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TRILBYAN 


Mr.  du  Maurier's    First  Drawing  in    "  Punch  " 
Showing  himself  (sm»oth  face)  and  Mr.  Whistler  {with  eyeglass).     (See  page  14.) 


Photographer. — '^  No  smoking  here,  Sir  !  " 

Dick  Tinto. — "  Oh!    A  thousand  pardons  !    I  was  not  aware  that " 

Photographer  [interrupting  with  dignity]. — Please  to  reinetnber.  Gentlemen,  that  this  is 
not  a  Common  Hartist  's  studio  !  "  [N.  B. — Dick  and  his  friends,  who  are  Common  Artists,  feel 
shut  up  by  this  little  aristocratic  distinction,  which  had  not  occurred  to  them.] 


i^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 


TRILBYANA 

The  Rise  and  Progress  of  a 
Popular  Novel 


no 


^^^^^^^^^^i^i^^^^i^^^^^^^^ 


NEW  YORK 
THE  CRITIC  CO' 


MDCCCXCV 


on* 


/ 


Copyright  1895 

BY 

The  Critic  Co. 


^yO 


It  is  majiy  a  year  s:  ..e  j  Iwok  has  attained  the  popu- 
larity of  M^.  du  ^faiirier's  second  novel,  "  Trilby  "  {printed 
as  a  s^Hal  in  Harper'' s  Monthly,  fro7n  January  to  August, 
inclusive,  and  then  issued  in  book-form,  on  Saturday,  8  Sep- 
tember, iSgf).  Several  others  have  sold  as  well — some  even 
better ;  but  fieither  '■'■Looking  Backivard"'  nor  '■'•Ben  Hur'''' 
{to  name  but  these  trvo)  has  captivated  the  public  in  the  same 
ma?i7ier  or  in  the  sa?ne  degree  as  this  romance,  this  fairy  tale 
of  the  three  British  artists,  the  blanchisseuse  who  posed  for 
'■'■the  altogether,^''  the  Parisiati  masters  of  painting,  ajid  the 
trans-Rhenish  masters  of  music,  in  the  Latin  Quarter  of  the 
early  fifties.  It  is  a  story  written  out  of  the  author's  very 
heart,  and  it  finds  its  way  straight  to  the  hearts  of  his  read- 
ers. This  is  the  secret  of  its  unique  success.  Its  charju  is 
emotional  rather  than  intellectual.  With  all  its  art,  it  im- 
presses one  as  essentially  ingenuous.  It  is  a  book  to  be  loved^ 
not  merely  to  be  liked  or  adi?iired: 

On  i6  June,  18^4,  The  Critic  printed,  with  commetit,  a 
letter  in  which  Mr.  Whistler  protested  to  the  editor  of  an  Eng- 
lish newspaper  against  the  libellous  likeness  of  himself  to  be 
found  in  the  character  of  Joe  Sibley,  one  of  the  minor  person- 
ages in  the  story  of  '■'■Trilby. "  In  the  fall  there  were  so  ma?iy 
sporadic  calls  for  this  number  of  the  paper  as  soon  to  exhaust 
the  supply  carried  over  from  the  summer.  There  seemed 
to  be  a  general  desire  on  the  pa?-t  of  our  readers  to  bind 
up  the  Whistler  letters,  etc.,  with  the  text  and  pictures  of 
"  Trilby  "  as  printed  in  Harper'' s  Monthly^  the  American  art- 
ist's  protest  having  led  to  a  slight  revision  of  the  story  before  its 
appearance  i?i  book-form.  The  hint  was  acted  upon  ;  and  two 
pages  of  '■'■  Trilby  ana"  were  printed  in  The  Critic  of  Nov.  ly. 

Though  an  extra  edition  was  stncck  off,  the  call  for  this 
number  has  at  last  exhausted  the  supply  ;  and  the  presefit 
pamphlet,  containing  a?nofig  its  many  items  ofifiterest  a  majority 
of  those  that  have  found  a  place  in  the  colwmis  of  The  Critic, 
may  fairly  claim  to  be  issued  in  response  to  a  popular  call. 

J.  B.  &^J.  L.  Gilder. 


i>^ 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS 

PAGE 

"Trilby:  a  Novel "  ..---._       i 

Mr.  du  Maurier  as  a  Draughtsman    -         -         -         -  4 

"  Trilby  "  on  the  Stage 8 

Personalia  __.----.  n 
Mr.  du  Maurier  and  Mr.  Whistler  -         -         -         -     15 

"  Trilby  "  Entertainments    ------  19 

Miscellanea  -        -        -        -        -        -        -        -22 

Songs      ---- 30 

A  Search  for  Sources   -         -         -         -         -         -         -35 

Nodier's  "  Trilby,"  le  Lutin  d'Argail         -         -         -         37 


ILLUSTRATIONS 
Mr.  du  Maurier's  Monogram  _         -         -  Title-page 

Mr.  du  Maurier's  First  Drawing  for  Punch         -  Frontispiece 
Portrait  of  Mr.  du  Maurier  by  Himself  -         -         -         -11 

Portrait  of  Mr.  Whistler     ------  15 

Portrait  of  Mr.  du  Maurier  from  a  Photograph         -     Face  16 

"Piatt,  the  New  Svengali  "       -_.--.     25 

Mr.  du  Maurier's  House  on  Hampton  Heath       -         Face  32 


** Trilby:  a  Novel" 

By  George  du  Maurier.      With  Illustrations  by  the  Author.     Harper  ^ 

Brothers. 

When  "  Trilby  "  began  to  appear  as  a  serial  in  Harper's 
Monthly.,  in  January  1894,  Mr.  Henry  James  prophesied  that 
it  would  prove  to  be  a  glorification  of  "  the  long  leg  and  the 
twentieth  year."  The  prophecy  was  soon  verified.  At  the 
outset,  indeed,  it  seemed  as  if  the  glorification  were  to  be, 
not  so  much  of  the  long  leg,  as  of  the  large  and  shapely  foot. 
The  whole  story  rested  for  a  while  on  one  of  Trilby's  feet. 
We  say  one,  for  it  was  only  one  of  them — the  left  one — that 
Little  Billee  immortalized  by  drawing  on  the  wall  of  the 
studio  in  the  Place  St.  Anatole  des  Arts  ;  but  they  were 
equally  perfect.  As  the  young  woman  who  had  the  happi- 
ness of  standing  on  this  foot  proclaims,  kicking  off  one  of 
the  big  slippers  in  which  she  is  introduced  to  us,  "  It's  the 
handsomest  foot  in  all  Paris  :  there's  only  one  in  all  Paris  to 
match  it,  and  here  it  is  " — and  off  goes  the  other  slipper. 
The  sketch  of  it  that  proves  Little  Billee  already  a  master  of 
his  art  is  not  shown  till  near  the  end  of  the  book  ;  and  neither 
this  nor  Mr.  du  Maurier's  own  portrait  of  the  pieds  nus  on 
page  21  fully  realizes  one's  notion  of  the  thing's  unapproached 
perfection. 

As  we  have  said,  the  whole  story  rests  for  a  while  on  one 
of  these  handsome  feet ;  but  the  novelist  manages  at  last  to 
free  his  neck  from  the  thraldom  of  the  "  slim,  straight,  rosy 
heel,  clean  cut  and  smooth  as  the  back  of  a  razor,"  and  pro- 
ceeds to  gratify  our  curiosity  to  know  something  about  the 
strange  being  who  poked  about  the  studios  in  the  Quartier 
Latin  in  the  early  fifties,  bare-headed,  and  wearing  a  big, 
military  coat  with  epaulets,  which  she  could  throw  off  when 
she  posed  for  the  ensemble  as  easily  as  she  could  kick  off  the 
loose  slippers  when  only  her  foot  was  desired  as  a  model.  It 
will  be  seen  that  Trilby  was  not  a  woman  of  any  social 
standing.  Her  father  was  an  educated  Irishman,  her  mother 
(his  wife)  a  pretty  barmaid.  They  both  were  dead,  and  she 
herself  was  a  professional  model. 

Two  things  about  her  were  equally  marvellous :  one  was  her 
foot,  the  other  her  voice — an  organ  of  surprising  power,  range 
and  sweetness.  No  less  extraordinary,  perhaps,  was  the  trick 
that  nature  had  played  upon  her,  by  coupling  so  glorious  a 
voice  with  an  ear  that  could  not  distinguish  one  note  from 


2  TRILBYANA 

another — could  scarcely  tell  a  bass  from  a  treble,  and  per- 
mitted her  to  sing  so  badly  that  her  hearers  either  stopped 
their  ears,  laughed  in  her  face,  or  bolted  from  the  room.  The 
American  song  "  Ben  Bolt  "  was  the  one  she  liked  the  best  to 
sing,  and  sang  the  worst.  There  was  something  else  about 
her,  almost  as  strange  as  her  beautiful  feet,  her  magnificent 
voice  and  her  defective  (or  altogether  lacking)  ear  for  music  ; 
and  that  was  the  purity  of  her  character.  She  had  had  affairs 
with  half  a  dozen  men  in  the  studios,  without  really  knowing 
that  it  wasn't  the  right  thing  to  do.  But  her  heart  remained 
spotless  (so  Mr.  du  Maurier  assures  us);  and  it  is  a  most  un- 
fortunate thing  that  Little  Billee's  mother  comes  tearing  over 
to  Paris,  leaving  the  peaceful  dales  and  dairies  of  Devonshire 
behind  her,  in  her  mad  haste  to  break  the  engagement  which 
Trilby  has  at  last  made  with  the  young  English  painter,  after 
having  repeatedly  refused  to  do  so,  notwithstanding  her  great 
love  for  him.  Mrs.  Bagot  has  no  difficulty  in  convincing  her 
that  she  is  no  worthy  mate  for  Little  Billee  ;  and  she  accord- 
ingly runs  away  from  Paris,  heart-broken,  and  becomes  a 
blanchisseiise  defin.  Little  Billee's  heart  is  broken,  too  ;  or 
if  not  broken,  benumbed ;  and  henceforth,  though  he  be- 
comes a  most  successful  artist,  and  the  pet  of  all  London,  he 
takes  his  pleasures  and  successes  sadly  and  listlessly,  caring 
nothing  for  the  wealth  and  fame  that  come  to  him. 

In  the  meantime  a  great  pruna-donna  appears  upon  the 
European  stage,  and  all  the  world  bows  down  before  her. 
Happening  to  be  in  Paris,  Little  Billee  is  persuaded  by 
his  old  chums,  Taffy  the  Yorkshireman  ex-soldier,  and  the 
"  Laird  of  Cockpen  " — painters  both, — to  go  and  hear  the 
prodigy.  Fancy  their  stupefaction  at  recognizing  in  the 
glorious  singer  the  tuneless  Trilby  of  five  years  gone  !  No 
longer  Trilby  O'Ferrall,  but  La  Svengali,  wife  of  their  old 
acquaintance  Svengali  the  Jew,  who  had  recognized  the 
possibilities  of  her  voice  when  he  first  heard  it  in  their  Paris 
studio,  and  had  afterwards  captured  her  and  cultivated  it 
and  by  his  mesmeric  arts  trained  her  as  a  singer  and  even 
made  her  love  him  as  a  dog  loves  his  master.  A  day  or  two 
later,  meeting  him  at  a  hotel,  Svengali  spits  in  Little  Billee's 
face,  and  gets  his  nose  pulled  for  his  pains  by  Taffy.  And 
then  the  gx^zX  prinia-donna  and  her  master  go  to  London  ; 
and  Trilby  breaks  down  in  trying  to  sing  "Ben  Bolt,"  and  is 
hooted  off  the  stage — Svengali's  sudden  death  in  a  stage-box 
(unknown  to  anyone  in  the  house)  having  broken  the  mes- 
meric influence  that  has  made  her  a  singer.  She  pines 
away,  surrounded  by  her  old  friends  the  Englishmen,  and 
an  object  of  solicitude  to  all  Christendom;  and  after  her 


TRILBYANA  3 

death  Little  Billee  pines  away,  too,  and  no  one  is  left  but 
the  big  ex-officer  Taffy — with  the  exception  of  Trilby,  the 
most  attractive  character  in  the  book.  For  Little  Billee 
(whose  sister  he  marries,  after  the  death  of  Trilby,  whom  he, 
too,  loved)  is,  truth  to  tell,  somewhat  of  a  prig,  even  after  the 
sight  of  Trilby  at  the  concert  in  Paris  has  roused  him  from 
the  unemotional  state  to  which  her  flight  consigned  him,  years 
before ;  and  Svengali  is  a  beast,  and  Gecko  is  insignificant. 

The  text  of  the  book  is  the  counterpart  of  its  illustrations, 
for  Mr.  du  Maurier  writes  as  he  draws  — with  infinite  precis- 
ion and  detail.  Nothing  is  omitted  that  could  possibly 
heighten  an  effect.  Instead  of  flashing-  a  scene  or  a  sensa- 
tion upon  you,  he  describes  it  and  redescribes  it,  heaping 
up  the  adjectives  in  masses.  His  art  is  a  different  art  from 
Kipling's,  for  instance,  which  never  wastes  a  syllable.  But 
the  point  to  be  decided  is  not  one  of  methods  but  of  results; 
and  as  a  whole  "  Trilby  "  is  delightful.  It  is  a  slow  and 
laborious  process  by  which  the  author  creates  an  impression 
and  surrounds  his  characters  with  the  atmosphere  he  wishes 
us  to  see  them  in  ;  but  he  does  finally  create  the  impression 
and  the  atmosphere,  and  in  so  doing  justifies  his  means.  He 
has  steeped  his  mind  in  Thackeray,  and  so  has  had  a  noble 
master.  Like  "  Peter  Ibbetson,"  his  new  story  is  unique. 
It  is  a  book  that  could  have  been  written  only  by  an  artist — 
and  illustrated  only  by  the  author ;  it  is  a  book,  moreover,  in 
which  the  man  and  the  style  are  one. 

