Lordliness.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 11997, 4 September 1909, Page 1 (Supplement)

Lordliness.

( ' The Spectator.") It is always said that an Englishman loves a .Lord. It would, be moic e\a<t to t,ay that he is in love with loidlincss,, a word oi winch the obvious deuv.ition is apt somewhat to obscure tlie meaning. Charlotte JJronte said of .Mr Helstone that- ho was always in favour'of "the lordly, the liberal, the effective. - " So are-the great majority ot Englishmen, and without giving -the matter much thought they regard Lords as t>ymliols of these things. To imagine that Englishmen as a whole desire any form of social equality is an absurd mistake. Any man who counts upon such as desire as a political asset reckons without his host. What the Englishman really likes, delights to exercise, and delights to receive is consideration—more consideration than can well exist between equals. Events which happctn above or >„ below him, be they tragedies or comedies, provided he knows the actors, have in his mind about half ~the value of those which take place on his own levelpbut it is a) w«t » matter of conscience to him toi (\piess himself about them 111 a more eonventional and less critical spnit. He is glad to see the successful son come home, to the cottage or the castle as the case may lie, or to heir that the daughtetr, is to make •■• good niariiago. He cnniKit be tnlvi'iiid to share in the pleasure —he looks at it too much front*'<nitside —but liis thoughts about tho, mat- 1 lor nre Kiwi The master —tlw\ Englishman's idol-. master, we. mean—js I «»\cwdinglr sorrS. for tho) 'misfortunes of his (oa n !iraan <or his clerks, mid his are genuinely , sorry for Ins. IJotlj, if thoy fulfil Whit tl»rj\ recognise as their dntv, 1 «'1J offer a "tacit or expressed' cndHence, l as tn rt t may suggest. Bnt the .oilier man's sofiow not bite homo as does the sorrow of n 1 equal: it he 'roirc^ibranc' v < f 11 does not duress arid sadden, or laise those lernh'e < ni'ohle>"« which - ecu now adays the , inevitable comi»?mons of a deep'personal sympathy. Such svmnathv would',, be > regarded from eitlicr side as tainted" by interference. Op .the other * hand/ neither side is likely to refuse sympathy altogether, as we all do sometimes in the case of our equals. • How rarely does, one bear a pentlcmhn saV of a poor man in (trouble,, < "Serve - hint right!. He brought it, on He mav say ifc"*of ,tbe > 'nuts* 4>f v the tmn*ovident, but almost never if an individual 'whom-'ho knows. How seldom, itoo, the. poor savjt of their rich acnjnnhttancpsi—io* their 1 everlasting credit be it sunken. The classes one another here probably more < readily • than > in' any coimtry m Eh--

