Editing The Luck of Barry Lyndon (section)

===The dandy George Brummell===
A parallel can also be drawn between the shameful end of Barry in prison and the miserable exile of the famous "Beau" Brummell (1778-1840) in France, who fled from his debts and whose career has been in the spotlight since William Jesse published his biography in 1844. Thackeray himself gave a review of this publication in the ''Morning Chronicle'' of 6 May 1844, reprinted in ''{{lang|en|Thackeray's Contributions to the Morning Chronicle}}'', Gordon N. Ray, Urbana, Illinois, 1995, p. 31-39, while ''Barry Lyndon'' was being written. Moreover, in chapter XIII, p. 193, Thackeray places an allusion in the form of a wink under the pen of his narrator hero:

{{Blockquote|Think of the fashion of London being led by a Br-mm-l! [Footnote: This manuscript must have been written at the time when Mr. Brummel was the leader of the London fashion.] a nobody’s son: a low creature, who can no more dance a minuet than I can talk Cherokee; who cannot even crack a bottle like a gentleman; who never showed himself to be a man with his sword in his hand: as we used to approve ourselves in the good old times, before that vulgar Corsican upset the gentry of the world!}}

This was an exclamation intended for the Victorian public.<ref name="Colby4"/>