Library / Literature & Fiction
The Paris Sketch Book of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh
by William Makepeace Thackeray
- Pages
- about 426
- Category
- Literature & Fiction
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 7.8 h at 250 wpm
From the opening
SIR,—It becomes every man in his station to acknowledge and praise
virtue wheresoever he may find it, and to point it out for the
admiration and example of his fellow-men.
Some months since, when you presented to the writer of these pages a
small account for coats and pantaloons manufactured by you, and when
you were met by a statement from your creditor, that an immediate
settlement of your bill would be extremely inconvenient to him; your
reply was, “Mon Dieu, Sir, let not that annoy you; if you want money,
as a gentleman often does in a strange country, I have a thousand-franc
note at my house which is quite at your service.”
History or experience, Sir, makes us acquainted with so few actions
that can be compared to yours,—an offer like this from a stranger and a
tailor seems to me so astonishing,—that you must pardon me for thus
making your virtue public, and acquainting the English nation with your
merit and your name. Let me add, Sir, that you live on the first floor;
that your clothes and fit are excellent, and your charges moderate and
just; and, as a humble tribute of my admiration, permit me to lay these
volumes at your feet.
About half of the sketches in these volumes have already appeared in
print, in various periodical works. A part of the text of one tale, and
the plots of two others, have been borrowed from French originals; the
other stories, which are, in the main, true, have been written upon
facts and characters that came within the Author’s observation during a
residence in Paris.
As the remaining papers relate to public events which occurred during
the same period, or to Parisian Art and Literature, he has ventured to
give his publication the title which it bears.
A short sample. Read the whole book
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