of the country, as well as the national peculiarity, before adverted to, sufficiently account for this.

Self-esteem large, joined to much Acquisitiveness, makes the acquisitive person more keenly acquisitive. When Acquisitiveness alone is large, the individual may have all the desire to acquire; but he will not be so intent on the selfish application of his riches. With a small Self-esteem, he will hardly have that grasping and insatiable desire of wealth, which constitutes the real miser. When these two propensities are combined, the individual will not only be indefatigable in amassing wealth, but he will be possessed of an engrossing and monopolizing spirit, as if he were desirous of possessing all the wealth of the world. He will be sorely tempted to "covet his neighbour's goods," and to envy those who are possessed of any thing he esteems valuable, particularly if he has it not; and if Conscientiousness, or the dread of the law, do not interfere to prevent him, he will be apt to use all means, fair or foul, to possess himself of that which he esteems the ornament of life. When Conscientiousness is in such proportion as to prevent any unfair means being used to acquire, the self-esteeming acquisitive man will probably shew his disposition by an over-anxiety to keep what he has, and rather to accumulate by saving than by wresting property from others. The fortunes that are made in this way, from very slender gains, are such as to surpass all calculation. Some carry this so far as to desire to accumulate money after their death. Mr Thellusson bequeathed L.700,000 to be accumulated until all the male-children of his sons and grandsons should be dead. The world has been puzzled to understand the motive which could have led to such a bequest; but a Phrenologist will at once see that it proceeded from an enormous Self-esteem and Acquisitive

ness.

! Self-esteem and Secretiveness large, the superior sentiments not being in proportion, will be extremely apt to degenerate into knavery. A man with this combination predominant, (Love of Approbation, Conscientiousness, &c. be

ing deficient), will never reveal any thing, unless he thinks it for his interest to do so. He will have no regard for truth or honesty, and look upon those who use them as fools. If brought to trial and convicted, he will never confess, but will die, making solemn protestations of innocence. Elizabeth Canning, who was tried for perjury, in giving a false account of what happened to her during a fortnight's absence from her mother's house, and on whose evidence, (afterwards proved to be false), an unfortunate gipsy (Mary Squires) had nearly been executed, and who afterwards herself underwent a long imprisonment, and died at an advanced age, without ever revealing where she had really been during her time of her disappearance before mentioned, must have possessed great Self-esteem and Secretiveness. But what must these have been in the man who is recorded to have withdrawn himself, without any known cause, from the society of his wife and family, and continued absent from them for many years, during which time he was reputed to be dead, and his property and effects were administered by his relations; when it afterwards turned out that he had never moved from the street in which his family resided, but had concealed himself in a lodging opposite to them, from whence be had the satisfaction of seeing them every day without being discovered himself? This is perhaps the most extraordinary instance that ever occurred of a man, without any positive evil or malevolent purpose, enjoying the pure selfish gratification of mere concealment.

If Self-esteem and Love of Approbation be both large, and are not accompanied with a proportional share of Cautiousness, Conscientiousness, and Veneration, (which three last-mentioned powers are necessary ingredients in a modest character), the individual will be arrogant, boastful, and assuming. He cannot endure rivalship, and will not merely be desirous of praise, but he will be desirous of engrossing all praise to himself. The praises bestowed on another will be to him gall and wormwood. There are persons of this disposition who cannot endure that any one should

be commended but themselves. This jealousy of praise shews itself sometimes in the most ridiculous manner, and when all idea of rivalship is entirely out of the question; as when Goldsmith was impatient at the praises bestowed upon a puppet, which was made to perform some curious tricks with great apparent dexterity, and answered to one who was expressing his admiration, " I could have done it better myself."

Self-esteem, joined to Cautiousness, and both predominating, shew themselves in an excessive solicitude about the future, in all matters where our own interest is concerned. Such persons are not only sensible of fear in circumstances of present danger, but are ingenious in inventing probable or possible dangers with which they torment themselves and others. Such are your everlasting croakers, who, not satisfied with the maxim, "sufficient for the day is the " evil thereof," are always busying themselves with horrible pictures of evils to come. If they are removed by their situation from the fear of present want, and though in fact they are wallowing in riches, and have more of the world's goods than they know what to do with, they are constantly talking of ruin from the fall of stocks,-or the fall of rents,-the intolerable burden of new taxes,-or the horrors of a new

war.

