The gentle mind by gentle deeds is known. For a man by nothing is so well betrayed, as by his manners.

The quotation argues that gentleness is not a private sentiment but a public practice: a “gentle mind” proves itself through “gentle deeds.” The second sentence sharpens the claim by treating manners as a kind of involuntary disclosure—people may conceal intentions or profess virtue, but habitual conduct in everyday interactions “betrays” what they are. In Spenser’s moral universe, virtue is performative in the best sense: it must be enacted, not merely contemplated. The emphasis on manners also suggests that ethics is social; how one treats others, especially in small courtesies, becomes a reliable index of moral quality.