GENTLEMAN.
All our knowledge is ourselves to know.
Pope.
Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us,
To see oursels as others see us;
It wad frae monie a blunder free us
And foolish notion!
Burns.
WHAT IS YOUR CHARACTER?
GENTLEMAN.
You kiss not where you wish to kill,
You feign not love where most you hate,
You break no sleep to win your will,
You wait not at the mighty's gate.
Lord Vaux.
2. E'en your failings lean to virtue's side.
Goldsmith.
3. Polite, yet virtuous, you have brought away
The manners, not the morals of the day.
Cowper.
4. Thou art slow to science; the chart and letter'd page
Have in them no deep spell whereby thy spirit to engage;
But rather thou wouldst sail thy boat, or sound thy bugle-horn,
Or track the sportsman's triumph through the fields of waving corn,
Than o'er the ponderous histories of other ages bend,
Or dwell upon the sweetest page that ever poet penn'd.
Mrs. Norton.
5. A spider you may best be liken'd to,
Which creature is an adept, not alone
In workmanship of nice geometry,
But is beside a wary politician.
Taylor.
6. I know thee brave,—
A counsellor subtle, and a leader proved,—
With wisdom fitting for a king's right hand;
Firm in resolve, nor from thy purpose moved:
Then what lack'st thou to render thee beloved?
Thou'st wooed and won a gentle heart, and more,—
Hast trampled it to dust.
Allan Cunningham.
7. I would rather wed a man of dough,
Such as some school-girl, when the pie is made,
To amuse her childish fancy, kneads at hazard
Out of the remnant paste.
John Tobin.
8. Thou, with a lofty soul, whose course
The thoughtless oft condemn,
Art touch'd by many airs from heaven
Which never breathe on them.
Moved too by many impulses,
Which they do never know,
Who round their earth-bound circles plod
The dusty paths below.
Albert G. Greene.
9. You look the whole world in the face,
For you owe not any man.
Longfellow.
10. You loiter, lounge, are lank and lazy,
Though nothing ails you, yet uneasy;
Your days insipid, dull, and tasteless,
Your nights unquiet, long, and restless;
And e'en your sports at balls and races,
Your galloping through public places,
Have sic parade, and pomp, and art,
The joy can scarcely reach the heart.
Burns—Twa Dogs.
11. Thou'st never bent at glory's shrine,
To wealth thou'st never bow'd the knee,
Beauty has heard no vows of thine,
Thou lovest ease.
R. H. Wilde.
12. A gentleman of all Temperance.
Measure for Measure.
13. You are positive and fretful,
Heedless, ignorant, forgetful.
Swift.
14. There is one rare, strange virtue in thy speeches,
The secret of their mastery—they're short.
Halleck.
15. For contemplation framed,
Shy and unpractised in the strife of phrase,
Yours is the language of the heavens, the power,
The thought, the image, and the silent joy.
Words are but under-agents in your soul.
Wordsworth.
16. You take delight in others' excellence,
A gift which nature rarely doth dispense;
Of all that breathe, 'tis you, perhaps, alone,
Would be well pleased to see yourself outdone.
Young—Epistles.
17. You are the Punch to stir up trouble,
You wriggle, fidge, and make a riot,
Put all your brother puppets out.
Swift.
18. You'd shake hands with a king upon his throne,
And think it kindness to his majesty.
Halleck.
19. The meanest thing, earth's feeblest worm,
You fear to scorn or hate;
But honor in a peasant's form
The equal of the great.
Ebenezer Elliott.
20. You may be thrown among the gay and reckless sons of life,
But will not love the revel scene or head the brawling strife.
Eliza Cook.
21. You are one,
Who can play off your smiles and courtesies
To every lady, of her lap-dog tired,
Who wants a plaything.
Southey.
22. Come, rouse thee now;—I know thy mind,
And would its strength awaken;
Proud, gifted, noble, ardent, kind.
Anna P. Dinnies.
23. In choice
Of morsels for the body, nice are you,
And scrupulous;—
And every composition know
Of cookery.
Pollok—Course of Time.
24. A man thou seem'st of cheerful yesterdays,
And confident to-morrows.
Wordsworth.
25. Sir, I confess you to be one well read
In men and manners, and that usually
The most ungovern'd persons, you being present,
Rather subject themselves unto your censure,
Than give you least occasion of distaste,
By making you the subject of their mirth.
Ben Jonson.
26. When nae real ills perplex you,
You make enow yoursel' to vex you.
Burns.
27. You speak an infinite deal of nothing.
Merchant of Venice.
28. Calm, serene,
Your thoughts are clear and honest, and your words,
Still chosen most gently, are not yet disguised
To please the ear of tingling vanity.
