New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-10-23
ON RUGGED ENGLISH COAST

THE NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. VI
AND THE LIFE THERE-AN ACCIDENT AMI -
RESCUE. ,,, !
,yRou THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE Tf''"'h
Wu,rry Sent. 6-Mr Du Maurier. as MS au-
,n,rets in Punch will perceive. has been speh'i"s "
,uu,ner at the seaside The scene Ol his wv" mus
,rations tins week is Whitbv, that picturesque w."
80, nm the east coast from when CaP'd'' WIN
h,,led and whence "A whaling Meet us'u " '0'
annually for Greenland, ID the eo"u ""'
.neru on had not been superNe"e" ny '"o ''
su,.lIiuO explosives now III fashion, h'au''' Va
~ Caskelps " Sylvias Lovers" know something Ol
Vhitby. winch is the Monkshaven OF thai p""e'lu'
lint most uneven story. The streets OF "mloy are
q fine taugle and the country round ABOUT 10 ho'
without ITS puzzles but il Is an actual town. Oh So
cliffs. with real fields aud roads stretching away
from it, Mrs. Gaskeil, who has niue sihCeI"' J."
ANYTHING but the emotional part oil mel ouN'nrSN'
has ma lie her topography Jumhle oil lhip"'S'oii''1'
Uavtersbauk Farm. the home OF SYLVIA. is the
most unstable OF dwellings, and flies about III
manner of which no other English ial mhouNe oners
an example Ii lies sometimes on the east ciii ","
so,,.t,,r.s on the west Fosters shop Is now Oh 'ne
,,ht .ide al the bridge and again on the Iel' ana
tine SCENE in which klDcads boat rs towcd along the
cliffs Is equally ihconcevable on either sue Vi
where else Plous Mrs Gaskell would nave
hren much surprised 10 he told that as writer sne
WAS without Il conscience, but IL Is certain sii'
never gave herself the trouble OF forming III ler o"
mind a distinct conception OF the places sue was
d,.,cribinp or cared about the frame work of hcI
storv or the probability of her plot 50 long as she
kent M an excitement alb, vi her characters
Wmtby is a place So unuke every other, mi OF
such quaint charm and varying attraction tha' Il
il were To be made the scene OF W"Ik OIL hc'Ion II
deserved more careful handling | believe am
II. rI.s al in S a
lsu,s monk were illustrated by Mr. Du Maurler
Reysitius the place after seventeen years absence
h, did his best to identify the site OF fiaytersbanh
Farm: with more or less success. IRAN up
Cbid" lull page cartoon OF this week, is O't OF
Wlrtby. or rather several bits, arranged. with an
artists license. back ground to tue sweet young
ladies' aud the precDcluus small boy, and the
Manner OF England whom Mr.. Du MauTier sets "ii
one against the Other III his deit dramatic way
Would no be surprised to hear the sleihA H'ei"'
ANALYSIS of his landscape by ]uNehie clltlc' oecl"'
ing III one swift rushing sentence that he mas pun
the bridge ratings Oh the pier, ana turned the hal
Dor quite round anchorng his boats oil the rasl pIe'
where there are meme. ana transporting his W'pu.
mill lodIly to the old town; with know not what
other pIOdIgIOus lrats OF artistic luSsieiS No'
less literal AID exactIng than that Is the mlnd oi
tl. vouthful critic. "Makng the Best OF IL
uVplCtS li'le OF less imaginary 'hNi'-S'4' ""N
OF landscape on the EsK. the stream which pons
into the North German Ocean between the oil town
on the east and tue new on the west Mr. Ia
Naurier's rawing gu ght to be named baking
the Worst of It,. All you can see IS "a sre,ch "l
1iver III a pouring rain with the stern sheets Of
row-boat alaIOst hidden 10y mushroom forest OF
umbrellas The rowrIs are invisible.
am afraid Mr.. On Naurer means 20 intimate
that # sometimes rains at Whitby. Mr.. Huxley took
the lead III propagatng this scandal. That learned
professor spent a season here three or four years
ago, returned to LOnuon, and delivered lecture on
the fossils he had found; which ne ungra'eiully
prefaced with REMARKS disparaglng TO the CLIMATE
of the place which had supplied Inn With materials
Tor hIs discourse. There has been one must admit
great deaf OF rain III England tins summer: Wild
effects upon the harvest OF the most lameniabe
kind. At The critical moment, u few weeks Since
the Archbishop of Canterbury, spiritual p"nIIf aud
primate of ali England put forth form 81 prayer
TO be used IN all churches for fair weather. II
began to ram immediately. 1t rdined for ten days
with persevering violence such as had been m
known before during the season. ! Will DOT deny
that it raned in Whtby as elsewhere THIS vas
the unfortunate moment which Mr. Du MaurIer
chose for his excursion mp the ksk, and which he
has chosen &c put record aud peipetuate III Tins
clever but ,a,umuIOus sketch. We were told aiteI
ward that the Archbishop had committed some lathi
mistake IN the phraseOlogy OF his raln-playeT,
winch had inteTiered with its due eject. lie hah
used his" for ITS" or " its" for his ana THIS
carelesspess had destroyed the virtue of hs for
mula | am sorry because fear Dr. TyndalI and
other sceptics may think the ArchOsEor's failure
supplies them With new argument on what they
dlsrespectfuy term the prayer-gauge. That would
not be earGid. because II Is well known that the
=. 81 NAH ,a,f
tiers: as the ievisers OF the New Testament have
lately taught us A printed prayer to De truly
etcacious must not only be tervrut; the sentences
ought to parse. Al Archbishop Is very great mal'.
but be is not supra grGmnaiicam. His imperfect
s, ntax has much 10 answer for, but am resolved
that liz shall not destroy the good name of Whtthy
1t is not enough to explain that this dam?noss OF
which Mr. Du MauIIer complains was accidental
and episcopal in its origin. There the authority
OF Sir James Paget one of The two or three IGoSi
eminent surgeons in the three Kingdoms. for saving
that the air of Whitby is the Lest ayr ~ England.
1t plainly could not be the best If 1t were cOntnu-
ally saturated with moisture. Mr.. Huxley Is
hrsi-rate authority or bones aud biology but
meteoro.ogy not his province, any more than 1t l.
Nj Du Maurcrs Let Mr.. Du Manner pursue his
proper vocation Of impaliug aesthetics on the point
OF his pencil.
Which reminds me-, if i may be allowed one
more parenthesis in this parenthetcal letter, that
sOle good American with Thirst Tor information
wrote ne a long tune ago asking me TO say who ART
the orig nails OF Mr. Du Maurers Maue and
Postlethw lite, and 10 give soma account of those
DISTINGUISHED persons. | cannot comply with this
request. an for several good reasons, of which
will mention ole They have no originals. Everybody
knows that they have ben supposed TO caricatnre
one eminent young -sthete who mas lately published
a volume of much- reviewed poems. and a less known
friend OF his list. One objection to this theory
is that toe alleged carcature does not III the least
resemble the persoa caricatured. Mr.. Oscar Wilde
himself. am told. has objection to pass for the
genuine Postlethwaite; and some portion Of hIs
celebrity. such it is, is undoubtedly due to the
conmou belief that be IL PO,tlethwate. The other