Editing Vanity Fair (novel) (section)

=== Miss Matilda Crawley ===
The elderly Miss Crawley is everyone's favourite wealthy aunt. Sir Pitt and Rawdon both dote on her, although Rawdon is her favourite nephew and sole heir until he marries Becky. While Miss Crawley likes Becky and keeps her around to entertain her with sarcasm and wit, and while she loves scandal and particularly stories of unwise marriage, she does not want scandal or unwise marriage in her family. A substantial part of the early section of the book deals with the efforts the Crawleys make to kowtow to Miss Crawley in the hope of receiving a big inheritance.

Thackeray spent time in Paris with his maternal grandmother Harriet Becher, and Miss Crawley's character is said to be based on her.<ref>{{cite ODNB |id=27155 |first=Peter L. |last=Shillingsburg |title=Thackeray, William Makepeace (1811–1863)}}</ref>