1729,  Defoe,  Compleat  English  Gentleman,  pp.  235-6,

It  is  a  great  mistake  to  say  that  a  profligate,  vicious  life
is  consistent  with  a  compleat  gentleman  ;  virtue  is  so  far
from  being  below  the  quahty  of  a  gentleman,  or  even  of  a
nobleman,  that  strictly  speaking  a  man  can  not  be  truly
noble  or  compleatly  a  gentleman  without  it.  .  .  .  A  gentle-
man giving  himself  a  loose  in  all  manner  of  vice  and  extrava-
gance, what  is  he  to  be  esteem'd  in  life  ?  How  can  he  be
call'd  a  gentleman  without  making  a  just  exception  for  his
ill  government  of  himself  ?  We  have  frequent  examples  of
this  in  the  ordinary  acceptacion  of  a  gentleman,  where  nothing
is  more  frequent  than  to  say  such  a  gentleman  or  such  a
nobleman  is  a  very  fine  person,  has  a  thousand  good  qualities.
100  The  Inwardness  or

but  he  is  this,  but  he  is  that,  mencioning  some  immorallitie,
some  impropriety,  which  he  unhappily  mingles  with  his
character.  .  .  .  His  favourite  vice  is  allwayes  brought  in  as  an
excepcion   to   his   character   otherwise   unspotted.
1729,    Defoe,   Compleat    English    Gentleman,    pp.    234-5.
The  compleat  gentleman  governs  himself  by  the  rules  of
vertue  and  good  sence,  so  his  family  appears  distinguish't
among  all  the  famihes  about  him  for  their  excellent  order,
their  generall  and  particular  conduct  under  his  government.
His  conjugal  life  is  all  harmony  and  musick,  peace  and  joy  ;
tenderness  and  affeccion  are  the  sum  of  their  united  enjoy-
ment.  .  ..