In  its  present  form  the  story  contains  certain  passages  not 
printed  in  the  magazine — notably,  a  brief  disquisition  on 
sitting  for  the  nude.  On  the  other  hand,  certain  passages 
have  been  altered  in  deference  to  the  wishes  of  Mr.  Whistler, 
who  saw  in  Joe  Sibley,  as  described  and  pictured  by  Mr.  du 
Maurier,  an  unpleasant  resemblance  to  himself.  Not  only 
has  the  text  been  altered,  but  our  friend  Sibley  is  now  called 
Antony,  and  his  hitherto  unbearded  face  is  adorned  with  a 
non-Whistlerian  beard.  (See  "  Trilby,"  opposite  page  132.) 
One  picture  has  been  omitted  altogether.  It  needed  not  the 
accidental  advertising  of  Mr.  Whistler's  threatened  libel  suit 
to  draw  attention  to  the  book.  It  is  its  own  best  advertise- 
ment, and  has  fairly  earned  the  success  implied  in  advance 
orders  so  numerous  as  to  cause  the  postponement  until  to- 
day (8  Sept.  1894)  of  the  original  date  of  publication. 


fir.  du  riaurier  as  a  Draughtsman 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  Mr.  du  Maurier's  work 
as  a  novelist  is  in  no  way  matched  by  his  work  as  a  draughts- 
man, as  exempUfied,  for  instance,  in  the  120  drawings  for 
"  Trilby,"  exhibited  in  December,  1894,  at  the  Avery  gallery. 
Until  he  began  to  write  he  was  known  merely  as  the  author 
of  innumerable  caricatures,  which  had  a  certain  vogue  be- 
cause they  were  at  the  same  time  pictures  of  fashionable 
society  ;  but  even  of  these  the  legend  was  often  the  best 
part.  He  had  mastered  many  types,  but  they  were  nothing 
more  than  that ;  and  one  had  seen  his  millionaires  and 
swells  and  singing  people  and  artists  until  one  had  grown 
rather  tired  of  them.  Then,  suddenly,  it  was  found,  with  the 
first  chapters  of  his  first  novel,  that  in  writing  he  could  give 
to  all  these  well-known  figures  individuality,  could  make 
flesh  and  blood  of  them.  The  drawings  themselves,  at  least 
those  done  as  illustrations  for  his  two  romances,  seem  to 
have  gained  by  that  discovery.  These  do  not  appear  to  be 
the  same  French  blouses  and  English  guardsmen.  Some- 
thing has  got  into  them,  a  touch  of  life,  which  they  did  not 
have  before.  Yet  no  one  will  say  that  the  Little  Billee  of  the 
drawings  now  exhibited  at  Avery's  gallery  is  even  a  shadow  of 
the  Little  Billee  of  the  text.  Of  Trilby  there  is  not  so  much 
as  the  famous  foot.  Any  schoolboy,  almost,  might  have 
made  as  clever  a  travesty  of  the  Venus  de  Milo.  The  best 
presentment  of  the  gigantic  Taffy  is  that  in  which  he  poses  as 
the  Ilyssus.  The  Laird  o'  Cockpen  is  much  better,  being 
frequently  very  like  Mr.  George  W.  Cable,  particularly  where 
he  listens  to  Trilby's  confession — an  accidental  likeness,  no 
doubt,  but  one  that  increases  our  respect  for  the  Laird.  The 
intentional  likeness  of  Frederick  Walker,  who  is  said  to  be 
the  real  original  of  Little  Billee,  is  vastly  superior  to  the 
ideal  one  ;  and  the  many  unnamed  figures  in  the  more  crowded 
compositions  that  appear  to  have  been  sketched  from  the  life 
or  from  a  particularly  vivid  memory  are  among  the  most 
amusing  and  enjoyable  things  in  the  drawings. 

But  it  must  not  be  denied  that  there  is  here  and  there  a 
bit  of  chic  that  approaches  the  ideal — something  not  easily 
to  be  discovered  in  the  artist's  former  work.  Svengali  is 
throughout  a  creation  of  this  sort.  He  is  as  grotesquely  ro- 
mantic, as  Mephistophelian  a  figure  in  the  illustration  as  in 
the  printed  page.      The  only  failure  is  the  head  (on  page  59 


TRILBYANA  5 

of  the  book)  which  is  in  more  senses  than  one  "  as  bad  as 
they  make  them."  He  is  excellent  where  he  laughs  over  the 
two  Englishmen  cleaning  themselves  j  he  is  delightful  where 
he  examines  the  roof  of  Trilby's  mouth,  "  like  the  dome  of 
the  Pantheon,"  "room  in  it  for  '  toutes  les  gloires  de  la 
France.'  "  Where  he  stands  in  the  midst  of  the  crowded  stu- 
dio, "All  as  it  Used  to  Be,"  he  looks  every  inch  the  artist, 
more  so  than  the  "idle  apprentice,"  lounging  against  the 
door  jamb.  If  there  were  such  a  man,  one  who  had  sunk  his 
whole  soul  in  his  art,  he  might  look  like  this,  or  like  the  same 
figure  in  the  hussar  uniform,  a  Semitic  conqueror  "  out  of 
the  mysterious  East."  There  is  a  touch  of  the  spirit  of  the 
illustrators  of  the  romantic  period  in  the  pictures  of  the 
Christmas  festivities,  especially  in  the  two  that  illustrate  the 
peculiar  interchange  of  roles  between  Little  Billee  and  the 
festive  Ribot,  and  in  the  sketch  of  Zouzou  as  the  "Ducal 
French  Fighting-Cock. "  The  scenes  of  common  life,  too, 
are  admirable,  the  free-and-easy,  the  "  Happy  Dinner,"  the 
bargaining  of  the  Laird  with  Mme.  Vinard — "  Je  prong !  " — 
and  the  scene  at  the  rehearsal  where  "  The  First  Violin 
Loses  his  Temper."  The  art  of  the  drawings  is  all  in  ex- 
pression and  action,  and  Du  Maurier,  in  spite  of  all  that  is 
French  in  him,  is  thoroughly  British  in  this,  and  a  descendant 
in  the  right  line  of  Hogarth,  Cruikshank  and  Leech. 

The  "Trilby"  drawings  were  bought  en  bloc  by  some  one 
in  England.  They  had  been  sent  here  to  be  engraved  for 
Harper's  Monthly  and  the  book  ;  the  sale  occurred  before 
they  were  placed  on  exhibition  in  New  York.  A  representa- 
tive of  The  Critic  asked  Mr.  Avery,  who  said  that  a  number  of 
people  had  expressed  a  desire  to  buy  some  of  them,  what  he 
thought  they  would  have  brought,  if  sold  over  here.  He  replied 
that  he  could  not  tell  with  any  degree  of  accuracy,  but  he 
thought  they  would  have  averaged  at  least  $50  apiece.  As  there 
are  120  drawmgs,  this  would  have  meant  $6,000  more  for  Mr. 
du  Maurier.    En  bloc,  no  doubt,  they  brought  a  smaller  sum. 

A  painting  of  ''Trilby,"  by  Mr.  Constant  Mayer,  was 
shown  at  Knoedler's  gallery,  in  December,  along  with  half  a 
dozen  other  and  more  satisfactory  paintings  by  the  same 
artist.  The  hypnotic  condition  of  the  subject  was  declared 
by  Dr.  Allan  McLane  Hamilton  to  be  admirably  suggested 

in  this  fancy  portrait. 

*     *     * 

To  THE  Editors  of  The  Critic: — 

Those  who  express  surprise  at  the  sudden  literary  develop- 
ment of  du  Maurier's  genius  do  not  apparently  recognize 
the  fact  that  the  whole  series  of  his  drawings  has  included 


6  TRILBYANA 

the  literary  element.  His  thoughts  as  expressed  in  art  have 
always  shown  a  close  and  philosophical  observation  of  life, 
an  understanding  of  the  actions  and  motives  of  men.  Every 
one  of  his  illustrations  tells  not  only  an  individual  story,  but 
a  story  of  surroundings  and  times,  of  tendencies,  fads  and 
foibles.  And  the  text  is  always  as  important  as  the  picture ; 
sometimes  it  is  far  more  so.  Who  can  have  forgotten  the 
history  and  culmination  of  the  "old  china"  craze  given  by 
du  Maurier  in  a  four-inch-square  illustration  of  the  young 
husband  and  wife  examining  an  old  teapot,  with  the  exquisite 
text,  "  Oh,  Algernon,  do  you  think  we  can  ever  live  up  to 
it  ? "  Certainly  the  man  who  could  invent  the  appHcation 
of  that  phrase  must  have  stores  of  wit  and  sense  equal  to 
the  writing  of  many  "Peter  Ibbetsons"  and  "Trilbys."  And 
those  stores  were  bound  to  find  their  larger  expression  in 
literature. 

New  York,  22  Nov.,  1894.  Candace  Wheeler. 

The  New  York  Tribune  has  printed  the  following  protest 
against  the  insinuation  that  the  author  of  the  book  was  not 
its  illustrator  also  : — 

"  It  ought  not  to  be  necessary  for  any  formal  contradiction  to 
be  made  of  that  absurd  rumor  which  has  just  been  set  adrift  con- 
cerning the  illustrations  to  'Trilby.'  On  the  face  of  it,  it  is  im- 
possible for  either  Mrs.duMaurier  or  her  daughter  to  have  given  the 
pictures  the  character  they  possess.  They  have  du  Maurier's  style, 
du  Maurier's  technique,  du  Maurier's  peculiar  little  touches  of 
humor,  not  merely  in  the  broad  idea  but  in  that  minute  turn  of  the 
pen  which  makes  all  the  difference  in  the  world  between  an  empty 
profile  and  a  funny  one.  It  is  true  that  there  is  a  dissimilarity  be- 
tween Trilby  in  one  illustration  and  Trilby  in  another,  but  it  should 
be  remembered  that  du  Maurier's  eyesight  has  been  failing  him, 
that  he  has  been  compelled  to  be  prolific  at  a  time  when  he  has 
most  needed  to  lie  fallow  as  an  artist;  and,  in  brief,  the  shortcom- 
ings of  the  '  Trilby '  designs,  if  serious  shortcomings  they  have, 
are  to  be  explained  on  the  most  natural  and  logical  of  grounds. 
The  intrinsic  character  of  the  drawings  proclaims  their  authorship. 
Only  George  du  Maurier  could  have  done  them,  and  not  any  of  the 
trifling  assistance  which  he  may  have  received  from  his  family  in 
matters  of  posing,  costume,  etc.,  could  deprive  him  of  his  respon- 
sibility or  his  honor.  The  recent  tendency  to  criticise  these  de- 
signs with  some  severity  will  soon  be  counteracted.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  they  present  some  of  the  cleverest  work  du  Maurier  has 
ever  done."  *     :):     * 

The  New  York  Sun  printed  a  letter,  not  long  ago,  in  which 
the  drawings  were  declared  to  be  anachronistic.  "Why,"  it 
was  asked,  "  should  Mr.  du   Maurier  deny  to  his  characters 


TRILBYANA  7 

the  crinolines,  waterfalls,  surtouts,  cravats,  chignons,  peg-top 
trousers  and  hoop-skirts  of  the  early  sixties,  and  make  them, 
despite  Taffy's  whiskers,  of  the  monde  of  to-day  ?  Is  it  that 
his  artistic  instincts  have  reverted  to  that  fine  school  of  old 
masters  who  delighted  to  portray,  saving  Taffy's  grace,  Hector 
fighting  in  the  armor  of  the  Black  Prince,  or  turned  out  Ma- 
donnas by  the  score  in  Margaret  of  Anjou  skirts  ? " 

*    *    * 

In  "  Trilby "  every  stroke  of  pen  or  pencil  seems  to  be 
significant.  Is  there  special  meaning  in  the  fact  that,  in 
the  dainty  tail-piece,  one  glass  in  the  spectacles  appears 
to  be  heavily  shaded,  while  the  other  is  clear  ?  Is  Mr. 
du  Maurier,  like  so  many  literary  people,  afflicted  with 
partial  loss  of  sight  or  other  visual  difficulty? 

Amherst  College  Library.  W.  I.  Fletcher. 

[Unhappily  he  is,  and  has  been  for  many  years.  It  is 
only  with  the  greatest  difficulty  that  he  is  able  to  work  with 
either  pen  or  pencil.] 


From  "  Trilby."  Copyright,  1894,  by  Harper  h.  Brothers, 


**  Trilby  ''  on  the  Stage 

Mr.  Paul  M.  Potter's  dramatization  of  "  Trilby"  was  pro- 
duced by  Mr.  A.  M.  Palmer's  company  at  the  Boston  Museum 
on  Monday,  4  March,  1895,  and  achieved  so  great  a  success 
that  several  companies  were  immediately  put  upon  the  road 
to  play  it  throughout  the  country.  Its  first  production  in 
New  York,  with  the  original  cast,  occurred  at  the  Garden 
Theatre,  on  April  15.  Hundreds  ofpeople  were  turned  away 
from  the  door  for  want  of  room  to  accommodate  them  ;  and 
an  offer  was  received  from  Mr.  Beerbohm  Tree,  the  eminent 
English  actor,  for  the  privilege  of  producing  the  play  in 
England,  where  he  himself  wished  to  impersonate  Svengali. 
It  would  be  a  pity  if  the  Lyceum  company  did  not  secure  the 
Enghsh  rights  ;  for  Mr.  Irving  would  make  an  inimitable 
Svengali,  and  Ellen  Terry  would  be  Trilby  without  trying. 

