The ideal of a gentleman, or, A mirror for gentlefolks : a portrayal in literature from the earliest times / by A. Smythe-Palmer.
- Abram Smythe Palmer
- Date:
- [1908]
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The ideal of a gentleman, or, A mirror for gentlefolks : a portrayal in literature from the earliest times / by A. Smythe-Palmer. Source: Wellcome Collection.
101/542 page 85
![had much rather want a name than not deserve it. This Gentleman is indeed a person truly Great, because truly Good. 1661, Clement Ellis, The Gentile Sinner, p. 100. If ever he were proud of anything it was of being the con- queror of that [pride] and all other vices. He scorns and is ashamed of nothing but sin. Id. p. 104. His highest ambition is to be a favourite in the Court of Heaven, and to this end his policy is to become not a Great but a New man. Id. p. 106. He behaves himself as a King’s son ought to do, that is, he does nothing misbecoming his birth and dignity. Id. p. 108. There is a brave heroick virtue which is as a second soul unto the true Gentleman, and enspirits every part of him with an admirable Gallantry ; I mean, Christian Magnanimity and greatnesse of soul. . . . This is it which teaches him to laugh at small things and disdain to go lesse than his name. Being carried up on high, upon the wings of this vertue, he casts down his eye upon those little happinesses which seem enough to satisfie the narrow souls of other men, with no little contempt and scorn, but on those poor starvelings themselves whose earthly appetites can make such trash their diet, with as much pi tty and compassion. It is this vertue that permits him to engage in nothing which is not truly honourable. 1661, Clement Ellis, The Gentile Sinner, p. 133. The True Gentleman is one that is God’s servant, the world’s master, and his own man. His vertue is his business. His study his recreation, contentednesse his rest, and happiness his reward. God is his Father, The Church is his Mother, the Saints his brethren, all that need him his friends. . . . Devo- tion is his Chaplain, Chastity his Chamberlain, Sobriety his Butler, Temperance his Cook, Hospitality his Housekeeper, Providence his Steward, Charity his Treasurer ; Piety is his Mistress of the house, and Discretion the Porter, to let in and out, as is most fit. Thus is his whole family made up of virtues, and he is the true master of his family. He is necessitated to](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29008529_0103.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
