YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XV, Issue 5173, 15 June 1878, Page 5

YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.

" WHAT 13 A GENTLEMAN ?" Colonel Haultain delivered a lecture last evening on the above subject to a very large audience. The proceedings were opened with the usual devotional exercises. The Lecturer explained that the subject was one of great difficulty. He found it so when collecting the materials for his lecture. The word "gentleman" was used in many senses, but he was convinced that the characteristics by which the man who deserved the title was distinguished were the same. The perfect gentleman implied the perfect man. There was but one perfect man since the creation of the world, and from his example it might be inferred that the true Christian was the true gentleman. The word gentleman appeared te have come into conventional use about the time of Henry V. Looking to the etymology of the word, the Romans used it as connected with the </ciis or family. Mill defined it as meaning a person of a certain rank connoting certain qualities. The Italians gave to it a meaning which implied birth, conduct, courtesy, and other personal traits. Sir Walter Raleigh, using the word nobilitas synonymously with (jcid'ditas, siid, "True nobility is not bom, but made." Blackstone gave to it a legal significance. Camden, who was himself a herald, mentioned four sorts of esquires. (I.) The sons and heirs of knights ami their descendants. (2) Tho younger sons of peers and their descendants. (:V) Those made so by letters patient ; and (4), those who became such by virtue of their offices. But there was a great deal that was conventional in these definitions. There was one element of instruction in viewing these distinctions. They were as degrees, as steps, which ltd up through all the social and body politic from the lowest to the highest, linking thein together, and exhibiting a regular gradation. In the progress of time, according to Colonel Haultain, the knight subsided in the gentleman. But three leading qualities were laid down as the basis of the title to the distinction. These were " loyalty, courtesy, and beneficence." Fidelity to engagements was implied as the highest testimony to the justice of the claim. Breach of faith was held to be an indelible disgrace. The true gentleman was held to recognise a grandeur even in failure to accomplish a worthy object no less than in its achievement. But whatever conventionalism might lie under these social distinctions, they were influential for good in one direction. They imparted a dread of disgrace, a fear of shame, a resolution to uphold an honourable position, and a courage to prosecute honourable purposes, to promote virtue and a contempt of mere pride and selfishness. Pride was a very different thing from self-respect. Pride was weakness, self-respect true dignity. The Bible furnished some of the highest types of the present theme. "What a grand man Abraham was, —how steadfast, how generous, how beneficent. Then how great, how self-sacrificing, how exalted Moses was. How full of faith, loyalty, just, merciful, and beneficent were his teaching and his work. How great a person was Job, who had been " eyes to the blind, feet to the lame, father of the poor." [The lecturer cited some most appropriate passages illustrative of the personal qualities of these great Scriptural personages.] If he came to the standard writers to the languages, he found various types of gentleman. Addison described an ideal in Sir Roger de Coverley, Richardson in Sir Charles Grandison. Dickens's sympathies were with the lowly, and though he recognised some very high qualities in the classes he pourtrayed, he never attempted to describe the perfect character. Thackeray had a keen appreciation of the qualities which go to make up the gentleman, but his idea of it could be gathered only by collecting the traits which .did not belong to it, and inferring the rest by an indirect process. Colonel Xtwcuuie was an aumirablo portrait, but did not fulfil what w.ts required. Thackeray's nearest approach to a true portrait was his E3mo«de. But a finer portrait was that given by Colonel Chesney in his novel entitled "The Dilemma,"' the original being that great man Sir Henry Lawrence. [Colonel Haultain gave some account of Sir Henry Lawrence's offer to take his brother's place, in captivity with the Afghans during the Cabul war.] There were many who obtained the title who had but little claim to it. He knew one person in Auckland who was remarkable for his courage, his love of truth, his honesty of purpose. This person Jonce said to him, '' I honour ohat man, - ' speaking of a lead ing statesman, " he has education, which I have not; he is a gentleman, that I can never be." The modesty of this statement, taken in connection with the other qualities, indicated that this man had a large proportion of the essential elements of the character of the true gentleman in his nature. He had seen such courage, such self-devotion, sucn tenderness, such fidelity to plighted words, even among Maoris, that they were not wanting the attributes that were essential to the claim. But if few men reached the high standard of the true gentleman, it was permitted to all to approach it more or less nearly. Bishop Patteson was an instance of loyalty to a noble work, of devotion to the service of his Maker and the good of his fellow-men, which none could fail to recognise. He caine to the conclusion that the essentials were truth, courtesy, and loving - kindness. These were primary, and included a number of qualities which, though not enumerated, were derived from them. AH men, whatever their social position, could cultivate them. And what was applicable to the character of a gentleman was also characteristic of the gentlewoman. When Sir Henry Lawrence offered to take upon him his brother's captivity, he was asked, "But what will your wife say?" She had heard oF it, and wrote him the following letter : —" So you have offered to go in your brother George's place. lam glad you did so. I am glad there was no time to ask me, lest my heart should have failed. Now, my dear husband, you have more than my acquiescence. If, my Henry, that is to be your lot, your wife will go with you. I will be doing my duty, and God will strengthen me in soul and body." Of course, the exchange could not be permitted, but the incident was worthy of record among the heroic purposes of which great and good men anil women are capable. Sir Henry Lawrence founded the noble institution in the Indian hills for the children of British soldiers, and when he died he left all his property to be divided between his two daughters anil this institution. The character of gentleman comprised truth, faith, courage, loving-kindness, perseverance iu doing good, and courtesy that shed its gentleness upon all around it. (Cheers.)

Before, at the end, and during an interval of the above discourse, Mr. Swallow performed upon a piano and organophon (at the same time) the overture to " Tancredi," "The Cardinal's March," and " Nobil Signor." It is not necessary to say further than that he was the performer, to indicate how finely these selections were played.

Mr. C. A. Robinson proposed a vote of thanks to Colonel Haultain and to Mr. Swallow, which was carried with acclamation.

The proceedings closed with the benedictien.