obtained a niche in that pillory (forgive the mixing of metaphors), and to see the fun of a little exaggerated banter, and perchance learn a little lesson from it, would not be so very bad a fate after all. But I suppose it all depends on the point of view. {166} As I say, I have by me a delightfully ironic missive from the late president of the Society of the Butterfly himself, acknowledging “the exceedingly amiable and flattering form of the playful request” contained in my letter, with a hint at the end that lawyers might look upon any reproduction of the forbidden matter as less than tolerable. Alas! that it is so, and all I can do is to refer my readers to the columns of the _Pall Mall Gazette_ for May 15 and 25, 1894, in which appeared Whistler’s two letters, and quote here the interview with du Maurier upon the matter. They form a curious commentary upon the “Gentle Art of Losing—Friends.” Extract from _Pall Mall Gazette_, May 19, 1894.[29] MR. WHISTLER AND MR. DU MAURIER THE “PUNCH” ARTIST’S ATTITUDE Mr. George du Maurier, “hidden in Hampstead” as Mr. Whistler put it in his letter to us a day or two ago, was discovered by a _Pall Mall Gazette_ reporter without the aid of any exploring party yesterday, when that representative called to see what the famous _Punch_ artist had to say in reply to Mr. Whistler. Mr. du Maurier was not disposed at first to vouchsafe any answer. “If a bargee insults one {167} in the street,” he said, “one can only pass on. One cannot stop and argue it out.” But on second thoughts Mr. du Maurier added a few words. “I should,” he said, “have avoided all reference to Mr. Whistler, or anything which could have been construed into reference to him, if I had imagined it would have pained him. I should have written privately to him to say so, if his letter had been less violent and less brutal. Certainly, in the character of Sibley, in my serial story _Trilby_ I have drawn certain lines with Mr. Whistler in my mind. I thought that the reference to those matters would have recalled some of the good times we used to have in Paris in the old days. I thought that both with Mr. Whistler and with other acquaintances I have similarly treated, pleasurable recollections would have been awakened. But he has taken the matter so terribly seriously. It is so unlike him. [29] By kind permission of the Proprietor.