Closely scrutinised, it is seen to be a sort of inverted vanity.

The student begins by studying himself, an exercise in self-appraisal which need not by any means involve self-depreciation.

What sort of a mind, then, is the English mind?
If there is anything in regard to which the love of friends corroborates the malice of enemies it is in ascribing to the English an individualism, hard-shelled beyond all human parallel.

The Englishman's country is an impregnable island, his house is a castle, his temperament is a suit of armour.

The function common to all three is to keep things out, and most admirably has he used them to that end.