With them the nation is always on the brink of ruin; and they have constantly before their eyes the terrors of a universal bankruptcy. England, the greatest and incomparably the richest country in the world, possesses a greater degree of this spirit of grumbling than any other; and the public journals furnish this spirit with its daily allowance of appropriate food. The motto of such persons is, that "whatever is, is wrong,"-that matters are constantly going on from bad to worse, that the present times are worse than the past, and the future will be worse still. This is a feeling peculiarly English, and proceeds from a constitutional Cautiousness, joined to a full Self-esteem, which last appears in various ways a national characteristic. In other countries, where the people are really oppressed, discontent

is not nearly so prevalent. The Frenchman, lean, withered, and half-starved, sings and fiddles and laughs under circumstances which would be sufficient to make an Englishman cut his throat; and if he has not a good dinner to-day, expects a better to-morrow; while John Bull, swollen up with good feeding to the size of one of his own hogsheads, sitting in his elbow-chair, with a smoking sirloin and a foaming tankard of ale before him, thinks himself the most unfortunate of the human race; and in the intervals of mastication, groans out his fears of all manner of calamities. If markets are low, our agriculture and trade will be ruined; if high, our manufactures; so that he has " a quarrel to be unhappy" under all possible circumstances. The great prevalence of suicide in England is probably owing to the same cause, the great Self-esteem and Cautiousness of the English, joined to the Destructive propensity, which is also rather prevalent in the character of that nation.

Self-esteem, joined with Benevolence, is rather a discordant sort of combination. In the case of the lower, the selfish and animal propensities, we have seen Self-esteem to harmonize with them and increase their activity; but it is not so with Benevolence, nor with the other higher sentiments. The benevolence of a self-esteeming man will be very much confined to the members of his own family. His charity, wherever it may end, is sure to begin at home. We hear sometimes of such a person being extremely generous to a sister, or of his making handsome presents to his own wife. When he steps out of this circle to relieve an object of distress, he does it with such an air of condescension, and so complete a consciousness of the merit of his own liberality, as to take away in a great measure the value of the donation, and to forestal the gratitude of the donee. If, however, the benevolence of selfish men is seldom exerted, when once it is truly excited, it sometimes flows with a vehemence and with an exclusive devotedness to one object which is quite peculiar to them. When the man of great Self-esteem is generous, he is selfish even in his generosity.

His bounty is not dispersed abroad so as to do the greatest sum of good; it flows all in one channel, so as to depart as little as possible from that self which is his idol. When he makes his will, he does not fritter away his estate in legacies to poor relations, but chooses his heir; and this heir being the next thing to himself, he gives him all, and grudges every thing which is to diminish his lordly inheritance. In the choice of his heir too he is not guided by the consideration of desert or of need; he thinks who will be the representative that will do him most honour; and he generally chooses to bestow it on one who is already rich.

Giving his sum of more

To that which hath too much."

Another selfish way of exercising benevolence, is when a man disinherits all his relations, and leaves his fortune to build an hospital. The magnificent endowments of this kind which England possesses, and which are more numerous there than in any other country, are proofs of the great prevalence of Self-esteem, not less than of Benevolence, among the natives of that country. Sometimes the selfesteeming benevolent man chooses in his caprice to draw humble merit from obscurity; and having done so, he is generally a zealous and an efficient patron. "We put a "twig in the ground," says Sterne," and then we water it "because we have planted it." But woe be to the unfortunate youth if he dares to owe obligations to any other! The same jealousy of disposition which shews itself in love and in friendship, will here display itself in regard to benefits. The man of great Self-esteem cannot brook a rival even in these; and if another interferes with his protégé, he will abandon him or become his enemy.

When Self-esteem is joined with great Veneration, it will shew itself in a hankering after rank and greatness, and a desire to associate with those above us, while, at the same time, there will be a natural aversion to that sort of humility and obsequiousness which the great are often fond of in those whom they admit to their presence. Persons of most