John the Baptist said of Christ, “He must increase but I must
decrease.” Scott’s attitude toward Byron was similar.
It is characteristic of Scott that he knew perfectly well when
Byron began to write his day was over. He quietly said Byron had
“bet him,” and he never sang again. Without a touch of jealousy,
with simple manliness, Scott admitted that a greater poet than
himself had come, and instead of waging a losing battle for his
lost supremacy, he praised his rival, and then left the arena
with all the honors of war. There are few men who could have
done this. That Scott did it, and did it easily, is at once a
proof of the sturdy manliness of his nature, and of the robust
common sense and generosity which marked his character.--W.
J. DAWSON, “The Makers of English Poetry.”
(2870)
* * * * *
That we should try to see ourselves as others see us is a rule well
illustrated by R. H. Haweis in what he says on learning to play the
violin:
I had found means to make the flimsiest strings yield up sounds
which I need not here characterize, and to such purpose that it
became a question of some interest how long such sounds could be
endured by the human ear. I do not mean my own. All violinists,
including infants on the eighteen-penny ones, admit that to
their own ear the sounds produced are nothing but delightful; it
is only those who do not make them who complain.
(2871)
=Self-examination=--See SELF-INSPECTION.