text:  The truly independent are those who not only do not solicit favours but those who do not want them: and there is seen too often among needy and struggling men of merit an irritable pride a "_fierte_ " arising not from a sense of independence but a consciousness of neglect; and many men boast of the pleasure of an independent life as many ladies exalt the delights of single blessedness only because they have never had the offer of changing their condition