By a gentleman, we mean not to draw a line that would be invidious between
high and low, rank and subordination, riches and poverty. The distinction
is in the mind. Whoever is open, loyal, and true; whoever is of humane and
affable demeanour; whoever 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: and such a man may be found among
the tillers of the earth. But high birth and distinction, for the most
part, insure the high sentiment which is denied to poverty and the lower
professions. It is hence, and hence only, that the great claim their
superiority; and hence, what has been so beautifully said of honour, the
law of kings, is no more than true:--
It aids and strengthens virtue where it meets her,
And imitates her actions where she is not.
_De Vere_.
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