As  nobody  has  ever  succeeded,  or  is  likely  to  succeed,  in 
really  dramatizing  a  novel,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  stage 
version  of  "  Trilby  "  should  prove  in  some  respects  unsatis- 
factory. It  might  be  thought  that  the  book  would  lend  itself 
readily  to  dramatic  treatment ;  but  a  little  consideration  will 
show  that  it  offers  peculiar  difficulties  to  the  playwright,  in- 
asmuch as  its  chief  charm  is  one  of  manner,  which  cannot  be 
transferred  to  the  stage,  while  its  story,  although  it  contains 
some  striking  situations,  such  as  Trilby's  collapse  upon  the 
death  of  Svengali,  consists  chiefly  of  a  series  of  episodes, 
largely  independent  of  each  other  and  strung  together  very 
loosely.  All  things  considered,  Mr.  Potter  ought  not,  per- 
haps, to  be  held  to  too  strict  an  account  for  the  liberties  he  has 
taken  with  the  text  and  some  of  the  personages,  but  he  has 
certainly  lowered  the  tone  of  the  work,  and  been  guilty  of 
various  crudities  of  construction.  There  is  some  excuse  for 
his  employment  of  Svengali  as  the  evil  influence  which  wrecks 
the  happiness  of  Little  Billee  and  Trilby,  but  he  leaves  noth- 
ing of  the  author's  original  intention,  and  infinitely  belittles 
the  character  of  the  girl,  when  he  attributes  her  flight  from  her 
lover  to  mesmeric  suggestion,  instead  of  her  own  noble  and 
unselfish  devotion.  In  many  other  similar  ways  the  spiritual 
side  of  the  book  suffers  at  his  hands.  His  persistent  refer- 
ences to  Trilby's  posing  for  the  figure,  his  selection  of  that 
particular  incident  for  her  first  introduction,  and  the  joking 
references  to  it  which  he  puts  into  the  mouths  of  other  per- 
sonages, are  in  bad  ta§te,  while  his  travesty  of  the  character 


TRILBYANA  9 

of  Dr.  Bagot  is  entirely  without  justification.  Mrs.  Bagot  he 
treats  with  more  consideration,  but  he  reduces  her  to  the  level 
of  the  dullest  stage  conventionality.  Trilby  herself  preserves  a 
good  many  of  her  characteristics,  but  is  degraded  even  more 
than  in  the  book  by  her  subserviency  to  Svengali. 

The  play  is  in  four  acts,  and  the  whole  story  up  to  the  flight 
of  Trilby  is  compressed  into  the  first  two.  This  feat  is  ac- 
complished with  no  small  ingenuity,  but  at  great  cost  of  prob- 
ability. In  this  brief  space  Trilby  is  wooed  and  won,  Sven- 
gali asserts  his  mesmeric  power,  the  marriage  of  Little  Billee 
is  arranged  and  interrupted  by  the  arrival  of  his  mother,  and 
an  elopement  is  planned  and  frustrated.  In  the  third  act 
Trilby  is  to  sing  in  the  Cirque  des  Bashibazouck,  and  all  the 
characters  reassemble  as  if  by  magic  in  the  foyer  of  that  tem- 
ple of  art,  which  is  abandoned  of  all  other  persons  for  their 
sole  benefit.  The  proceedings  which  are  supposed  to  occur 
in  this  retired  spot  are  intrinsically  absurd,  but  they  are  effect- 
ive enough  from  a  scenic  and  theatrical  point  of  view,  and 
were  accepted  by  the  audience,  on  the  first  night,  as  eminently 
natural  and  satisfactory.  They  culminate  in  the  ghastly  death 
of  Svengali  and  the  restoration  of  Trilby  in  a  dazed  and  ex- 
hausted condition  to  the  three  faithful  friends.  In  the  fourth 
act  there  is  another  reunion  of  characters,  and  Trilby,  who 
has  agreed  once  more  to  marry  Little  Billee,  and  is  supposed 
to  be  on  the  road  to  recovery,  dies  suddenly,  upon  the  unex- 
pected apparition  of  Svengali's  photograph. 

As  it  stands,  the  play  is  not  much  superior,  if  at  all,  to 
ordinary  melodrama,  being  almost  wholly  void  of  the  literary, 
humorous  and  personal  charm  of  the  book,  but  it  is  very 
well  played,  has  a  number  of  effective  scenes,  and  is  unques- 
tionably popular.  Miss  Harned's  Trilby,  though  rather  a  faint 
reflection  of  the  original,  has  the  merit  of  being  attractive 
and  womanly,  as  well  as  free  and  frank,  and  exhibits  true 
pathos  in  the  mesmeric  scenes.  On  the  whole,  it  is  a  very 
creditable  impersonation.  Mr.  Lackaye's  Svengali  is  over- 
wrought but  indisputably  strong;  and  Burr  Mcintosh,  John 
Glendenning  and  Alfred  Hickman  represent  the  three  friends 
cleverly,  and  furnish  excellent  living  pictures  of  du  Maurier's 
sketches.  Mr.  Dietrichstein  makes  an  admirable  Zouzou, 
and  all  the  minor  parts  are  performed  competently.  A  fea- 
ture of  the  representation  which  is  received  with  special 
favor  is  the  Christmas  merrymaking  in  the  Latin  Quarter, 
which  is  as  vivacious  and  realistic  as  could  be  wished. 

A  matter  of  considerable  interest  to  authors  and  pub- 
lishers, for  the  copyright  question  involved,  occurred  in  con- 
nection with  the  Boston  performances.    Elmer  Chickering, 


lO  TRILBYANA 

the  well-known  photographer  of  Boston,  took  some  pictures 
of  Mr.  A.  M.  Palmer's  company,  which  naturally  came  into 
demand  at  once.  But  rushing  over  the  wires  came  a  mes- 
sage from  Harper  &  Bros.,  saying  that,  as  the  characters  were 
made  up  after  du  Maurier's  drawings,  they  should  regard 
the  sale  of  any  such  pictures  as  an  infringement  of  their  copy- 
right. To  this  Mr.  Chickering  disagreed,  on  the  ground 
that  the  photographs  were  not  copies  of  any  drawings,  but 
of  actual  scenes  on  the  stage,  which  any  man  might  sketch. 
Telegrams  flew  back  and  forth,  for  the  Messrs.  Harper 
would  not  yield.  Meanwhile,  the  papers  sought  for  the 
photographs,  and  Mr.  Palmer  was  apparently  willing  to  re- 
ceive the  advertisement  their  publication  would  ensure  ;  but 
the  publishers  still  held  off.  At  last  Mr.  Chickering  decided 
to  fight  it  out  on  his  own  line,  for  two  of  the  New  York  papers 
printed  some  of  the  i6o  "Trilby"  pictures  taken  by  him; 
and — as  indicating  an  amicable  adjustment  of  the  dispute — 
a  number  of  them  appeared  in  Harper's  Weekly. 

The  morning  papers  of  April  30  contained  this  despatch: — 
"Denver,  Col.,  April  29.  Did  du  Maurier  write  'Trilby'? 
This  novel  question  was  propounded  to-day  in  the  United  States 
Court  in  good  faith,  when  the  suit  of  Harper  &  Bros,  and  A.  M. 
Palmer  for  an  injunction  against  the  Lyceum  Stock  Company  to 
restrain  them  from  producing  '  Trilby  '  at  their  theatre  was  called. 
The  defendants  allege  that  the  book  entitled  '  Trilby '  was  not 
originated,  invented  or  written  by  du  Maurier.  They  assert  that 
the  original  title  and  book  of  '  Trilby  '  were  first  published  in 
France  in  1820,  and  afterwards  translated  and  published  in  Eng- 
lish in  1847,  and  that  the  title  and  book  have  been  common  prop- 
erty for  seventy-five  years.  The  attorneys  for  the  plaintiffs  asked 
for  time  to  communicate  with  their  clients  in  New  York  as  to  the 
course  they  should  pursue,  and  the  Court  postponed  the  hearing 
until  Wednesday  morning.  Should  the  allegations  of  the  Lyceum 
Company  be  true,  a  sensation  will  be  caused  all  over  the  two  con- 
tinents. This  is  the  first  public  intimation  of  an  attack  on  the 
authenticity  of  the  work,  and  if  it  is  successful  every  company  in 
the  world  will  have  as  much  right  to  play  '  Trilby '  as  the  Boston 
organization." 

The  Lounger  reprinted  the  telegram  with  this  comment : — 
"Charles  Nodier's  'Trilby,  le  Lutin  d'Argail,'  was  published 
in  Paris  in  1822.  It  has  just  one  thing  in  common  with  du 
Maurier's  book — the  first  word  in  its  title."  The  Sunday 
papers  of  May  12  printed  this  paragraph  : — "  Denver,  May 
II.  Judge  Hallet,  in  the  United  States  District  Court  to- 
day, granted  an  injunction  restraining  the  Lyceum  Theatre 
from  producing  '  Trilby '  hereafter,  deciding  that  it  infringed 
on  the  rights  of  Harper  &  Bros.,  and  others.  To-day's  per« 
formance  was  stopped." 


George   du  Maurier 


Personalia 

A  London  correspondent  of  the  Philadelphia  Press  fur- 
nishes some  interesting  notes  of  a  talk  with  Mr.  du  Maurier. 
Concerning    literary    practice,   the    artist-novelist    said    that 

"  Peter  Ibbetson"'  was 
absolutely  the  first 
story  he  ever  wrote. 
"And  yet,"  he  added, 
"  I  have  in  one  sense 
been  writing  stories  all 
my  life.  Every  one  of 
my  pictures,  for  ex- 
ample, has  had  under 
it  a  story  condensed  to 
the  smallest  possible 
space.  The  necessity 
of  condensing  my  de- 
scription and  dialogue 
has  been  of  great  bene- 
fit to  me  in  writing  my 
two  novels."  As  for 
"Trilby,"  Mr.  du  Mau- 
rier said  that  his  earli- 
est conception  of  the 
story  was  quite  differ- 
ent from  the  one  he 
finally  worked  out.  "  I 
had  first  thought  of 
Trilby  as  a  girl  of  very 
low  birth — a  servant,  or  something  like  that.  Then  it  oc- 
curred to  me  that  it  would  be  much  better  to  make  her 
interesting — to  create  a  person  who  would  be  liked  by  read- 
ers. As  a  good  many  people  seem  to  be  fond  of '  Trilby  ' 
now,  I  am  very  glad,  indeed,  that  I  made  the  change."  And 
he  declared  further  that  the  character  of  Trilby  was  not  a 
study  from  life,  but  wholly  imaginary.  It  was  Henry  James 
who  suggested  to  the  artist  that  he  should  write  novels. 

"  It  was  one  day  while  we  were  walking  together  on 
Hampstead  Heath.  We  were  talking  about  storywriting,  and 
I  said  to  him  : — '  If  I  were  a  writer,  it  seems  to  me  that  I 
should  have  no  difficulty  about  plots.  I  have  in  my  head 
now  plots  for  fifty  stories.  I'm  always  working  them  out  for 
my  own  amusement,'     '  Well,'  he  said,  '  it  seems  to  me  th^-t 


From  Harry  Furniss's  "Lika-Joko' 


12  TRILBYANA 

you  are  a  very  fortunate  person  ;  I  wish  you'd  tell  me  one  of 
those  plots.'  Then  I  told  him  the  story  of  '  Trilby.'  "  "  Yes, 
he  praised  it  very  generously.  '  Well,'  I  said,  '  you  may  have 
the  idea  and  work  it  out  to  your  own  satisfaction.'  But  he  re- 
fused to  accept  it.  '  You  must  write  it  yourself,'  he  said :  '  I'm 
sure  you  can  do  it,  if  you'll  only  try.'  But  I  insisted  that  I 
couldn't,  and  so  we  left  the  matter.  But  that  night  after  go- 
ing home  it  occurred  to  me  that  it  would  be  worth  while 
trying  to  write,  after  all.  So  on  the  impulse  I  sat  down  and 
began  to  work.  It  was  not  on  '  Trilby,'  however,  but  on 
'Peter  Ibbetson.'  I  kept  at  it  for  a  time,  but  after  doing 
several  chapters  I  became  utterly  discouraged,  and  said  to 
myself  one  evening  : — '  Oh,  I  can't  do  anything  with  this. 
It's  a  mad  story.  It's  utter  rubbish.'  Then  I  took  up  the 
sheets  and  was  just  about  to  throw  them  into  the  fire  when 
I  thought  I'd  keep  them  for  another  day  and  think  the  thing 
over.  That  night  in  bed,  while  I  was  worrying  about  the 
impossibility  of  going  on  with  the  tale,  the  solution  of  my 
difficulty  suddenly  occurred  to  me.  '  I'll  make  the  hero  mad,' 
I  cried  to  myself,  'that  will  put  everything  right.'  So  the 
next  day  I  wrote  the  introduction,  explaining  Peter's  mad- 
ness, and  after  that  I  went  on  with  the  work  to  the  end  with- 
out any  more  trouble." 

