our
aristocracy) of a fair amount of personal modesty with an innocent
assumption of rank. Of a man who saw all these genteel foibles so
clearly it is absurd merely to say without further explanation that he
could not describe a gentleman. Let us confine ourselves to saying that
he did not describe a gentleman as gentlemen like to be described.

Lastly, there is the admirable study of Toots, who may be considered as
being in some ways the masterpiece of Dickens. Nowhere else did Dickens
express with such astonishing insight and truth his main contention,
which is that to be good and idiotic is not a poor fate, but, on the
contrary, an experience of primeval innocence, which wonders at all
things. Dickens did not know, anymore than any great man ever knows,
what was the particular thing that he had to preach. He did not know it;
he only preached it. But the particular thing that he had to preach was
this: That humility is the only possible basis of enjoyment; that if one
has no other way of being humble except being poor, then it is better to
be poor, and to enjoy; that if one has no other way of being humble
except being imbecile, then it is better to be imbecile, and to enjoy.
That is the deep unconscious truth in the character of Toots--that all
his externals are flashy and false; all his internals unconscious,
obscure, and true. He wears loud clothes, and he is silent inside them.
His shirts and waistcoats are covered with bright spots of pink and
purple, while his soul is always covered with the sacred shame. He
always gets all the outside things of life wrong, and all the inside
things right. He always admires the right Christian people, and gives
them the wrong Christian names. Dimly connecting Captain Cuttle with the
shop of Mr. Solomon Gills, he always addresses the astonished mariner as
"Captain Gills." He turns Mr. Walter Gay, by a most improving
transformation, into "Lieutenant Walters." But he always knows which
people upon his own principles to admire. He forgets who they are, but
he remembers what they are. With the clear eyes of humility he perceives
the whole world as it is. He respects the Game Chicken for being
strong, as even the Game Chicken ought to be respected for being strong.
He respects Florence for being good, as even Florence ought to be
respected for being good. And he has no doubt about which he admires
most; he prefers goodness to strength, as do all masculine men. It is
through the eyes