"
We may say that much of Thackeray's humour is more inclined to produce a
grin than a smile--merely to cause a grimace, owing to the bitterness
from which it springs. It must be remembered, however, that the greater
part of modern wit consists of sarcastic criticism, though it is not
generally severe.
In Thackeray we do not find any of that consciousness of the imbecility
of man, which made some French writers call the humour of Democritus
"melancholy." The "Vanity" of which he speaks is not that universal
emptiness alluded to by the surfeited author of Ecclesiastes, nor has it
even the ordinary signification of personal conceit. No; he implies
something more culpable, such immorality as covetousness, deception,
vindictiveness, and hypocrisy. He approaches the Roman Satirists in the
relentless hand with which he exposes vice. Some of his characters are
monstrous, and almost grotesque in selfishness, as that of Becky Sharp,
to whom he does not allow one good quality. Cunning and unworthy
motives add considerably to the zest of his humour. He says--
"This history has Vanity Fair for a title, and Vanity Fair is a
very vain foolish place, full of all sorts of humbugs and falseness
and pretentions. One is bound to speak the truth, as one knows it,
whether one mounts a cap and bells, or a shovel hat; and a deal of
disagreeable matter must come out in the course of such an
undertaking.
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