内容简介：
Set in the reign of Queen Anne, Thackeray's novel follows the troubled progress of Henry Esmond Esq., a gentleman and an officer in Marlborough's army. He distinguishes himself in Marlborough's campaigns against Louis XIV but comes to grief in an unsuccessful attempt to depose George I in favor of the Old Pretender. He continues to wrestle with an emotional allegiance to the Old Tory-Catholic England until, disillusioned, he eventually comes to terms with the whiggish-Protestant future.