ABSTRACT
The gentleman is, rather than does, he maintains towards life an attitude of indifferent receptivity. He is interested in nothing in a professional way. He is allowed to cultivate hobbies, even eccentricities, but he must not practise a vocation. He must not concern himself with the sordid business of earning his living, and he must be able to show that, at least back to his grandfather, none of his near relations has ever been engaged in trade. The condition upon which he maintained his supremacy was simple enough. For a century after the Industrial Revolution, England's commercial leadership was unchallenged. The state was largely a negative state, and there were neither grave economic nor grave international problems to solve. The gentleman's characteristics are a public danger in all matters where quantitative knowledge, unremitting effort, vivid imagination, organized planning are concerned.
