 | THACKERAY'S ARTICLES IN THE MORNING CHRONICLE |  |
A Thackeray Morning Chronicle Bibliography
The table at the end of this paper lists Thackeray's attributed contributions to the Morning Chronicle. Without doubt the forty-eight listed entries still understate Thackeray's total contribution. Moreover, although Gordon Ray argued that possible future additions to his somewhat smaller subset of thirty-five republished contributions "should not materially alter the estimate of his work for the Chronicle' (Ray, Contributions xiii), I respectfully disagree. As detailed previously, it is possible that Thackeray was paid for unidentified political articles. Moreover, it is also likely that Thackeray's art reviews, and perhaps his comments on novels, are more distinctive, with more expression and more potential cross-references and authorship clues, than his reviews of biographies, histories, or travel writings. Thus, the currently attributed Morning Chronicle writings may not be fully representative of his contributions.
Nevertheless, the articles that have been identified as Thackeray's do add substantially to our understanding of his ideas and his times. Most of Thackeray's anonymous art criticism was published in the Morning Chronicle, and these articles document his views. As Gordon Ray observed, Thackeray's Morning Chronicle literary reviews establish, perhaps better than do any of his other writings, his aesthetics and philosophy with regard to fiction. Looking outside the domestic sphere, no fewer than six of Thackeray's Morning Chronicle articles address the tangled relationship of England with Ireland, and another four comment on English views of the mysterious (or, as Thackeray claimed, no longer so mysterious) Eastern world. Further, Thackeray's varied comments on people and current events offer the empathetic perspective that one would expect from the author of English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century and The Four Georges and consequently shed light on the "manners and morals" of the early Victorian era.
Thackeray's writings for the Morning Chronicle were tightly clustered. There were extended periods of time in which Thackeray wrote articles on essentially a weekly basis: namely, from mid-March through July 1844, the spring of 1846, and especially from mid-August into October 1846. Even the "candidate" articles identified in this paper tend to be associated with those time periods. However, there are long periods where simply nothing that clearly carries Thackeray's touch was published in the Morning Chronicle. The general rule that whenever Thackeray was out of England he stopped his newspaper writing explains the gap from mid-August 1844 to mid-March 1845. The reason for Thackeray's failure to write for the Morning Chronicle in the second half of 1845 is less clear. Further,
Thackeray’s Morning Chronicle articles, taken as a whole, offer a multidimensional view of the early Victorian world, and provide a significant gateway into Thackeray’s thinking and artistic development. They deserve to be read, analyzed, and appreciated as part of the Thackeray canon.
| Date | Article | Attribution |
| 14/1/1842 | "The Exhibition of the Louvre" | Simons; based on circumstantial evidence and comparison to Thackeray 1838 Times review of same exhibition. |
| 3/16/1844 | "Ireland. By J. Venedey" | Ray, Letters 2:845; based on 2/23/1844 diary entry "read in Venedey's book" (Ray, Letters 2:143). |
| 3/20/1844 | "Ireland and its Rulers, since 1829" | Ray, Letters 2:845; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 4/2/1844 | "A New Spirit of the Age, edited by R. H. Horne" | Melville, Thackeray Biography 2:192; S. R. Townshend Mayer, ed., Letters of Elizabeth Barrett Browning addressed to Richard Hengist Horne with Comments on Contemporaries, vol. 2 (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1877), 276–278. |
| 4/4/1844 | "The Three Kingdoms. By the Vicomte D'Arlincourt" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 4/29/1844 | "Exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water Colours" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 5/6/1844 | "The Life of George Brummel, Esq. By Captain Jesse." | Gulliver, Apprenticeship 143–144; based on a comment in a 5/15/1844 article by Thackeray in the Pictorial Times as well as references to Brumell in Thackeray's 5/13/1844 review of Coningsby. |
| 5/8/1844 | "Exhibition of the Royal Academy" | Simons, "'Show me the Money'" 94–95; based on financial data and similarities to review in Fraser's Magazine. |
| 5/10/1844 | "Exhibition of the Royal Academy" [continued] | Simons, "'Show me the Money'" 94–95; based on financial data and similarities to review in Fraser's Magazine. |
