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.
74/542 page 58
![‘ What is a gentleman ? ’ It is to be honest, to be gentle, to be generous, to be brave, to be wise ; and possessed of all these qualities to exereise them in the most graceful manner. W, M. Thackeray. Whoever is open, loyal, and true, of humane and affable demeanour, is honourable in himself, and in his judgment of others, and requires no law but his word to make him fulfil an engagement; such a man is a gentleman. Horace Smith [E. P. Day, Collacon, p. 320]. Every young man desires above all else to be regarded as a gentleman. None of us can bear any other imputa- tion. You may excuse one of violating the entire deca- logue with less offence than if you tell him he is not a gentleman. Wliat is this that so outweighs every other good word and estimate ? ... Sir Philip Sidney—himself the ideal gentleman—put the whole matter into one pregnant phrase : ‘ High thoughts seated in a heart of courtesy.’ 1883, T. T. Hunger, On the Threshold, pp. 56, 59. A gentleman may brush his own shoes or clothes, or mend or make them, or roughen his hands with the helve, or foul them with dye-work or iron-work ; but he must not foul his mouth with a lie.—Calvert. 1883, T. T. Hunger, On the Threshold, p. 60. The word ‘ gentleman ’ expressed the highest standard of courage and truth, courtesy and honour. It was a word in the superlative degree—no man could be more than a gentleman ; and no man, being less, could be a gentleman at all. So that this was a very proud conception, and it made the poorest and most obscure man at his ease amongst the greatest, because he felt that they could be no more than he, both of them being gentlemen. And this feeling of equality was the origin, and caused the development of manners. 1891, F. Wills, What is a Gentleman ? Lay-sermons, p. 42. The whole essence of true gentle-breeding (one does not like to say gentility) lies in the wish and the art to be agreeable. Good breeding is surface-christianity. Every look, movement.](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b29008529_0076.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
