Catherine: A Story

(1840)

by Ikey Solomons, Esq., Junior.

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Introduction

The story of Catherine, which appeared in Fraser's Magazine in
1839-40, was written by Mr. Thackeray, under the name of Ikey
Solomons, Jun., to counteract the injurious influence of some
popular fictions of that day, which made heroes of highwaymen and
burglars, and created a false sympathy for the vicious and criminal.

With this purpose, the author chose for the subject of his story a
woman named Catherine Hayes, who was burned at Tyburn, in 1726, for
the deliberate murder of her husband, under very revolting
circumstances. Mr. Thackeray's aim obviously was to describe the
career of this wretched woman and her associates with such fidelity
to truth as to exhibit the danger and folly of investing such
persons with heroic and romantic qualities.

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