W. G. Simms.
29. Large is your bounty, and your soul sincere;
Heaven does a recompense as largely send:
You give to misery all you have—a tear;
You gain from heaven, 'tis all you ask—a friend.
Gray.
30. You worship God with inward zeal, and serve him in each deed;
Yet will not blame another's faith, nor have one martyr bleed.
Eliza Cook.
31. Silent when glad, affectionate though shy;
And now your look is most demurely sad;
And now you laugh aloud, yet none know why,—
Some deem you wondrous wise, and some believe you mad.
Beattie—Minstrel.
32. You act upon the prudent plan,
"Say little, and hear all you can:"
Safe policy, but hateful.
Cowper.
33. You are a gentleman of excellent breeding, admirable discourse, generally allowed for your many warlike, courtlike, and learned preparations.
Merry Wives of Windsor.
34. So gentle, yet so brisk, so wondrous sweet,
Just fit to prattle at a lady's feet.
Churchill.
35. Lord of yourself, though not of lands,
You, having nothing, yet have all.
Sir Henry Wotton.
36. No change comes o'er thy noble brow,
Though ruin is around thee;
Thine eye-beam burns as proudly now
As when the laurel crown'd thee.
Mrs. Child.
37. Some have too much, yet still they crave;
You little have, yet seek no more;
They are but poor, though much they have,
And you are rich with little store.
They poor, you rich; they beg, you give;
They lack, you lend; they pine, you live.
Lord Vaux.
38. With every shifting gale your course you ply,
Forever sunk too low or borne too high.
Pope.
39. You will not bow unto the common things
Men make their idols. You will stand apart
From common men; your sensual appetite
Shall be subservient to your loftier soul.
Mary Howitt.
40. Sloth, the nurse of vices,
And rust of action, is a stranger to you.
Massinger.
41. The worth of the three kingdoms I defy
To lower you to the standard of a lie.
Cowper.
42. I have some comfort in this fellow;
He hath no drowning mark upon him; his complexion
Is perfect gallows.
Tempest.
43. You lacke no witte,
You speke whatte bee the trouthe,
And whatte all see is ryghte.
Rowley—(Chatterton.)
44. A man resolved and steady to his trust,
Inflexible to ill, and obstinately just.
Dr. Watts.
45. I know thy generous temper well;
Fling but the appearance of dishonor on it,
It straight takes fire, and mounts into a blaze.
Addison—Cato.
46. Just like a snail through life's dull path you creep,
Your whole existence but a waking sleep.
R. M. Charlton.
47. Your nature is,
That you incline to hope rather than fear,
And gladly banish squint suspicion.
Milton—Comus.
48. A right tender heart,
Melting and easy, yielding to impression,
And catching the soft flame from each new beauty.
Rowe—Jane Shore.
49. The ruby lip, the sparkling eye,
All unavailing prove;
Wandering from fair to fair you fly,
But will not learn to love.
Dr. S. H. Dickson.
50. Never credit me, if I don't think thee more stupid, yea, more obtusely, intensely, and impenetrably thick-skulled, than ever man or woman was before thee.
Fanny Kemble—Star of Seville.
51. Some deem you are a surly man,
But they know not your griefs and fears,
How you have been beloved by one,
Whose image lies "too deep for tears."
Thomas Miller.
52. One charm,
We in your graceful character observe;
That though your passions burn with high impatience,
And sometimes, from a noble heat of nature,
Are ready to fly off, yet the least check
Of ruling reason brings them back to temper,
And gentle softness.
Thomson—Tancred and Sigismunda.
53. You are the fellow at the chimney corner,
Who keeps the fire alive that warms us all.
Fanny Kemble.
54. You love, and would be loved again;
Do but confess it;—you possess a soul,
That what it wishes, wishes ardently.
You would believe you hated, had you power
To love with moderation
Hill—Zara.
55. A soul
Too great, too just, too noble to be happy.
Cibber—Zimena.
56. Though straiter bounds your fortune does confine,
In your large heart is found a wealthy mine
Waller.
57. Your heart has settled in a sea of pride,
Till every part is cold and petrified.
Miss H. F. Gould.
58. Your mirth is the pure spirits of various wit,
Yet never doth your God or friends forget;
And when deep talk and wisdom come in view,
Retires, and gives to them their due
Cowley.
59. You are young, and of
That mould which throws out heroes; fair in favor,
And doubtlessly, with such a form and heart,
Would look into the fiery eyes of war.
Byron—Werner.
60. Calm as evening skies
Is your pure mind, and lighted up with hopes
That open heaven.
Thomson—Tancred and Sigismunda.