' In tlie mind of in EnshsliTn<in, if' a man lie, thought Inrdlv, >he mnit neVpr i be ojdactinr, '*nd noWaK} ways he vrwt not even RCcm too HosV-. JB& t inini*nis wwitjen Aino«j^lie'^!nra^P^g^fei|rt,, t Economy is ( no,t,'t<> his'-mind/ a "f----conu«K 'yirtvio' ~ Vhr- a certain amount of Wifh regard t to money Wo imagine* that tlie svstem Vt tinniiiß will never quite dio out in this countrv Wiih-n ifea»,on, tho giver the gift, and the reocivor ndiviros the action, would like to bo able to imitate it, and cannot (opoeiive now any one can be humiliated 'by such a, right, and natural transaction. The. moral respect 4 of subordinates tor their superiors must deep mde«\ it cnnspiruous eire in mone\ miittors doc* noWtouse jtifirt to a hfiisp ot ridicule. 'C/hurJishness and carefnlncst nie «l»!e in the ordinar* Enttlishman's lmnd Carcfulnes-s of MK h irritates lum alinr't as mwh t as ca>fnlness pf moneA The lettpr of.'the law shoiild, be kent out of sight He will give his social a little more than hi« rights, he mil give that sweet deference we all love, if onlv he will show a lordlv indifference to' them. Again, though the Englishman of the working class loves justice, he has an intense admiration for merov. He hkes to see peonle in a pood 'position ready to "let off," ant not to notice an , offence. It is n<< that hc> asks for ljimsclf He Would «bow this sort of T"if"ianinntv with nleasiire—it is hfs ideil of conduct—if povertv did not make magnanimity so difficult -<nd all ideals so hard to realise The pentlemnn who gives tit for tit in a small matter has ."evened" himself in the eves of his audience, in fact, has forfeited th 6 rifht to consider himself ennerior. It is"no n»o to tell ni unednc-jted man tint the <Tpntle»nin bronpnt that *mnll pffetiro hon-e tiiMi n worthy motiyo*ti the encoder, op do cood to the world Up simnlv disbelieves it, or if his informant's credit is too mjh 111 h s eve" for entire disbelief, he «nneidors the severe moralist to have stooped to an undue regard for exit is a very point m the chnrof tho* working neople how seldom among their equals or their sup«.riors tbcv feci the slightest confor tl'p nerson who is taken in " It is often retrardpd as somethin" nt an honour to be c.tsily detonod I If one nomts out to a poor woman that she his been rmnosed upon bv a Jieggnr and is doing K In' h"r chanty, she w.l always p-nlv • " I enve it with p "tiod heart (f.he herself knows the JW" .uniditv. onnd has pointed it out Jo VCidibonr who ,et/'ves p he wd „ot WamC her. nor show or fee \ indention "You arc too kind is tb; most that she wdl s«v or think. To, he too -harn » a on jb,J . toAChronule" wc find the ; sun described ~ a "lordlv creature " «e may fancv that the noot would have dclendcd his cP.tl.ct bv po'nt.ng out that w ,!p the goddess-for tjo ™ was n poddess to our feiff nt ''" mvamblv kc"t her distance. Bhej»M not above a dole Some pre "Wdly nnd vilinnt in vi.tnj " said «"£»»«- hotbin writer «»"J* *™ E.i«d.shuisn admires from the bottom o 1 is heart, and what the mP,ority of rrood men in their measure if they told the truth dew* to bo-**""? men, dote.rn.nod to do right, andl nc* ■nltogether- mdiffo-cnt, to a noble mqral apneir.nr'P Charlotte Bronte oxprosed tho same tlimnr in less nr-hle wowis She was alluding to a less noble form of tho wme feehng. After all we have all a. Tijrht .to our sense of heiuty. Human nature rrnvos food for 'the sense of moral nd«*>irption. and does not wart to look too fnr or too 'deep for it. ■ A great deal, however, that is far from fine in our present- civilisation

is to bo graced to this passion for lordbness. Much ostentation, of course, has a worse origin, but much that is called, and not) unjustly called, ostentation comes from lordliness, lo is a fine thing to forgive easily, but no man lias a right to stand in his own eyes so far above bis fellow 1 * ns to dismiss "the thought'of their offences with' the exclamation, "Poor devils!" No man, on tho other hand, ha? a,right to regard any other person as' so tar his superior as to be an* swerable to a different moral lauv Deference is a' fine thine, but tlus form of deference is degrading. Yet - about both attitudes there is a certain superficial air of dignity which, takes the- Englishman's fancy, and gives him a sense of magnanimity and independence. r lt is considered nar-row-minded nowadays. to judge any man iof genius by the common code, or-to- insist' that a certain seriousness of purpose is as essential in the great as in the small. Bunyan Said thero was a way to liell from the very gate ! of heaven. "Whether or no it is true in religion, it'isihorribly true in moral apd, social matters. A man -may , be so anxious-not to bo petty." n9 to become' en kind-hearted ns to bring virtue into "cheap account, bo 'inexact as to make,other men dishonest, so' little censorious' as to' sin against civilisation. * In ' fact,, the ' mat» who believes"himself to be, ptrid- , ing with a .lordly case along the uphill path which leads to the ideal may suddeny find that he is strutting about,, in' the Brummagem paradise of tho x well-meaning' fool. i ',' ■ ■* But even for thoso'people, of finer' > make for whom v vulgarity in «»ll its forms js impossible-the love of lordli- < ness is a\grent< Bnaire. ' They comp ; vcrv, often to take an unreal yicw s * of life, and to hold' unconsciously, & * most Pharisaical position—to act nobly * for their to savo their own souls' handsomely .with a cer- > tain cye'io tho* 'They carry .;, self-respect to ihe point -of c wl£-ad- „. * miration, and bujrv with indulgence < the likitur thev +i«nk tbcv b»ve earned , by examDle. ''Oh ves, lordline-s is, a * flashy quality," t we' t hear some one" soy. t-, In' oh*' sense it may bo. • For\him- = ~ self ihe present writer- must 'cmfwa *? to having something in t him of tho rrngpie, and to,bo attracted by tho glitter. ~ »' -- '" * "'■*'