The writer has no intention of saying that all in England are
affected with the absurd mania for gentility; nor is such a
statement made in the book; it is shown therein that individuals of
certain classes can prize a gentleman, notwithstanding seedy
raiment, dusty shoes or tattered hat,--for example, the young
Irishman, the rich genius, the postillion, and his employer.
Again, when the life of the hero is given to the world, amidst the
howl about its lowness and vulgarity, raised by the servile crew
whom its independence of sentiment has stung, more than one
powerful voice has been heard testifying approbation of its
learning and the purity of its morality. That there is some salt
in England, minds not swayed by mere externals, he is fully
convinced; if he were not, he would spare himself the trouble of
writing; but to the fact that the generality of his countrymen are
basely grovelling before the shrine of what they are pleased to
call gentility, he cannot shut his eyes.
Oh! what a clever person that Cockney was, who, travelling in the
Aberdeen railroad carriage, after edifying the company with his
remarks on various subjects, gave it as his opinion that Lieutenant
P--- would, in future, be shunned by all respectable society! And
what a simple person that elderly gentleman was, who, abruptly
starting, asked in rather an authoritative voice, "and why should
Lieutenant P--- be shunned by respectable society?" and who, after
entering into what was said to be a masterly analysis of the entire
evidence of the case, concluded by stating, "that having been
accustomed to all kinds of evidence all his life, he had never
known a case in which the accused had obtained a more complete and
triumphant justification than Lieutenant P--- had done in the late
trial.
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