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BARRY LYNDON
By William Makepeace Thackeray
From The Works Of William Makepeace Thackeray
Edited By Walter Jerrold
CONTENTS
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
I.--MY PEDIGREE AND FAMILY--UNDERGO THE INFLUENCE OF THE TENDER PASSION
II.--IN WHICH I SHOW MYSELF TO BE A MAN OF SPIRIT
III.--I MAKE A FALSE START IN THE GENTEEL WORLD
IV.--IN WHICH BARRY TAKES A NEAR VIEW OF MILITARY GLORY
V.--IN WHICH BARRY TRIES TO REMOVE AS FAR FROM MILITARY GLORY AS POSSIBLE
VI.--THE CRIMP WAGGON--MILITARY EPISODES
VII.--BARRY LEADS A GARRISON LIFE, AND FINDS MANY FRIENDS THERE
VIII.--BARRY BIDS ADIEU TO THE MILITARY PROFESSION
IX.--I APPEAR IN A MANNER BECOMING MY NAME AND LINEAGE
X.--MORE RUNS OF LUCK
XI.--IN WHICH THE LUCK GOES AGAINST BARRY
XII.--CONTAINS THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF THE PRINCESS OF X-----
XIII.--I CONTINUE MY CAREER AS A MAN OF FASHION
XIV.--I RETURN TO IRELAND, AND EXHIBIT MY SPLENDOUR AND GENEROSITY IN THAT KINGDOM
XV.--I PAY COURT TO MY LADY LYNDON
XVI.--I PROVIDE NOBLY FOR MY FAMILY, AND ATTAIN THE HEIGHT OF MY (SEEMING) GOOD FORTUNE
XVII.--I APPEAR AS AN ORNAMENT OF ENGLISH SOCIETY
XVIII.--IN WHICH MY GOOD FORTUNE BEGINS TO WAVER
XIX.--CONCLUSION
BARRY LYNDON
A BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Barry Lyndon--far from the best known, but by some critics acclaimed asthe finest, of Thackeray's works--appeared originally as a serial a fewyears before VANITY FAIR was written; yet it was not published in bookform, and then not by itself, until after the publication of VANITYFAIR, PENDENNIS, ESMOND and THE NEWCOMES had placed its author in theforefront of the literary men of the day. So many years after the eventwe cannot help wondering why the story was not earlier put in book form;for in its delineation of the character of an adventurer it is as greatas VANITY FAIR, while for the local colour of history, if I may put itso, it is no undistinguished precursor of ESMOND.
In the number of FRASER'S MAGAZINE for January 1844 appeared the firstinstalment of 'THE LUCK OF BARRY LYNDON, ESQ., A ROMANCE OF THE LASTCENTURY, by FitzBoodle,' and the story continued to appear month bymonth--with the exception of October--up to the end of the year, whenthe concluding portion was signed 'G. S. FitzBoodle.' FITZBOODLE'SCONFESSIONS, it should be added, had appeared occasionally in themagazine during the years immediately precedent, so that the pseudonymwas familiar to FRASER'S readers. The story was written, according toits author's own words, 'with a great deal of dulness, unwillingness andlabour,' and was evidently done as the instalments were required, for inAugust he wrote 'read for "B. L." all the morning at the club,' and fourdays later of '"B. L." lying like a nightmare on my mind.' The journeyto the East--which was to give us in literary results NOTES OF AJOURNEY FROM CORNHILL TO GRAND CAIRO--was begun with BARRY LYNDON yetunfinished, for at Malta the author noted on the first three days ofNovember--'Wrote Barry but slowly and with great difficulty.' 'WroteBarry with no more success than yesterday.' 'Finished Barry after greatthroes late at night.' In the number of Fraser's for the followingmonth, as I have said, the conclusion appeared. A dozen years later, in1856, the story formed the first part of the third volume of Thackeray'sMISCELLANIES, when it was called MEMOIRS OF BARRY LYNDON, ESQ., WRITTENBY HIMSELF. Since then, it has nearly always been issued with othermatter, as though it were not strong enough to stand alone, or as thoughthe importance of a work was mainly to be gauged by the number ofpages to be crowded into one cover. The scheme of the present editionfortunately allows fitting honour to be done to the memoirs of the greatadventurer.
