Be not of course cast down at losing; but above all, be not eager at winning, as mean souls are." And he boasts of his accomplishments with so much eloquence as to make the reader sure that he believes in them.

He is quite pathetic over himself, and can describe with heartrending words the evils that befall him when others use against him successfully any of the arts which he practises himself.
The marvel of the book is not so much that the hero should evidently think well of himself, as that the author should so tell his story as to appear to be altogether on the hero's side.

In _Catherine_, the horrors described are most truly disgusting,--so much that the story, though very clever, is not pleasant reading.

_The Memoirs of Barry Lyndon_ are very pleasant to read.

There is nothing to shock or disgust.