He always thought it was considered rather meritorious if a man with small capital, by hard work, honest dealing, and self-denial, managed to raise himself and get up in the world.
"Hodge and His Masters"
Richard Jefferies
Hugh Horry, in the field, were certainly highly meritorious; but he never rendered his country more effectual aid than by this act of friendly persuasion.
"A Sketch of the Life of Brig. Gen. Francis Marion"
William Dobein James
A gentle, grave, and quiet man, he had loved the magnanimity and independence so curiously mingled with mere vanity and egotism in Alfieri's nature; he had never tired of hearing his friend's plans for the future, had never smiled at his almost comic certainty of supreme greatness, he had never lost patience with the self-meritorious egotism which made all Alfieri's actions seem the one interest of the world in Alfieri's own eyes.
"The Countess of Albany"
Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee)