Note 28 to Chapter 3 of the author's Pegasus in Harness: Victorian Publishing and W. M. Thackeray, which University Press of Virginia published in 1992. It has been included in the Victorian Web with the kind permission of the author, who of course retains copyright.
The complaint almost certainly is a reference to his break with the Brookfields, an episode in his love life reflected throughout Henry Esmond. See chapter 6 below, and Ray, Buried Life.
Last modified: 4 April 2001