Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1821-06-26

vanity and petty ambition have the pros
pect ct so vast range for qualification
before them, that it is not only surprizing
their passions should feel the full inllu
ence Of their incentives, and the commu-
nifty, as well as themselves, Of the con-
sequences.
AS genius, requirements, fortune, rank
are altogether relative in value, the low
est under certain circumstances, may be
highest under others, and vice versa.
The genius of the country school
may be merely the smart fellow of the
academy and one of the 'ready stu
dents when transferred to the college,
and of respectable standing when pursu-
ing bis course in the professional branch
cs OF the university.
Let him settle, at the completion of his
professional studies, in city, town, viii
lage, or country place, and as the oppor-
tunities of comparison become less ex-
tensive, the higher will probably be the
character he will sustain. But when the
general graduation of places is added to
the scale, we have infinite varieties OF ST.
tuation for all the great men ofthe age to
expand in.
But vanity is the bastard of SO many
sires that the prosp ects offortuue or ac
quirements are not sufficient illustration
of its resources for competency. The
fortune and the manners which in
wealthy mart of commerce, would not
cn,tle their possessors to move above the
ordinary crowd, become a superemlnent
claim to distinction when contrasted with
the limited share allotted to the more re
mote inhabitants of the country. He now
struts as nabob who formerly walked as
humble attendant. The tailor or the
millner become the pink of the fashion
and poiteness, and amGse their country
admirers by playing off the manners OF
the gentleman or the lady on whom they
previously attended TO make a dress ior-
the body or the head. This rage becomes
more eXcessiye in proportion to the dis
lance from home, as well as from refine
ment, and the frontier emlgrant conse-
quently exhibits it in the greatest degree.
From the lowest laborer to the lowest
literary character, the individual feels a
degree of importance to which he never
before dared to aspire, not even IN sen
timent. How ridiculous the consequent
airs of assumption, we have each had
more than sufficient opportunity OF OBJ
serving. As richer, more learned, more
polite, or more ingenious, 1t might be
supposed that this consideration OF itself
would be enough to satisfy the individual
who applied the epithet to himself, with
the conscious qualification ofpositive me
Ri. But this is not enough. Exaggera-
ton and lying are the general attendants
on vanity; and he employs them to mag
nifty by the recital Of such former cir
cumstances as might have ecisfed, to
fl4tter his predominant foible. Yet the
consequences, when he comes IN con-
tact with others like himself, arc what
we have to NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. OF the
most unreasonable kind. While the
conflicts between such men are for no
higher purpose than to obtain exalted
opinions of the state or character in which
they exist, the results are not so mis-
chievous as when change OF condition
is the object, or in other words, when
petty ambition is called into action. This
may seem to be a natural effect of the
former, but it is not an invariable one.
Offices from coroner to sheriff, from
justice of the peace to county commits
sioner, or from nothing at all to assem-
blyman, are eagerly sought after and te-
naciously Dursued bv men whose only
hope of success can arise from the de-
grading comparative estimates ofvanity.
He who formerly dared not aspire to the
dignity of corporal, may now feel entire
ly competent to fulfil the duties of ma jor,
and can with much placency ridicule,
and with much dignity revile other as
pirers, who ridicule and revile him in
return.
OLD FARMER.
FOR THE SPECTATOR.