Whether he ever went further may at least be questioned.

But Thackeray did not take his place at once--in fact he conspicuously failed to take it for some sixteen years: although he produced, for at least the last ten of these, work containing indications of extraordinary power, in a variety of directions almost as extraordinary.
To attempt to assign reasons for this comparative failure would be idle--the fact is the only reasonable reason.

But some phenomena and symptoms can be diagnosed.

It is at least noteworthy that Thackeray--in this approaching Dickens perhaps nearer than in any other point--began with extravaganza--to adopt perhaps the most convenient general name for a thing which cannot be quite satisfactorily designated by any.

In both cases the adoption was probably due to the example and popularity of Theodore Hook.