The Natural History of the Gent

THE NATURAL HISTORY
 
OF
 
THE GENT.

BY ALBERT SMITH.

LONDON:

DAVID BOGUE, 86 FLEET STREET.

MDCCCXLVII.

LONDON:

VIZETELLY BROTHERS AND CO. PRINTERS AND ENGRAVERS,

PETERBOROUGH COURT, FLEET STREET.

v

PREFACE.

In
the Sunday newspapers of May 24, of the past year, 1846, appeared the following paragraph:—

MARYLEBONE.

A “
Gent
.”—A respectable-looking man, named James Dickenson, was charged by Brooks, 169 S, who said, “Please your worship, at two o’clock yesterday morning (Monday), I found this ‘gent’ drunk in Park Road, and took him into custody.”

Mr. Rawlinson
: Who do you say you found drunk?

Constable
: This “gent,” your worship.

Mr. Rawlinson
: What do you mean by “gent?” There is no such word in our language. I hold a man who is called a “gent” to be the greatest
vi
blackguard there is. (To the prisoner): What do you say to this? I hope you are not a “gent.”

Prisoner
: I am not, sir, and I trust that I know the distinction between a “gent” and a “gentleman.”

Mr. Rawlinson
: I dare say you do, sir, and I look upon the word “gent” as one of the most blackguard expressions that can be used.

The prisoner was fined 5
s.
, which he directly paid.

We were exceedingly delighted when we read this police report. We had laboured, for three or four years, to bring the race of Gents into universal contempt; and we at last found that an intelligent and respected London magistrate had publicly stated, from the bench, his opinion of the miserable class in question; and that it exactly coincided with our own. But fearing—from seeing the odious word still starting up in shops, ticketed to wild
vii
articles of dress, to be hereafter alluded to, as well as hearing it every now and then applied by one “party” to another of his acquaintance—that the species was not yet extinct; fearing this, in spite of our direct attacks in
Punch
and
Bentley’s Miscellany
, and our side-wind blows through the medium of our esteemed friend John Parry, certain burlesques at the Lyceum, and various other channels—we determined upon reconsidering all we had ever propounded on the subject, and publishing it in the form now presented to the reader, that all might clearly see who the Gents were, and shun them accordingly.

And so we leave our little book in your hands, published at a price, as a prospectus always says, “that will bring it within the
viii
reach of all classes.” And we request your co-operation towards the great end of putting Gents out altogether. For they form an offensive body, of more importance than you would at first conceive; and both public and private society will be much benefited by their extinction.