Prestige in reality is a sort of domination exercised on our mind by an individual, a work, or an idea. This domination entirely paralyses our critical faculty,and fills our soul with astonishment and respect. The sentiment provoked is inexplicable, like all sentiments,but it would appear to be of the same kind as the fascination to which a magnetised person is subjected.Prestige is the mainspring of all authority. Neither gods, kings, nor women have ever reigned without it.The various kinds of prestige may be grouped under two principal heads: acquired prestige and personal prestige. Acquired prestige is that resulting from name, fortune, and reputation. It may be independent of personal prestige. Personal prestige, on the contrary,is something essentially peculiar to the individual; it may coexist with reputation, glory, and fortune, or be strengthened by them, but it is perfectly capable of existing in their absence.