[To THE EDITOR OP THE " EIPECTATOR.'] SIR,—There is a
fallacy in the strange saying that "a world of Yorkshiremen would not be a pleasant world ; " for certain it is that Yorkshiremen would never find it unpleasant, and yet that they would be the only judges. But your writer on " Provincial Characteristics" may wish to convey that his own plight in such a world would not be pleasant. In that case I beg leave, Sir, to say that I hope he is mistaken. We should do our beet to make him comfortable. I own there are conditions. He must not try too hard to make us feel our inferiority ; we ought rather to be allowed to discover it ; and to this end he would perhaps do ,well not to wear spats, or a tall hat. But a self-deny- ing ordinance in this kind need not be unpleasant if a man will give it a fair trial, conceding something to our simpler tastes. There is one popular misconception of the Yorkshire character for which I find it easy to account. We do not study to conceal our thoughts or feelings ; with us the general notion of neighbourly good manners is to be frank. It is true that as every man expects to be taken as he is without offence, so he is not offended by straightforward -talk in others; but it is not easy for a South countryman to be so plain without provocation, or to understand that the Yorkshireman's bluntness is not bellicose. It would seem that foreigners have the same difficulty with Englishmen in general. Besides this plainness in speech, with which there goes a dislike of shows and forms and an indifference to ornament, there are, however, few characteristics common to the whole county. Yorkshire is so spacious that it accommo- dates two " maks o' fowk," if not three, distinct in speech and character. To an East Riding man the simple
• question, "Did ta iver hug woo' up a stee whol thi rig ;varked ?" would_be double Dutch. Nay, you may pass over the moors from Airedale into Nidderdale, and in one high valley it shall be "Hail, fellow, well met !" and in the other, -" What's this chap want?" To judge of us all from one suspicions type is not only rash, but unjust to the general average; yet this is what your writer must have done, to say that we '• smell at a stranger as a dog does." I find that comparison in bad taste, but in matters of taste we are not dogmatic. Upon the question of fact, however, I have to say that after ten years in the Midlands, what, above all, impressed me when I came back to Yorkshire was the readiness with which Yorkshiremen get upon terms with cvery one. Resent their disposition to do so, and I will not answer for their opinion of you ; but honour it, and you will very likely be taken home to dinner.
A Judge said lately that Yorkshiremen are pig-headed. Vow, there's an offensive word for you! Tenacity of purpose I allow, and in a degree beyond the common. Dr. Wright, of Oxford, will tell you, I believe, upon the evidence of philology, -that there has been a strong infusion of Scandinavian blood in Yorkshire, and no doubt we have the defects of our qualities. But how comes it that in this matter, and all else, there is a lively readiness on the part of persons here and there to dwell upon the defects alone ? Surely these persons are "twined uns :" or what are Yorkshiremen to make of the rest of England ? I assure your contributor that of such a man as Currer Bell's, "Mr. Yorke," whom he accepts as a fair picture, we say that he is a "twined un."—I am, Sir, &c.,
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