debauchery, irreligion, &c., the gentry, in | French king than that of his conqueror. John order to be again distinguished, may assume the station that their inferiors had forsaken, and, however ridiculous the supposition may appear at present, humanity, equity, utility, complaisance, and piety may in time come to be the distinguishing characteristics of a Gentleman. It appears that the most general idea which people have formed of a Gentleman is that of a person of fortune above the vulgar, and embellished by manners that are fashionable in high life. In this case, fortune and fashion are the two constituent ingredients in the composition of modern Gentlemen; for whatever the fashion may be, whether moral or immoral, for or against reason, right or wrong, it is equally the duty of a Gentleman to conform. And yet I apprehend, that true gentility is altogether independent of fortune or fashion, of time, customs, or opinions of any kind. The very same qualities that constituted a Gentleman in the first age of the world, are permanently, invariably, and indispensably necessary to the constitution of the same character to the end of time. Hector was the finest Gentleman of whom we read in history, and Don Quixote the finest Gentleman we read of in romance; as was instanced from the tenor of their principles and actions. Some time after the battle of Cressy, Edward III. of England, and Edward the Black Prince, the more than heir of his father's renown, pressed John, king of France to indulge them with the pleasure of his company at London. John was desirous of embracing the invitation, and accordingly laid the proposal before his parliament at Paris. The parliament objected was seated on a proud steed, royally robed, and attended by a numerous and gorgeous train of the British nobility; while his conqueror endeavoured, as much as possible, to disappear, and rode by his side in plain attire, and degradingly seated on a little Irish hobby. As Aristotle and the Critics derived their rules, for epic poetry and the sublime, from a poem which Homer had written long before the rules were formed, or laws established for the purpose: thus, from the demeanour and innate principles of particular Gentlemen, art has borrowed and instituted the many modes of behaviour which the world has adopted, under the title of good manners. One quality of a Gentleman is that of charity to the poor; and this is delicately instanced in the account which Don Quixote gives, to his fast friend Sancho Pancha, of the valorous but yet more pious knight-errant Saint Martin. On a day, said the Don, Saint Martin met a poor man half naked, and taking his cloak from his shoulders, he divided and gave him the one half. Now, tell me at what time of the year this happened? Was I a witness? quoth Sancho; how the vengeance should I know in what year or what time of the year it happened? Hadst thou, Sancho, rejoined the knight, anything within thee of the sentiment of Saint Martin, thou must assuredly have known that this happened in winter; for had it been summer, Saint Martin would have given the whole cloak. Another characteristic of the true Gentleman is a delicacy of behaviour toward that sex whom nature has entitled to the protection, and consequently entitled to the tenderness, of man. The same Gentleman-errant, entering into a wood on a summer's evening, found himself entangled among nets of green thread, that here and there hung from tree to tree: and conceiving it some matter of purposed conjuration, pushed valorously forward, to break through the enchantment. Hereupon some beautiful shepherdesses interposed with a cry, and besought him to spare the implements of their innocent recreation. The knight, sur that the invitation had been made with an insidious design of seizing his person, thereby to make the cheaper and easier acquisition of the crown, to which Edward at that time pretended. But John replied, with some warmth, that he was confident his brother Edward, and more especially his young cousin, were too much of the GENTLEMAN to treat him in that manner. He did not say too much of the king, of the hero, or of the saint, but too much of the GENTLEMAN to be guilty of any base-prised and charmed by the vision, replied,— ness. The sequel verified this opinion. At the battle of Poietiers King John was made prisoner, and soon after conducted by the Black Prince to England. The prince entered London in triumph, amid the throng and acclamations of millions of the people. But then this rather appeared to be the triumph of the Fair creatures! my province is to protect, not to injure; to seek all means of service, but never of offence, more especially to any of your sex and apparent excellences. Your pretty nets take up but a small piece of favoured ground; but, did they inclose the world, I would seek out new worlds, whereby I might win a passage, rather than break them. Two very lovely but shamefaced girls had a cause of some consequence depending at Westminster, that indispensably required their personal appearance. They were relations of Sir Joseph Jeckel, and on this tremendous occasion requested his company and countenance at the court. Sir Joseph attended accordingly; and the cause being opened, the judge demanded whether he was to entitle those ladies by the denomination of spinsters? No, my lord, said Sir Joseph; they are lilies of the valley, they toil not, neither do they spin, yet you see that no monarch, in all his glory, was ever arrayed like one of these. Another very peculiar characteristic of a Gentleman, is the giving place, and yielding to all with whom he has to