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County
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The following details have been transcribed from the "The Carlow Morning Post" newspaper, which can be found on micro film at County Carlow Library, Tullow Street, Carlow, Co Carlow IRELAND.
MONDAY, FEB 23, 1818
DEFINITION OF THE WORD
GENTLEMAN
According to Modern Usage.
A
gentleman, is a person whose fortune places him above slavery of doing service
to his country, or to any one in it. Opinion, to be sure, is all in all; and all
against everything. Opinion makes CUSTOM, and Custom, through all
countries, is peremptory against Recusants, and kicks every one who
refuses to conform out of company. CUSTOM, also, is a Lord Chief Baron in all
Courts of Judicature; and, whenever he makes his appearance, common sense and
common honesty humbly rise and resign the Chair–Custom can make woman ashamed
of not going half naked; it can throw confusion upon innocence, and cause guilt
to glory; it can change our opinion of nature, by the change of names; it can
cancel debts of Equity, and form debts of Honour, brand humanity with infamy,
bind a laurel round the temples of the man who murders his friend; and is a
master of more Metamorphoses than ever were in Ovid! Were it not for this same
transforming Wizard called Custom, no man would be estimable, but just as far as
he was a Servant. All servants, so far as they serve, are Creditors; and
all persons are Debtors, so far as they are served.–This commerce or
intercourse of serving and served, of creditor and debtor,
forges the links of that great chain that should bind the world in love.
As I am a servant to a Gentleman in this town, who is a
servant to a Right Honourable Board of Gentlemen, who on their part are the servants
of His Majesty, who on his part, is said to be the servant of his People; I do
not merely mean to apologize for the lowness of my profession, but rather to
shew the great utility and credit thereof.
It is written, whosoever will be chief among you let him
be your servant. Accordingly it may be observed that, the greater a
man is, or the greater he would be, the more he professes himself the very
humble servant of every one he meets. And the Pope, who presumes
himself the greatest Personage in the Universe, at the same time professes
himself the servant of servants.
I lately heard a Book-learned man, at my master's
table, say that, a great while ago, he had met, in an old manuscript, of some
old fashioned Philosopher, a very old fashioned saw or saying, to wit. That the
greatest man in every country was he who did that country the greatest
service. He then went on, to talk at a great rate, of one TRIPTOLEMUS and of
one CINCINNATUS: he said that both of them were poor men, and by trade,
no other thank ploughers and sowers of the ground; and yet that, for their
services, the first was made a God, and the second, the chief of
the greatest people in the world!!! As soon as the company had retired, I
presumed to ask my master, if these same Messrs. Triptolemus and Cincinnatus
were Gentlemen? pshaw, you you blockhead, says he, Gentlemen! no, to be sure.
How should Ploughmen or Mechanics come to be Gentlemen?
BURGOS.
MONDAY, JULY 8, 1822
QUARTER SESSIONS
[Party transcribed]
It now remains for us to caution those who may be under a necessity of suing for what is due to them to take good care, that the process shall be filled agreeably to the strict letter of the law : and that there may be no mistake in future on account of the difference between esquire and gentleman, we think it necessary to give the legal definition of both words, according to Chamberlayne’s Magnć Britannić Notitia.
ESQUIRES. – Among the lower Nobility are Esquires, so called from the French word Esciers, Scutigeri, because they were wont to bear before the Prince in War, or better sort of Nobility, a Shield, Lance, or other Weapon, and therefore are called Armiegeri.
Of this Title are first all Viscounts and Barons eldest Sons, and all Viscounts and Barons younger Sons ; and, by the common-Law of England, all the Sons of Earls, Marquisses and Dukes are Esquires, and no more. Next are the Esquires of the King’s Body, mentioned among the Officers of the King’s Court. After these are reckoned the eldest Sons of younger Sons of Barons and of all Noblemen of higher Degree ; then Knights eldest Sons, and their eldest Sons for ever. Next Esquires created by the King, by putting about their neck a collar of SS’s, and bestowing on them a pair of Silver-Spurs. Lastly, Divers that are in superior public Office for King or State, are reputed Esquires, or equal to Esquires, as Serjeants of the several Offices in the King’s Court, and other Officers of Rank and Quality ; so Justices of the Peace, Mayors of Towns, Counsellors at Law, Bachelors of Divinity, Law, or Physic ; though none of them are really so..
GENTLEMEN. – This kind of Honour is derived from the Teutonic and Gothic Nations to the rest of Christendom, and was never known in any Country where the Teutonic and Gothic Customs were unknown, as in Asia, Africa, and America.
A gentleman is properly one whose Ancestors have been Freemen, and have owed no Obedience to any Man besides their natural Prince ; so that in Propriety of Speech no Man is a Gentleman who is not born so : But in England, the King being properly the Fountain of all Honour, he can make a Gentleman by Charter, or by bestowing an honourable Employment upon him.
The Title of Gentleman in England (as of the Cavalier in France, Italy, and Spain,) is not disdained by any Nobleman. All Noblemen are Gentlemen, though all Gentlemen are not Noblemen.
Of course all Esquires are Gentlemen.
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