“I take it that ‘gentleman’ is a term that only describes a person in his relation to others; but
when we speak of him as ‘a man’ , we consider him not merely with regard to his fellow men, but in
relation to himself, — to life — to time — to eternity. A cast-away lonely as Robinson Crusoe — a
prisoner immured in a dungeon for life — nay, even a saint in Patmos, has his endurance, his
strength, his faith, best described by being spoken of as ‘a man’. I am rather weary of this word
‘gentlemanly’ which seems to me to be often inappropriately used, and often too with such
exaggerated distortion of meaning, while the full simplicity of the noun ‘man’, and the adjective
‘manly’ are unacknowledged.”
This week's book is North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell and we'll be meeting at The Didsbury on Wilmslow Road in Didsbury — contact us for details.
