Gentlemen.

1. What a Gentleman is, ’tis hard with us to define; in other Countries he is known by his Priviledges; in West∣minster-Hall he is one that is reputed one; in the Court of Honour, he that hath Arms. The King cannot make a Gentle∣man of Blood [what have you said] nor God Almighty, but he can make a Gentle∣man by Creation. If you ask which is the better of these two, Civilly, the Gentleman of Blood, Morally, the Gen∣tleman by Creation may be the better; for the other may be a Debauch’d Man, this a Person of Worth.

2. Gentlemen have ever been more Temperate in their Religion, than the common People, as having more Reason, the others running in a hurry. In the beginning of Christianity, the Fathers writ Contra gentes, and Contra Gentiles, they were all one: But after all were Christi∣ans, the beter sort of People still retain’d the Name of Gentiles, throughout the four Provinces of the Roman Empire; as Gentil-hommel in French, Gentil homo, in Italian, Gentil-huombre in Spanish, and Gentil-man in English: And they, no que∣stion, being Persons of Quality, kept up those Feasts which we borrow from the Gentils; as Christmas, Candlemas, May∣day, &c. continuing what was not direct∣ly against Christianity, which the com∣mon People would never have endured.