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indifferent to the appreciation of a hotel keeper, or a bar maid, before them, the bashful youth, who could not lift his eyes to the face of a lady, and had not courage to address a few civil sentences to her respected father, was transformed into a very monster of egotism, arrogance, and impertinence.
When we use the word bashfulness, we do not mean to confound the term with genuine diffidence, self-distrust, modesty; nor do we allude to the charming timidity which flings a roseate veil over the conscious cheek of youth. The shamefacedness of bashfulness is not diffidence or self-distrust, for it does not distrust its own intrinsic worth, it only distrusts that others will fully recognize that worth. It is not modesty or humility, for it does not humbly estimate itself, it is only fearful of the undervaluing estimation of others.
True modesty is retiring, shrinking, humble, but it is at the same time self-possessed, composed, unconspicuous. A modest man does not commit the blunders of his bashful brother, because he is not confused by failing efforts to seem what he is not. He does not conceive himself to be a brilliant person, or desire others to believe so, and does not comport himself as though brilliancy were expected of him. He does not fancy that he is of sufficient consequence to be remarked or remarkable. He goes on his way, if observed, unconscious of observation; if neglected, indifferent to neglect. He does not think of himself at all and consequent-