New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-02-01
SELECTIONS FROM THE MAIL.
ENGLISH SPEECH AND MANNERS.
A SWEEPING CONTRADICTION OF A RECENT DE-
scRIPTIoN OF THEM

n DWt@A-A AANO SC%sA OF n nEtfINL ~
scRIPTIoN OF THEM
TO tss Edftor OF The Tribune.
Sir: VIII you permit me to enter protest against
the picture of British home life and social customs
drawn by Cockagne" In a letter to a San Francisco
paper, to which you give prominence by reprlnting
It in The Sunday Tribune Of January 1877 You may
depend upon It that the portralture of Cockaigne'
IS a gross and absurd libel upon British manners,
British men, British women, British culture and
British refinement.
The fox story is an abslirdity on the face Of IT.
It never happened. Even II 1t did, British gentle
man would dismiss guest allow his other guests
TO dismiss him for any such reasons. Nor would
a party Of English gentlemen bristle up like crowd
Of cowboys or barrO0m loa6ers, and actually threaten
physical violence 10 the infracor of hunting regua
tons, as represented by "Cockalgne." The whole
thing Is silly fabrication.
Nor would refined and cultured young English
women invite guest TO sing, repeatedly, for the
more purpose OF guylng him TO his back before the
other guests. In not single respectable house be-
tween Lands End and John o'Groats House could
such DO witnessed.
Nor do the educated people Of England call bore
"baW," floor faw,7 sure shah," story stawry,"
and so on as "Coekaigne' says they do. According
TO this astounding person, the best educated and the
most refined people Of England mouth their words and
mange the vernacuar Just like the tackles, the sand
hillers, the tarheels, the low>downs the white
trash, the rcuStabouts and the semi-savage negroes
Of the South. Tho ibterates OF that section pro
nounce those words IN "Cockalgne'su list Just as
he says the English people pronounce them DO
you believe himi Have you not heard educated
Englishmen speak, Can you recall a single instance
in which such atrociousN abuse Of the ortboepy OF
the English language was observablef Not ono
co into the Parliament Houses, and In neither VIII
you hear such maltreatnent of the language
as @CockaigneD lays down for the correct thing
among polite and cultured Britons The Prince Of
Wales, all tho members of the Royal family, Mr.
bright, Mr., Gladstone, Lord n. Churchill. Lord
Charles Dorcsford and all the other prominent Eng
nsh people quite familiar with webster's I'm
abridged, ana they know it 10 be the American
standard. You may depend upon 1t that they do
not pronounce COckaignep says they do, and
that they do not rtdcue Yankees for not prouounc-
If they wish 10 be taken for mistakenly for English
men.
That whole letter of Cockalgne'su is gross and
incXcusable libel ON British ways. It IS Just that
sort OF thing that loads Americans TO conclude that
English mon and women OF the best sort are half
savages.
"cochaIgne' Is not typical Enellshman. lie has
not the things he describes IN respectable
English houses He has never seen an American I'm
England attempting TO pass as an Engllshman, and
mortified TO death because his failure TO speak
dramatically the English are said (by hiu 10
speak betrayed his nationality.
The letter alluded 20 would create quite as much
tonlShment in England among the people whom II
lbeis as 10 creates among Americans who have been
received by people of that class I'm England. Is 70 fair
TO spread an erroneous impression like that given by
Cock2igne"l The manners and the morals OF the
polite, refined, cultured goodnatred, educated pe0-
pie Of England far above tho standard set by
sCocAalgme7 in his lbeis.
J. ALEXANDER MACGILLICUDDY.
Buffalo, N. ", Jan. ID, 1889.