The English Humourists

William Thackeray (1811-63) began as a journalist and produced his first critique in 1837, and his first novel in 1841. His association with Punch began in 1842 and articles continued until 1854. In 1851 he gave a series of lectures on 'The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century' in cities around England and later the USA. This collection of potted biographies comprises Jonathan Swift; Congreve and Addison; Richard Steele; Prior, Gay and Pope; Hogarth, Smollet and Fielding; Sterne and...