New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-07-31
MRS. LYNN LINTON.
VIGOROUS WORK AND LIVELY pREjU-
DICES
I)ICE,S.
From The London Daily News.


This vvacious writer will be greatly missed
In the pages of the reviews and magazines. ana
her death puts close TO the career OF one OF
the most widely read novelists of our tame.
Elizabeth Lynn was born in Kes~ick. on Feb
ruary 10 1S22. Her father was vicar OF Cros-
tlwaite. and her mother was Charlotte Goods-
n0ugh. daughter of DR.. Samuel Goodnough.
who was Bishop Of Carlisle She was educateu
at home and distinguished herself among her
brothers and sisters for her independence OF
thought and her studious habits. Her carry
circumstances accustomed her to self-depend-
ence, She mOtherless al five months Old.
and her upbringing seems to nave been un-
systematized. The household, however. was a
happy one. Mrs. Linton remembered the frugal |
meals OF her childhood. in which oatmeal por-
ridge had a conspicuous place. and described
the family amusenent-picncs, round games
and teaparties. The black thundercloud over
Skiddaw. the rain falling in sheets. and most
glorious sunsets" had their place in, her early
memories II perfectly remember Robert
Southey" she once said. with his eagles bcak
and small retreating chin. spare frame and dark
eyes full Of fire. He preferred long, solitary
ramblcs to our primitive society. But Harriet.
Duchess Of ST. Adams, was more sociable. and,
when jOurneying northward. used to invite the
vicar to spend the evening with her at Royal
Oak My fathers fellow parsons were very
queer lot Some drank and fought in public
houses. others were little better than honest
day laborers. and it was not uncommon to hear
the officiating clergyman exclaim, when his
Sunday ministratons were over. Gosh! mat
jobs jObbedr"
This glimpse into her early life indicates how
ings She was still closer observer Of all that
was on her fathers bookshclves and she had
not reached the age OF twelve years when she
had decided for herself that hers would be a
literary career She acquired French. German
and Italian in her girheod She came to Lon
don in 1915. and began her story writing with
with "Amymone: A Romance of the Days OF
Perices" which she brought out with the en-
couragcment and advice of Walter Savage Lam
dor whom she regarded her literary foster
father. After a third novel called Realities"
published in 1851. there was long pause in
her book work. owing to her occupation as a
journalist She wrote for THE Daily News
and THE Morning Star" and also contributed
to Household Words and "Al the Year
Round"
At this time Mrs. Linton was working double
tides. at books again as we'll as in journalism
Her witch Stories had long been published
her Grasp Your Nettle" was cut in this very
year 1850. A little later came ourselves
Essays Women" which was to be suf-
fciently fertile theme in future days. Then in
1872 the novel by which her name was really
made: The True History of Joshua Davidson
This was for those days a daring book. biting
satire on modern Christianity. 1t was the story
Of Cornish carpenters son who deliberately
set himself to live and act in all respects as did
that other carpenters son and "Davids som
Jesus. As the book was written before SUM-
ming fashionable. there was nothing ex-
travaGHt in the ASSUMPTION that he was
scornch 10y society for consorting with thieves
and prostitutes. AS liberation in religious
thought was then far behind what 1t is in the
present day. there was not any CARING want OI
proba bility In representing him as n martyr at
the hands Of the Church whose dogmatic Chris
tianty he could not accept Joshua Davidson
in the end kicked to death by the very
men for whom he had worked during the best
years OF his life.
The intellectual vivacity OF Patricia Kembel,"
which came out two years later. was generally
recognized, and there followed Il long series OF
popular novels, the titles Of which, and contents.
too are still familiar to many novel readers, |
In spite Of the outpourings OF new hction from
the press. The World Well Lost" Under |
Which Lord" with Silken Thread" and 50
on. eliminating in The Autobiography Of Chris |
TOPPER Kirkland" which appeared some time |
after Mrs. Linton had come to he recognized |
As the provider Of a certain school of sensa-
tiona literature. typfed by her brilliant but /
trenchant essays on The Girl OF the Period" /
which originally appeared in THE Saturday Re- I
view"
Linton was a foe to wonan's "emancipa-
ton movements generally. and she made her
self notorious by her violent opposition To .
party OF moral refOrmerS whom she designated .
as the shriekng ssterhood. and whom she
warmly ccnsured for their publication Of things
which she thought better hushed up. Yet at
another time Mrs. Lynn Linton was fierce in
her denunciatiOn Of the prudish Mrs. Grundy.
and especially OF her repressYe influence in art
and in fiction. She protested against the theory
that fiction ought to be addressed exclusively
to the Young Person and that men and women
who knew life might not have their acre 10
themselves where the ingenuc had business
to ntrude She complained that with an ex-
cessive scrupulOsity in hctiOn-how times
change, this was only in 1S9p-we published the
most revolving details in the daily press and
let boys and girls read every paper that
comes into the house. She was saYagely angry
at the decision in the Ctheroe in 1891.
when the courts decided that man could not
carry off his own wife and imprison her in his
house against her will In characteristic arti-
Gle in The Nineteenth Century" she repre-
scented this as the sudden abolition Of marriage as
hitherto understood in England Until now. she