"  Trilby's  "  American  publishers  have  sent  out  the  follow- 
ing note: — "A  letter  from  Mr.  du  Maurier  to  the  late  James 
R.  Osgood  is  given  herewith.  Possibly  the  hint  it  contams 
as  to  the  secret  of  an  exquisite  literary  style  will  interest  the 
greater  number  of  readers:  or  perhaps  his  saying  (in  1890) 
that  he  has  '  several  good  ideas,'  which  would  seem  to  be  an 
answer  to  those  who  have  maintained  that  '  Trilby  '  was 
written  many  years  ago.      *     *     * 

•  My  Dear  Osgood  : — Of  course  I  remembered  my  promise, 
and  as  soon  as  my  book — "Peter  Ibbetson" — was  finished  and 
typewritten,  I  wrote  to  you — last  week,  as  it  happens — at  50 
Fleet  Street,  but  behold !  you  were  in  America ;  so  I  sent  them 
the  copy,  and  I  believe  it  starts  by  to-day's  mail  for  Harper  in 
New  York.  I  don't  know  how  it  got  into  the  papers  that  I  was 
coming  out  in  this  new  line,  but  I  have  already  offers  to  come  to 
an  arrangement.  I  have  no  notion  whether  it  is  suited  to  a  peri- 
odical or  not — you  will  see;  probably  7iot, — but  if  it  is  I  want  to 
be  well  paid  for  it;  first  [illegible],  as  far  as  my  first  book  is  con- 
cerned, whatever  its  merits  ;  secondly,  because  the  only  people  to 
whom  I  have  told  the  story  (H.  James,  Canon  Ainger.  poor  AUing- 
ham  and  a  few  others)  thought  so  well  of  it — or  said  so — as  an 
idea  ;  and  I  have  taken  great  pains  in  the  carrying  out  thereof. 
If  Harper's  doesn't  see  its  way  to  it,  I  shall  offer  it  elsewhere ; 
and  after  that,  I  shall  put  it  in  the  hands  of  an  agent.  And  if  I 
don't  get  what  I  think  I  ought  to,  I  shall  keep  it  and  write  another, 


TRILBYANA  13 

as  I  have  several  good  ideas,  and  writing  this  has  taught  me  a  lot. 
All  of  which  sounds  very  cheeky  and  grand ;  but  I  am  in  no  hurry 
to  come  before  the  public  as  a  novelist  before  I'm  ripe,  and  to 
ripen  myself  duly  I  am  actually  rewriting  it  in  French,  and  you've 
no  idea  what  a  lesson  that  is !     *     *     * 

'  Yours  ever,     G.  DU  Maurier. 

'  15  Bavswater  Terrace,  London,  April  18,  1890.'" 

It  is  said  that  when  the  Messrs.  Harper  were  negotiating 
with  Mr.  du  Maurier  for  "  Trilby,"  he  declined  their  offer  of 
a  royalty  on  the  sales  of  the  book  and  decided  in  favor  of  a 
"  lump  sum."  We  do  not  know  how  large  this  sum  was,  but 
we  are  pretty  sure  that  it  was  not  so  much  as  he  would  have 
made  by  the  royalty  plan.  That  would  have  earned  at  least 
$30,000  for  him  on  a  sale  of  about  100,000  copies  to  31  Dec, 
1894.  The  Messrs.  Harper  have,  however,  done  a  more 
than  generous  thing  by  him :  they  have  informed  him  that 
they  will  pay  him  a  royalty,  and  a  good  big  one,  too,  on  all 
sales  after  i  Jan.,  1895,  on  both  "Trilby"  and  "Peter  Ib- 
betson."  The  600  copies  of  the  edition  de  luxe  of  "  Trilby," 
at  $  10  a  copy,  were  sold  outright  to  the  Syndicate  Trading  Co. 

Our  London  correspondent,  Mr.  Arthur  Waugh,  wrote  to 
us  on  26  April,  1895: — "The  English  reading  public  is  to 
have  its  illustrated  '  Trilby'  in  one  volume  in  June.  Hitherto 
the  three-volume  edition  has  alone  been  in  circulation,  and 
that  without  the  illustrations.  There  are  to  be  120  sketches 
in  all,  and  arrangements  are  also  in  progress  for  a  large-paper 
edition  of  250  copies,  with  six  facsimile  reproductions  of 
original  drawings,  unbound."  Advance  orders  were  received 
for  15,000  copies  of  the  six-shilling  edition. 

In  an  interview  reported  in  the  Tribune  of  June  14,  Mr.  J. 
Henry  Harper  was  quoted  as  saying,  apropos  of  a  cablegram 
to  the  effect  that  the  writing  of  "The  Martians"  was  com- 
pleted:— 

' '  He  assures  me  that  his  new  story  will  not  be  ready  for  the 
publishers  until  December,  1896.  I  cannot  tell  you  much  about 
the  book  itself  yet,  but  it  will  not  be  in  any  sense  a  sequel  to 
'  Trilby  '  except  so  far  as  it  will  succeed  that  book.  The  new  story 
will  deal  in  its  opening  chapters  with  French  school  life,  and  then 
with  English  life,  both  fashionable  and  rowdy ;  then  the  artistic 
world  of  Antwerp  and  Dusseldorf  is  exploited,  while  the  closing 
stages  occur  in  England.  There  will  be  love  in  the  tale,  of  course, 
and  du  Maurier  also  brings  in  the  supernatural  again.  There  will 
be  plenty  of  liveliness  and  some  tragedy.  The  book,  I  am  given 
to  understand,  will  be  capable  of  illustration ;  but  I  am  sorry  to 
say  there  is  some  doubt  as  to  whether  du  Maurier  himself  will  il- 
lustrate it.  It  will  depend  entirely  upon  the  state  of  his  health, 
which  of  late  has  not  been  of  the  best.  The  length  of  the  story 
will  be  greater  than  '  Trilby  '  and  will  run  through  about  twelve 


14  TRILBYANA 

numbers  of  Harper  s  Magazine,  in  which  it  will  first  be  published 
in  serial  form." 

As  a  matter  of  course,  Mr.  du  Maurier  has  had  no  end 
of  invitations  to  read  and  lecture  in  this  country,  but  to  all 
these  invitations  he  has  turned  a  deaf  ear.  In  a  recent 
letter  to  The  Critic's  Lounger,  he  expressed  himself  as  flat- 
tered by  these  overtures,  but  added  that  his  health  would  not 
permit  of  his  accepting  any  of  the  tempting  propositions. 
He  might  be  more  in  the  way  of  temptation,  if  it  were  not 
for  the  play  of  "Trilby."  This  brings  him  in  almost  as  much 
money  as  readings  would.  We  are  told  that  he  is  in  receipt 
of  several  hundred  dollars  a  week  from  this  source — not  ten 
hundred,  but  very  near  it.  This,  surely,  is  a  much  easier  way 
of  earning  money  than  travelling  from  one  end  of  a  big 
country  to  the  other,  for  it  costs  him  no  greater  exertion 
than  the  signing  of  his  name  to  a  check. 

No  one  who  loves  "Trilby"  should  fail  to  read  the  "  au- 
tobiographic interview  "  with  du  Maurier  which  Mr.  Robert 
H.  Sherard  contributed,  with  illustrations,  to  McClure's 
Magazine  for  April,  1895.  From  this  singularly  intimate  and 
interesting  article,  one  learns  that  the  author's  first  picture  in 
Punch  represented  himself  and  his  chum  Whistler*;  also,  that 
the  studio  in  the  Latin  Quarter  where  Trilby  visited  the 
three  English  artists  was  drawn  from  that  of  his  master, 
Gleyre. 

Mr.  du  Manner's  monogram, which  appears  on  the  title-page 
of  this  pamphlet,  is  reproduced  from  a  carving  on  the  table  at 
which  the  staff  contributors  to  Punch  dine  once  a  week,  and 
on  which  many  of  them  have  made  similar  inscriptions.  We 
are  indebted  for  it  to  Mc  Clure''s  Magazine. 


'  See  frontispiece. 


^ 


rir.  du  riauner  and  fir.  Whistler 

The  first  two  or  three  of  the  following  paragraphs  ap- 
peared on  the  Lounger's  page  in  The  Critic  of  i6  June, 
1894,  and  were  reprinted,  with  most  of  the  Whistler  du  Mau- 
rier  items  that  succeed  them,  in  the  issue  of  Nov.  17. 

Mr.  Whistler  has  mastered  two  arts  besides  painting  and 
sketching.  One  he  has  immortalized  in  that  unique  brochure, 
"  The  Gentle  Art  of  Making  Enemies  ";  the  other  is  the  Gentle 

Art  of  Advertis- 
ing  Oneself. 
These  two  gen- 
tilities are  not 
always  to  be  dis- 
tinguished from 
each  other.  It 
is  quite  possible 
to  make  an  ene- 
my in  advertising 
oneself;  and  noth- 
ing is  easier  than 
to  draw  general 
attention  to  one- 
self, by  the  same 
act  that  incurs 
the  enmity  of  an 
in  d  i  vi  dual  — 
especially  if  the 
i  ndivid  ual  be 
eminent.  At  the 
present  moment 
Mr.  du  Maurier 
happens  to  be 
one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  figures  in  the  field  jointly  occupied  by  Art  and 
Letters.  In  choosing  him  as  an  object  of  clamorous  attack, 
Mr.  Whistler  has  shown  himself  a  past-master  of  the  art  of 
advertising  oneself.  By  identifying  himself  with  one  of  the 
characters  in  a  story  that  everyone  is  reading,  he  brings  him- 
self more  conspicuously  before  the  public  than  by  painting  a 
new  picture.  Moreover,  in  sending  to  an  English  newspaper 
a  letter  in  which  he  vituperates  his  quondam  friend  and  fel- 
low-artist, he  interrupts  himself  for  but  a  moment  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  legitimate  calling  as  a  painter. 

IS 


(From  The  IVestjiiitister  Budget) 

Mr.  Whistler 


1 6  TRILBY  ANA 

In  America,  at  least,  few  readers  of  "  Trilby  "  would  have 
known  that,  in  Joe  Sibley,  Mr.  du  Maurier  had  hit  off  some 
of  the  most  salient  "  peculiaristics  "  of  the  immensely  talent- 
ed etcher,  who,  when  he  takes  the  newspapers  into  his  confi- 
dence, dips  his  pen  in  the  corrosive  acid  with  which  he  bites 
his  plates.  Joe  Sibley  is  not  an  engaging  character  ;  he  is 
a  Bohemian  of  the  Bohemians,  clever,  witty,  penniless  and 
presuming.  In  taking  his  sibilant  surname  as  a  pseudonym 
for  Whistler,  we  have  the  endorsement  of  the  artist  himself, 
though  he  does  not  expressly  declare  himself  to  be  the  arche- 
type of  this  particular  character.  Sibley  is  the  only  man  in 
the  book  who  could  have  been  drawn  from  Whistler — the 
Whistler  of  a  generation  ago  ;  and  no  one  but  Sibley  could 
have  written  the  following  letter,  in  which  the  creator  of  the 
character  is  so  wittily  vilified: — 

"To  THE  Editor — Sir:  It  would  seem,  notwithstanding 
my  boastful  declaration,  that,  after  all,  I  had  not,  before  leaving 
England,  completely  rid  myself  of  the  abomination — the  '  friend  ' ! 
One  solitary,  unheeded  one — Mr.  George  du  Maurier — still  re- 
mained, hidden  in  Hampstead.  On  that  healthy  heath  he  has  been 
harboring,  for  nearly  half  a  life,  every  villainy  of  good  fellowship 
that  could  be  perfected  by  the  careless  frequentation  of  our  early 
intimacy  and  my  unsuspecting  c7zwrtrii'(/(?r/<?.  Of  this  pent-up  envy, 
malice  and  furtive  intent  he  never  at  any  moment  during  all  that 
time  allowed  me,  while  affectionately  grasping  his  honest  Anglo- 
French  fist,  to  detect  the  faintest  indication.  Now  that  my  back 
is  turned,  the  old  //lar/m'te  of  ovlx  pot-au-feu  he  fills  with  the  picric 
acid  of  30  years'  spite,  and,  in  an  American  magazine,  fires  off 
his  bomb  of  mendacious  recollection  and  poisoned  rancour.  The 
lie  with  which  it  is  loaded  a  mon  intention  he  proposes  for  my  pos- 
sible '  future  biographer  ' — but  I  fancy  it  explodes,  as  is  usual,  in 
his  own  waistcoat,  and  he  furnishes,  in  his  present  unseemly  state, 
an  excellent  example  of  all  those  others  who,  like  himself,  have 
thought  a  foul  friend  a  finer  fellow  than  an  open  enemy. 

"Paris.  J.  M'Neill  Whistler. 

• '  Reflection  :  The  co/npagnon  of  the  pMard  we  guillotine.  Guineas 
are  given  to  the  popular  companion  who  prepares  his  infernal 
machine  for  the  distinguished  associates  in  whose  friendship  he 
has  successfully  speculated." 

*     *     * 

The  following  card  appeared  in  Harper's  for  October : — 
"  Pursuant  to  an  arrangement  made  with  Mr.  J.  McNeill  Whist- 
ler by  our  London  agents,  Messrs.  Osgood,  Mcllvaine  &  Co.,  the 
publishers  of  the  English  edition  of  Harper  s  Magazine,   the  fol- 
lowing letter  is  published  : — 

August  31,  1894. 

