vain

Every writer is a narcissist. This does not mean that he is vain; it only means that he is hopelessly self-absorbed.

I will not hear thy vain excuse

vain toil    a vain attempt

Yet ſhall (my Lord) your juſt, your noble Rules / Fill half the land with imitating Fools: / VVho random dravvings from your ſheets ſhall take, / And of one beauty many blunders make; / Load ſome vain Church with old Theatric State, / Turn Arcs of Triumph to a Garden-gate, […]