Chapter Seven

Abstract

Thackeray’s anatomy in The Book of Snobs becomes increasingly expansive, of course, as he not only undertakes a series of representative portraits, but also in effect creates satirical pen and pencil sketches of English society—a phrase never very apt for Vanity Fair, with its clear structure, but quite accurate for The Book of Snobs.¹ Instead of concentrating upon the behavior of a single individual, as in Barry Lyndon Thackeray now introduces us to representative types: aristocratic snobs, respectable middle-class snobs, City snobs, military snobs, clerical snobs, university snobs, literary snobs, political snobs, Irish snobs, party-giving snobs, dining-out snobs, British snobs on the Continent, country snobs, club snobs, and others. Their names, correspondingly, are legion (over 250) and comically typifying: Marrowfat, Count de Diddloff, Lady Snobly, Lord Claude Lollypop, Prince Pattypan, Lord Buckram, the Marquis of Bagwig, the Rev. Otto Rose, Professor Crab, Capt.