Word: thackerays
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Dates: during 1873-1873
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...single writer to traverse the whole range of English literature without a stumble would be almost impossible. Mr. Taine, although on the whole wonderfully apt to be right, is acknowledged to have made some mistakes; and one of these mistakes is, I think, his estimation of Thackeray. It has always been the fashion to decry Thackeray as a cynic. While his critics unite in praise of his keen insight into all the foibles and vices of our nature, they are equally unanimous in declaring that he has turned this power to a bad use, that he has made...
...scorn which has no mixture of pity. We may blame him for his quickness in discovering our vices and our failings, or for his slowness to appreciate our virtues; we may complain that he seeks the disease rather than the remedy; yet we seldom accuse him of untruth. But Thackeray's sarcasm is a cloak for his compassion. He is content to assume the form of derision, that he may the better excite our indignant pity...