do. Of this we have a shining and affecting instance in Abraham, perhaps the most accomplished character that may be found in history, whether sacred or profane. A contention had arisen between the herdsmen of Abraham and the herdsmen of his nephew Lot, respecting the propriety of the pasture of the lands wherein they dwelled, that could now scarce contain the abundance of their cattle. And those servants, as is universally the case, had respectively endeavoured to kindle and inflame their masters with their own passions. When Abraham, in consequence of this, perceived that the countenance of Lot began to change toward him, he called, and generously expostulated with him as followeth: "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, or between my herdsmen and thy herdsmen; for we be brethren. If it be thy desire to separate thyself from me, is not the whole land before thee? If thou wilt take the left hand, then will I go to the right; or if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." giving way to the violence of his passion, had dishonourably deflowered Dinah the daughter of Jacob. But his affections and soul cleaved to the party whom he had injured. He set no limit to his offers for repairing the wrong. Ask me, he said to her kindred, "ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me; but give me the damsel to wife.' man. From hence it may be inferred, that human excellence, or human amiableness, doth not so much consist in a freedom from frailty, as in our recovery from lapses, our detestation of our own transgressions, and our desire of atoning, by all possible means, the injuries we have done and the offences we have given. Herein therefore may consist the very singular distinction which the great apostle makes between his estimation of a just and of a good For a just or righteous man," says he, "one would grudge to die; but for a good man one would even dare to die." Here the just man is supposed to adhere strictly to the rule of right or equity, and to exact from others the same measure that he is satisfied to mete; but the good man, though occasionally he may fall short of justice, has, properly speaking, no measure to his benevolence, his general propensity is to give more than the due. The just man condemns, and is desirous of punishing the transgressors of the line prescribed to himself; but the good man, in the sense of his own falls and failings, gives latitude, indulgence, and pardon to others; he judges, he condemns no one save himself. The just man is a stream that deviates not, to the right or left, from its appointed channel, neither is swelled by the flood of passion above its banks; but the heart of the good man, the man of honour, the Gentleman, is as a lamp lighted by the breath of GOD, and none save GOD himself can set limits to the efflux or irradiations thereof. Another capital quality of the true Gentleman is, that of feeling himself concerned and interested in others. Never was there so benevolent, so affecting, so pathetic a piece of Again, the Gentleman never envies any suoratory exhibited upon earth, as that of Abra-perior excellence, but grows himself more exham's pleading with God for averting the judgments that then impended over Sodom. But the matter is already so generally celebrated, that I am constrained to refer my reader to the passage at full; since the smallest abridgment must deduct from its beauties, and that nothing can be added to the excellences thereof. Honour, again, is said, in Scripture, peculiarly to distinguish the character of a Gentleman; where it is written of Sechem, the son of Hamor, "that he was more honourable than all the house of his father." This young prince, cellent by being the admirer, promoter, and lover thereof. Saul said to his son Jonathan, "Thou son of the perverse, rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom; wherefore send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die."-Here every interesting motive that can possibly be conceived to have an influence on man united to urge Jonathan to the destruction of David; he would thereby have obeyed his king, and pacified a father who was enraged against him. He would thereby have removed the only luminary that then eclipsed the brightness of his own achievments. And he saw, as his father said, that the death of David alone could establish the kingdom in himself and his posterity. But all those considerations were of no avail to make Jonathan swerve from honour, to slacken the bands of his faith, or cool the warmth of his friendship. O Jonathan! the sacrifice which thou then madest to virtue was incomparably more illustrious in the sight of God and his angels, than all the subsequent glories to which David attained. What a crown was thine, "Jonathan, when thou wast slain in thine high places!" THE TROOPER'S DEFENCE. Do I plead guilty to it? Yea, I do; The night guard went their rounds that night at one; And damp; but there, 'tis fit we change and change, We sentinels. Besides, 'twas in a sort The place of honour, or of trust, we'll say; For in the cell there with the mortised door The young boy-lord, guilty of treason, lay. Well, with my artisan I'd tramped an hour Down in the dark there-just a lantern hung By the wet wall-when close at hand I heard My own name spoken by a woman's tongue. Saul of Tarsus had been a man of bigotry, blood, and violence; making havoc, and breathing out threatenings and slaughter against all who were not of his own sect and persuasion. But, when the spirit of that INFANT, who laid himself in the manger of human flesh, came upon him, he acquired a new heart and a new nature; and he offered himself a willing subject My hair was like to lift my morion up, to all the sufferings and persecutions which he had brought upon others. Saul, from that time, exemplified in his own person all those qualities of the Gentleman which he afterwards specifies in his celebrated description of that charity, which, as he says, alone endureth for ever. When Festus cried, with a loud voice, "Paul, thou art beside thyself, much learning doth make thee mad;" Paul stretched the hand, and answered, "I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness. For the king knoweth of these things, before whom also I speak freely; for I am persuaded that none of these things are hidden from him. King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest." Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." And Paul said, "I would to God, that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were not only almost, but altogether, such as I am,-except these bonds." Here, with what an inimitable elegance did this man, in his own person, at once sum up the orator, the saint, and the Gentleman! From these instances, my friend, you must have seen that the character, or rather quality of a GENTLEMAN, does not, in any degree, depend on fashion or mode, on station or opinion; neither changes with customs, climates, or ages. But as the Spirit of God can alone inspire it into man; so it is, as God is, the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever, For the keep's haunted; but I turned, to see A woman like a ghost-face white, all white, Ready to drop, and not a yard from me. How she had come there God in heaven knows. However, long before my tongue I'd found, "Your face is stern. O, but one word, one word!" Still pleading in a bird's voice, soft and sweet. They spake together. Did I hear? Not I; Best ask me if I took her bribes. Well, there, And how he caught the bird fast in the cage, Well, I can face it, only give me leave To slit the weasand of yon craven hound, LADY CORISANDE. [Right Hon. Benjamin Disraeli, M.P., D.C.L, born in London, 21st December, 1805. He is the eldest son and whom, if you do not meet, you become restless. Town was beginning to blaze. Broughams whirled and bright barouches glanced, troops of social cavalry cantered and caracolled in morning rides, and the bells of prancing ponies, lashed by delicate hands, gingled in the laughing air. There were stoppages in Bond Street, which seems to cap the climax of civilization, after crowded clubs and swarming parks. But the great event of the season was the of the late Isaac Disraeli, author of The Curiosities of Literature, &c., and has won the highest distinction as a statesman and novelist. His works are: Vivian Grey (1826); Voyage of Captain Popanilla: The Young Duke; England and France; Alroy, the Wondrous Tale; and The Rise of Iskander; Contarini Fleming: The Revolu tionary Epic, a poem (1834); The Crisis Examined; Vindication of the English Constitution; Letters of Runny-presentation of Lady Corisande. Truly our mede; Henrietta Temple; Venetia; Alcaros, a tragedy; bright maiden of Brentham woke and found Coningsby, or the New Generation; Sibyl, or the New herself famous. There are families whom Nation: Irion; Tancred, or the New Crusade; Lord everybody praises, and families who are treatGeorge Bentinck, a Political Biography; and Lothaired in a different way. Either will do; all the (1870) from which we quote. In 1837 Mr. Disraeli was returned to Parliament by the Maidstone constituency, by that of Shrewsbury in 1841 and by the elect ors of the county of Buckingham in 1847. He has served the state as chancellor of the exchequer and as prime minister. His novels faithfully reflect his views of life, philosophy, and politics. Lothair is a young nobleman of unbounded wealth, and the novel is occupied with his adventures from his entrance into the world till his final escape from the schemes of Jesuits and Romanists to win him to their creed, and his settlement in life with the beautiful, accomplished, and Protestant Lady Corisande 1] Half a Now One's life changes in a moment. month ago Lothair, without an acquaintance, was meditating his return to Oxford. he seemed to know everybody who was anybody. His table was overflowing with invitations to all the fine houses in town. First came the routs and the balls; then, when he had been presented to the husbands, came the dinners. His kind friends the Duchess and Lady St. Jerome were the fairies who had worked this sudden scene of enchantment. A single word from them, and London was at Lothair's feet. He liked it amazingly. He quite forgot the conclusion at which he had arrived respecting society a year ago, drawn from his vast experience of the single party which he had then attended. Feelings are different when you know a great many persons, and every person is trying to please you; above all, when there are individuals whom you want to meet, 1 "He has written many works of fiction, all, we be lieve, successful, and many of them among the best of their time; some verse, in which he has rather tried than exercised his powers; and political essays, anonymous, but acknowledged. The Adventures of Captain Popanilla deserve to be remembered as an admirable adaptation of Gulliver to later circumstances; and the wondrous tale of Alroy is a most imaginative attempt to naturalize in our language that rhymed and assonant prose which has so great a charm for eastern ears."