Adventures and Enthusiasms

There are certain qualities that we all claim. We are probably wrong, of course, but wedeceive ourselves into believing that, short as we may fall in other ways, we really can dothis or that superlatively well. "I'll say this for myself," we remark, with an approvingglance in the mirror, "at any rate I'm a good listener"; or, "Whatever I may not be, I'm agood host." These are things that may be asserted of oneself, by oneself, without undueconceit. "I pride myself on being a wit," a man may not say; or "I am not ashamed of beingthe handsomest man in London;" but no one resents the tone of those other arrogations, even if their truth is denied