The writer was evidently well aware that cynics and literary critics would make fun of the book, but the defence of sincerity comes with added weight from one who was always on the look out for ineptitudes in high places. The announcement of the betrothal of the Princess Louise to the Marquis of Lorne gave _Punch_ a fine opportunity in the autumn of 1870 of vindicating his prescience, and simultaneously revealing Thackeray in the light of a political prophet:-- [Illustration: A (REAL) GERMAN DEFEAT] [Sidenote: _Thackeray among the Prophets_] THE ROYAL MARRIAGE _Mr. Punch_ begs leave to make a distinguished bow to his excellent (if Conservative) contemporary, the _Bath Chronicle_. That admirable journal, the studies of whose Conductor are so evidently in a right direction that the success of the paper is a matter of course, has turned back to a somewhat remote Number of _Punch_, and has been amply rewarded by lighting upon an article, which has been transferred to the columns of the _Bath Chronicle_, with appropriate remarks, a portion of which _Mr. Punch_ has the utmost pleasure in reproducing:-- "Twenty-one years ago, in the Number of _Punch_ for February 3, 1849, the late Mr. Thackeray drew an imaginary picture of 'England in 1869,' in supposed extracts from the newspapers of the period. One of these, under the heading of 'Marriages of the Royal Family,' is so applicable to the circumstances of 'England in 1870' that it is worth reproducing. The humourist would have been amused himself had he lived to see how nearly he hit the mark. The following is the paragraph we refer to:--