fury,
because it could not rush over that barrier. This was also an
inflammation of the fancy, which had risen from an active mind,
and which early and numerous experiences had turned into a
festering wound. Finally, it was also the placing of self on some
imagined summit, standing apart and aloft, beyond and above all.
I--and the rabble. What is not I, and a handful like me--is the
rabble. What is to be mine cannot be of the rabble; what is of
the rabble must be not of mine. This pride was not of birth or
money; it might be called nervous mental arrogance. Mental
summits other than those of the rabble, and other requirements of
the nerves; the highest bloom of human civilization--sickly, but
the highest; the crash, but also the coronation of mankind. In
all this there was a principle--one, but indestructible: the
respect of individuality; the preservation of it from all
limitations and changes which might come from outside; a respect
reaching the height of worship. Everything might be, according to
time and place, a painted pot; but individuality (that is, the
way in which a man's wishes, tastes, way of thinking were
fashioned) was sacred--the only sacred thing. It was not
permitted to give this into captivity to anyone or anything, or
to submit it to criticisms, or corrections. I am what I am; and I
will remain myself. I will and I am obliged to know how to
will--something like the superhuman preached by Friedrich
Nietsche. The baron's dwelling was not only original and
fabulously expensive, but it had in itself besides, that which
the Germans define by the word Stimmung. A number of young
polyglots examined for a long time various languages of Europe to
find a word which would answer best to the German Stimmung, till
Maryan first, possessing the greatest linguistic capacity, came
on the Polish expression nastroj (tone of mind). Yes, they
agreed, universally, that the baron's dwelling produced a tone of
mind; an impression not of what was in it, but of something of
which it was the mysterious expression or symbol. It produced an
impression which had its cause beyond this world. To believe in
something beyond this world does not mean to profess a
religion--as that of Buddha, Zoroaster, or Chrystos. No, of
course not; that would be well for early ages and infantile
people; ..old ones, too, run wild after fables, for the principle
of the beautiful is in these fables; but they do not let fables
lead them off by the no