SCRAPS FROM OUR NOTE BOOK.

Tuapeka Times, Volume I, Issue 51, 30 January 1869, Page 5

SCRAPS FROM OUR NOTE BOOK.

No. XX.r~ONJSEEPIN&^P ONE'S DIGNITY.

Same centuries ago the De Moggyiis family were celebrated for their dignified and arisfdcratic bearing; but ever since their stature sunk below the Life Guards standard, they have been content to demean themselves like ordinary mortals. "Worse still : a certain happy-go-lucky carelessness has so far reduced their sense of what is due to their illustrious position, that one at least of the family has been known to pass a night ia the hut of a common Sdigger! Of course, this is very bad; i||fc I, Augustus, head of the family, h^e a faint recollection of seeing in thei|Latin grammar, " Video prdboque melmfadeteriorateqtior" which means, I beluke, that Muggins watches and approve&the haw-haws, but does not feel able%come it himself. In fact, dignity oroearing is a thing I hare always adnufed, and have often spent hours in wara|jng the stately demeanour of those mlto whose position demands dignity, dfeti whose bearing commands respect— Wean the judges iof the law. No outOTbak of passion ever lessens the reverence which attends their high position ; Impartiality ever disfigures their judgments. Be it. the meanest pauper or their *d^rest friend who appears before them, efjual justice is metedf oat. It is one of tBo proudest boasts and greatest blessings of all communities under the Britishfiag that the 'judicial ermine is unstained. To observe such men, 1 say, affords me the highest pleasure, as it shows how a man may, by a sense of duty, overcome weaknesses of temper, or disposition. To this kind of dignity X $ske off my hat \ but there is another kind which only excites laughter and contempt. Most people have' seen engravings "of Landseer's celebrated picture of Dignity and. Impudence; and it is of lap-dog assumption % wish\to speak. The little brute cocks Kb' pug-nose far higher than the noble mastiff, and yelps an assertion of his own importance, j He paces along among his fellows^ not deigning to honour the vile earth with more than the touch of his very tiptoes. It matters not whether his absurd pretension is founded on a new suit of clothes or accumulated wealth, ' ne is equally contemptuous to all qthers. .He cannot err, because; by right divine and 1 the help of the tailor he is not' as other men, and he looks askance ' at tlie torn or patched gar 1 - i menta of the holiest worker. Ifelony lurks in a holed elbow; and the seven deadly sins cannot fail to prove pas- i time to the man who . abjures shirt collars. All \trho do not beloiig to his little set or clique are sure to go to social perdition. They are oi polloi, the prqfanmn vulgits, and must not come between" the wind " and his nobility. Fhis kind of dignified behaviour is common enough, and vulgar scamps ire apt to term it impertinent uppishness. I fear in this ease Augustus Mijggirfe is even as one of the wicked.