| 5/13/1844 | "[Disraeli's] Coningsby; or, the New Generation" | Gulliver, Apprenticeship 144; based on similarities to Thackeray review in the Pictorial Times; see also Thackeray letter "But I have made fun of him [the "Mosaic Arab" – a term taken from Coningsby] in the Morning Chronicle" (Harden, Letters Supp. 1:138). |
| 6/3/1844 | "Stanley's Life of Dr. Arnold" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on similarities to other Thackeray writings (Ray, Contributions xiiin). |
| 6/20/1844 | "Ellen Middleton. A Tale. By Lady Georgiana Fullerton" | Simons; based on similarities in Thackeray's letters and to other Thackeray Morning Chronicle articles. |
| 7/15/1844 | "The Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon.... By Horace Twiss" | Gulliver, Apprenticeship 143; based on style and point of view. (Ray did not incorporate this attribution into his own list.) |
| 7/25/1844 | "The Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon. ... By Horace Twiss" concluded | Gulliver, Apprenticeship 143; based on style and point of view. (Ray did not incorporate this attribution into his own list.) |
| 8/2/1844 | "Historic Fancies. By the Hon. George Sidney Smythe, M.P." | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on 7/22/1844 diary entry "Read Smyth's Historic fancies." |
| 3/27/1845 | "Egypt under Mehemet Ali. By Prince Puckler Muskau" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 4/3/1845 | "Lever's St. Patrick's Eve—Comic Politics" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on implied cross reference in the 5/13/1845 review of Sybil. |
| 5/13/1845 | "Sybil. By Mr. Disraeli, M.P." | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on Thackeray's intent to review it in the Chronicle (Ray, Letters 2:149n). |
| 6/26/1845 | "Spain, Tangier, &c., visited in 1840 and 1841. By X. Y. Z." | Simons; based on characteristic Thackeray expressions and comparisons to Thackeray's Irish Sketch Book. |
| 12/25/1845 | "Christmas Books.—No. 1" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on Thackeray's authorship of Christmas Books No. III. |
| 12/26/1845 | "Christmas Books.— No. 2" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on Thackeray's authorship of Christmas Books No. III. |
| 12/31/1845 | "Christmas Books.—No. III" | Ray, Letters 2:846 based on implied cross-reference to reviews of Sybil on 5/13/1845 and of Lever's St. Patrick's Eve on 4/3/1845. |
| 3/16/1846 | "Carus's Travels in England" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on similarities to a Thackeray article published in the March 1846 issue of Fraser's Magazine. |
| 3/23/1846 | "Life and Correspondence of David Hume" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on Thackeray note that he has written a little article about the book (Ray, Letters 2:234). |
| 3/30/1846 | "Exhibition of the Society of British Artists in Suffolk-Street" | Simons; based on internal evidence (comments on Hurlstone, irony and humor, literary references) and temporal pattern of weekly contributions to the Morning Chronicle. |
| 4/6/1846 | "Travels in the Punjab. By Mohan Lal, Esq." | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 4/11/1846 | "The Novitiate; or, a Year among the English Jesuits. By Andrew Steinmetz" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on specified similarities to Thackeray's Irish Sketch Book. |
| 4/21/1846 | "The New Timon" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on similarities to spoof of Bulwer's writing published in "Punch's Prize Novelists." |
| 4/27/1846 | "The Exhibitions of the Societies of Water Colour Painters" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 5/4/1846 | "Sketches of English Character. By Mrs. Gore" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on similarities to spoof of Gore's writing published in "Punch's Prize Novelists." |
| 5/5/1846 | "The Exhibition of the Royal Academy" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on similarities to Thackeray art reviews in Fraser's Magazine ("May Gambols" June 1844 and "Picture Gossip" June 1845). |
| 5/7/1846 | "The Exhibition of the Royal Academy. Second Notice" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on similarities to Thackeray art reviews in Fraser's Magazine ("May Gambols" June 1844 and "Picture Gossip" June 1845). |
| 5/11/1846 | "Royal Academy. Third Notice" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on similarities to Thackeray art reviews in Fraser's Magazine ("May Gambols" June 1844 and "Picture Gossip" June 1845). |
| 6/19/1846 | "Haydon's Lectures on Painting and Design" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 7/4/1846 | "Alexis Soyer, The Gastronomic Regenerator" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 7/24/1846 | "Londres et les Anglais des Temps Modernes. Par Dr. Buraud-Riofrey" | Simons; based on comparison to Thackeray's letters and articles in Punch and the Foreign Quarterly Review. |
