Morning journal and courier., 1890-09-17
A GENTLEMAN.
How Cardinel Newman Defined Him.


 From the London Daily News.l
 It is almost a definition of a gentleman to say that he is one who never inflicts pain. This description is both refined and so far as it goes accurate. He is mainly occupied ;n merely removing the obstacles which hinder the free and unembarrassed action of those about him, and he concurs with their movements rather than takes the initiative himself. His benefits may be considered as parallel to what are called comforts or conveniences in arrangements of personal nature-like an easy chair or a good fire, which do their part in dispel- ling cold and fatigue, though nature pro- vides both means of rest and animal heat without them. The true gentleman in like manner carefully avoids whatever may cause jar or a jolt in the minds of those with whom he is cast-all clashing of opinion, or collision of feeling, all re- straint, or suspicion, or gloom, or resent ment; his great concern being to make every one at their ease and at home. He has his eyes on all his company; he is tender toward the bashful, gentle toward the distant. and merciful toward the ab- surd. He can reeollect to whom he is speaking; he guards aganist unreasonable allusions, or topics which may irritate; he is seldom prominent in conversation, and never wearisome He makes light of favors when he does them, and seems to be receiving when he is conferring. He never speaks of himself except when com pelled never defends himself by a mere retort; he has no ears for islander or gos- sip, is scrupulous in imputing motives to those who interfere with him, and inter prets everything for the best.
 He is never mean or little in his dis putes, never takes unfair advantage, never mistakes personalities or sharp savings | for arguments, or insinuates evil which he dare not say out. From long-sighted prudence he observes the maxim of the an- cient sage, that We should ever conduct | ourselves toward our enemy as if he were one day to be our friend. He has too much good sense to be affronted at insults; he is too well employed to remember injuries and too indolent to bear malice. He is pa- tient, forbearing and, resigned on philoso- phic; he submits to pain because it is in | evitable, to bereavement because it is irrep- arabic and to death because it is his des- | tiny. If he engages in controversy of any | kind, his disciplined intellect preserves him from the laundering discourtesy of better perhaps, but less educated minds. | who, like blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean, who mistake the point in argument, waste their strength on trifes, misconceive their adversary, and leave the question more involved than they find it. He may be right or wrong | in his opinion, but he is too clear-headed to be unjust; he is as simple as he is forci- ble and as brief as he is decisive. No where shall we find greater candor, con- sideration, indulgence; he throws himself into the minds of his opponents, he ac- counts for their mistakes. He knows the | weakness of human reason as well as its strength, its province, and its limits.
 If he be an unbeliever, he will be too profound and large minded to ridicule re ligion or to act against it; he is too wise to | be a dogmatist or fanatic in his infidelity. He respects piety and devotion; he even supports institutions as venerable, beauti- ful or useful, to which he does not assent; he honors the ministers of religion, and it contents him to decline its mysteries with out assailing or denouncing them. He is | a friend of religious toleration, and that not only because his philosophy has taught him to look on all forms of faith with an impartial eye, but also from the gentle ness and effeminacy of feeling which is the attendant on civilization. Not that he may not hold a religion, too, in his own way, even when he is not Christian In that case his religion is one of imagina- ton and sentiment; it is the embodiment of those ideas of the sublime, majestic and beautiful without which there can be no large philosophy. Sometimes he acknowl- edges the being of God, sometimes he in vests an unknown principle or qualities with the attribute of perfection. And this deduction of his reason or creation of his fancy he makes the occasion of such excellent thoughts, and the starting point of SO varied and systematic teaching that he even seems like disciple of Chris tianity itself From the very accuracy and steadiness of his logical powers, he is able to see what sentiments are consistent in those who hold any religious doctrine at all and he appears to others to feel and to hold a whole circle of theological truths, which exist in his mind not otherwise than as a number of deductions.