Still, a certain vacillation--an uncertainty of design not often accompanying genius like his--must be acknowledged in Thackeray.

For a time he hesitated between pen and pencil, the latter of which implements he fortunately never abandoned, though the former was his predestined wand.

Then he could not, or would not, for years, get out of the "miscellaneous" style, or patchwork of styles--reviews, short stories, burlesques, what not.

His more important attempts seemed to have an attendant _guignon_.[22] _Catherine_ (1839-1840), a very powerful thing in parts, was ill-planned and could not be popular.

_A Shabby Genteel Story_ (1841), containing almost the Thackerayan _quiddity_, was interrupted partly by his wife's illness, partly, it would seem, by editorial disfavour, and moreover still failed to shake off the appearance of a want of seriousness.