George Eliot: Middlemarch

BOOK IV. THREE LOVE PROBLEMS. 36. CHAPTER XXXVI.

  "'Tis strange to see the humors of these men,
    These great aspiring spirits, that should be wise:
      .     .     .     .     .     .     .     .
    For being the nature of great spirits to love
    To be where they may be most eminent;
    They, rating of themselves so farre above
    Us in conceit, with whom they do frequent,
    Imagine how we wonder and esteeme
    All that they do or say; which makes them strive
    To make our admiration more extreme,
    Which they suppose they cannot, 'less they give
    Notice of their extreme and highest thoughts.
                         --DANIEL:  Tragedy of Philotas.

Mr. Vincy went home from the reading of the will with his point of view considerably changed in relation to many subjects. He was an open-minded man, but given to indirect modes of expressing himself: when he was disappointed in a market for his silk braids, he swore at the groom; when his brother-in-law Bulstrode had vexed him, he made cutting remarks on Methodism; and it was now apparent that he regarded Fred's idleness with a sudden increase of severity, by his throwing an embroidered cap out of the smoking-room on to the hall-floor.

"Well, sir," he observed, when that young gentleman was moving off to bed, "I hope you've made up your mind now to go up next term and pass your examination. I've taken my resolution, so I advise you to lose no time in taking yours."

Fred made no answer: he was too utterly depressed. Twenty-four hours ago he had thought that instead of needing to know what he should do, he should by this time know that he needed to do nothing: that he should hunt in pink, have a first-rate hunter, ride to cover on a fine hack, and be generally respected for doing so; moreover, that he should be able at once to pay Mr. Garth, and that Mary could no longer have any reason for not marrying him. And all this was to have come without study or other inconvenience, purely by the favor of providence in the shape of an old gentleman's caprice. But now, at the end of the twenty-four hours, all those firm expectations were upset. It was "rather hard lines" that while he was smarting under this disappointment he should be treated as if he could have helped it. But he went away silently and his mother pleaded for him.