ople whom he himself knows, people in
various grades of life, widows and orphans amongst them, whose little all
has been dissipated, and whom he has reduced to beggary by inducing them
to become sharers in his delusive schemes. But the mechanic says, "Well,
the more fools they to let themselves be robbed. But I don't call that
kind of thing robbery, I merely call it out-witting; and everybody in
this free country has a right to outwit others if he can. What a turn-
out he has!" One was once heard to add, "I never saw a more
genteel-looking man in all my life except one, and that was a gentleman's
walley, who was much like him. It is true that he is rather under-sized,
but then madam, you know, makes up for all."

CHAPTER V--Subject of Gentility continued.

In the last chapter have been exhibited specimens of gentility, so
considered by different classes; by one class power, youth, and epaulets
are considered the ne plus ultra of gentility; by another class pride,
stateliness, and title; by another, wealth and flaming tawdriness. But
what constitutes a gentleman? It is easy to say at once what constitutes
a gentleman, and there are no distinctions in what is gentlemanly, {5} as
there are in what is genteel. The characteristics of a gentleman are
high feeling--a determination never to take a cowardly advantage of
another--a liberal education--absence of narrow views--generosity and
courage, propriety of behaviour. Now a person may be genteel according
to one or another of the three standards described above, and not possess
one of the characteristics of a gentleman. Is the emperor a gentleman,
with spatters of blood on his clothes, scourged from the backs of noble
Hungarian women? Are the aristocracy gentlefolks, who admire him? Is
Mr. Flamson a gentleman, although he has a million pounds? No! cowardly
miscreants, admirers of cowardly miscreants, and people who make a
million pounds by means compared with which those employed to make
fortunes by the getters up of the South Sea Bubble might be called honest
dealing, are decidedly not gentlefolks. Now as it is clearly
demonstrable that a person may be perfectly genteel according to some
standard or other, and yet be no gentleman, so it is demonstrable that a
person may have no pretensions to gentility, and yet be a gentleman. For
example, there is Lavengro! Would the admirers of the emperor, or the
admirers of those who admire the emperor, or the admir