"  '  Dear  Sir — Our  attention  has  been  called  to  the  attack 
made  upon  you  by  Mr.  du  Maurier  in  the  novel  "  Trilby,"  which 
appeared  in  our  magazine.     If  we  had  had  any  knowledge  of  per- 


/' 


TRILBYANA  17 

sonal  reference  to  yourself  being  intended,  we  should  not  have 
permitted  the  publication  of  such  passages  as  could  be  offensive  to 
you.  As  it  is,  we  have  freely  made  such  reparation  as  is  in  our 
power.  We  have  agreed  to  stop  future  sales  of  the  March  num- 
ber of  Harper  s  Magazine,'^  and  we  undertake  that,  when  the 
story  appears  in  the  form  of  a  book,  the  March  number  shall  be  so 
rewritten  as  to  omit  every  mention  of  the  offensive  character,  and 
that  the  illustration  which  represents  the  Idle  Apprentice  shall  be 
excised,  and  that  the  portraits  of  Joe  Sibley  in  the  general  scene 
shall  be  altered  so  as  to  give  no  clue  to  your  identity.  Moreover, 
we  engage  to  print  and  insert  in  our  magazine  for  the  month  of 
October  this  letter  of  apology  addressed  to  you.  Assuring  you 
again  of  our  sincere  regret  that  you  should  have  sustained  the 
least  annoyance  in  any  publication  of  ours,  we  are, 

"  '  Yours  respectfully,         Harper  &  Brothers. 
"'J.  McNeill  Whistler,  Esq.'" 
*    *    * 

One  of  the  humors  of  the  controversy  was  a  letter  that  ap- 
peared in  the  first  number  of  Harry  Furniss's  Lika-Joko. 
It  was  supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Whistler  to  express 
his  indignation  at  having  been  cut  out  of  the  book.  The 
English  as  well  as  the  American  papers  fell  into  the  trap,  and 
discussed  the  letter  as  a  genuine  expression  of  Mr.  Whistler's 
outraged  feelings.  It  was  only  a  joke,  however — and  is  said 
to  have  been  the  only  joke  in  Mr.  Furniss's  comic  paper. 
To  an  interviewer  for  The  Westminster  Budget^  Mr.  Whistler 
expressed  his  surprise  that  anyone  should  have  been  taken 
in  by  the  parody.  "There  was  no  harm  in  the  appearance 
of  the  article,"  he  said,  "but  what  caused  my  merriment, 
though  not  surprise,  is  that  anyone  would  have  thought  for 
a  moment  that  I  had  written  it.  But  then,  it  was  in  England, 
and  in  England  anything  is  possible  !  "  That  the  parody 
was  a  clever  one  will  be  seen  from  the  following  extract : — 

" In  the  fascinating  numbers  of  'Trilby,'  as  they  appeared  in 
Harper  s  Magazine,  I  read  with  delight  of  one  Joe  Sibley,  idle 
apprentice,  king  of  Bohemia,  roi  destruands,  always  in  debt,  vain, 
witty,  exquisite  and  original  in  art,  eccentric  in  dress,  genial, 
caressing,  scrupulously  clean,  sympathetic,  charming ;  an  irresisti- 
ble but  unreliable  friend,  a  jester  of  infinite  humor,  a  man  now 
perched  upon  a  pinnacle  of  fame  (and  notoriety),  a  worshipper  of 
himself;  a  white-haired,  tall,  slim,  graceful  person  with  pretty 
manners  and  an  unimpeachable  moral  tone.  My  only  regret  was 
that  too  little  was  said  about  so  charming  a  creation.  I  looked  to 
see  more  of  him  in  the  published  three  volumes.  But  no !  I  found 
the  addition  of  some  thoughtful  excursuses  by  Mr.du  Maurier  upon 
nudity,  agnosticism,  and  other  more  hazardous  subjects,  which 
had,  presumably,  been  judged  too  strong  for  the  ice-watered,  ice- 


Unless  in  amended  form. 


i8  TRILBYANA 

creamed  constitution  of  the  American  Philistine;  but  I  looked  in 
vain  for  the  delightful  Joseph  Sibley.  In  his  place  I  find  a  yellow- 
haired  Switzer,  one  Antony,  son  of  a  respectable  burgher  of  Lau- 
sanne, who  is  now  tall,  stout,  strikingly  handsome  and  rather 
bald,  but  who  in  his  youth  had  all  the  characteristics  of  the  lost 
Joseph  Sibley — his  idleness,  his  debts,  his  humor,  his  art,  his 
eccentricity,  his  charm.  I  rubbed  my  eye-glass.  Je  }ite  suis  de- 
7na7idi  ponrqiioi. " 

Displeased  with  The  Speaker's  comments  on  his  connec- 
tion with  "Trilby,"  Mr.  Whistler  compelled  that  paper  to 
print  a  letter  from  his  solicitors,  from  which  it  appears  that 
the  revised  MS.  of  the  novel  was  sent  to  him  to  be  passed. 
And  apropos  of  this,  he  remarks  in  a  letter  to  the  editor: — 
"  I  question  if  it  be  not  without  precedent  that  a  writer  ever 
before  so  abjectly  regorged  his  spleen  as  to  submit  his 
Bowdlerized  work  to  his  victim  for  his  approval." 

In  the  Chicago  Tribune  of  Sunday,  2  Dec,  1894,  were  re- 
printed from  Harper'' s  the  pictures  of,  and  passages  about,  Joe 
Sibley  which  provoked  Mr.  Whistler's  threatened  libel-suit. 
The  revised  passages,  as  they  appear  in  the  book,  were  also 
given. 


(^ 


'*  Trilby  "   Entertainments 

Of  entertainments  founded  upon  Mr.  du  Maurier's  book, 
the  name  is  legion.  The  most  pretentious,  and  at  the  same 
time  the  most  successful,  was  the  series  of  "  Scenes  and 
Songs  from  '  Trilby,'  "  given  at  Sherry's  in  the  afternoon  and 
again  in  the  evening  of  Saturday,  February  9,  for  the  benefit 
of  that  admirable  institution,  the  New  York  Kindergarten 
Association.  The  affair,  which  had  the  advantage  of  dis- 
tinguished patronage, was  given  under  the  special  management 
of  Mrs.  Charles  H.  Ditson ;  Mr.  E.  Hamilton  Bell  arranged 
the  details  of  scenery  and  costume  ;  and  among  those  who 
personated  the  various  characters  were  several  well-known 
artists. 

The  audience  was  a  large  one,  which  was  excellent  for  the 
little  ones  who  were  to  be  benefited;  and  it  was  enthusiastic, 
which  was  only  a  just  and  fit  tribute  to  managers,  performers 
and  singers.  Every  detail  of  the  tableaux  had  been  thought 
out  with  infinite  care,  and  posing,  grouping  and  make-up 
were  as  near  perfection  as  du  Maurier  himself  could  have 
wished.  The  program  included  the  singing  of  "  Ben  Bolt," 
"  Bonjour,  Suzon,"  "  Au  Clair  de  la  Lune  "  and  several  other 
songs,  and  the  following  tableaux: — "The  Three  Musketeers 
of  the  Brush  "  ;  "  Wistful  and  Sweet  "  ;  "  Svengah  "  ;  "I  will 
Not !  "  "  All  As  it  Used  to  Be  " ;  "  Answer  Me,  Trilby  !  "  ; 
"The  Soft  Eyes";  "The  Sweet  Melodic  Phrase"; 
"  Dors,  Ma  Mignonne  "  ;  "  The  Nightingale's  First  Song  "  ; 
"Malbrouck"  and  "It  was  Trilby."  The  entertainment 
opened  most  effectively  with  a  quartet  by  Messrs.  Devoll, 
Moore,  Bracewell  and  Devoll.  The  first  tableau,  "  Three 
Musketeers  of  the  Brush,"  received  the  admiration  it  deserved, 
as  did,  also,  the  singing  of  Miss  Akers  and  Mr.  Mackenzie 
Gordon  interspersed  with  the  different  tableaux.  The  first 
appearance  of  Trilby  was  awaited  with  impatient  expectancy, 
and  when  she  came,  she  proved  to  be  "wistful  and  sweet," 
indeed,  in  the  person  of  Mrs.  Eric  Pape,  the  wife  of  the  well- 
known  young  artist.  The  last  tableau  of  the  second  part, 
"  It  was  Trilby,"  was  most  effectively  arranged  by  Mr.  Pape. 
The  full  cast  of  characters  was  as  follows  : — Trilby,  Mrs.  Eric 
Pape ;  Taffy,  W.  Harris  Roome  ;  The  Laird,  Evert  Jansen 
Wendell;  Little  Billee,  J.  Gerald Benkard ;  Svengali,  Robert 
Reid  ;  Gecko,  Eric  Pape ;  Dodor,  William  Abbott ;  Zouzou, 
Franklin  C.  Butler ;  Mrs.  Bagot,  Mrs.  J.  Wells  Champney ; 
Miss  Bagot,  Miss  Lilian  Wing  ;  Mme.  Malbrouck,  Mme.  Bet- 

19 


20  TRILBYANA 

tini ;  Durien,  Leslie  G.  Cauldwell ;  Blanchisseuse,  Miss  Lou- 
lou  Noel ;  Fencer,  Lieut.  Gianni  Bettini. 

During  the  intermission  between  the  first  and  second  parts 
of  the  program,  Mrs.  Kate  Douglas  Wiggin  sold  a  copy  of 
"  Trilby  "  presented  by  the  Messrs.  Harper.  To  this  Mr. 
du  Maurier  and  Mr.  Henry  James  (who  persuaded  the  author 
to  write  the  book)  had  contributed  their  autographs,  and  Dr. 
English  a  manuscript  copy  of  his  song  "  Ben  Bolt."  The 
volume  fetched  $  IOC,  making  the  net  addition  to  the  Kinder- 
garten Association's  treasury  about  $2500. 

*  *    * 

At  Mr.  Mansfield's  Garrick  Theatre,  "Trilby  "  has  been 
burlesqued.  It  had  already  been  parodied  in  book-form, 
produced  as  a  melodrama,  read  aloud  in  drawing-rooms,  with 
music,  and  put  on  the  platform  in  "  scenes  and  songs,"  so 
that  nothing  was  left  to  do  with  it  but  to  make  an  "  operatic 
burlesque  "  of  it ;  and  this  was  duly  accomplished  by  Messrs. 
Joseph  W.  Herbert  and  Charles  Puerner,  the  latter  being 
responsible  for  the  music  and  the  former  for  the  words.  The 
piece  is  called  "  Thrilby."  As  in  the  serious  play  founded 
upon  the  novel,  the  villain  (rechristened  "Spaghetti  ")  is  the 
principal  figure ;  and  mesmerism  is  carried  to  a  ridiculous 
excess,  even  inanimate  objects  succumbing  to  its  influence. 
There  is  a  farce  within  this  farce  ;  for  "  Mme.  Sans-Gene  " 
is  parodied  in  a  sub-play  introduced  under  the  name  of 
"  Mme.  Sans  Ra-Gene. "  The  burlesque  is  by  no  means  free 
from  horse-play,  but  it  unquestionably  accomplishes  its  pur- 
pose, which  is  merely  to  amuse. 

At  the  Casino,  as  well  as  at  the  Garrick,  "  Trilby "  and 

"  Mme.  Sans  Gene  "  have  both  been  travestied. 

*  *     * 

{Harper's  Weekly') 
"  The  Weekly  has  received  a  copy  of  the  programme  of  a 
novel  and  decidedly  interesting  literary  and  musical  enter- 
tainment that  was  given  on  Oct.  17,  at  Omaha.  It  was 
called  '  An  Evening  with  Trilby.'  The  participants  were  all 
gentlemen.  The  subjects  of  the  papers  read  were  '  The 
Story  of  Trilby,'  '  Du  Maurier,  his  Life  and  Work,'  '  The 
French  of  Trilby,'  '  The  Identity  of  the  Artists  in  Trilby,' 
'  Trilby's  Voice  and  Method,'  '  Trilby  as  a  Hypnotic  Sub- 
ject,' 'Could  Trilby  be  Successfully  Dramatized?'  After 
each  paper  there  was  Trilby  inusic,  which  included  '  Ben 
Bolt,'  'Au  Clair  de  la  Lune,'  '  Malbrouck  s'en  va-t-en  Guerre  ' 
and  other  songs  and  instrumental  pieces.  At  the  end  of  the 
programme  comes  the  inquiry,  '  What  shall  we  'ave  the  pleas- 
ure of  drinkin'  after  that  werry  nice  'armony  ? '  and  then  the 
page  turns  over  to  the  farewell  couplet : — 


TRILBYANA  2i 

'  A  little  warmth,  a  little  light 
Of  love's  bestowing — and  so,  good-night.' 

"  It  is  a  pretty  far  cry  from  Paris  to  Omaha,  but  Trilby's 
voice  seems  to  have  carried  that  distance  without  the  least 
trouble.  It  is  worth  remarking  that  these  Omaha  gentlemen 
made  seven  *  papers  '  about  her  without  finding  it  necessary 
to  discuss  her  morals." 

*  *     * 

Of  the  many  "  Trilby"  entertainments  in  New  York  one 
of  the  most  successful  was  given  in  May,  at  the  house  of 
Postmaster  Dayton,  for  the  benefit  of  St.  Luke's  Home  for 
Indigent  Christian  Females.  A  literary  criticism  of  the  book 
was  read,  and  one  of  the  chapters  of  the  story  ;  and  the 
songs  that  are  oftenest  alluded  to  were  sung.  The  affair 
was  given  under  the  auspices  of  the  Daughters  of  the  Revo- 
lution, 

:(:         *         * 

"Trilby's"  wide  popularity — in  the  sense  that  many 
people  who  are  not,  ordinarily,  novel-readers  take  a  lively  in- 
terest in  it — is  evidenced  by  many  indications,  not  the  least 
significant  being  the  concerts  made  up  from  the  music  men- 
tioned in  the  novel.  One  such  was  given  in  San  Francisco 
last  December,  under  the  management  of  the  ladies  of  the 
Mercantile  Library  Auxiliary  and  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Library's  unfortunately  slender  exchequer.  According  toThe 
Argonaut,  a  very  interesting  program  was  presented,  includ- 
ing Schubert's  "  Rosamonde,"  Adam's  "  Cantique  de  Noel," 
Chopin's  Impromptu  in  A  flat,  "  Bonjour  Suzon,"  "  Le  Capi- 
taine  Roquefinette"  and  the  much-discussed  "  Ben  Bolt." 

*  *    * 

"  Trilby  "  representations  have  broken  out  in  all  sorts 
of  strange  places'  At  the  Eden  Musee,  New  York,  Miss 
Ganthony  has  been  restrained  from  impersonating  du 
Maurier's  heroine  ;  and  at  "  The  Greatest  Show  on  Earth," 
Miss  Marie  Meers,  who  has  not  been  restrained,  appears 
nightly  in  Trilby  costume,  riding  bareback  (not  barefoot) 
around  the  tan-bark  to  the  snapping  of  ringmaster  Svengali's 
whip. 


