The English Gentleman - The Rise and Fall of an Ideal

This informative social history chronicles the rise and fall of an intriguing social phenomenon--the ideal of a gentleman--tracing its history from Chancer's "gentle knight," through the Victorian era, to the present day. The idea of the gentleman is central to the English view of the world. It runs through and illuminates English history at least from the time of Chaucer's parfit gentil knight. For the Victorians, it provided a second religion which underpinned not only daily life, but the whole edifice of empire. Acknowledgments - 8 Introduction - 9 1 Behaving Like a Gentleman - 15 2 The Heritage of the Past - 21 3 The Gentleman in Chaucer - 34 4 The Courtier - 50 5 Court and Country - 61 6 Elegance and Principle - 70 7 The Gentleman as Sportsman - 81 8 Colonel Newcome - 106 9 The Voice of the Mob - 119 10 A Romantic Realist - 131 1 1 Almost a Religion - 144 12 Factories for Gentlemen - 161 13 Evan Harrington - 175 14 Christian and Gentleman - 181 15 Through Polish Eyes - 188 16 The Edwardians - 196 1 7 Over Half the Globe - 207 18 A High Ideal - 217 19 Epilogue: The Gentleman Today - 227 Notes on Books - 233 Index - 237 This informative social history chronicles the rise and fall of an intriguing social phenomenon--the ideal of a gentleman--tracing its history from Chaucer's "gentle knight," through the Victorian era, to the present day