resented, or satisfaction is not felt.
Mr. Boehm has certainly not flattered, but, as far as my eye can judge,
he has given the figure of the man exactly as he used to stand before
us. I have a portrait of him in crayon, by Samuel Lawrence, as like, but
hardly as natural.

A little before his death Thackeray told me that he had then succeeded
in replacing the fortune which he had lost as a young man. Ho had, in
fact, done better, for he left an income of seven hundred and fifty
pounds behind him.

It has been said of Thackeray that he was a cynic. This has been said so
generally, that the charge against him has become proverbial. This,
stated barely, leaves one of two impressions on the mind, or perhaps the
two together,--that this cynicism was natural to his character and came
out in his life, or that it is the characteristic of his writings. Of
the nature of his writings generally, I will speak in the last chapter
of this little book. As to his personal character as a cynic, I must
find room to quote the following first stanzas of the little poem which
appeared to his memory in _Punch_, from the pen of Shirley Brooks;

He was a cynic! By his life all wrought
Of generous acts, mild words, and gentle ways;
His heart wide open to all kindly thought,
His hand so quick to give, his tongue to praise!

He was a cynic! You might read it writ
In that broad brow, crowned with its silver hair;
In those blue eyes, with childlike candour lit,
In that sweet smile his lips were wont to wear!

He was a cynic! By the love that clung
About him from his children, friends, and kin;
By the sharp pain light pen and gossip tongue
Wrought in him, chafing the soft heart within!

The spirit and nature of the man have been caught here with absolute
truth. A public man should of course be judged from his public work. If
he wrote as a cynic,--a point which I will not discuss here,--it may be
fair that he who is to be known as a writer should be so called. But, as
a man, I protest that it would be hard to find an individual farther
removed from the character. Over and outside his fancy, which was the
gift which made him so remarkable,--a certain feminine softness was the
most remarkable trait about him. To give some immediate pleasure was the
great delight of his life,--a sovereign to a schoolboy, gloves to a
girl, a dinner to a man, a compliment to a woman. His charit