AN EGOTISTICAL CHAPTER 1 



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 imagine, 

 needed very much persuading, for as a rule there 

 is no subject which a man or a woman is more ready 

 or willing to talk about than himself or herself. 

 One's ailments are always a favorite subject; next 

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

 taking; 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." Ay, 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. 



1 From Indoor Studies. 