Miscellanea 

Mr.  du  Maurier  and  Mr.  James  took  a  walk  together, 
one  day,  and  the  artist  unfolded  to  the  novelist  the  plot  of 
"Trilby,"  suggesting  that  he  should  use  it  in  a  novel.  Mr. 
James  persuaded  him  to  write  the  story  himself.  He  did  so  ; 
and  what  has  been  the  result  ?  Think  of  the  time  and  skill, 
the  money  and  material  that  have  been  employed  in  putting 
the  thing  in  type,  preparing  its  illustrations,  printing  it  as  a 
serial  and  reprinting  it  in  book-form  ;  in  dramatizing  it,  bur- 
lesquing it  in  books  and  on  the  stage,  in  adapting  its  songs 
and  illustrations  for  reproduction  on  lecture  platforms  and  in 
drawing-rooms,  and  in  translating  and  publishing  Nodier's 
tale,  from  which  the  author  took  his  title  !  Its  presentation 
has  given  employment,  onerous  or  enjoyable,  honorary  or 
remunerative,  to  thousands ;  hundreds  of  thousands  have  read 
it,  and  hundreds  of  thousands  seen  it  on  the  stage ;  and  its 
leading  characters — Trilby,  Svengali  and  "  the  three  mus- 
keteers of  the  brush  " — have  become  household  names  and 
personalities.  It  has  enriched  its  author,  added  to  the  wealth 
of  its  publishers,  put  money  in  the  purses  of  playwright  and 
manager  and  replenished  the  treasuries  of  more  than  one  ex- 
cellent charity.  Directly  or  indirectly,  no  doubt,  it  has 
caused  much  more  than  a  million  dollars  to  change  hands 
within  the  past  eighteen  months.  And  last  but  not  least,  it 
is  responsible  for  this  pamphlet,  in  which  is  chronicled  the 
story  of  its  rise  and  progress. 


At  the  Mercantile  Library,  New  York,  it  was  found  neces- 
sary, at  the  time  when  "Trilby"  was  in  greatest  demand,  to 
circulate  a  hundred  copies  of  the  book;  at  the  beginning  of 
June  the  number  in  circulation  was  seventy.  Mr.  Wingate 
wrote  to  The  Critic  from  Boston,  in  June,  that  there  were  six 
copies  of  the  book  in  the  main  building  of  the  Public  Library, 
and  one  in  each  of  its  branches,  but  that  this  supply  was  in- 
adequate, 72  demands  for  the  book  having  come  from  the 
branch  libraries  in  a  single  day.  And  Mr.  Hild  writes  to 
us  from  Chicago  that  the  Public  Library  of  that  city  has  26 
copies,  but  that  they  do  not  begin  to  supply  the  demand. 
"I  believe  we  could  use  260  and  never  find  a  copy  on  the 
shelves.  Every  one  of  our  54,000  card-holders  seems  de- 
termined to  read  the  book." 


TRILBYANA  23 

On  the  point  of  the  morality  or  immorality  of  the  book, 
7 he  Independefit  says  : — 

' '  Mr.  du  Maurier,  apparently  in  deference  to  the  current  craze 
for  heroines  that  have  been  seduced,  or  are  just  going  to  be,  be- 
daubs the  first  fifty  pages  of  his  otherwise  clean  story  with  telling 
how  his  pure  heroine,  Trilby,  a  blanchtssense  de  fiji,  had  been  led 
astray,  and  so  forth.  That  is  to  say,  he  unnecessarily  goes  be- 
hind the  true  door  of  his  story  to  wash  some  dirty  linen,  and  then 
he  sets  forth." 

On  this  point  the  San  Francisco  Argonaut  does  not  agree 
with  its  New  York  contemporary : — 

"With  those  who  think  these  passages  immoral,  we  cannot 
agree.  Mr.  du  Maurier  has  treated  with  candor  some  facts  belong- 
ing to  the  realm  of  things  which  are  usually  understood  instead  of 
being  talked  about ;  but  he  has  done  this  with  singular  manliness 
and  delicacy,  and  with  entire  absence  of  mawkish  or  other  im- 
proper sentiment.  The  impression  of  Trilby's  character  left  upon 
the  reader  is  entirely  that  of  a  noble,  generous  woman,  whose 
life  is  not  a  sin,  but  a  tragedy." 

The  same  paper  reproduces  "a  letter  Mr.  du  Maurier 
wrote  to  a  Paterson,  N.  J.,  man  who  contended  that  the  re- 
lations of  Trilby  with  her  hypnotizer  were  chaste,  so  far  as 
her  consciousness  of  them  went,  and  decided  to  find  out  if 
he  were  right  by  writing  to  the  novelist ' ' : — 

"  New  Grove  >House,  Hampstead  Heath, 

"  October  31,  1894. 

* '  Dear  Sir  :  In  answer  to  your  letter  of  September  24th,  I  beg 
to  say  that  you  are  right  about  Trilby.  When  free  from  mesmeric 
influence,  she  lived  with  him  as  his  daughter,  and  was  quite  inno- 
cent of  any  other  relation.     In  haste,  yours  very  truly, 

"G.  DU  Maurier." 


Early  in  March,  1895,  one  of  the  Boston  clergymen  ad- 
vertised Robert  Grant's  "Art  of  Living,"  as  our  Boston  cor- 
respondent reported  at  the  time,  and  on  Sunday,  March  17, 
another  prominent  minister  took  up  "Trilby."  So  it  is  evi- 
dent that,  even  if  Boston  authorship  is  on  the  decline,  as  so 
many  New  Yorkers  enviously  declare,  the  Boston  clergy  are 
going  to  keep  alive  the  interest  in  literary  matters  by  em- 
phatic words  to  their  congregations.  "  Have  you  read 
'  Trilby '  ?  "  was  the  theme  of  the  Rev.  George  W.  Bicknell's 
sermon,  and  the  topic  crowded  the  church.  The  Reverend 
Doctor  declared  that  he  had  spent  five  hours  reading  the 
book,  and  had  decided  that  it  was  a  story  of  magnificent  pos- 
sibilities, but  that  its  morality  was  "as  one  viewed  it."  He 
considered  the  tale  far-fetched  and  over-drawn  and  lacking 
in  healthful  flavor,   and   placed  it  in  the  same  class  of  art 


24  TRILBYANA 

with  the  nude  paintings  at  the  World's  Fair — a  position  to 
which,  we  presume,  the  author  would  not  object.  Then  he 
launched  out  into  an  emphatic  declaration  that  it  was  time 
for  the  pulpit  to  speak  out  against  art  of  this  kind. 

*  *     * 

Du  Maurier's  heroine  has  been  heard  of  over  in  Brooklyn. 
A  married  woman,  aged  twenty-nine,  got  into  a  dispute  with 
her  husband,  recently,  as  to  the  morals  of  the  young  model, 
and  proved  her  point  by  "  smashing  him  over  the  head  with 
an  earthenware  jar."  In  the  newspaper  in  which  we  read  of 
this  intemperate  act,  the  husband's  age  is  not  given,  nor 
the  side  he  took  in  the  argument,  before  he  was  shown  to  be 
wrong.  The  fact  that  he  got  his  head  broken  proves  little 
— except  the  folly  of  arguing  with  a  woman  ;  nor  the  addi- 
tional fact  that  he  refused  to  appear  against  his  wife  in  court. 
But  the  case  is  one  in  which  a  good  deal  might  be  said  on 
both  sides — if  earthenware  jars  were  not  introduced  too  early 

in  the  discussion. 

*  *    * 

Mr.  du  Maurier  has  worse  offenses  to  atone  for  than  the 
breaking  of  the  Brooklyn  man's  silly  head.  But  for  his  enter- 
taining book  we  should  have  been  spared  the  unreadable 
prose  of  "Biltry:  a  Parody  on  'Trilby'  "  and  the  unspeakable 
verse  of  "  Drilby  Re-versed,"  the  former  by  Mary  Kyle  Dal- 
las, the  latter  by  Leopold  Jordan.  In  vulgarity  and  banality, 
these  two  precious  productions  run  each  other  a  close  race. 
Of  the  two  we  think  "  Drilby  "  a  trifle  the  less  objectionable, 
merely  because  the  proportion  of  text  to  white  paper  is  some- 
what smaller.  Both  are  poorly  illustrated,  and  printed  on 
much  better  paper  than  they  deserve. 


E.  C.  OF  New  Albany,  Ind.,  thinks  .that  "  Trilby's  "  possi- 
bilities as  a  vehicle  of  evil  to  the  much-considered  American 
"  young  person  "  are  emphasized  by  a  conversation  recently 
overheard  by  her  between  two  feminine  "  young  persons  "  in 
Indiana.  "What  is  this  'Trilby'  everybody  is  talking 
about  ?  "  asked  one  of  these.  "  Oh,"  replied  the  other,  "  it's 
a  book — a  novel."  "  They  say  it  is  awfully  bad,"  said  the 
first  young  person.  "  Yes,  I've  heard  so  ;  but  it  isn't  so  at 
all.  I  read  it  clear  through,  and  there  wasn't  anything  bad 
in  it.  I  didn't  like  it  either ;  there  is  too  much  French  in 
it."  "  French  ?  "  commented  the  first  young  woman;  "well 
that's  it,  then — all  the  bad  part  is  in  French."  "  I  hadn't 
thought  of  that,"  mused  the  other  one  ;  "  I  suppose  that's 
just  the  way  of  it.    Anyway,  it  isn't  nearly  as  good  as  '  Dally.' " 


TRILBYANA 


25 


"  Trilby  "  has  even  got  into  American  politics.  This 
shows  better  than  anything  else  how  wide  an  audience  the 
story  must  have  reached.  How  many  allusions  to  a  book  of 
the  current  year  would  be  comprehensible  to  the  average 

PUAT-r.     THE     NEW     SVENGALL, 


THE     HYPNOTIZING 

OF 

MORTON. 

Ha 

ve   y 

ou 

read 

Trilby?    Svengall 

wo 

s  a  bad. 

^vicUed  r 

no 

n.  wtio 

Hised 

0   h\ 

pr 

lotize 

poor,  &v^'eel    little 

Trilby  and  i 

-nakeher 

sir 

la  and 

Jcl  na 

he  r 

leased  - 

With  opoloeies  to 

Du 

.Maurier 

reader  of  a  New  York  daily  paper  ?  We  reproduce  the  accom- 
panying cartoon  from  the  World  of  Dec.  9  as  a  curiosity  of 
literature  and  an  interesting  contribution  to  "  Trilbyana." 
It  is  adapted  from  Mr.  du  Maurier's  drawing  entitled  "  Et 
Maintenant  Dors,  ma  Mignonne!  " 


A  Broadway  caterer  now  "  molds  his  ice-cream  in  the 
shape  of  a  model  of  Trilby's  ever-famous  foot."  Mr.  du 
Maurier  can  want  no  greater  evidence  of  the  popularity  of 
his  story  in  America.  That  there  is  not  a  "  Trilby  "  shoe  on 
the  market  reflects  little  credit  upon  the  enterprise  of  our 
bootmakers.  It  is  an  opportunity  that  no  soap-maker  would 
neglect  if  it  came  his  way.  Possibly  the  fact  that  Trilby's 
foot  was  large  (as  well  as  shapely)  has  something  to  do  with 
the  shoemakers'  backwardness.  Hers  were  not  Cinderella 
slippers,      ("The  Lounger,"  30  March,  1895.) 

Mr.  C.  W.  Coleman,  Librarian  of  Wilham  and  Mary  Col- 
lege, writes  from  Williamsburg,  Va.,  to  say  that  I  am  in  error 
in  supposing  that  the  bootmakers  of  this  wide-wake  country 


26  TRILBYANA 

have  not  yet  seized  the  name  of  du  Maurier's  heroine  for 
advertising  purposes.  In  his  note  of  correction  he  encloses 
a  clipping  from  the  catalogue  of  a  Chicago  house,  containing 
a  picture  of  a  high-heeled  ladies'  shoe,  flanked  by  an  adver- 
tisement of  "'The  Trilby,'  price  $3,  postage  15  cts. — 'an 
ornament  to  any  foot,' "  etc.  And  I  hear  that  the  shop-win- 
dows of  Norfolk,  Va.,  fairly  bristle  with  shoes  of  this  brand. 
Moreover,  a  bootmaker's  advertisement  in  the  Pittsburg /'^^j-/ 
shows  (as  a  punning  Pennsylvania  correspondent  writes  to  me) 
that  "Trilby  has  obtained  a  foothold  even  in  the  Iron  City." 
According  to  the  advertisement,  "  this  enterprising  firm  offer 
to  the  lady  sending  in  the  most  accurate  dimensions  according 
to  the  diagram  above,  together  with  a  drawn  outline  of  the 
nude  foot  on  paper,  a  handsome  pair  of  the  highest  grade 
'  Trilby  '  shoe,  which  they  will  have  made  up  especially  for 
the  winner.  This  stylish  foot  adornment  for  Pittsburg's  model 
feet  will  be  satin  or  silk  lined  throughout,  of  the  finest  quality 
kid  and  best  workmanship.  Bear  in  mind,  ladies,  it  need  not 
be  the  smallest  feet  that  win,  but  the  most  perfect  form  of 
a  foot  from  a  standpoint  of  proportionate  measurements." 
("The  Lounger,"   13  April,  1895.) 

G.  A.  D.  WRITES  from  Philadelphia  to  deplore  the  Quaker 
City's  vulgarization  of  the  name  and  fame  of  Trilby  ;  and  in 
justification  of  his  plaint  encloses  a  Chestnut  Street  dealer's 
advertisement  of  the  "  Trilby  Sausage  "  !  This,  it  is  claimed, 
"  is  something  new,  and  fills  a  long-felt  want  "  ;  "  they  melt 
in  your  mouth."  They  don't  melt  in  G.  A.  D.'s  mouth,  but 
they  rankle  in  his  aesthetic  soul.  "  What  next  ?  "  he  exclaims  ; 
"  an  Ophelia  tooth-wash,  a  Duchess  of  Towers  garbage-pail!  " 
Our  correspondent  has  not  yet  heard  of  the  "  Trilby  Ham." 
This,  if  anything,  is  worse  than  the  Sausage.  It  has  been 
heard  of  in  this  city ;  whether  or  no  it  originated  here,  I  do 
not  care  to  inquire.  But  in  an  Eighth  Avenue  dime-museum, 
there  are  "  Twenty  Trilbys,"  and  visitors  vote  for  the  hand- 
somest !  Moreover,  we  have  now  the  "Trilby  Hearth-brush"; 
and  huge  posters  on  the  East  Side  announce  a  picnic  of  the 
"Trilby  Coterie  and  Chowder  Club." 


