Introduction

by William Makepeace Thackeray

　　A Bibliographical Note:Barry Lyndon--far from the best known, but by some critics acclaimedas the finest, of Thackeray's works--appeared originally as a seriala few years before Vanity Fair was written; yet it was not publishedin book form, and then not by itself, until after the publication ofVanity Fair, Pendennis, Esmond and The Newcomes had placed itsauthor in the forefront of the literary men of the day. So manyyears after the event we cannot help wondering why the story was notearlier put in book form; for in its delineation of the character ofan adventurer it is as great as Vanity Fair, while for the localcolour of history, if I may put it so, it is no undistinguishedprecursor of Esmond.In the number of Fraser's Magazine for January 1844 appeared thefirst instalment of "The Luck of Barry Lyndon, Esq.--A Romance of the Last Century"by FitzBoodle,' and the story continued to appearmonth by month--with the exception of October--up to the end of theyear, when the concluding portion was signed 'G. S. FitzBoodle.'Fitzboodle's Confessions, it should be added, had appearedoccasionally in the magazine during the years immediately precedent,so that the pseudonym was familiar to Fraser's readers. The storywas written, according to its author's own words, 'with a great dealof dulness, unwillingness and labour,' and was evidently done as theinstalments were required, for in August he wrote 'read for "B. L."all the morning at the club,' and four days later of '"B. L." lyinglike a nightmare on my mind.' The journey to the East--which was togive us in literary results Notes on a Journey from Cornhill to Grand Cairo--was begun with Barry Lyndon, yet unfinished, for atMalta the author noted on the first three days of November--'WroteBarry but slowly and with great difficulty.' 'Wrote Barry with nomore success than yesterday.' 'Finished Barry after great throeslate at night.' In the number of Fraser's for the following month,as I have said, the conclusion appeared. A dozen years later, in1856, the story formed the first part of the third volume ofThackeray's Miscellanies, when it was called "Memoirs of BarryLyndon, Esq., written by Himself". Since then, it has nearly alwaysbeen issued with other matter, as though it were not strong enoughto stand alone, or as though the importance of a work was mainly tobe gauged by the number of pages to be crowded into one cover. Thescheme of the present edition fortunately allows fitting honour tobe done to the memoirs of the great adventurer.To come from the story as a whole to the personality of theeponymous hero. Three widely-differing historical individuals aresuggested as having contributed to the composite portrait. Bestknown of these was that very prince among adventurers, G. J.Casanova de Seingalt, a man who in the latter half of the eighteenthcentury played the part of adventurer--and generally that of thesuccessful adventurer--in most of the European capitals; who withinthe first five-and-twenty years of his life had been 'abbe,secretary to Cardinal Aquaviva, ensign, and violinist, at Rome,Constantinople, Corfu, and his own birthplace (Venice), where hecured a senator of apoplexy.' His autobiography, Memoires Ecrit ParLui Meme (in twelve volumes), has been described as "unmatched as aself-revelation of scoundrelism." It has also been suggested, with Ithink far less colour of probability, that the original of Barry wasthe diplomatist and satiric poet Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, whomDr Johnson described as 'our lively and elegant though toolicentious lyrick bard.' The third original, and one who, therecannot 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 bankruptlieutenant on half pay, who had fought a duel on her behalf, inducedher to marry him, and subsequently hyphenated her name with his own.He became member of Parliament, and ran such extravagant courses asdoes Barry Lyndon, treated his wife with similar barbarity, abductedher when she had escaped from him, and then, after being divorced,found his way to a debtors' prison. There are similarities herewhich no seeker after originals can overlook. Mrs Ritchie says thather father had a friend at Paris, 'a Mr Bowes, who may have firsttold him this history of which the details are almost incredible, asquoted from the papers of the time.' The name of Thackeray's friendis a curious coincidence, unless, as may well have been the case, hewas a connection of the family into which the notorious adventurerhad married. It is not unlikely that Thackeray had seen the workpublished in 1810--the year of Stoney-Bowes's death--in which thewhole unhappy romance was set forth. This was "The Lives of AndrewRobinson Bowes, Esq.", and "The Countess of Strathmore". Written fromthirty-three years' Professional Attendance, from letters and otherwell authenticated Documents by Jesse Foot, Surgeon.' In this bookwe find several incidents similar to ones in the story. Bowes cutdown all the timber on his wife's estate, but 'the neighbours wouldnot buy it.' Such practical jokes as Barry Lyndon played upon hisson's tutor were played by Bowes on his chaplain. The story ofStoney and his marriage will be found briefly given in the notice ofthe 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 note\books (as quoted by Mrs Ritchie) conclusivelyshow: 'January 4,1844. Read in a silly book called L'Empire, a goodstory about the first K. of Wurtemberg's wife; killed by her husbandfor adultery. Frederic William, born in 1734 (?), m. in 1780 thePrincess Caroline of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, who died the 27thSeptember 1788. For the rest of the story see L'Empire, ou Dix Anssous Napoleon, par un Chambellan: Paris, Allardin, 1836; vol. i.220.' The 'Captain Freny' to whom Barry owed his adventures on hisjourney to Dublin (chapter iii.) was a notorious highwayman, onwhose doings Thackeray had enlarged in the fifteenth chapter of hisIrish Sketchbook.Despite the slowness with which it was written, and the seemingneglect with which it was permitted to remain unreprinted, Barry Lyndonwas to be hailed by competent critics as one of Thackeray'sfinest performances, though the author himself seems to have had nostrong regard for the story. His daughter has recorded, 'My fatheronce said to me when I was a girl: "You needn't read Barry Lyndon,you won't like it." Indeed, it is scarcely a book to like, but oneto admire and to wonder at for its consummate power and mastery.'Another novelist, Anthony Trollope, has said of it: 'In imagination,language, construction, and general literary capacity, Thackeraynever did anything more remarkable than Barry Lyndon.' Mr LeslieStephen says: 'All later critics have recognised in this book one ofhis most powerful performances. In directness and vigour he neversurpassed it.'