On the other hand, the man who is born with enough to live upon is generally of a somewhat independent turn of mind; he is accustomed to keep his head up; he has not learned all the arts of the beggar; perhaps he even presumes a little upon the possession of talents which, as he ought to know, can never compete with cringing mediocrity; in the long run he comes to recognize the inferiority of those who are placed over his head, and when they try to put insults upon him, he becomes refractory and shy.  This is not the way to get on in the world.  Nay, such a man may at least incline to the opinion freely expressed by Voltaire:  We have only two days to live; it is not worth our while to spend them in cringing to contemptible rascals.  But alas! let me observe by the way, that contemptible rascal is an attribute which may be predicated of an abominable number of people.  What Juvenal says—­it is difficult to rise if your poverty is greater than your talent—­

  Haud facile emergunt quorum virtutibus obstat
  Res angusta domi—­

is more applicable to a career of art and literature than to a political and social ambition.

Wife and children I have not reckoned amongst a man’s possessions:  he is rather in their possession.  It would be easier to include friends under that head; but a man’s friends belong to him not a whit more than he belongs to them.

CHAPTER IV.

POSITION, OR A MAN’S PLACE IN THE ESTIMATION OF OTHERS.

Section 1.—­Reputation.

By a peculiar weakness of human nature, people generally think too much about the opinion which others form of them; although the slightest reflection will show that this opinion, whatever it may be, is not in itself essential to happiness.  Therefore it is hard to understand why everybody feels so very pleased when he sees that other people have a good opinion of him, or say anything flattering to his vanity.  If you stroke a cat, it will purr; and, as inevitably, if you praise a man, a sweet expression of delight will appear on his face; and even though the praise is a palpable lie, it will be welcome, if the matter is one on which he prides himself.  If only other people will applaud him, a man may console himself for downright misfortune or for the pittance he gets from the two sources of human happiness already discussed:  and conversely, it is astonishing how infallibly a man will be annoyed, and in some cases deeply pained, by any wrong done to his feeling of self-importance, whatever be the nature, degree, or circumstances of the injury, or by any depreciation, slight, or disregard.