3. There is something equivocal in all the words in use to express the… — Essays
SAPIR 861
3. There is something equivocal in all the words in use to express the excellence of manners and social cultivation, because the qualities are fluxional, and the last effect is assumed by the senses as the cause. The word _gentleman_ has not any correlative abstract[377] to express the quality. _Gentility_ is mean, and _gentilesse_[378] is obsolete. But we must keep alive in the vernacular the distinction between _fashion_, a word of narrow and often sinister meaning, and the heroic character which the gentleman imports. The usual words, however, must be respected: they will be found to contain the root of the matter. The point of distinction in all this class of names, as courtesy, chivalry, fashion, and the like, is, that the flower and fruit, not the grain of the tree, are contemplated. It is beauty which is the aim this time, and not worth. The result is now in question, although our
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