parfit gentil knight." The name has been carried to the highest places. Thus we read of "That Gentleman Paul."

"Old honest Dekker" wrote:

"The best of men

That e'er wore earth about him was a sufferer;
A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit.
The first true gentleman that ever breathed."

And Lady Juliana Berners:

"Of the offsprings of the gentilman Jafeth, came Habraham, Moyses, Aron, and the profettys; and also the Kyng of the right lyne of Mary, of whom that gentilman Jhesus was borne."

There is no need of presenting at length the advantages of being a gentleman. One could hardly be convinced if he was not in some degree aware of them. The esteem in which the name is held can be seen at once by the withholding of it. A person resents being told that he is no gentleman, and is often more angered by this than by an accusation which has a severer sound. We use the word in a very easy manner which implies that it belongs to all men, at least to all who are well dressed and well behaved. This usage has become so commonplace that to appeal to an assembly as Men is more forcible than to call them Gentlemen. But here the longer word lies within the briefer.

To be a gentleman is in itself a fine thing. The consciousness of it is a strong delight. It creates happiness which returns again to the maker. He is pleased to be welcomed whenever he appears, by all whose approbation he regards. To be thought a gentleman is an element of power, giving force to words, commending desires and opinions. A man is more likely to have his way if by his courtesy he seems to deserve it. This has a social, political, commercial value. An interesting instance of the effect of a gentleman's manner was given in the case of a clergyman who, while detained late one Saturday night by the delay of a train, went into a store near the station to make a small purchase. He placed his purse beside him, and when he turned to take it, it was not to be found. He told the man behind the counter that it had been taken, but he could get no help for its recovery. He went out, and soon remembered that he had no money to pay his fare to the city where he was to preach on the next day. He went back to the shop, and addressing one of the group of rough men told him his embarrassment, and asked him if he could lend him money enough for his fare, promising to return it on Monday. The man hesitated for an instant, then said, "Come with me." They had not gone far before the man gave the purse back to the minister. "I took it," he said, "and there it is." Such an experience is not likely to

be repeated, but an effect resembling this is not very unusual.

We may the more readily recognise this principle because it is in the power of every man to be the gentleman. It may be beyond him to be a scholar, lawyer, statesman, artist; but it is within his reach, and in the compass of his condition, to hold and wear the name which renown itself must bear if it desires unstinted praise. It seems beyond our power to be well-born. It is a serious jest which bids children to be particular in choosing their grand-parents, yet in the fact of heritage are potent influences and tendencies for help or for harm. A thoughtful writer has recently remarked, that "an ounce of heredity is worth a hundredweight of civilization and schooling." A man is under bonds to be brave and true for the sake of those who will repeat his life. But we are not quite powerless as the heirs of our ancestry: for if we have wit and will, we can renounce whatever has wrought badly, and appropriate whatever has proved of value. The law of inheritance is not to deprive us of credit for the good which is found in us, and it should not be used to shelter us when evil appears. It is hardly to be imagined that anyone who reads these pages cannot find in his family line, looking back two or three generations, traits of character which compel respect and incite to their possession. We honour our progenitors

when with all our might we refuse anything in them which is not honourable, and leave it to die out; while we take to ourselves and increase all which has our homage. We need not be "hereditary bondsmen " unless we will to have it so, or do not will to strike the blow for our freedom.

Coming now into a domain where we seem to have some liberty, what is there which goes to the making of the gentleman? Before we consider this, let us remind ourselves once for all of the fundamental principle of the life. Under the gentleman is the man, and the man's life is a portion of the one life in which all living things have their being. They are all akin and St. Francis was right when he called the birds his sisters. It is not asking too much to bid us keep our life true to its origin, that it may be symmetrical and answer its chief end. Perfection, rather than extension, is demanded. The New Testament requirement that we be perfect means literally that life should reach completeness and fulfil its purpose. The Greek word for perfect is in our words telegraph and telephone, where the virtue is in delivering the message in its integrity at the appointed end. The message may have many words or few, but all the words must be transmitted. In a similar way life must reach its true end. It is of importance that we recognize the dignity of life and preserve it. There should be a deliberate purpose which

should be embodied in well-ordered conduct. The life will be simple in its design although composite in its endowment.

The gentleman must be intelligent. He need not be a scholar by profession, but he must be well informed in those things to which his life is related. He should have accurate knowledge of himself, of the place of his beginning and of the meaning of his life. He must be educated. He will be taught in his home, by his divinely appointed teachers. The facts of life will be given to him as he is able to receive them, with the practical rules by which he is to do his work. That which his father has acquired in his experience will be given in compact form and in a spirit at once interested and disinterested. The object lesson will be continually before him. The teachings of the home, taken into a mind alert but not preëmpted, will keep their place while other information may come and go. This is in the order of nature, enforced by docility and affection. A man may not be able to give his children money, but he can give them instruction; he can show them the right way to live. Then comes the teaching of the schools which is within the reach of the boy and girl and remains with them. Under ordinary conditions, if the desire is forcible in that direction, the way through the college and the University is open. The studies will broaden steadily until the field