Show F t 1 1 1 rt t z IFE Hitherto Unpublished Letters of William Mall Makepeace peace Thackeray hac ray Now Brought to Light t I 4 J 0 N rp 1 1 p by bit Their Public Sale Reveal Famous i. i 1 c Devotion to the Beautiful Bride Brid ff 1 I N Nan of an Old School Friend a t C Cambridge J ff fit A 4 ti K r. r Acs wy r fy i William Makepe ice Thackeray I f I By Carol Bird f rr 1 UNPUBLISHED 11 lov love letters which William l I Makepeace Thackeray wrote L to Jane OctavIa Brookfield the woman i f who for many years was the center of his being are in the collection of A A. A C. C Goodyear of Buffalo recently sold at auction in the Anderson Galleries New f York City They reveal the entire progress less ress of the strange and romantic triangular triangular tri tri- angular love affair of the noted English author author-a tender love affair marKed by pathos and despair The letters which the author of VanIty Vanity Van ity Fair wrote to Mrs 1 Brookfield wife of his friend the Rev William Henry r Brookfield number thirty one and five fire to Mr Brookfield They cover a period from 1847 to 1853 The letters to Jane Octavia Brookfield are filled with expressions expressions ex- ex of passion tenderness deep devotion They are however more spiritual than otherwise and tell of or ora a love which was apparently strictly pla- pla tonic Not only are these unpublished love letters contained in the Goodyear collection collection tion of but there are in addition abo about t thirty four more addressed ad- ad d- d dressed to the sisters Miss Kate Perry and Mrs Frederick Elliot dear friends of his and of Jane Octavia Brookfield all touching on his all absorbing love affair THE Thackeray Brookfield romance roman e was born in this fashion One of f the intimates of Thackeray while he was an undergraduate at Cambridge Cambridge Cam Cam- bridge was William Henry Brookfield In 1841 Brookfield married Jane Octavia Elton and the young married pair took rooms in Jermyn street London Thackeray Thack- Thack I eray eray lived in Jermyn street also and one evening shortly after the marriage the bridegroom invited Thackeray his old college friend to supper and it was there Thackeray met a blushing bride a tender lady kind and dear as he referred to her seven years later in a abit abit bit of verse he wrote about her This tender lady was the one destined to influence the most important years of his life She was the core of his being for eleven years and during a great part of that time he wrote her long fervent letters all of them however keeping within strict Victorian bounds At the time Thackeray met the woman who for so long inspired his love and admiration he was passing through a tragic experience He had married In Paris in April 1836 when he was 25 and before he met Jane Octavia Brookfield Brookfield Brook Brook- field Isabella Getkin Creagh Shawe while he was working in Paris as newspaper newspaper news news- paper correspondent Four years later shortly after his third daughter Harriet Marion was born his wife's health broke and there soon began a pilgrimage pilgrim pilgrim- age from watering place to watering watering- place Thackeray dropping his work and traveling with his mentally ill wife In Ina a few months he realized that her condition condition con con- was hopeless and left her in the care of a Mr and Mrs Thompson at Essex Mrs Thackeray outlived her husband b by so 50 many years that it was a since already been lead Je d t the e world worl for so long Jong to hear of her death in 1894 at the age of 76 Jane Octavia Brookfield Thackeray's one real love was vas a woman of great beauty and devastating charm cha Every Everyone one seemed to come under her magic spell At the time of their meeting Thackeray was 30 and the bride 20 The letters in the Goodyear collection prove th that t Thackeray loved Jane Brookfield and was loved by her The romance name came to an end when the h band finally objected to the continuation continuation continua continua- tion of the friendship of Thackeray and Mrs Brookfield Some of the unpublished love letters are written in French and all of them are now yellowed and dried with the years It It is exceedingly difficult to decipher decipher de- de cipher the many pages of closely written written writ writ- ten very fine and puzzling script which Thackeray wrote and the pal spelling which he sometimes etu- etu in humorous droll fashion At different times Thackeray himself tried to explain his characteristic of employing different handwriting hand writing Once he intimated that the slanting hand had some connection with his I loved Paris at another time he stated that his hand handI I was vertical when writing with a steel pen and slanting slanting slant slant- ing with a quill elsewhere he referred to his slanting style as his natural hand and the vertical as that mean literary mans man's fist The first letter sent to either of the was dated February 3 1847 and was addressed to fur Mr 1 wr written in in pencil on a traIn with a postscript and note at the top in ink reading Under the confessional seal in the railway Thackeray had evid evidently evi- evi d dently spoken too enthusiastically in public about his regard for Mrs Brookfield Brookfield Brook Brook- field and had been called to task for it by her husband who resented it So in