THE FORCE OF IMPUDENCE. (Globe )

Waikato Times, Volume V, Issue 267, 27 January 1874, Page 2

THE FORCE OF IMPUDENCE. (Globe )

Tai»f » usually somothing exceptionally significant about a word which has many synonyms, for being evidently th,» exrrwpicin of »a idea which assumes various shapes, it is obviously a. word destined to play many parts. Fletcher of Saltoun used to boast that if he could pave a collection of a nation's ballads pat into his hands, he should have no diffiouJfcy in framing its lairs. An intelligent observer of men'Ahabita and character* might bout with equal com- ( plaoeooy that had he leiaure to surrey the words whi<jii ■'- have the longest array of synonyms attached to them, be might determine the character of the people whospofce toe - language to which they belonged- It is-»ftolaoeabjA ciroumstanoe that in our language the wdfd impudence ia one r • of these, and something more than a coincidence that the quality it exprtstet has always been regarded by foreigners at one of our national characteristics. The (celebrated pawag* in Goldsmith's "Traveller," describing Englishman abroad— "pride in his port, defiance in* his eye*'-- is fully, almost ridiculously, illustrated by one of the shrewdest of Bacon's essays, the discourse "On Boldness." That practical genius there lays it down as a rule that in civil matters impudence ia the first requisite, impudence the second, impudence the third, giving the observation an extra piquancy by parodying Demosthenes' advice to the young orator. The famous anecdote, possibly the offspring ' of his own fertile brain, which he quotes of the efficiency of this quality in the case of Mahomet and the mountain, it known to all of us, and is a useful illustration of a principle which it would be well for the impudent to understand. Nothing short of the quality in excess will ever pay. Triple brass is the only wear. Impudence is like that drug which, taken in small doses, is a stupefying poison — taken in large, a lively stimulant. Had Mahomet simply possessed the assurance to state that, if he called, the mountain wouUl come to him, he would have been laughed I at ; but by a masterly stroke of consummate impudence at a moment when all expected to see him abashed, he not only achieved a brilliant triumph, but probably got more credit than if the hill had actually come. Bacon attribute* the efficacy of impudence to the fact that there is in human nature, generally speaking, more folly than wudom, and that consequently the faculties by which the foolish part in men's mind is taken are most potent. There is no doubt a. natural tendency in, tarn to bclierc in those "who bcllCTe in themselves, and though it is much easier to assert claims than to support them, we must remember that while the first is in the power of most men, it is only accident after all, whioh necessitates the second. Men read others by themselves, and lower or raise everything to their own level. The omne ignotvm pro magnifico principle applies more generally to the higher order ot intellect, seldom to the lower, and empty assertions will propably go further with a clerer man than they will with a fool. Impudence, has a double chance with the former ; it asserts claims he has perhaps no reason to suspect and is perfectly willing to concede, and it assumes the shape of a self-confidence which has been, likely enough, denied to himself, and which he would give his eyes to possess. In the conduct of life it ia of far greater moment to have the sagacity to discover who are fools, than to discern who are wise, for in nine cases out of ten it will be infinitely more difficult to deceive the first than to deceive the second. Intelligence and sensibility are in many of the practical walks of life very poor substitutes for the low cunning with which nature, kind indulgent parent, loves to endow her weaker children. The old proverb, set a thief to catch a thief, has a very wide signification. Impudence, though not usually prone to indulge in morbid self-anatomy, manages very often to pick up a good many truths which she could only have learned from herself, and has, at bottom a snail-like sensitiveness about her obtrusive tiorni, which like Achilles' heel, are her only vulnerable point. Impudence is the only moral quality whose power is recognised and appreciated by wise and foolish alike, though there is wide difference between the impudence of the first and the impudence of the second. Impudence must always be trumpbmg, must always be putting itself into critical and highly perilous positions, and miraculously extricating itself, otherwise it becomes tame, sinking to the level of mere vulgarity — to the form it assumes in Montagu Tigg, Fell, or Swiyeller. Probably the, most impudent man the world has ever seen was that hero so wonderfully pictured by Carlyle, the inunortal Cagliostro; his life might be d?signate4 the triumph of impudence, for he attained what he did by the force of sheer impudence alone. His life might be read now-a-daji, not as a warning, but an example, for there is so much of this interesting quality about in such remarkably uninterestug forms, that it would be pleasing to see it assuming some more definite and entertaining shape. If.peppje could only realize what true impudence should be— that it is always a means to an end, that it can only be attractive in cases, where it is indispensable— mere swaggering would fall into its proper place as a leavening ingredient, and not set tip for being a primary element ; aupeifluous lying would yield its place to flexible statement or graceful equivoc&^iop^nd aimless egotism be exchanged for effective inuendo. There ia too much of the amateur kind of impudence TWflrig v*-*~ the Theodore Hook Bort of thing which wastes its energies in asking pompous old gentlemen if they are anybody's in particular, and the like. The true model of perfect and. consummate impudence was Voltaire ; he had in his single person unpudenpe enough for a whole generation, and he managed it as he managed every other quality he possessed. Everything now-a-days is, if possible, reduced to an epigram, the whole science of impudence may be reduced to an anecdote. This same Voltaire had asserted in one of his heretical semi-biblical essays that Habakkuk, the prophet, bad made some statement which told in favour of one of the positions maintained by the irreverent essayist. An abb§, however, of bis acquaintance, reading the work, indignantly wrote to the author, denying that Habakkuk had said any such thing, and defying hi* infidel opponent to find the passage in question. "My dear abbe", was the, courteous reply, "Eabakkuk was capable of anything."