be made. But he was not satisfied with his position. He felt it
to be precarious, and he was always thinking of what he owed to his two
girls. That _arbitrium popularis aurae_ on which he depended for his
daily bread was not regarded by him with the confidence which it
deserved. He did not probably know how firm was the hold he had obtained
of the public ear. At any rate he was anxious, and endeavoured to secure
for himself a permanent income in the public service. He had become by
this time acquainted, probably intimate, with the Marquis of
Clanricarde, who was then Postmaster-General. In 1848 there fell a
vacancy in the situation of Assistant-Secretary at the General Post
Office, and Lord Clanricarde either offered it to him or promised to
give it to him. The Postmaster-General had the disposal of the
place,--but was not altogether free from control in the matter. When he
made known his purpose at the Post Office, he was met by an assurance
from the officer next under him that the thing could not be done. The
services were wanted of a man who had had experience in the Post Office;
and, moreover, it was necessary that the feelings of other gentlemen
should be consulted. Men who have been serving in an office many years
do not like to see even a man of genius put over their heads. In fact,
the office would have been up in arms at such an injustice. Lord
Clanricarde, who in a matter of patronage was not scrupulous, was still
a good-natured man and amenable. He attempted to befriend his friend
till he found that it was impossible, and then, with the best grace in
the world, accepted the official nominee that was offered to him.

It may be said that had Thackeray succeeded in that attempt he would
surely have ruined himself. No man can be fit for the management and
performance of special work who has learned nothing of it before his
thirty-seventh year; and no man could have been less so than Thackeray.
There are men who, though they be not fit, are disposed to learn their
lesson and make themselves as fit as possible. Such cannot be said to
have been the case with this man. For the special duties which he would
have been called upon to perform, consisting to a great extent of the
maintenance of discipline over a large body of men, training is
required, and the service would have suffered for awhile under any
untried elderly tiro. Another man might have put himself into harness.
Thackeray never would have done so. The detai