To come from the story as a whole to the personality of the eponymoushero. Three widely-differing historical individuals are suggested ashaving contributed to the composite portrait. Best known of these wasthat very prince among adventurers, G. J. Casanova de Seingalt, a manwho in the latter half of the eighteenth century played the part ofadventurer--and generally that of the successful adventurer--in most ofthe European capitals; who within the first five-and-twenty years ofhis life had been 'abbe, secretary to Cardinal Aquaviva, ensign, andviolinist, at Rome, Constantinople, Corfu, and his own birthplace(Venice), where he cured a senator of apoplexy.' His autobiography,MEMOIRES ECRIT PAR LUI MEME (in twelve volumes), has been describedas 'unmatched as a self-revelation of scoundrelism.' It has alsobeen suggested, with I think far less colour of probability, that theoriginal of Barry was the diplomatist and satiric poet Sir CharlesHanbury Williams, whom Dr Johnson described as 'our lively and elegantthough too licentious lyrick bard.' The third original, and one who,there cannot be the slightest doubt, contributed features to the greatportrait, is a certain Andrew Robinson Stoney, afterwards Stoney-Bowes.
The original of the Countess Lyndon was Mary Eleanor Bowes, DowagerCountess of Strathmore, and heiress of a very wealthy Durham family.This lady had many suitors, but in 1777 Stoney, a bankrupt lieutenant onhalf pay, who had fought a duel on her behalf, induced her to marry him,and subsequently hyphenated her name with his own. He became memberof Parliament, and ran such extravagant courses as does Barry Lyndon,treated his wife with similar barbarity, abducted her when she hadescaped from him, and then, after being divorced, found his way toa debtors' prison. There are similarities here which no seeker afteroriginals can overlook. Mrs Ritchie says that her father had a friendat Paris, 'a Mr Bowes, who may have first told him this history of whichthe details are almost incredible, as quoted from the papers of thetime.' The name of Thackeray's friend is a curious coincidence, unless,as may well have been the case, he was a connection of the family intowhich the notorious adventurer had married. It is not unlikelythat Thackeray had seen the work published in 1810--the year ofStoney-Bowes's death--in which the whole unhappy romance was set forth.This was 'THE LIVES OF ANDREW ROBINSON BOWES ESQ., and THE COUNTESS OFSTRATHMORE. Written from thirty-three years' Professional Attendance,from letters and other well authenticated Documents by Jesse Foot,Surgeon.' In this book we find several incidents similar to ones inthe story. Bowes cut down all the timber on his wife's estate, but'the neighbours would not buy it.' Such practical jokes as Barry Lyndonplayed upon his son's tutor were played by Bowes on his chaplain. Thestory of Stoney and his marriage will be found briefly given in thenotice of the Countess's life in the DICTIONARY OF NATIONAL BIOGRAPHY.
Whence that part of the romantic interlude dealing with the stay inthe Duchy of X----, dealt with in chapter x., etc., was inspired,Thackeray's own noteooks (as quoted by Mrs Ritchie) conclusively show:'January 4,1844. Read in a silly book called L'EMPIRE, a good storyabout the first K. of Wurtemberg's wife; killed by her husband foradultery. Frederic William, born in 1734 (?), m. in 1780 the PrincessCaroline of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, who died the 27th September 1788.For the rest of the story see L'EMPIRE, OU DIX ANS SOUS NAPOLEON, PAR UNCHAMBELLAN: Paris, Allardin, 1836; vol. i. 220.' The 'Captain Freny' towhom Barry owed his adventures on his journey to Dublin (chapter iii.)was a notorious highwayman, on whose doings Thackeray had enlarged inthe fifteenth chapter of his IRISH SKETCH BOOK.
Despite the slowness with which it was written, and the seeming neglectwith which it was permitted to remain unreprinted, BARRY LYNDON wasto be hailed by competent critics as one of Thackeray's finestperformances, though the author himself seems to have had no strongregard for the story. His daughter has recorded, 'My father once saidto me when I was a girl: "You needn't read BARRY LYNDON, you won't lik
eit." Indeed, it is scarcely a book to LIKE, but one to admire and towonder at for its consummate power and mastery.' Another novelist,Anthony Trollope, has said of it: 'In imagination, language,construction, and general literary capacity, Thackeray never didanything more remarkable than BARRY LYNDON.' Mr Leslie Stephen says:'All later critics have recognised in this book one of his most powerfulperformances. In directness and vigour he never surpassed it.'
W.J.
THE MEMOIRES OF BARRY LYNDON, ESQ.