LAMBERT was a great man, so was the living skeleton, yet even a casual
observer could perceive the difference in their greatness. The greatness
of the fleshy world is one thing; the greatness of the no-fleshy world
is another. Also, strange as it may seem, a man may be great and yet not
be great. HOOD was a great General, so was NAP 3, but they tell me that
Nashville and Saarbrucken are terrible commentaries on greatness. Also a
man may be great and not know it. They say that, until he had made his
grand success at Fort Fisher, you never could persuade BUTLER that he
was a great General. TUPPER, I am informed, would never believe that he
was the most remarkable poet ever produced by England. Also a man may be
great and be perfectly aware of it. Acquaintances of GEORGE FRANCIS
TRAIN, Gen. O'NEILL, and Count JOANNES, assert that no one knows, better
than these gentlemen, that they are great men. Also a man may die calmly
in the consciousness that he is a distinguished individual, and yet,
years afterwards, some magazine writer may cast historic doubts upon his
greatness.

Of course there are several classes of great people. There is the little
great man, (for example, NAP. 3,) the big great man, (BISMARCK,) the
great little man, (NAP. 1,) and the great big man, (the Onondaga giant.)
But the patient observer must perceive that general rules will cover all
these cases.

It is to be hoped that no one, who shall become great by means of my
rules, will turn upon me and revile me, when he finds himself
interviewed incessantly, persecuted by unearthings of his early sins, by
persistent beggars, by slanders of the envious, by libels of the press,
and by the other concomitants of greatness. You must take the sour with
the sweet. Even the sweetest orange may have an unpleasant rind.