THE GREAT UNKNOWN.
[The Rev. Dr. SMYTHE PALMER, of Trinity College, Dublin, has just compiled a Book of Extracts, entitled The Perfect Gentleman.]
A Gentleman must be liberal, not to say lavish, to servants, porters, gamekeepers, and others, or he is "no gent." At the same time the Perfect Gentleman is never extravagant.
He must not work. At the same time he must not be an idler.
He is known by his scrupulous attention to the minutiæ of personal appearance, while "despising all outside show."
The Perfect Gentleman "never wilfully hurts anybody." No soldier, doctor, or schoolmaster can, therefore, ever be a P.G.
He is always perfectly open and frank. He is also sufficiently artful to conceal the fact that he considers the person he is talking to a mixture of a snob and a blockhead.
When his favourite corn is trodden on by a weighty stranger, he never utters any expression stronger than "Dear me!"
He never loses his temper.
He must know how to treat everyone according to their rank and situation in life, but show special courtesy to those who are his inferiors.
He must be well-born, although there are plenty of "Nature's Gentlemen" in the ranks of day-labourers.
He must be sufficiently wealthy to keep up a good position, while recognising the fact that money has nothing to do with true gentility.
He should also try and remember that no such jumble of contradictions as the Perfect Gentleman ever existed.
