1870: On a New Species
Jeanne d’Anatis
A tradesman is a new species of gentleman. Wealth that dresses itself up in liberal behaviour and gives itself airs commonly passes muster for gentility. The title of gentleman is now given to all who distinguish themselves from the common sort by a good garb, a genteel air, or a passable education—by wealth or by learning, it matters little which.
In former times, breeding was a matter of blood and habit; now it may be purchased by the yard. One buys one’s manners as one buys one’s cloth: the tailor confers respectability where the tutor once did. The merchant’s wife learns to curtsey from the dancing-master, and their sons, sent abroad for polish, return with a taste for imported vices and a conviction of their own refinement.
I do not object to the enlargement of our species, only to its pretensions. When all men may be called gentlemen, none shall deserve the title; it will have dissolved into the thin air of commerce, like perfume upon a tradesman’s handkerchief.
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