What is a Gentleman?

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 781, 27 March 1905, Page 2

What is a Gentleman?

ILL £ , t , he oU '° r dO - v " « Itieslioiiarose whether a witness should bo allowed on taxation, costs under the head of gentleman or professional "ran, or on lha lower .scale of tradesman.

hi! L Co V ollCl, °'-. °l , l' lvin K for the higher scale, .said the witness-was a schoolnmstcr. He admitted that many schoolmasters weio not i-entle won, |A, t in the same way many prolessional men were not either The .Judge : Wouk , vo „ n|in[l <|( , fin '««: to me what yon consider tu.bba gentleman ? '

Mr (ox : I take it, lllackstone's dehmtion of a gentleman, "(hie who '■e-iv a coat of arms," does not npP.v in modern times, and 1 surest that the correct one is thnt given l>v the dictionary : "One who, hv education, occupation, or income, holds a position above menial service or ordinary trade."

The .Judge : Suppose a man is a draper, making ill0,(100 a .year—is lie ai gentleman ? In society he miigiit he a pcrlcct gentleman, but would he be a gentleman in the meaning of the j-minly Court scale or the High Court scale? A gentleman of independent means of £.lO a year would he n gentleman, and yet' the other might fcive been educated at the Lni versa ty.

air Cox : If 1,,.- had n Iniversitv degree 1;. would be aWe to describe hnnsclt as a genllonian. Here is n man of considerable atlaimmmts in ediioa'tioinn! matters., the proprietor of a lni'pb school, lra accomplished 'cello l>in.yt'P', a man of relinomenl, and of artistic and literary attainments I want to know whether he is ,„ )t u gentleman. Are we to be reduced' to the Irishman's- definition of a m-ntle-mon : "A chap that never did a ha'porth for himself nor for a-mjbudv else " ? Because a man earns his living, is he not a gentleman ? A retired pork butcher, o v rag and bone dealer, living ott money saved would bo a gentleman.