138 THE LAND'S END 



of his philosophy of life, his instincts, prepossessions, 

 and the peculiar shape and shade of his morality. 

 He is, so to speak, his own standard, and measures 

 everybody from China to Peru by it, and those who 

 fall short of it, who have a somewhat different code 

 or ideal, are of the meaner sort of men which one 

 expects to find outside of these islands. It is un- 

 doubtedly a noble state of mind, befitting a world- 

 conquering people, and has served to make us 

 respected, feared and even disliked in other coun- 

 tries, but some small disadvantages and some friction 

 result from it at home, and one is that the lord of 

 human kind residing among inferior Celts finds 

 himself out of harmony with the people about him. 

 He is not as a rule quick, but after a few months or 

 years in a place he begins to find his neighbours out, 

 and they on their side are not insensible of the change 

 in his regard. He sees that they have faults and 

 vices which being unlike those of the English he 

 finds it hard to tolerate. Not only does he disapprove 

 of them on this account but he resents having been 

 taken in. " You are charmed with this people, you tell 

 me ! Wait till you have lived years with them as I 

 have done and know them as I do, then give me your 

 opinion," they are accustomed to say in their bitterness 

 the feeling which cannot but make a man unjust. 



It is not easy or not pleasant to descend to particu- 

 lars, but having gone so far as to state the question it 

 would hardly be fair not to go further, although by 

 so doing I shall most probably incur the displeasure 

 of both sides. 