The  Evening  Post  reprints  from  James  Braid's  "  Observa- 
tions of  Trance  "  (1850,  page  43)  the  following  paragraph, 
which  is  of  singular  interest  in  connection  with  the  novel 
which  has  made  such  an  extraordinary  sensation  in  this 
country  during  the  past  year,  and  has  become  as  great  a  suc- 
cess on  the  stage  as  in  book-form.    Svengali's  transformation 


Mr.  du  Maurier's  House  on  Hampstead  Heath 


TRILBYANA  27 

of  a  girl  with  no  ear  for  music  into  a  singer  of  marvellous 
powers  seems  to  have  been  almost  paralleled  in  real  Hfe,  half 
a  century  ago  : — 

"  Many  patients  will  thus  repeat  accurately  what  is  spoken  in 
any  language ;  and  they  may  be  also  able  to  sing  correctly  and 
simultaneously  both  words  and  music  of  songs  in  any  language 
which  they  have  never  heard  before — i.  e.,  they  catch  the  words  as 
well  as  music  so  instantaneously  as  to  accompany  the  other  singer 
as  if  both  had  been  previously  equally  familiar  with  both  words 
and  music.  In  this  manner  a  patient  of  mine,  who,  when  awake, 
knew  not  the  grammar  of  even  her  own  language,  and  who  had 
very  little  knowledge  of  music,  was  enabled  to  follow  Mile.  Jenny 
Lind  correctly  in  songs  in  different  languages,  giving  both  words 
and  music  so  correctly  and  so  simultaneously  ivith  Jenny  Lind,  that 
two  parties  in  the  room  could  not  for  some  time  imagine  that  there 
were  two  voices,  so  perfectly  did  they  accord,  both  in  musical 
tone  and  vocal  pronunciation  of  Swiss,  German  and  Italian  songs. 
She  was  equally  successful  in  accompanying  Mile.  Lind  in  one  of 
her  extemporaneous  effusions,  which  was  a  long  and  extremely  diffi- 
cult elaborate  chromatic  exercise,  which'the  celebrated  cantatrice 
tried  by  way  of  taxing  the  powers  of  the  somnambulist  to  the 
utmost.  When  awake  the  girl  durst  not  even  attempt  to  do  any- 
thing of  the  sort ;  and,  after  all,  wonderful  as  it  was,  it  was  07ily 
phonic  imitation,  for  she  did  not  understand  the  meaning  of  a 
single  word  of  the  foreign  language  which  she  had  uttered  so  cor- 
rectly." 

*     *     * 

(Miss  Fra7ices  Albert  Doughty,  in  The  Critic,  /j  Jime,  iSgj.) 
"  The  strength  of  '  Trilby  '  as  a  novel  lies  in  the  exquisitely 
clear  realization  of  the  good  in  the  girl's  nature,  which  the 
fine  art  of  the  author  has  been  able  to  give  to  the  reader. 
The  divine  in  the  Laird,  in  Taffy  and  in  Little  Billee  re- 
sponded to  the  divine  in  that  undeveloped  girl,  and  to  them 
the  angel  in  her  was  the  real  Trilby  in  spite  of  all  her  past 
experience.  But  idealism  and  realism  in  this  charming  story 
are  not  quite  happily  balanced :  the  reader  receives  a  blow 
on  the  spiritual  side  of  his  being  from  the  manifestation  of 
an  agency  in  the  universe  that  is  endowed  with  an  all  con- 
quering malevolence,  something  extraneous  from  the  indi- 
vidual and  yet  able  to  arrest  in  her  the  growth  of  the  budding 
germ  of  holiness  and  moral  beauty,  a  power  triumphant  even 
at  the  moment  when  her  spirit  was  about  to  return  to  the 
God  who  gave  it.  Without  Svengali  there  would  be  no  novel 
of  Trilby  ;  nevertheless,  he  is  the  sole  blot  upon  it." 

*    *    * 
(San  Francisco  Argonaut) 
"  Perhaps  the  most  surprising  circumstance  connected  with 
'Trilby'  in   the    eyes  of  American  readers  is  the  way  the 


28  TRILBYANA 

book  has  been  received  in  England.  At  best  it  has  been 
accorded  lukewarm  praise,  and  the  tone  of  its  reviews  has 
run  the  gamut  down  to  downright  slating.  Some  have  been 
spiteful  enough  to  be  exceptionally  entertaining.  Of  these, 
that  of  The  Pall  Mall  Gazette  is  the  most  striking,  the  re- 
viewer of  that  journal  showing  himself  to  be  (as  an  exchange 
puts  it)  a  master  of  vituperative  diction.  To  this  reviewer, 
'  Trilby's  '  three  Englishmen  are  '  British  prigs  cut  in  paste- 
board,' and  their  biographer  is  denied  even  the  poor  ability 
to  express  himself  in  grammatical  English." 

*  *    * 
To  THE  Editors  of  The  Critic  : — 

If  there  yet  remains  a  word  to  be  said  in  criticism  of  this 
book,  it  may,  perhaps,  be  in  regard  to  the  musical  part  of  it. 
Whether  intentionally  or  not,  du  Maurier  has  certainly 
added  an  instance,  which  tends  to  prove  the  theory  true,  that 
music  in  itself  is  neither  elevating  nor  refining.  Svengali  is 
drawn  with  inimitable  skill,  and  with  so  much  realism  that 
the  reader  feels  that  he  must  have  been  known  and  hated 
by  du  Maurier  in  all  his  repulsiveness.  And  yet  this  loath- 
some creature  has  the  power  of  so  seizmg  and  expressing  the 
noblest  works  of  the  great  masters  of  harmony  as  to  move 
his  hearers  to  tears,  to  sway  them  at  his  will  by  the  tender- 
ness and  feeling  he  puts  into  the  notes.  It  is  a  hard  thing 
for  a  music-lover  to  comprehend,  that  a  man  of  low  and 
vicious  life,  and  utterly  without  aspirations,  can  so  express 
the  penetrating  beauty  that  lies  in  music  more  than  in  any 
other  art.  It  shows,  too,  that  music  gives  us  only  what  it 
finds  in  us,  and  proves  the  folly  of  "  program  music,"  or 
music  with  a  translation. 

Auburn,  N.  Y.  S.  M.  Cox. 

*  *    * 

{Mrs.  Emma  Carleton,  In  the  Louisville  Courier-Journal.) 
"A  great  deal  has  been  said  and  written  about ' Ben  Bolt,' " 
said  a  woman  who  doesn't  pretend  to  be  musical,  "  and  the 
other  songs  of  the  Trilby  repertoire ;  but  I  have  not  yet  seen 
or  heard  any  comment  on  Trilby's  '  great  and  final  perform- 
ance ' — the  vocalization  of  Chopin's  Impromptu,  A  flat.  Du 
Maurier  devotes  two  entire  pages  to  most  wonderful  descrip- 
tion of  this  wonderful  musical  achievement ;  two  exquisite 
pages  of  music  painted  in  words,  in  most  masterly  and  match- 
less fashion.  Who  can  forget  the  depiction  of  La  Svengali's 
voice,  '  as  a  light  nymph  catching  the  whirl  of  a  double-skip- 
ping rope  as  she  warbles  that  long,  smooth,  lilting,  dancing 
laugh,  that  wondrous  song  without  words.'     This  impromptu 


TRILBYANA  29 

should  be  rechristened  the  '  Trilby  Impromptu,'  and  mu- 
sicians everywhere  should  now — while  the  Trilby  wave  is  rid- 
ing high — be  charming  their  audiences  by  playing  it." 

The  Oliver  Ditson  Co.  has  published  a  pamphlet  of 
"  Trilby "  songs,  etc.,  containing  the  words  and  music  of 
"Ben  Bolt,"  "Malbrouck,"  "Bonjour,  Suzon,"  "  Der  Nuss- 
baum"("The  Nut-tree")  "  Cantique  de  Noel"  and  "  Au 
Clair  de  la  Lune,"  and  the  music  of  Chopin's  "  Impromptu." 

*     *    * 

On  March  i,  1895,  a  postcard  was  sent  from  the  ofhce  of 
Life,  calling  the  attention  of  "  exchange  editors  "  throughout 
the  country  to  "  A  'Trilby'  Examination."  We  reprint  the 
card  in  full : — 

' '  Life's  Monthly  Calendar  offers  a  series  of  cash  prizes  for  the 
best  sets  of  replies  to  the  following  questions  on  '  Trilby' : 

1.  What  does  the  author  claim  as  the  king  of  all  instruments  ? 
Who  does  he  claim  was  the  greatest  violinist  of  his  time  ?  What 
does  he  call  the  most  bourgeois  piece  of  music  he  knows  ? 

2.  What  was  Svengali's  real  name  ? 

3.  Where  does  the  author  state  that  he  is  a  social  lion  ?  Where 
does  he  deny  that  he  is  a  snob  ? 

4.  Where  does  he  bring  Little  Billee  in  contact  with  Punch  ? 

5.  What  did  the  Laird  call  M.  le  general  Comte  de  la  Tour- 
aux-Loups  ? 

6.  In  what  places  does  the  author  compare  Gecko  to  a  dog  ? 

7.  How  old  was  Trilby  when  she  died  ? 

8.  What  was  Little  Billee's  physical  explanation  of  his  inability 
to  love  ? 

9.  What  verbal  description  of  one  of  the  heroes  contradicts  al- 
most every  one  of  the  author's  drawings  of  him  ? 

10.  What  incident  of  the  story  is  inconsistent  with  the  author's 
own  argument  in  behalf  of  the  nude  in  art  ? 


"Dear  Sir:     The  above  questions  are  covered  by  our  copy- 
right, but  in  view  of  the  popular  interest  in  '  Trilby,' you  may 
wish  to  reproduce  them.     We  should  be  more  than  pleased  to  have 
you  do  so,  if  you  will  give  us  credit. 
Yours  very  truly, 

James  S.  Metcalfe, 
Editor  and  Manager  Life's  Monthly  Calendar." 


The  5ongs  in  ** Trilby" 

Dr.  Thomas  Dunn  English  wrote  the  words  of  "  Ben 
Bolt"  in  New  York,  in  1842,  when  he  was  a  young  man  of 
three-and-twenty.  Mr.  N.  P.  Willis  had  asked  him  to  write 
a  sea- song  for  The  New  Mirror,  and  so  he  wound  up  the  last 
stanza  with  an  allusion  to  "  the  salt-sea  gale !''  As  a  sea-song, 
"  Ben  Bolt  "  is  not  success  ;  but  it  has  been  sung  on  every  sea 
and  in  every  land  where  the  English  tongue  is  spoken.  At 
Pittsburgh,  Pennsylvania,  in  1 848,  an  Enghsh  journalist  named 
Hunt  quoted  the  words  (from  a  defective  memory)  to  Nelson 
Kneass,  who  was  attached  to  the  local  theatre;  and,  adapted 
by  Kneass  to  a  German  melody,  the  song,  in  a  somewhat 
garbled  version,  was  introduced  in  a  play  called  "  The  Battle 
of  Buena  Vista."  In  Helen  Kendrick  Johnson's  "Our 
Familiar  Songs,  and  Those  Who  Made  Them  "  (Henry  Holt 
&  Co.,  1 881),  the  story  of  its  vogue  in  England  as  well  as  in 
America  is  told  effectively.  Not  only  were  ships  and  steam- 
boats named  in  its  honor,  but  a  play  was  built  upon  its  sugges- 
tions, and  as  recently  as  in  1877  an  English  novelist  made  the 
memories  evoked  by  the  singing  of  the  song  a  factor  in  the 
development  of  his  catastrophe.  Its  revival  at  the  hand  of 
Mr.  du  Maurier  is  the  latest  and  perhaps  the  most  striking 
tribute  to  Its  hold  upon  the  popular  heart.  To  the  author 
himself— in  his  ripe  old  age  a  member  of  the  Lllld  Congress 

—its  fame  is  seemingly  a  bore,  for  he  is  quoted  as  saying: 

"I  am  feeling  very  well  and  enjoying  Hfe  as  well  as  an  old 
man  can,  but  this  eternal  '  Ben  Bolt '  business  makes  me  so 
mfernally  weary  at  times  that  existence  becomes  a  burden. 
The  other  night,  at  a  meeting  of  a  medical  association  at  my 
home  in  Newark,  some  one  proposed  that  all  hands  join  in 
smgmg  '  Ben  Bolt,'  whereupon  I  made  a  rush  for  the  door, 
and  came  very  near  forgetting  the  proprieties  by  straightway 
leavmg  home.  However,  I  recovered  my  equilibrium  and  re- 
jomed  my  friends.  I  don't  think  that  General  Sherman  ever 
grew  half  so  tired  of  '  Marching  Through  Georgia '  as  I  have 
of  that  creation  of  mine,  and  it  will  be  a  blessed  reUef  to  me 
when  the  public  shall  conclude  to  let  it  rest." 

