[Illustration: WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY FROM A DRAWING BY SAMUEL LAURENCE.] THACKERAY BY G. K. CHESTERTON AND LEWIS MELVILLE WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS NEW YORK JAMES POTT AND COMPANY LONDON HODDER AND STOUGHTON PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY, ENGLAND. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY, _circa_ 1853 _Frontispiece_ W. M. THACKERAY (from a drawing by Daniel Maclise about 1840) 1 LARKBEARE, THE HOME OF THACKERAY’S MOTHER 2 THE CHARTERHOUSE IN THE TIME OF THACKERAY 2 RICHMOND THACKERAY, FATHER OF THE NOVELIST 3 W. M. THACKERAY IN 1822 4 THACKERAY AT THE AGE OF THREE, WITH HIS FATHER AND MOTHER 5 THACKERAY AMONG THE FRASERIANS 6 RUE NEUVE ST. AUGUSTIN, PARIS, 1836 7 W. M. THACKERAY (by Frank Stone, 1836) 9 NO. 18, ALBION STREET, HYDE PARK 10 NO. 13, GREAT CORAM STREET, BRUNSWICK SQUARE 11 DRAWING FROM _PUNCH_: AUTHORS’ MISERIES, NO. 6 12 “COMIC TALES AND SKETCHES” 13 BUST OF THACKERAY (after Joseph Durham) 14 WILLIAM MAKEPEACE THACKERAY 15 THE STRANGERS’ ROOM, REFORM CLUB 17 NO. 13 (NOW 16), YOUNG STREET, KENSINGTON 18 NO. 36, ONSLOW SQUARE, BROMPTON 19 CHAEAU DE BREQUERECQUE, BOULOGNE-SUR-MER, 1854 20 MR. MICHAEL ANGELO TITMARSH 21 W. M. THACKERAY (from a sketch by Sir John E. Millais, P.R.A.) 23 W. M. THACKERAY (from the painting by Samuel Laurence in the National Portrait Gallery) 24 W. M. THACKERAY (from a photograph) 25 THE WRITING TABLE AND CHAIR USED BY THACKERAY AT YOUNG STREET, ONSLOW SQUARE, AND PALACE GREEN 27 W. M. THACKERAY (from a pencil drawing by Richard Doyle in the British Museum) 28