"I'm good for five minutes of superficial charm," he said, "after which I can see the pity forming in men's eyes".
Self-pity forms no part of Jefferson's writing palette.
It is a pity their form in the Championship has slipped – before Saturday's win against Charlton, Burnley had lost five in a row to fall out of the play-off positions – because clearly they have what it takes to compete at a higher level.
Edwards is inclined to think that all except pity are forms of self-love.
Jason Bateman gives one of the best performances of the year, and Will Smith never holds back the sadness and self-pity that form the core of his ornery, irresponsible super hero.
The humorous article or essay, on the other hand, is a blend of sympathy and gentle pity with irony, a form of criticism that gently mocks not only others but the mocker himself.
All the same it would be a pity if the current form of overindulgence – too much sitting on your arse and looking at your phone – came to define the class of 2015.
The allegory is plain, but its blatancy is modulated by the depiction of Mehring; the reader's sympathies ricochet between sour and gentle forms of pity for this wilfully naive, unconsciously weak figure.
Six children watch - and survive - a father who is a monster of pomposity and self-delusion battle it out with a mother who turns self-pity into an art form.
For Bergson, these two phases are "inferior forms of pity".
