CHARACTER—THE TRUE GENTLEMAN. Character a man’s best possession—Character of Francis 382–408 Horner—Franklin—Character is power—The higher qualities of character—Lord Erskine’s rules of conduct—A high standard of life necessary—Truthfulness—Wellington’s character of Peel—Be what you seem—Integrity and honesty of action—Importance of habits—Habits constitute character—Growth of habit in youth—Words of Robertson of Brighton—Manners and morals—Civility and kindness—Anecdote of Abernethy—True politeness—Great-hearted men of no exclusive rank or class—William and Charles Grant, the “Brothers Cheeryble”—The true gentleman—Lord Edward Fitzgerald—Honour, probity, rectitude—The gentleman will not be bribed—Anecdotes of Hanway, Wellington, Wellesley, and Sir C. Napier—The poor in purse may be rich in spirit—A noble peasant—Intrepidity of Deal boatmen—Anecdotes of the Emperor of Austria and of two English navvies—Truth makes the success of the gentleman—Courage and gentleness—Gentlemen in India—Outram, Henry Lawrence—Lord Clyde—The private soldiers at Agra—The wreck of the _Birkenhead_—Use of power, the test of the Gentleman—Sir Ralph Abercrombie—Fuller’s character of Sir Francis Drake CHAPTER I. SELF-HELP—NATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL. “The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it.”—_J. S. Mill_. “We put too much faith in systems, and look too little to men.”—_B. Disraeli_. “HEAVEN helps those who help themselves” is a well-tried maxim, embodying in a small compass the results of vast human experience. The spirit of self-help is the root of all genuine growth in the individual; and, exhibited in the lives of many, it constitutes the true source of national vigour and strength. Help from without is often enfeebling in its effects, but help from within invariably invigorates. Whatever is done _for_ men or classes, to a certain extent takes away the stimulus and necessity of doing for themselves; and where men are subjected to over-guidance and over-government, the inevitable tendency is to render them comparatively helpless.