IX 



AN EGOTISTICAL CHAPTEE 



A FEW years ago the editor of a popular maga- 

 -^-^ zine inveigled a good many people, myself 

 among the number, into writing about themselves 

 and their experiences in life. None of us, I im- 

 agine, needed very much persuading, for as a rule 

 there is no subject v^hich a man or woman is more 

 ready or willing to talk about than him or her self. 

 One's ailments are always a favorite subject; next 

 to that, one's luck or ill-luck in his last undertak- 

 ing; then one's experiences, one's likes and dis- 

 likes; and lastly, self-analysis and criticism. And 

 it has been said that a man " is never so sure to 

 please as when he writes of himself with good faith, 

 and without affectation." Aye, there 's the rub; to 

 write of one's self without affectation! A false 

 note of this kind is fatal to the interest and value 

 of the criticism. 



In a certain sense, a man of the literary or artistic 

 temperament never portrays or writes of anything 

 but himself; that is, he gives us things as seen 

 through the intimate personal medium which he 

 himself is. All things reflect his hue and quality. 

 This is the bane of science, but it is the life of 



