feeling (his feeling, though he makes no noise about it, is about the
most genuine that ever lived on a printed page), alone in his power,
alone in his simplicity, alone in his self-control. Thackeray is a
Titan, so strong that he can afford to perform with calm the most
herculean feats; there is the charm and majesty of repose in his
greatest efforts; _he_ borrows nothing from fever, his is never the
energy of delirium--his energy is sane energy, deliberate energy,
thoughtful energy. The last number of _Vanity Fair_ proves this
peculiarly. Forcible, exciting in its force, still more impressive
than exciting, carrying on the interest of the narrative in a flow,
deep, full, resistless, it is still quiet--as quiet as reflection, as
quiet as memory; and to me there are parts of it that sound as solemn
as an oracle. Thackeray is never borne away by his own ardour--he
has it under control. His genius obeys him--it is his servant, it
works no fantastic changes at its own wild will, it must still
achieve the task which reason and sense assign it, and none other.
Thackeray is unique. I _can_ say no more, I _will_ say no
less.--Believe me, yours sincerely,

'C. BELL.'

TO W. S. WILLIAMS

'_March_ 2_nd_, 1849.

'Your generous indignation against the _Quarterly_ touched me. But
do not trouble yourself to be angry on Currer Bell's account; except
where the May-Fair gossip and Mr. Thackeray's name were brought in he
was never stung at all, but he certainly thought that passage and one
or two others quite unwarrantable. However, slander without a germ
of truth is seldom injurious: it resembles a rootless plant and must
soon wither away.

'The critic would certainly be a little ashamed of herself if she
knew what foolish blunders she had committed, if she were aware how
completely Mr. Thackeray and Currer Bell are strangers to each other,
that _Jane Eyre_ was written before the author had seen one line of
_Vanity Fair_, or that if C. Bell had known that there existed in Mr.
Thackeray's private circumstances the shadow of a reason for fancying
personal allusion, so far from dedicating the book to that gentleman,
he would have regarded such a step as