I wish my nobility to commence with myself and derive all my titles from the French people.

I am the Rudolph of Hapsburg of my family.

My patent of nobility dates from the battle of Montenotte." When Napoleon was informed that the British Government had decreed that he should be recognized only as general, he said, "They cannot prevent me from being myself." An Englishman asked Napoleon at Elba who was the greatest general of the age, adding, "I think Wellington." To which the Emperor replied, "He has not yet measured himself against me." "Well matured and well disciplined talent is always sure of a market," said Washington Irving; "but it must not cower at home and expect to be sought for.

There is a good deal of cant, too, about the success of forward and impudent men, while men of retiring worth are passed over with neglect.

But it usually happens that those forward men have that valuable quality of promptness and activity, without which worth is a mere inoperative property.