I name these, as the reverse of comic papers,--and publishing what they supposed true, as in fact was told me by the editors when inquired of.

At the time I repudiated the false rumour openly;--with all the greater readiness, inasmuch as I dispute both the justice of hereditary honour and the wisdom of hereditary legislation; to say less of the "_res angusta domi_" which, in our Mammonite time and clime, obliges money to support rank, even if, as in sundry late cases of raising to the peerage, it does not purchase it.
It is fair also to state as a fact, that when my father for the second time refused his baronetcy, I, as eldest son, gave the casting vote against myself, not to impoverish my four younger brothers,--all now gone before me to the better world,--and that, for reasons mentioned above, I certainly could not take it now.

Let this suffice as my reply to some recent sneers and strictures.
As for letters of the alphabet attached to one's name, almost any one nowadays may have any amount of them by paying fees or subscriptions; in particular, America has given me many honorary diplomas.

And for the matter of gold medals, who can covet them, when even the creators of baking-powder and sewing-machines are surfeited therewith.

My poor Prussian medal looks small in comparison.