All his snobs, and all his fools, and all his knaves, come from the same conviction.

Is it not the doctrine on which our religion is founded,--though the sadness of it there is alleviated by the doubtful promise of a heaven?
Though thrice a thousand years are passed Since David's son, the sad and splendid, The weary king ecclesiast Upon his awful tablets penned it.
So it was that Thackeray preached his sermon.

But melancholy though it be, the lesson taught in _Esmond_ is salutary from beginning to end.

The sermon truly preached is that glory can only come from that which is truly glorious, and that the results of meanness end always in the mean.
No girl will be taught to wish to shine like Beatrix, nor will any youth be made to think that to gain the love of such a one it can be worth his while to expend his energy or his heart.
_Esmond_ was published in 1852.

It was not till 1858, some time after he had returned from his lecturing tours, that he published the sequel called _The Virginians_.