SELF-IMPORTANCE.

Fussy faces, care-worn faces, supercilious and cold faces, with here and there benevolent faces beaming with goodwill and friendliness, spring from the sense of self-importance. What must be the feelings of the man who goes about with the consciousness that the fate of nations, in large measure, depends upon his intelligence, address, and patriotism? It matters little whether the consciousness be real or imaginary; the personal effects are the same-and it is with these we are at the moment mainly interested.

Man-and-woman-kind may be ranged, by the expression they wear on their countenances, in two principal classes—the Somebodies who lord it more or less graciously over their fellows, and the anybodies who meekly, or otherwise, submit to be ruled, patronised, or oppressed. Those who have the bearing of being thoroughly contented with their lot, whether high or low, form an almost insignificant minority, about whose way through life, with its tame enjoyments and mitigated sorrows, it is not worth while to waste words-albeit these last

are the only truly happy folk in the world, and their inanely-joyous faces glow with the blissful ignorance of human nature's worst and most worrying regrets, disappointments, and annoyances.

To be Somebody in statecraft, diplomacy, military skill and prowess, literature, science, art, commerce, or even manual industry, probably inspires a comforting sense of superiority, but it must entail a multitude of anxieties. Setting aside the burden of responsibility which presses heavily on sensitive shoulders, there is the perpetual effort to maintain the position gained. Much flapping and fluttering of wings will be necessary to keep the place in mid-air "over the heads of the people." The up-gazing multitude is apt to follow the flight of the eagle and his imitators, whether hawk or lark, wondrous curiously; and the consciousness that one is so watched cannot be wholly inspiriting. It may even embitter triumph to know that success has not been gracefully achieved.

Again, to be Somebody must be to feel that reverence is due to the dignity; and, if homage is not yielded willingly, which cannot be always the fact, there is the ever-present sense of vigilance to see that the full meed of respect is rendered or enforced. Self-assertion may come easily to certain minds ; but it must, certainly, form part of the character,

or things are sure to go awry. This constitutes a serious drawback to the advantage of feeling selfimportant. In short, the consciousness of superiority is scarcely an unqualified boon, and those of us who are not so gifted may be thankful to be spared the penalty distinction entails. Meanwhile the lack of cause for the mingled pleasure and pain of boastfulness leaves us free to compassionate the sorrows and inconveniences of the Somebodies with whom we are brought into contact; and there is no sincerer gratification to the insignificant than to pick holes in the virtues, point out the defects, execrate the vices, and playfully pity the weaknesses, of the great, the prosperous, the pampered, and the blest.

Somebodies, real and pretended, abound. It is difficult to move a step without encountering them; and it is not easy at first sight to distinguish the true from the false. The spurious article seems to possess all the marks of sterling quality, and to bear them bravely-often better defined than the genuine. This is not surprising, seeing that self-assertion forms part of the Somebody-character; and that quality is ever the same, whether the self-asserted superiority be good or bad, tricky or honest.

Anybody may be thought to be Somebody if he can do his fooling cleverly. We can measure the ease with which the character may be successfully

assumed by the

extent to which the multitude is readily duped. With what strange facility are the majority of even sensible people wont to be hoodwinked and cajoled into the surrender of their opinions and their property, their confidence, and even their affection, by the wiles of the adventurous upstart who, claiming to be Somebody, persistently and adroitly exacts a recognition he does not deserve! The convictions sacrificed, the belongings squandered, the hopes blighted, and the friendships. ruined by the deceptions practised and dupes made by pretended Somebodies lie at the root of national, social, family, and personal discomfitures: hence the need of caution to detect the cheat.

The signs and tokens of truth and falseness in the parade of self-importance are not readily defined. It is easy to say that pretence is very apt to run into affectation, and that the self-assertion of a pretended Somebody is likely to be overdone. This is not the fact. He is a sorry pretender who gives himself many airs. The role of the deceiver is more likely to be one of humility and self-depreciation. The sense of not being Somebody then comes to his aid, and helps him in acting up to the part assumed, by checking affectation. At the same time it should be recognised that the pretender does, in a large proportion of instances, actually suppose that he is

what he affects to be. After repeating a false story very frequently, a man may begin to believe it true.

Moreover, the pretender often actually becomes, after a sort, what he tries to persuade others he is. There is such a thing as converting the unreal into the real by the force of affirmation. We see this illustrated every day in the popularising of articles of commerce by skilful and persevering advertisement. Something said to be used by everybody, when it is barely known beyond the circle of its promoters, in process of time comes to be a universal necessary. In like manner Somebody who is really nobody may be made Somebody by diligent selfassertion. It is in this way that the sway of adventurous spirits over calmer minds is established. The mystery which always attends the unknown helps the achievement. A man springing suddenly from obscurity is, other things being equal, more likely to attain supremacy than one with an antecedent history that seems to augur future triumphs of popularity, if only he is clever enough to take advantage of the mystery as well as able to discharge his public duty.

The sense of self-importance rewards and inspires adventurers as well as good men, though it may come to the aid of the pretender late in his career. Whenever, and however, it comes, the feeling is