| 8/20/1846 | "Moore's History of Ireland; from the earliest Kings of that Realm down to its last Chief" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on 8/11/1846 diary comment (Ray, Letters 2:245). |
| 8/27/1846 | "Ravensnest; or the Red Skins" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on similarities to spoof of Cooper's writing published in "Punch's Prize Novelists." |
| 9/1/1846 | "Life at the Water Cure" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 9/4/1846 | "A Pilgrimage to the Temples and Tombs of Egypt, Nubia, and Palestine, in 1845–6. By Mrs. Romer" | Simons; based on use of characteristic expressions and comparisons to Thackeray's Notes on a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo. |
| 9/21/1846 | "The Poetical Works of Horace Smith" | Gulliver, Apprenticeship 139; based on Thackeray's letter to Smith dated 9/21/1846 (Ray, Letters 2:249). |
| 9/23/1846 | "Heidelberg. A Romance. By G. P. R. James, Esq." | Simons; based on similarities to "Novels by Eminent Hands" published in Punch. |
| 9/25/1846 | "Diary and Letters of Madame d'Arblay. Vol. 6" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 10/5/1846 | "Royal Palaces. F. W. Trench" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on unspecified similarities to other Thackeray writings. |
| 3/14/1848 | "Meeting on Kennington Common" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on 3/14/1848 diary entry (Ray, Letters 2:364). |
| 3/15/1848 | "Chartist Meeting" | Ray, Letters 2:846; based on 3/15/1848 diary entry (Ray, Letters 2:365). |
| 4/17/1848 | "Exhibition of the New Society of Painters in Water Colours, Pall–Mall" | Simons; based on letter reference, internal evidence (Egyptian traveler; comments on Wehnert, Setchel, Egerton, Corbould, Riviere). |
| 1/12/1850 | "The Dignity of Literature. To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle." | Signed letter. |
WORKS CITED
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Colby, Robert A. Thackeray’s Canvass of Humanity: An Author and His Public. Columbus: Ohio State Univ. Press, 1979.
Crowe, Joseph Archer. Reminiscences of Thirty-Five Years of My Life. London: John Murray, 1895.
Fasick, Laura. "Thackeray’s Treatment of Writing and Painting." Nineteenth-Century Literature 47, no. 1 (1992): 72–90.
Fisher, Judith Law. "The Aesthetic of the Mediocre: Thackeray and the Visual Arts." Victorian Studies 26 (1981): 65–82.
Gulliver, Harold. Thackeray’s Literary Apprenticeship. Valdosta, GA: Privately printed, 1934.
Harden, Edgar, comp. A Checklist of Contributions by William Makepeace Thackeray to Newspapers, Periodicals, Books, and Serial Part Issues 1828–1864. Victoria, Canada: Univ. of Victoria Press, 1996.
—, ed. Thackeray’s English Humourists and Four Georges. Newark, DE: Univ. of Delaware Press, 1985.
—, ed. The Letters and Private Papers of William Makepeace Thackeray. A Supplement. 2 vols. New York and London: Garland, 1994.
—. "Historical Introduction" to Punch’s Prize Novelists. In William Makepeace Thackeray, The Snobs of England and Punch’s Prize Novelists, 73–78. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press, 2005.
Hawes, Donald. "Fanny Burney and Thackeray." Notes and Queries 49 (March 2002): 63 – 65.
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Mackay, Charles. Forty Years Recollection of Life, Literature, and Public Affairs from 1830–1870. Vol. 2. London: Chapman and Hall, 1877.
—. Through the Long Day, or, Memorials of a Literary Life during Half a Century. Vol. 1. London: W. C. Allen, 1887.
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Mauskopf, Charles. "Thackeray’s Attitude towards Dickens’s Writings." Nineteenth-Century Fiction 21 (1966): 21–33.
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—, ed. The Letters and Private Papers of William Makepeace Thackeray. 4 vols. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Univ. Press, 1945–46.
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—. "'Show me the money!’: A Pecuniary Investigation of William Makepeace Thackeray’s Early Victorian Journalism." Victorian Periodicals Review 45, no. i (2012): 64–96.
—. "Thackeray’s Contributions to the Times." Victorian Periodicals Review 40, no. 4 (2007): 332–354.
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[—]. "An Exhibition Gossip." Ainsworth’s Magazine, July 1842, 319–322.
[—]. "Londres et les Anglais des Temps Modernes. Par Dr. Buraud–Riofrey." Morning Chronicle (London), July 24, 1845.
Thomas, Deborah. Thackeray and Slavery. Athens, OH: Ohio Univ. Press, 1993.
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