Page:The Atlantic Monthly Volume 11.djvu/796

 788 Reviews and Literary Notices. [J, hopes and welfare of the nation. No etl-i- eal or aesthetical treatise could be more seasonable than this of Mr. Calvert's. We regard it as the best lay -sermon thus far evoked by the moral exigencies of the hour; however appropriate it may also be and is to any and all times and readers of taste and thought, a super- ficial, merely dilettante essay on such a subject and at such a time would repel instead of alluring. The charming little volume before us, while made genially attractive by occa- sional playfulness and anecdote, is yet per- vaded by an earnestness born of strong conviction and deep sympathies. It ana- lyzes the springs of character, traces con- duct to its elemental source, and follows it to its ultimate influence. To a concise style it unites an expansive spirit ; with a tone of rich and high culture it blends the vivacity and grace of the most genial col- loquy. From the etymology of the word to the humanity of the character, a full, forcible, frank, and fervent discussion of the Gentleman is given,- as he figures in history, in society, in domestic life, and in literature, and as he lives, a grand and gracious ideal, in the consciousness of the author. Beginning with the mean- ing, origin, and use of the word Gentle- man, Mr. Calvert gives a critical analy- sis of its historical personation. As a chevalier type, in such men as Sidney and Bayard. Its ethical #nd sesthetical meaning is finely exemplified in the con- tract between Charles Lamb smd George IV., Leicester and Hampden, Washing- ton and Napoleon. The Gentleman in St. Paul is well illustrated. The rela- tion of this character to antiquity is de- fined with a scholar's zest : whatever of its force and flavor is discernible in Soc- rates and Brutus is gracefully indicat- ed ; the deficiency of Homer's heroes, ex- cepting Hector, therein, is ably demon- strated. These and like illustrations c. so prolific a theme inevitably suggest ep - sodes of argument, incidental, yet essei - tial to the main question ; and the jut and benign remarks on the Duel, the 1 sition of Women in Ancient and Mod- ern Society, and the Influence of Chris- tianity upon Manners, are striking in their scope and style, and breathe the lofty and tender spirit of that Faith which in- culcates disinterestedness as the latent and lasting inspiration of the Gentleman. Per- haps the most delectable illustrations, which give both form and beauty to this essay, are those drawn from modern literature : they are choice specimens of criticism, and full of subtile discrimination in tra- cing the relation of literature t"> life. We would instance especially the chapters on Shakspeare's Gentleman ; the recognition of the Gentleman in Sir Roger de Co- erley, Uncle Toby, and Don Quixote ; and the admirable distinction pointed out between the characters of Scott, Byron, Shelley, and Keats. There is no part of the volume more worthy attention than the remarks of a "high-bred tone in writ- ing." The hollowness of Chesterfield's code is keenly exposed ; Honor and Vulgari- ty are freshly and ably defined ; Fashion, Pride, and Vanity, the conventional el >- ments of the Gentleman, are treated wivh philosophical justice ; the favorite char? - ters of fiction, and the most renowned p >- ets and heroes, beaux and braves, pass be- fore us, and are subjected to the test of that Christian ideal of the Gentleman so clearly defined and firmly applied by the intrepid author ; and many a disguised cox- comb is stripped of his borrowed plumes, imperial parvenus exposed as charlatans in manners as well as morals, and heroic, but modest souls, of whom the world's court- calendar gives no hint, stand forth exem- plars of the highest, because the most soul- ful breeding.