, 1874-02-22

knack, and, hearing aspeech OF Bu1ko eulopized.
boasted that he could DO a. web hirnse.t Being
dared to the trial, he mounted chair and stuck
| fast 1fter three sentences yet reiterated his
boast, saying that On this occasion he WAS "oot
| Of lGck." When Moser, tie Swiss, cut short his
conTersatjon At an Academy dinner with "s1av.
| stay, Toctor shonscn is going to say something"
| Goldsmith was almost beside himself With fel1-
ousy and rage.
/ Ho3AnTH
did not scruple to extol Adriagc-a-M-3 Mode:
LoPx De VEGA
trumpeted his own praises under psaudonyr:
BUI1E1
could harangue with great gust On the merits at
| Rudtbras; and the inscription under
BonKAus
| portrait, which gives the palm to the French
| satirist over Jnyenh aud Horace. is known to
| have coma from the pen ot-Boileau.
WORDSWORTH
Was thorough egotist He uever hesitated to
express his contempt Of his critics, and his SELF
assurance Of his Own powers. In
soUTHEY's
correspondence vo find the au&hor OF "Ths!aban
| speaking With the utmost confidence Of his
poems as certain to render his nane immortal
HAz1I7T,
WIZ (OA44 @AAtAklEc ut1EA H11lE15 6O Q34
evidently good opinion Of himself. Writing
from Wnte1siow, be says Of his s Tablet -Talks'':
II could swear (wers they not mine) tho
thoughts In many ct them are founded ~
rock. free as air, the tone like an Italian pic
ture." Need We ailuds to th.t literary Na:-
cissus,
LAAAn1rsE,
who is forever attitudinizing aud surveying
himself in 4 mirror; or to the enormous vau-
ity OF
which, Bainte-Beuve aftirmH, Tun,rers en-
gtouti 's'dssouurdak pas, and which: prompts
him necessarily to ask, "What would tbs
Nineteenth Century have been without my
writinge?" r--:---.-:' -'.''.r r'-'--
The egotism Of
JULIUS .scAI1aER
almost staggers belief. He looked on himself
az the monarch of letters, just 81 tho ancienta
regarded the Persian King as The King;
aud spoke OF other scholars with profound con
tempt. ..-.:---'..
Jonv KNOX,
the Refozuaer, VAS d glorious eeotiat- In his
chronicle he speaks OF himself always in the
third person, Is il he were writing the biography
Of some great man whose deeds he had had the
good fortune to witness. John Eno1's figure is
ever tha conspicuous figure in John Kno1's book
But Of all egotists, OF anciout or modern times,
WILLIAM coDBETr
towers the highest above his fellows. To such
apitch does be carry his aeH-praiHe at times,
that it Seems as il he we're quizzing his readers
or rathar If it we're car1cature, or wicked in
vention Of an enemy. = I am your superior" he
boastingly writes to the Bishop Of Winchester
I have ten times your talent, and thouaond
times your industry and zeal" Few polemics
have held more caustic pen but his fraue
WAS Of the Herculean rather than the Apol1inean
cast; he thought man could not be strong
enough unless he necessarily displayed bis
thews. And set, in his bold and daring SELF
praise, there is something quite noble, COM
pared with the mean, sneaking, shufifing tricks
Of many other writer4 who would p1sy the sama
game II they had courage. There .re soma
men, sAys Coleridge. who actualiy datter thonn-
se1ves that they abbor all egotisn, and never
betrny it in their vritings OF discourse " But
watch these men narrowly" he adds. land in
the greater number Of cases you will find their
thoughts, and feelings, and mode OF expression
saturated with the passion Of contempt, schich
Is the concentrated cine9or Of eqotism."
The Illustrations re have given abundantly
prove, we think, that the1eis
MORE POETRY THAN TRUTH
In the sentiment that genius is unconscious Of
its powers. No doubt it is often true that, when
3 ran OF genius ia vain, he is vain OF what is
not his genius. The greatest authors have often
been proudest Of the poorest Of their worka. Il
is natural to e1aggerate the Value Of that which
has cost Us much effort to produce. We bug
and fond1e an object which se hs7e acquired
with many atruggle; We oVerprize = talent which
re have trained and cultivated with assiduous
care. But to suppose 4 MAI OF extraordinary
intellectual power to be unconscious Of the fact
is to suppoao hin seH-ignorant,-to know laas
Of himself than smaller men. AZ we'll might
yo0 suppose & Titan to be ignorant of his
giant stature, Or = Hercules not to know
his physical strength The truth is, an aHecta-
ton Of humility in such man, who towers =
head and shoulders above his fellows, would be
as ridiculous as the struttiugs Of dwarf. II
grant, II says one Of the authors Of "Guesses 1t
Truth, who lecns to the opposite opinion, "t that
the Inconsistencies which belongs to geniuB in
it's purity cannot be preserved unde6led, any
more than that which belongs to goodness in 1ts
purity. There are numbers Of a1arums on all
sides to rouse our self CONSCIOUSNESS, should it
ever flag or lag, from our c1aalo upward
Whithersoeyer We 60,
VIE HAVE BELLS on QUE TOES
to regale our carnM hearts With their music,
and bell-rnen meet Us in every street to sound
their chimes in our ears. Others tell us hon
clever We are and We repeat the sweet .traina
with cease1oss iteration, magnifying them 1t ~.
cry repetition. Hence it Is next to marvel il
genius can ever preserve any Of that uncon-
sciousness which belongs to its essence; :nd
this il why, when all talents arc multiplying
genius becomes 1a-er and rarer with civilization,