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Show Thackeray Character in Flesh Original of Captain Costigan, Blear-Eyed Blear-Eyed and Drunken, Was Singing Ballads in a Music Hall In London. "Whenever 1 think of Thackeray, two incidents invariably come to my mind," said. Parke Godwin, the veteran vet-eran author, journalist, editor and son-in-law of William Bryant, a year or so before his death In 1901. "When Thackeray was in this country coun-try on bis second visit in 1854 and '55 he made his headquarters while in New York city in the office of the old Putnam's Magazine, which was discontinued dis-continued in 1857. Here .Thackeray would come almost every day, draw sketches with his pen upon any editorial, edi-torial, manuscript or newspaper that he found handy, and tell us about the studies that he had made for the novel that he was to write as a sequel of 'Henry Esmond,' and which was after- wards published serially in this coun try under the title of 'The Virginians. "Frequently Thackeray would bound Into the office, exclaiming: 'I have just seen "Becky Sharpe" walking up your Broadway.' And I remember one day that when he was in the office a young man, who wore a peculiar kind of cap on his head, came In. Thackeray Thack-eray eyed him closely through his big spectacles; then, when the young man had departed, he rushed over to me. "That's my "Pendennis" to an eyelash!' he cried. "That Is one incident made up of a series of little happenings; the other occurred in London, whither I spent a summer a short time before the Civil war broke out. "One evening, in company with a friend, I went to a music hall. I must say that I thought that the entertainment entertain-ment was somewhat dull. A great deal of whisky and water were drunk bv the audience, and there was infinite plpei smoking; I don't think I saw a cigar smoked in that place. There was a good deal of noise, but it was good-natured; and the hour was a little before midnight. "At last, the manager, from his platform, plat-form, announced that Mr. So-and-So I did not catch the name would sing some ballads. Mr. So-and-So appeared, and it at once seemed to me that his songs would have been better sung had his appearance taken place earlier In the evening. He was blear-eyed, and watery-eyed, as well, for tears, which were not due to any sorrow, trickled down his cheeks. His voice was rather thick, and he had a rich brogue. "But despite the fact that he was carrying a heavy 'load,' which was added to after the first song, when some one in the audience passed him up a stiff drink of whisky, which he swallowed at a gulp, the man got universal uni-versal applause he seemed to be a tremendous favorite. I was wondering about this a little. In an idle sort of way, when, suddenly, the question popped Into my brain, 'Where have I seen the man before?' "I tried to place him, found myself at sea, and turned to my friend. 'Who is that man? I certainly have seen him before,' I said. "My friend asked if I had evei- been in the music hall before. No,' I said, 'but I certainly have seen that man somewhere. Why,' I added, 'I have seen him in the very posture that he Is now In. Where could it have been?' " 'I know,' answered my companion, laughing. 'You have never seen him In real life before. But you have seen his llkeess In a novel of which you ure very fond. That man is the original orig-inal of "Captain Costigan," in Thackeray's Thack-eray's "Pendennis." ' "Instantly I realized that my friend was right. That drunken, swaying man on that music hall stage, at that midnight hour, was 'Captain Costigan' over again, even to the arrangement of his frayed and ragged beard." (Copyright, 1D10. by E. J. Edwards.) |