Georges.' Over-scrupulous Britons complained of him for laying bare the weaknesses of our monarchs to Americans, who were already not predisposed in their favour. The Georges, however, had been dead for some time. On this occasion his tour extended as far as New Orleans. An attempt on his return journey to reproduce the 'English Humorists' in Philadelphia failed owing to the lateness of the season. Thackeray said that he could not bear to see the 'sad, pale-faced young man' who had lost money by undertaking the speculation, and left behind him a sum to replace what had been lost. He returned to England in April 1856. The lectures upon the Georges were repeated at various places in England and Scotland. He received from thirty to fifty guineas a lecture (Pollock, Reminiscences, ii. 57). Although they have hardly the charm of the more sympathetic accounts of the 'humorists,' they show the same qualities of style, and obtained general if not equal popularity.
Thackeray's hard struggle, which had brought fame and social success, had also enabled him to form a happier home. His children had lived with him from 1846; but while they were in infancy the house without a mistress was naturally grave and quiet. Thackeray had the strongest love of all children, and was a most affectionate father to his own. He did all that he could to make their lives bright. He took them to plays and concerts, or for long drives into the country, or children's parties at the Dickenses' and elsewhere. They became known to his friends, grew up to be on the most easy terms with him, and gave him a happy domestic circle. About 1853 he received as an inmate of his household Amy Crowe, the daughter of Eyre Evans Crowe [q.v.]. who had been a warm friend at Paris. She became a sister to his daughters, and in 1862 married his cousin, now Colonel Edward Talbot Thackeray, V. C. His old college friend Brookfield was now settled as a clergyman in London, and had married a very charming wife. The published correspondence shows how much value Thackeray attached to this intimacy. Another dear friend was John Leech, to whom he was specially attached. He was also intimate with Richard Doyle and other distinguished artists, including Landseer and Mr. G. F. Watts. Another friend was Henry Thoby Prinsep [q. v.], who lived in later years at Little Holland House, which became the centre of a delightful social circle. Herman Merivale [q. v.] and his family, the Theodore Martins, the Coles and the Synges, were other friends of whose relation to him some notice is given in the last chapter of Mr. Merivale's memoir. Thackeray was specially kind to the younger members of his friends' families. He considered it to be a duty to 'tip' schoolboys, and delighted in giving them holidays at the play. His old friendships with Monckton Milnes (Lord Houghton), Venables, Kinglake, and many other wellknown men were kept up both at his clubs and at various social meetings. The Carlyles were always friendly, in spite of Carlyle's severe views of a novelist's vocation. Thackeray's time, however, was much taken up by lecturing and by frequent trips to the continent or various country places in search of relaxation. His health was far from strong. On 11 Nov. 1854 he wrote to Reed that he had been prevented from finishing 'The Newcomes' by a severe fit of 'spasms,' of which he had had about a dozen in the year. This decline of health is probably to be traced in the comparative want of vigour of his next writings.
In July 1857 Thackeray stood for the city of Oxford, the member, Charles Neate (1806-1879) [q.v.], having been unseated on petition. Thackeray was always a decided liberal in politics, though never much interested in active agitation. He promised to vote for the ballot in extension of the suffrage, and was ready to accept triennial parliaments. His opponent was Mr. Edward (afterwards Viscount) Cardwell [q.v.], who had lost the seat at the previous election for opposing Palmerston on the Chinese question. Thackeray seems to have done better as a speaker than might have been expected, and Cardwell only won (21 July) by a narrow majority—1,085 to 1,018. Thackeray had fought the contest with good temper and courtesy. 'I will retire,' he said in a farewell speech, 'and take my place at my desk, and leave to Mr. Cardwell a business which I am sure he understands better than I do.' 'The Virginians,' the firstfruits of this resolution, came out in monthly numbers from November 1857 to October 1859. It embodied a few of his American recollections (see Reed's Haud Immemor), and continued with less than the old force the history of the Esmond family. A careful account of the genealologies in Thackeray's novels is given by Mr. E. C. K. Gonner in 'Time' for 1889 (pp. 501, 603). Thackeray told Motley that he contemplated a grand novel of the period of Henry V, in which the ancestors of all his imaginary families should be assembled, He mentions this scheme in a letter to FitzGerald in 1841. He had read many of the chronicles of the period, though it may be
