ment sprang up between them, but nothing definite was arranged as to marriage, for Miss O'Neill had all her family to support, and, always loyal to them, she would not desert them until thej7 were provided for.
It is generally supposed that Thackeray took Miss O'Neill as the original of Miss Fotheringay in Pendennis. It may be remembered that Pendennis in his salad days, falls in love with a beautiful Irish actress, who is acting in a provincial town. But as Thackeray was born in 1811, and Miss O'Neill retired from the stage in 1819, he could only have seen her—if he ever did see her—as a boy of eight. The probability is that he heard a good deal about her from those who had seen her. Miss Fotheringay is, however, a wretched caricature of the great actress, she is vulgar and stupid, she talks of making a poy," she has no love for her art, and can only go through a few stage tricks into which she has been carefully drilled. This is not like what those most competent to judge have handed down as their estimate of the acting of Miss O'Neill. John Kemble calls her a genius, and the effect of her performance was such that one person was made insane by seeing her act the part of Belvidere in Dublin. But Thackeray's description of Miss Fotheringay's appearance has some resemblance to Eliza O'Neill's, and is worth quoting here—
"Her forehead was vast, and her black hair
