stepfather.

He was brought a child from India, and was sent early to the Charter
House. Of his life and doings there his friend and schoolfellow George
Venables writes to me as follows;

"My recollection of him, though fresh enough, does not furnish
much material for biography. He came to school young,--a
pretty, gentle, and rather timid boy. I think his experience
there was not generally pleasant. Though he had afterwards a
scholarlike knowledge of Latin, he did not attain distinction
in the school; and I should think that the character of the
head-master, Dr. Russell, which was vigorous, unsympathetic,
and stern, though not severe, was uncongenial to his own. With
the boys who knew him, Thackeray was popular; but he had no
skill in games, and, I think, no taste for them.... He was
already known by his faculty of making verses, chiefly
parodies. I only remember one line of one parody on a poem of
L. E. L.'s, about 'Violets, dark blue violets;' Thackeray's
version was 'Cabbages, bright green cabbages,' and we thought
it very witty. He took part in a scheme, which came to
nothing, for a school magazine, and he wrote verses for it, of
which I only remember that they were good of their kind. When
I knew him better, in later years, I thought I could recognise
the sensitive nature which he had as a boy.... His change of
retrospective feeling about his school days was very
characteristic. In his earlier books he always spoke of the
Charter House as Slaughter House and Smithfield. As he became
famous and prosperous his memory softened, and Slaughter House
was changed into Grey Friars where Colonel Newcome ended his