Tender-hearted, Almost Womanly

Abstract

(1) from Theodore Martin, Helena Faucit (Lady Martin) (1900) p. 258; (2) from Herman Merivale and Frank T. Marzials, Life of W. M. Thackeray (1891) pp. 233–7. Martin (1816–1909), lawyer, parliamentary agent and man of letters, was knighted (1880) for his biography of the Prince Consort. Among his other writings were the ‘Bon Gaultier’ ballads (1845, 1849), in collaboration with William Edmonstoune Aytoun. In 1851 he married the famous actress Helen Faucit (1817–98) and settled at 31 Onslow Square, Kensington, where Thackeray became a neighbour in 1854: ‘we very soon found ourselves on the most friendly footing with him’ (Helena Faucit, p. 257), and Thackeray often referred to them as his ‘dear neighbours’. His daughters, after some initial nervousness before the great actress, became and remained very friendly with her. Martin supplied Herman Merivale with memories of the novelist for his Life.