The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-02-28
Tho Brooklyn Institute Lectures.
REV. THEODORE PARKER ON THE FAL5H AND TRUH
IDEA OF GENTLEMAN.

The Brooklyn Institute Lectures.
REV. THEODORE PARKER ON THE YALsH AND TRUB
IDEA OF A GENTLEMAN.
The Rev. Theodore Parker delivered lecture upon
the above subject last Thursday, before crowded
audience. He said it seemed to be the aim OF the
material world to make perfect the animal man, who
appeared to be the blossom in which the whole tree
was to come to perfection at last. "The fur which
warmed monarch warmed bear" 1t was meant
primarily to warm the bear, and subsequently used
to warm the man. 1t was made for the bear and for
the man. II was the aim of the animal man to pro-
duce the spiritual man. in short as it was the aim Of
the material world to prepare for the animal man,
does the animal world prepare for the gentleman
First came the rude races, then the more intel
lectual and higher races Of men, commencing at the
lowest point, and sloping up till it reached the
highest, all history seeming to prepare the way for
the fully expanded man. The gentleman was the
man whose faculties were all tremendously developed,
and in that way distinguished him from the mere
animal man. All around were seen elements Of
men partially developed-such as good seaman,
good mechanic a good lawyer, and so on, who were
distinguished in one point, but were deficient
as regards the whole. man might gain the repu-
tation OF saint-aying all other considerations
aside-and thereby lose the quality of a man, for,
He instanced the case of deacon-and that was all
he was. His manhood had merely been shrunk into
deaconhood. As for the gentleman, his faculties
were all harmoniously developed, and all in the pro-
per place. You see handsome woman-and they
are not rarebut II is not the little hand the little
waist, or the little foot, that was admired but the
whole formal the parts being subordinate to the
whole, and not the whole to the parts. Hercules
broad shoulders, huge arms and neck thicker than
the head. Strength was here represented, and not
ntellcct-there was no place for that in the small
part above the neck. Mercury was the god Of ora
the mythology. Uaughter.) He is represented
with an eye of amazing sharpness, mouth which
might be as fluent the Mississippi, with general
appearance that would at once denote him to be
mems of Grecian architecture the parts are
made to conform with the whole, giving more just
conception of a god A gentleman Is q manly man,
with all his faculties tremendously developed; but
all men are unable to obtain these developments,
which, notwithstanding, they admire in Others and
wish they were so themselves. When a man got at
the heart Of his heart then he reached the idea of
true gentleman. In our day there were two ideas Of
a gentleman--one was the false, and the other the
true. AT least it was SO about the meridian Of Bos-
ton it might not apply to this latitude The false
idea or vulgar gentleman was the abstract Of vulgar
gentility and he need not be fully developed Money
church bell miser might not be considered
vulgar gentleman, because he did not squander his
money vulgarly; but he might, notwithstanding, be
the father Of vulgar gentty, standing in the relation
the vulgar gentleman was that he must not work
with his hands, and he reared his children in accord
ance with that idea who from hardy farmers boys,
were turned, by a gradual process, into lawyers,
or something else of the Sort so as not to
be compelled to perform manual labor which dis
qualified him from being gentleman. To be vul-
gar gentleman, he must have money, fine house,
elegant furniture, and rich dresses, for without
good dressh be would not be gentleman He need not
have large intellectual culture, or good taste still
less the habit Of bountfu benevoence and least Of
all, any Of those lofty qualifications which dignity
man out OF his estate. Remarkable eminence Is not
to be expected of him in any particular. He is sub
The lecturer here sketched the process by which
poor New England farmers boy was gentilized into
merchant rich and Opulent, forgetting in his pros
perity his origin, looking with contempt upon his
poor relations and at last coming to the conclusion
the pious precepts he received at
home that
"Money makes the man.
The want of 1t the fellow"
Sitting, some rainy Sunday afternoon Of win.
ters day, in his room, beside blazing fire, he
holds communion with himself: He remembers
the country Bible, and asks what is it, and the
needful, and city answers money" Then he
asks what is money good for, and finding that
it is good for everything, finally, on reflection,
comes to the sad conclusion that he born poor.
AlV ACeoNCo W duACuu huu thlc UP us bOilS W uc6-
pise industry and his daughters to oathe and scorn
every one who works for living, thus making them
more vulgar than himself. The true idea Of gen.
teman was exactly the reverse of vulgar one. He
became 80 by modifying his manhood into more man
hood-tried to be greater manad stratum o .s
power Of thought, of heart, and Of soul, which was
true riches. He would have the stamp Of the true
gentleman upon him. He was not subordinate to
public opinion-that subordinate to him; wished
good and did good was not DESTROYS of securing
eminence, but was satisfied with what he was. He
respected himself kept every faculty in its place. and
respected every other man--reverenced what was
venerable, laughed at what was ridiculous, and was
patriotic in what was right The true lady was the
feminine equal of the true man. She was made by
the same artist only taken out Of little finer clay,
and stamped in little finer form. The speaker, in
conclusion, doubted not that the time would come
when it could be said that
Rank is but the guinea's stamp,
Man is the goud for q that I"
The next lecture of the course will be delivered on
Thursday evening next by Ike Marvel.