In its
way the story protests against conventional superiorities, and shows
that true nobility consists in character, in personal merit, in moral
distinction, in elevation of feeling and of language, in dignity of
life, and in self-respect. This is better than Jacobinism, and the
opposite of the mere brutal passion for equality. Instead of dragging
everybody down, the author simply proclaims the right of every one to
rise. A man may be born rich and noble--he is not born a gentleman. This
word is the Shibboleth of England; it divides her into two halves, and
civilized society into two castes. Among gentlemen--courtesy, equality,
and politeness; toward those below--contempt, disdain, coldness and
indifference. It is the old separation between the _ingenui_ and all
others; between the [Greek: eleutheroi] and the [Greek: banauphoi], the
continuation of the feudal division between the gentry and the
_roturiers_.
What, then, is a gentleman? Apparently he is the free man, the man who
is stronger than things, and believes in personality as superior to all
the accessory attributes of fortune, such as rank and power, and as
constituting what is essential, real, and intrinsically valuable in the
individual. Tell me what you are, and I will tell you what you are
worth.
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