marching from Flanders, and, after its heroic actions there, is advancing to take the fortifications on the frontiers of France, previous to an occupation of that country—that there are a number of persons living...

When the ladies of Gaunt House were at breakfast that morning Lord Steyne (who took his chocolate in private, and seldom disturbed the females of his household, or saw them except upon public days, or when they crossed each other in the hall,...

It was one of the many causes for personal pride with which old Osborne chose to recreate himself, that Sedley, his ancient rival, enemy, and benefactor, was in his last days so utterly defeated and humiliated, as to be forced to accept pecuniary...

e of peaceful London City have never beheld—and please God never shall witness—such a scene of hurry and alarm, as that which Brussels presented. Crowds rushed to the Namur gate, from which direction the noise proceeded, and many rode along the level ...

Such polite behaviour as that of Lord Tapeworm did not fail to have the most favourable effect upon Mr. Sedley’s mind, and the very next morning, at breakfast, he pronounced his opinion that Pumpernickel was the pleasantest little place of any which he...

‘I think I could be a good woman if I had five thousand a year.’ Becky Sharp is sharp, calculating, and determined to succeed. Craving wealth and a position in society, she charms, hoodwinks, manipulates everyone she meets, rising in the world as she attaches herself to a succession of rich men. Becky’s fortunes are contrasted with those of her best friend Amelia, who has none of Becky’s wit and vitality but whose gentle-heartedness attracts the devotion of the loyal Dobbin. Set during the Napoleonic wars, Vanity Fair follows Becky as she cuts a swathe through Regency society. Thackeray paints a panoramic portrait of the age, with war, money and national identity his great subjects. The battle for social success is as fierce as the battle of Waterloo, and its casualties as stricken. The satire is at once biting and profound, sparing none in a clear-eyed exposure of a world on the make. Thackeray’s scepticism of human motives borders on cynicism yet Vanity Fair is among the funniest novels of the Victorian age. This new edition includes all Thackeray’s original illustrations.

Know that the tune I am piping is a very mild one (although there are some terrific chapters coming presently), and must beg the good-natured reader to remember, that we are only discoursing at present about a stockbroker’s family in Russell Square, who...

ow they were married is not of the slightest consequence to anybody. What is to hinder a captain who is a major, and a young lady who is of age, from purchasing a licence, and uniting themselves at any church in this town...

oor Joe’s panic lasted for two or three days ; during which he did not visit the house, nor during that period did Miss Rebecca ever mention his name. She was all respectful gratitude to Mrs. Sedley; delighted beyond measure at the bazaars...

* We must pass over a part of Mrs. Rebecca Crawley’s biography with that lightness and delicacy which the world demands—the moral world, that has, perhaps, no particular objection to vice, but an insuperable repugnance to hearing vice called by its proper name. There...

fear the gentleman to whom Miss Amelia’s letters were addressed was rather an obdurate critic. Such a number of notes followed Lieutenant Osborne about the country, that he became almost ashamed of the jokes of his mess-room companions regarding them, and ordered his...

heregiment with its officers was to be transported in ships provided by His Majesty’s government for the occasion: and in two days after the festive assembly at Mrs. O’Dowd’s apartments, in the midst of cheering from all the East India ships in the...