CHARACTER.
How many gleams of character a man gives, without
saying a word, by outward involuntary indications!
The vane does not show which way the wind blows
with more certainty than do the little idosyncrasies of
exterior habit denote the quality of the interior man.
It was the remark of some one that a man of sense
could not lay down his hat in coming into a room, or
take it up in going out, without discovering himself by
some peculiarity of the motion. You may dress a
boor up in purple and fine linen, but the boor will
reveal itself. So will the gentleman, even through
rags. He need not speak to do this. The Lord
Duberlys will declare by their acts the primitive shopman,
even though their tongues be tied by never so
many conventional prescriptions. A gentleman moves
invariably as to the manner born, which education may
scarcely impart. He holds his title direct from the
hand of Nature, and finds a living voucher for it in the
educated character, which combines urbanity, dignity,
good sense, and kindness, irrespective of dollar consciousness.
