The ideal of a gentleman, or, A mirror for gentlefolks : a portrayal in literature from the earliest times / by A. Smythe-Palmer.

  • Palmer, Abram Smythe.
Date:
[1908]
Catalogue details

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.

    522/542 (page 506)
    example of the depreciation of a title consequent on coinpli- . • . Hence, too, the fact that in the latei peiiods of the Roman empire every man saluted his neighbour as Dominus and Rex. H. Spencer, Essays, vol. i, p. 74. The Saturday Review in an article on ‘The Abuse of Language’ stigmatized the vicious use by modern pressmen of ‘ lady ’ as a common term for any woman. ‘The first I see of it.’, said a dilapidated female who was giving evidence in court not many years ago, ‘ was when this ’ere lady was lyin in the guttur, very drunk, fightin’ with the other lady . Pedants may be tempted to ask what makes a woman a lady, and the answer is, birth or manners. Manners alone are very seldom enough ; but they might be, if, by some odd chance, thev weie suffi- ciently good. vol. Ixxi, p. 70, 1891. Now as to the use of the word gentleman. It is often vulgarized in our own country [America]. When Tom on the ball field says to his generous antagonist, ‘ Horatio, you are a gentleman ’, he uses it correctly. W^hen a diiver says to his fare, ‘ If you are the man who is going to ride, I am the gentleman as is going to drive you ’, he uses it incoriectly. When a servant announces a plumber as a ‘ Gentleman to fix the pipes’, she uses it incorrectly. And the words ‘gentleman’, one of the noblest, sweetest, grandest words in the language, should not be used too much. Put in the better word man, remembering that gentleman implies much bleeding, much culture, a certain refinement of occupation, and a moial tone of the very highest. And to descend to the lowest thing about a gentleman, we should remember that his minor manners must be attended to ; he does not sweai 01 smoke in the presence of women ; he does not eat his dinnei in a huiiy , he does not crumble his bread about, making it into pills ; he does not eat his soup with a hissing sound, or tip the plate to get the last drop he mends his table manners if they are bad ; he dresses himself well if his means will allow ; be he ever so poor he must be clean. If he commits any little error at the dinner-table he must learn to be composed ; he must be deaf and blind to the errors of otheis in society. Put