96 A Perfect Gentleman.

fare, pronounces the giver to be a “real
Gentleman.” To a very large class of people
the word is synonymous with fine clothes,
polished manners, and pleasing address ;
whilst others think the name alone applicable
to the class described by a radical orator as
“those who have nothing to do and get well
paid for it.” Let us see what the word
really means,—a Gentleman. Webster
gives the meaning as gentle, of mild feelings,
not rough, or coarse, not wild. Genteel
he gives as meaning polished in manner,
polite, decorous, refined, free from anything
low or vulgar: Gentleman, a man of good
breeding and education. In Great Britain
every man can claim the title, in its most
extensive sense, above the rank of yeoman ;
whilst in the United States, where titles
and distinctions of rank do not exist, it is
given to men of education and good breeding,
of every occupation ; thus showing the good
sense of our American cousins, for

“The rank is but the guinea stamp,
The man’s the gowd for a’ that.”

Dr. Adam Clarke said, “A gentleman is