I heard it in Mary Poppins!
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It means that the noble and aristocratic members of society have an obligation to, in fact, actually *be* noble in their manner, especially toward the common folk.
As with most sayings it is neither bad nor good, it depends entirely on its use. In Marry Poppins there are multiple layers here (as with most things in the story).
Mr. Banks uses it to refer to himself. Or at least how he imagines himself to be. He’s a person of authority over his house, yet he chooses to “rule” it with a gentle hand. Kind of like, “how nice I am that I don’t abuse my authority in this house.” In this sense it’s kind of bad, because people don’t deserve praise for simply not being assholes, but it is also a product of the time period.
The next layer is as a literary device in the song as a whole. Just about everything Banks describes in the song is false. His life isn’t pleasant, he’s not particularly “in charge” of his house, his hand is less “gentle” than it is simply indifferent, etc. The entire song is, essentially, ironic.
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