A Bostonian Anecdote of Thackeray

Feilding Star, Volume VII, Issue 96, 23 January 1886, Page 3

A Bostonian Anecdote of Thackeray

xj " The historian of the Boston " Evening .« Record" lately gathered this intensely ! Boston anecdote of Thnckeray. said to 1 have been concealed for many years 1 from the newspapers: Thackeray, if he satJ irised snobbery with a pen of fire, appreei- ■ ated the advantages of high rank and all t ' that it implies, and he did not hesitate to j write that even the lioart of a stem [ moralist would throb with pleasure if he i could be seen walking down the Mall arm-in-arm between two dukes. While ' standing ia the window of the f u'aliionablu l L Somerset Club in Boston, looking out ' upon the pas.iersby. Thackeray said to a ■ frieml : " I haven't seen in this cotfntry : any men with the stamp of high sociul ■ caste — such men ok combine brains and blood ic ihe BrifisU peerage. Unvo you no such juaeniu America ?" The Boston •lub man replied that we hui. no\ was ' going on to. illustrate the mbji-ct, when Thackeray's quick eye caught sight of ' two dignified and courtly-looking gentle ; men walking arm-in avm ou the opposite sidewalk. '•' There," he said. " ; are tho sort of men I mean. T'l^y .l*6k «s if , they were born dukes P" The gre.il writer had- seen two of the most democratic of Bostoaians, b ih of whom, however had more brains and dignity than mast wearers.. f cnron.ts. They wenEdmund Quincy and VW-ndell Phillips.