-Edinburgh Review. sons and daughters of the first succeed, all the sons and daughters of the last are encouraged in perverseness by the prophetic determination of society. Half a dozen married sisters, who were the delight and ornament of their circles, in the case of Lady Corisande were good precursors of popularity; but the world would not be content with that: they credited her with all their charms and winning qualities, but also with something grander and beyond comparison; and from the moment her fair cheek was sealed by the gracious approbation of Majesty, all the critics of the Court at once recognized her as the cynosure of the Empy rean. Monsignore Catesby, who looked after Lothair, and was always breakfasting with him without the necessity of an invitation (a fascinating man, and who talked upon all subjects except High Mass), knew everything that took place at Court without being present there himself. He led the conversation to the ma jestic theme, and while he seemed to be busied in breaking an egg with delicate precision, and hardly listening to the frank expression of opinions which he carelessly encouraged, ob tained a not insufficient share of Lothair's views and impressions of human beings and affairs in general during the last few days, which had witnessed a Levée and a Drawing entrance of Corisande into the world. It was a sumptuous festival. The palace, resonant with fantastic music, blazed amid illumined gardens rich with summer warmth. A prince of the blood was dancing with Lady Corisande. Lothair was there, vis-à-vis with Miss Arundel. "I delight in this hall," she said to Lothair; . "but how superior the pictured scene to the reality!" "What! would you like, then, to be in a battle?" "I should like to be with heroes, wherever they might be. What a fine character was the Black Prince! And they call those days the days of superstition!" The silver horns sounded a brave flourish. Lothair had to advance and meet Lady Corisande. Her approaching mien was full of grace and majesty, but Lothair thought there was a kind expression in her glance, which seemed to remember Brentham, and that he was her brother's friend. A little later in the evening he was her partner. He could not refrain from congratulating her on the beauty and the success of the festival. "I am glad you are pleased, and I am glad you think it successful; but, you know, I am no judge, for this is my first ball!" "Ah! to be sure; and yet it seems impossible," he continued, in a tone of murmuring admiration. "Oh! I have been at little dances at my sisters'; half behind the door," she added, with a slight smile. "But to-night I am present at a scene of which I have only read." "And how do you like balls?" said Lothair. "I think I shall like them very much," said Lady Corisande; "but to-night, I will confess, I am a little nervous." "Is it not a sign of weakness?" "Can feeling be weakness?" "Feeling without sufficient cause is, I should think." And then, and in a tone of some archness, she said, "And how do you like balls?" "Well, I like them amazingly," said Lothair. "They seem to me to have every quality which can render an entertainment agreeable music, light, flowers, beautiful faces, graceful forms, and occasionally charming conversation." "Yes; and that never lingers," said Lady Corisande. " for see, I am wanted." regretted the absence of Bertram, who was kept at the House. It is a great disappointment," said Lady Corisande; but he will yet arrive, though late. I should be most unhappy though, if he were absent from his post on such an occasion. I am sure if he were here I could not dance." You are a most ardent politician," said Lothair. "Oh! I do not care in the least about common politics, parties and office and all that: I neither regard nor understand them," replied Lady Corisande. "But when wicked men try to destroy the country, then I like my family to be in the front.' As the destruction of the country meditated this night by wicked men was some change in the status of the Church of England, which Monsignore Catesby in the morning had suggested to Lothair as both just and expedient and highly conciliatory, Lothair did not pursue the theme, for he had a greater degree of tact than usually falls to the lot of the ingenuous. The bright moments flew on. Suddenly there was a mysterious silence in the hall, followed by a kind of suppressed stir. Everyone seemed to be speaking with bated breath, or, if moving, walking on tiptoe. supper hour: It was the "Soft hour which wakes the wish and melts the heart." Royalty, followed by the imperial presence of ambassadors, and escorted by a group of dazzling duchesses and paladins of high degree, was ushered with courteous pomp by the host and hostess into a choice saloon, hung with rose-coloured tapestry and illumined by chandeliers of crystal, where they were served from gold plate. But the thousand less favoured were not badly off, when they found themselves in the more capacious chambers, into which they rushed with an eagerness hardly in keeping with the splendid nonchalance of the preceding hours. "What a perfect family," exclaimed Hugo Bohun, as he extracted a couple of fat little birds from their bed of aspic jelly: “everything they do in such perfect taste. How safe you were here to have ortolans for supper!" All the little round tables, though their number was infinite, were full. Male groups hung about; some in attendance on fair dames, some foraging for themselves, some thoughtful and more patient and awaiting a satisfactory future. Never was such an elegant clatter. "I wonder where Carisbrooke is," said Hugo Bohun. "They say he is wonderfully taken When they were again undisturbed, Lothair with the beauteous daughter of the house." |