Thackeray’s men are no whit less successful. George Osborne and his purse-proud father; old Mr. Sedley and Jos; Sir Pitt Crawley--that most daring piece of character drawing--and his sons, Pitt and Rawdon; Pendennis and “Bluebeard,” as Lady Rockingham called George Warrington; little Bows; the valet, Morgan; Clive Newcome and his cousin, the little bounder, Sir Barnes; the Virginians, Harry and George; the inimitable Foker and the irrepressible Costigan. Thackeray drew gentlemen in a way that has never been excelled and rarely equalled. “They [the Kickleburys] are travelling with Mr. Bloundell, who was a gentleman once, and still retains about him some faint odour of that time of bloom.” “It is true poor Plantagenet [Gaunt] is only an idiot ... a zany, ... and yet you see he is a gentleman.” And the author makes the reader see it is so. In spite of the debaucheries and his behaviour to his family, the Marquis of Steyne is always _grand seigneur_. Esmond is a gentleman, and so is the intriguing Major Pendennis, Half-Pay; and Florac and Dobbin, and the little-worldly-wise Colonel Newcome. It has been said that the Colonel is too good for this world, too innocent, too ignorant, too transparently a child of nature, yet surely the noble-hearted man is human and true. Indeed, by this one character alone Thackeray could take his place among the masters. The whole gallery of his creations places him at the head of the [Illustration: THE WRITING TABLE AND CHAIR USED BY THACKERAY AT YOUNG STREET, ONSLOW SQUARE, AND PALACE GREEN Reproduced by kind permission of Mrs. Richmond Ritchie] English novelists of the nineteenth century. [Illustration: _From a pencil drawing by Richard Doyle in the British Museum_ W. M. THACKERAY] A paper dealing with Thackeray’s characters may not ignore the question of the “originals.” Great interest has always been taken in Thackeray’s originals. Much has been written about them which is worth reading; much also has been written that is misleading. The novelist was personal sometimes, but it was seldom that he modelled a character on a man or woman of his acquaintance. He told his daughters that he never wilfully copied anyone; and there is no reason to disbelieve his statement. The Marquis of Steyne was a sublimation of half a dozen characters, and so were Captain Shandon and Costigan; and Becky, Dobbin, Jos Sedley, and Colonel Newcome were wholly original--from the celebrity point of view at least. Many of the people in “Esmond” are portraits of historical personages--the Duke of Hamilton, Lord Mohun, and [Illustration: _Painted by Sir John Gilbert, R.A., and presented to the Garrick Club_ A POSTHUMOUS PORTRAIT OF THACKERAY Collection of Augustin Rischgitz]