word choice - When is it appropriate to refer to yourself by これ?

I have occasionally heard and read instances, where a person has referred to themselves as これ. My Japanese dictionary also lists "Me, I." as a definition of これ.

Now, this obviously isn't used as frequently as 私, 僕, etc., so it makes me wonder: When can it be used to refer to one's self? and Does it have any extra or particular meaning as such?

Thanks! :)

Answer

To add a little bit more to what YOU said in his answer: in some Classical Japanese texts これ was indeed used as a first (and also second) person pronoun. It's not the most common first person pronoun in Classical Japanese (that would probably be われ), but it's a possible use, so maybe that's where your dictionary got that from.

The quote from 枕草子 (The Pillow Book) YOU referred to is probably the one which shows up in Daijirin:

殿上人なども「なほこれ一人は」などのたまふを

Don't ask me to translate that though. :)