We can only imagine what were his thoughts as to himself and that other man, who was then known as the great novelist of the day,--of a rivalry with whom he was certainly conscious.

_Punch_ was very much to him, but was not quite enough.

That must have been very clear to himself as he meditated the beginning of _Vanity Fair_.
Of the contributions to the periodical, the best known now are _The Snob Papers_ and _The Ballads of Policeman X_.

But they were very numerous.
Of Thackeray as a poet, or maker of verses, I will say a few words in a chapter which will be devoted to his own so-called ballads.

Here it seems only necessary to remark that there was not apparently any time in his career at which he began to think seriously of appearing before the public as a poet.