this missive Thackeray writes calling calling call call- ing Brookfield My Dear Old Reverence Reverence Rever- Rever ence I think from some words you let drop about thirty miles off about my insanity explanation is necessary necessary on my part Without the other I never should have broken out about a certain personage but now in the mineral or natural state my opinion is the same I think the know t personage you Her innocence looks f angelical sweetness r f fand and kindness charm and ravish me to the highest d gIe j and Y y every no now v and then in contemplating 1 a tin g them I burst out into uncouth raptures rap t u l' l e s. s They are not the Its least dangerous it itis y is a sort of delight a spiritual sensuality so to tos to's s 's speak pea k 0 other the l' l beautiful objects in nature o affect me children landscapes harmonies of color music etc By my soul I think my love for the one is as pure as my my love for the other and believe I never had a bad thought for either If I did could I shake you by the I hand or have for you a sincerely generous gen gen- generous erous regard My dear old fellow you and God Almighty may know all my thoughts about your wife Im I'm not ashamed of one of them since the days of the dear clear old two penny tart dinner till now The misfortune is in incautious speaking about her Such a person ought not to be praised in public and in my fits of enthusiasm I cannot refrain I shall try to correct correct cor- cor this and beg your pardon for it it Evidently the difficulty was patched up for there follow many love letters to Mrs Brookfield One is dated January 3 1849 It follows I like to write you a line tonight to show you how I was right about a point who wh has boan long clear to me who can understand very well how any man who has been near you and lived or traveled with you must end by what I arrived at years ago and cannot do otherwise than regard you When H. H Hallom spoke as he did tonight Im I'm sure he said what has been on his mind for many months that he was angry at my constant visits to you oU But thank God I have never concealed the affection I have for yo YOU YOU- your husband knows it as well as you and I do and and I think J I have such a claim to the love of both of you as no relationship relationship rela- rela however close ought to question question ques- ques tion or supersede If he asks the question I I. I hope it will frankly be told him that T i claim to be of one your brothers or the closest and dearest of your friends As to William I am bound to him by benefit of the most generous confidences and repeated repeated re- re proofs of fri friendship to you dear lady by an affection which I hope wont won't finish with my lif life If I had a bad tho thought toward you I think that I could not look my friend or you in the face and I see no shame in owning that I love you I have Williams William's permission yours that of my own heart and conscience for constantly constantly con con- daily if I c can n seeing you Who has a right to forbid me my great happiness If neither of those three who else God bless you my dear sister and friend T THIS HIS most affectionate affectionate letter in all probability written in July mid of 1849 is unsigned and accompanied by a sketch of a lady at prayer I have written one page of Pend Pendennis ennis but cant can't go on because it is very time No dear lady ne near r post we will do neither we will love each other while we may here and afterward If you go first y you u will kneel for me in Heaven and bring me there if I swear the best thought I have is to remember that I shall have your love surviving me and with a constant tenderness blessing my memory I cant can't all perish living in your heart That in itself is a sort of seal and assurance of heaven Say that I die and live yet ret in the love of my survivor Isn't that a warrant of immortality im- im mortality I It seems to me that love proves s God By love I believe and andam andam am saved I say loving you still how quickly grief should pass away You see I am thinking about you about you always whose attachment I assume assumes as s awarded to me 10 When I think about you a natural grace follows I say pardon me and make me pure Write to me again and again 10 10 If I were to IQs you I should despair and 1 I h p t Q H f f to 4 4 1 1 i 1 rI f t 1 t tr r r t 1 w. w OL C j. r ww to J IT k Is I- I W I J oKA tl Jr It u ol t I awl W a t 1 11 t I u X J u If fa w rv r J I- I II I L 1 f fiol I II III 1 I I r- r d l r hc I. I uI- uI i 4 I rr F w t j I jL L- L JI th l 1 i u Iu f fw L a w f 1 t W W to U j J 11 I l I. I d tt t.