CHAPTER III 



THE QUALITIES OF THE ORDINARY, AS OPPOSED TO 

 THE GREAT, MAN 



it will be ob- THE objections which will be taken to the con- 

 Sdusions e elusion arrived at in the preceding chapter resolve 

 fSchapTer the themselves into two groups, one of which rests on 

 d 1 f ro f ate . fro general and more or less sentimental considerations, 



the dignity of o 



the average the other on practical. We will deal with the former 



man. 



first. 



This group of objections will, by those persons 

 who entertain them, be probably first expressed 

 in an outburst of fine indignation at the wrong 

 which the conclusions just epitomised do to the 

 average man ; for such persons will at once 

 take them as implying that the average man is a 

 miserable and helpless creature, with only enough 

 intelligence to carry out blindly the orders which 

 his betters are condescending enough to give 

 him ; and this implication will strike them as a 

 wanton insult. They will think over various men 

 in private and humble life who were never thought 

 by themselves or others to be above the average 

 level, but who yet were gifted with intelligence, 