- t. I J. J r fu ut au f d hu I I IJ r It JP 1 y t 4 M. M 1 r I w IM 0 t ot IT J J. J t J. J t a It t Iu u. u tJ 1 1 I U td A I. I u. tto d JIo I I aIA LU I. I 1 Ii II oJ J I J J. J 4 I. I vV v V I ho O. O t go wrong And so good good-by dear lady The letters which foll follow w were written written writ writ- ten after the final break between Thackeray Thackeray Thack- Thack eray and tire the husband of the woman of his heart January 23 21 1853 My dear lads lad's ladys lady's kind sad letter gave me pleasure melancholy as it was IWonder I Iwonder wonder whether we shall ever shake shakedown shakedown down I mean Wm and I so as to have no new irritations I thought myself myself my- my self the aggrieved and magnanimous magnan party that last day I intended to cometo come cometo to you but he turned rend r nd and asked K Perry to come come and not me and it seemed to me a hint as' as i it did to our friends that I was not wanted wanted-I coul couldn't I t come afterward and had nothing for it but to be cool and say may God bless you where I found you I send my love loveto loveto to all who will have it and my hand to Wm Whatever divides us dear dearold old times join us whereof the can never be effaced son some e constant running run run- ring ning streams of old love and kindness e Write to me sometimes and farewell Undated Undated-to II When our friend friendship hip began I had not yet learned to love lovea i a woman must tell some someone someone one that I love yo you Why not you or William pr or anyone any one who will listen One must speak when the heart is so full and why should hould I I blush for the friendship that 1 bear you It It is very ery tender and t y u C very pure I am proud to t tell you yo of and t you dear lady be proud also The series of thirty four unpublished letters in the Elliot Thackeray correspondence correspondence cor- cor is closely interwoven with the Brookfield letters With Thackeray an acquaintance begun with Miss Perry and nd her sister Mrs Elliot i h 1848 just justas as he was commencing Vanity Fair developed into the closest intimacy To these two sisters dear friends of ars 1 Brookfield Thackeray poured without reserve reserve re- re serve the story of his love and when the break came his sorrow and bitterness bitterness bitter bitter- ness heartbreak tenderness and scorn March 5 1850 explaining his sudden n nde de departure art re for fOl Paris My Dear Young Lad Ladies Ladies-I g got sick of waiting outside a certain door in Portman Portman Port Port- man street Portman street No 15 the home of th tho Well Im I'm not near so miserable as I try and make myself out to be and I intend to tobe tobe be jolly ten days or so here In this simple note and t r i. i dl 6 d y 1 I Ir r II J y l c 1 4 j I 1 Jane OctaVIa Brookfield Brookfield wife I To nm n Reproductions of letters written writ writ- ten in Thackeray's somewhat 1 cramped script telling of of devotion de- de to his dear lady undated Thackeray j his two friends of the break with W. W II H. Brookfield Brookfield Brook Brook- field caused by too tog ardent admiration of Brookfield's beautiful wife It was written somewhere arou around d September 1852 The affair is at an end I land and the rupture rupture rup- rup ture complete Monsieur ur has spoken out like a man There is nothing more to tobe tobe be said or done There have been high words me and Mon 1 si ur in consequence of something I said to him that was quite unjustifiable and we have split But they'll probably leave lease London and the affair will end Iam I am going out of town and nd I dont don't know where This letter letter- in French a translation of which follows undated to Kate Perry tells his friend in very certain terms teams of the nature and the intensity o of j his int in- in t r st in Jane Brookfield Itell tell you that I love her I love her I love her If I could I would kiss kiss' her heI dear feet I I sometimes tremble before such such a love as I have for her Good God how her eyes c es pur pursue uc me HERE is a letter addressed to Mrs Brookfield Sly My Dear Lady but unsent and passed on witha with a brief note note on the verso of the second leaf to Miss u u H A 1 13 L terry Jelly 4 u The letter with its passionate accusations accusations follows Im I'm unhappy to think that yo you are so That must always be I fear but duty is duty It pleases God to afflict the good and gentle like you having determined on my line r I say amen and watch you with a sad heart What am I to do I won wonder del Wherever you are I shant shan't see much of you my dear sister and wherever she IS I think my he heart t will go too The fact of your position makes it impossible impossible im- im possible to write almost I am not to show that I feel you are miserable I Iam Iam am not to show that I think your husband husband hus- hus band is wicked and cruel to you Ilay awake for a long hour last hour last night nigh thinking of you and would to God I could think of you happy God bless you I IThe The note at the end to Miss iss Perry reads in part You will see by this letter which I didn't send because I thou thought ht I should o 01 the ice WilHam nervy Brookfield who was Thackeray's Thack- Thack eray's crays one real love only bring more tears to her eyes what my sentiments were regarding my poor lady What hasn't she given up for that man Youth and happiness and now her dearest friend wl what friend a friend and to what a man man-a felloW that says to her ner face he ought to have marr married ed a a cook and and tre treats ts her bel like Dont Don't mind one Good my cries and my rage I shall be better soon If its it's out of mere spite Ill I'll do something big yet In this fragment or of ora a letter to Miss liss Perry dated September 2 20 1852 Thackeray Thackeray Thack Thack- eray makes this swage analysis I dont don't see how any woman should not love a mart who had loved her asI as asI I did J. J I dont don't any man should not love a woman so beautiful so unhappy un- un unhappy |