Apropos  of  the  use  made  of  the  song  in  "Trilby,"  Harpers 
Bazar  published  the  words  and  music;  whereupon  the  author 
sent  this  letter  to  the  editor: — 

"  It  is  very  pleasing  to  an  old  man  like  myself  to  have  the  liter- 
ary work  of  a  half-century  since  dragged  to  light  and  commended, 

30 


TRILBYANA  31' 

as  has  been  the  case  with  '  Ben  Bolt '  of  late.  I  was  flattered  by 
seeing  my  likeness — or,  rather,  the  likeness  of  a  younger  man  than 
myself — in  your  pages ;  but  I  must  protest  against  some  errors 
which,  in  spite  of  careful  editing,  enter  into  your  transcription  of 
the  song.     The  words  of  the  original  were : — 

'  Don't  you  remember  the  school,  Ben  Bolt, 

With  the  master  so  cruel  and  grim, 
And  the  shaded  nook  in  the  running  brook. 
Where  the  children  went  to  swim  ? ' 
"  This  has  been  changed  in  the  song,  as  usually  sung,  to  read  : — 
'  With  the  master  so  kind  and  so  true. 
And  the  little  nook  by  the  clear-running  brook, 
Where  we  gathered  the  flowers  as  they  grew  ?  ' 
'*  You  have  copied  this,  but  in  a  better  shape,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  changing  the  rhythm.     I  must  protest  against  this  change, 
because  the  school-masters  of  between  sixty  and  seventy  years 
since  were,  to  my  memory,  '  cruel  and  grim ' ;  they  were  neither 
kind  nor  true.     They  seemed  to  think  the  only  way  to  get  learning 
into  a  boy's  head  was  by  the  use  of  the  rod'.     There  may  have  been 
exceptions,  but  I  never  met  them.     At  all  events,  '  what  I  have 
written  I  have  written.'  " 

Ben  Bolt 

I 
Oh,  don't  you  remember.  Sweet  Alice,  Ben  Bolt  ? 

Sweet  Alice,  whose  hair  was  so  brown. 
Who  wept  with  delight  when  you  gave  her  a  smile, 

And  trembled  with  fear  at  your  frown ! 
In  the  old  churchyard,  in  the  valley,  Ben  Bolt, 

In  a  corner  obscure  and  alone. 
They  have  titled  a  slab  of  the  granite  so  gray. 

And  Alice  lies  under  the  stone! 

II 

Under  the  hickory  tree,  Ben  Bolt, 

Which  stood  at  the  foot  of  the  hill. 
Together  we've  lain  in  the  noon-day  shade. 

And  listened  to  Appleton's  mill. 
The  mill-wheel  has  fallen  to  pieces,  Ben  Bolt, 

The  rafters  have  tumbled  in, 
And  a  quiet  that  crawls  round  the  walls  as  you  gaze, 

Has  followed  the  olden  din. 

Ill 

Do  you  mind  the  cabin  of  logs,  Ben  Bolt, 

At  the  edge  of  the  pathless  wood, 
And  the  button-ball  tree  with  its  motley  limbs, 

Which  nigh  by  the  door-step  stood  ? 
The  cabin  to  ruin  has  gone,  Ben  Bolt, 

The  tree  you  would  seek  in  vain ; 
And  where  once  the  lords  of  the  forest  waved, 

Grows  grass  and  the  golden  grain. 


32 


TRILBYANA 

IV 
And  don't  you  remember  the  school,  Ben  Bolt, 

With  the  master  so  cruel  and  grim, 
And  the  shaded  nook  in  the  running  brook, 

Where  the  children  went  to  swim  ? 
Grass  grows  on  the  master's  grave,  Ben  Bolt, 

The  spring  of  the  brook  is  dry. 
And  of  all  the  boys  who  were  schoolmates  then. 

There  are  only  you  and  I. 

V 
There  is  change  in  the  things  I  loved,  Ben  Bolt, 

They  have  changed  from  the  old  to  the  new ; 
But  I  feel  in  the  depths  of  my  spirit  the  truth, 

There  never  was  change  in  you. 
Twelve-months  twenty  have  past,  Ben  Bolt, 

Since  first  we  were  friends — yet  I  hail 
Thy  presence  a  blessing,  thy  friendship  a  truth, 

Ben  Bolt,  of  the  salt-sea  gale ! 


To  THE  Editors  of  The  Critic: — 

In  your  columns  of  "Trilbyana"  I  have  seen  no  mention 
of  the  fact  that  George  W.  Cable,  in  his  "Dr.  Sevier" — a 
thousand  times  better  novel  and  better  work,  in  every  way, 
than  "Trilby," — has  introduced  the  old  song  "  Ben  Bolt" 
with  wonderful  effect.  It  is  strange  that  the  old  melody 
should  have  appealed  to  the  two  men,  so  widely  apart,  and  it 
is  but  fair  that  the  American's  first,  and  most  skilful,  use  of  it 
should  have  due  recognition. 

Philadelphia,  John  Patterson. 

*    *    * 

To  the  Editors  of  The  Critic: — 

Du  Maurier  says  that  there  is  but  one  verse  of  the  little 
French  song,  which  Trilby  sings  with  so  much  effect — "  Au 
clair  de  la  lune."  He  mistakes;  there  is  another,  running 
thus : — 

"  Je  n'ouvrirai  pas  la  porte,  J'ouvre  bien  la  porte, 

A  un  vieux  savetier,  A  un  patissier, 

*****  Qui  m'apporte  des  brioches 

*         *         *         *  '^  Dans  un  tablier. " 

The  two  missing  lines  have  escaped  the  memory  of  the 
writer. 

Auburn,  N.  Y.  S.  M.  Cox. 


Your  correspondent,  S.  M.  Cox,  offers  some  more  verses  of 
"Mon  Ami  Pierrot."  They  do  not  quite  agree  with  those 
taught  me,  shortly  after  the  Revolution  of  1848,  by  an  old 
French  gentleman.  You  will  notice  that  the  French  of  the 
last  verse  is  quite  "eighteenth-century  "  in  style  and  diction. 


TRILBYANA  33 

II  III 

Je  n'ouvre  pas  ma  porte  Mais  j'ouvre  bien  ma  porte 

A  des  savetiers,  A  des  officiers, 

lis  ont  des  alenes,  lis  ont  des  pistoles, 

C'est  pour  me  piquer,  C'est  pour  me  les  bailler. 

Paris,  i  Jan.,  1895.  B.  F. 


Mr.  du  Maurier  was  correct  in  saying  that  there  is  only 
one  verse  of  "  Au  Clair  de  la  Lune  " ;  yet  there  are  possibly, 
and  probably,  a  thousand  made  in  imitation  of  it,  which  go  to 
the  same  air.    We  quote  from  the  San  Francisco  Argonaut: — 

"  It  is  to  be  observed  that  these  amateurs  de  Trilby  do  not 
go  the  length  of  singing  'Au  Clair  de  la  Lune,'  even  repeat- 
ing the  first  stanza  twice,  as  Trilby  did.  But  perhaps  they 
are  as  ignorant  concerning  the  song  as  is  Mr.  du  Maurier, 
who  declares  there  is  but  one  verse.  There  are  four.  The 
first  is  given  in  'Trilby  '  thus: — 
'  Au  clair  de  la  lune,  Ma  chandelle  est  morte  .  . 

Mon  ami  Pierrot !  Je  n'ai  plus  de  feu ! 

Prete-moi  ta  plume  Ouvre-moi  ta  porte 

Pour  ecrire  un  mot.  Pour  I'amour  de  Dieu!  ' 

The  second  runs  : — 

'  Au  clair  de  la  lune  Va  chez  la  voisine — 
Pierrot  repondit :  Je  crois  qu'elle  y  est, 

Je  n'ai  pas  de  plume.  Car,  dans  sa  cuisine, 
Je  suis  dans  mon  lit.  On  bat  le  briquet.' 

The  third  stanza  contains  the  point  of  the  song: — 

'  Au  clair  de  la  lune  Qui  frappe  de  la  sorte  ? 
S'en  va  Arlequin  II  dit  ^  son  tour: 

Frapper  chez  la  brune  Ouvre-moi  ta  porte 
Qui  repond  soudain  :  Pour  le  dieu  d'amour. ' 

The  fourth  stanza  continues  in  the  same  strain,  and  it 
goes  farther." 


Malbrouck  s'en  va't  en  Guerre 

Malbrouck  s'en  va-t'en  guerre — 
Mironton,  mironton,  mirontainef 
Malbrouck  s'en  va-t'en  guerre. 
Ne  sais  quand  reviendra ! 
Ne  sais  quand  reviendra ! 
Ne  sais  quand  reviendra ! 

II  reviendra-z-4  Paques — 

Mironton,  mironton,  tnirontaine / 

II  reviendra-z-i  Paques. 
Ou     .     .     .      i  la  Trinit ! 


34 


TRTLBYANA 

La  Trinite  se  passe — 

Mironton,  mirotttoii,  mirontaine ! 
La  Trinite  se  passe.     .     . 

Malbrouck  ne  revient  pas ! 

Madame  a  sa  tour  monte — 

Mironton,  mirotiton,  niirontaitte ! 

Madame  a  sa  tour  monte, 
Si  haut  qu'elle  peut  monter! 

EUe  voit  de  loin  son  page — 

Mironton,  mironton,  mirontaine ! 

Elie  voit  de  loin  son  page, 
Tout  de  noire  habille ! 

Mon  page — mon  beau  page ! — 
Mironton,  mironton,  mirontaine ! 

Mon  page — mon  beau  page ! 
Quelles  nouvelles  apportez  ?  " 

Aux  nouvelles  que  j'apporte — 
Mironton,  inironton,  mirontaine! 

Aux  nouvelles  que  j'apporte, 
Vos  beaux  yeux  vont  pleurer !  " 

Quittez  vos  habits  roses — 

Mironton,  mironton,  fnirontaine! 

Quittez  vos  habits  roses, 
Et  vos  satins  broches  !  " 

Le  Sieur  Malbrouck  est  mort — 
Mironton,  mirojiton,  niirontaitte ! 

Le  Sieur — Malbrouck — est— mort! 
Est  mort — et  enterre!  " 


There  is  no  more  eloquent  description  of  the  effect  of 
music  on  an  impressionable  nature  than  du  Maurier  gives 
of  the  impression  made  upon  Little  Billee  by  the  singing  of 
Adam's  "  Cantique  de  Noel "  at  the  Madeleine  on  Christmas 
Eve. 

Cantique  de  Noel 

Minuit,  Chretiens,  c'est  I'heure  solennelle, 

Ou  I'homme  Dieu  descendit  jusqu'a  nous. 
Pour  effacer  la  tache  originelle 

Et  de  son  Pere  arreter  le  courroux. 
Le  monde  entier  tressaille  d'esperance 

A  cette  nuit  qui  lui  donne  un  sauveur. 
Peuple  k  genoux !  attends  la  delivrance  ! 

Noel,  Noel,  voici  le  Redempteur ! 


A  Search  for  Sources 

To  THE  Editors  of  The  Critic  : — 

The  liquid  name,  "  Trilby,"  of  du  Manner's  heroine  hav- 
ing been  duly  run  down  to  its  source,  will  a  slight  excursus  be 
amiss  as  to  the  origin  of  the  affectionate  title  applied  by  the 
novelist  on  his  charming  little  hero — "Little  Billee"?  Evi- 
dently the  name,  together  with  certain  descriptive  touches, 
has  been  taken  from  Thackeray's  ballad,  "  Little  Billee." 
This  racy  skit,  as  many  doubtless  know,  is  in  the  best  vein  of 
the  great  humorist's  inimitable  burlesque.  It  narrates  the 
tragic  cruise  of 

"  Three  sailors  of  Bristol  city 
Who  took  a  boat  and  went  to  sea," 

the  second  stanza  running  thus  : — 

"  There  was  gorging  Jack,  and  guzzling  Jimmy 
Aftd  the  youngest,  he  was  Little  Billee. 
Now  when  they  got  as  far  as  the  Equator 
They'd  nothing  left,  but  one  split  pea." 

And  the  unpleasant  ultimatum  being  arrived  at,  that  "  We've 
nothing  left,  us  must  eat  we,"  the  poem  continues  : — 
"  Says  gorging  Tack  to  guzzling  Jimmy, 
With  one  another  we  shouldn't  agree. 
There's  little  Bill,  Jicsyottng  and  tender. 
We're  old  and  tough,  so  let's  eat  he." 

Here,  I  say,  we  have  the  origin  of  the  novelist's  "  Little 
Billee,"  while,  in  the  italicized  phrases,  we  have  also  du 
Maurier's,  "the  third,  he  was  little  Billee"  (page  6),  and 
"  he  was  young  and  tender,  was  little  Billee." 

It  would  be  sheer  nonsense,  of  course,  to  urge  against  the 
famous  novelist  any  charge  of  unacknowledged  borrowing  in 
matters  so  entirely  trivial.  The  point  is  merely  a  curious  one 
of  origins  ;  a  little  siccatine  botanizing,  so  to  speak,  on  the 
folia  disjecta  that  have  been  wonderfully  spun  by  du  Mau- 
rier's genius  into  a  fabric  of  grace  and  beauty  so  rare  as  is 
this  "Trilby."  Nor,  indeed,  should  the  further  fact  be  a  de- 
traction from  the  gifted  author  of  "  Trilby,"  that  his  in- 
debtedness to  Thackeray  is  obviously  greater  than  in  the 
minutice  under  consideration — that,  in  fact,  he  has  caught 
from  the  great  immortal  the  note  of  much  that  is  best  in  his 
book.  In  his  limpid,  graceful  simplicity  of  words,  and  their 
easy,  natural  flow — in  his  delicate,  playful  humor,  and  tender 
but  not  overwrought  pathos,  we  discover  a  careful  study  of 

35 


36  TRILBYANA 

found  only  a  few  general  remarks  about  fairies,  their  habits 
and  habitations,  nothing  in  the  least  resembling  the  story  of 
Jeannie's  lover.  Perhaps  Nodier  was  mistaken  about  his 
source.  As  he  travelled  in  the  Highlands,  he  may  possibly 
have  "collected  "  the  tale  at  first  hand,  and,  there  being  no 
folklore  societies  in  those  early  days  of  romanticism,  he  was 
not  aware  of  the  honor  that  thus  accrued  to  him.  It  cannot 
have  evolved  itself  from  a  mere  hint.  We  appeal  to  Mr. 
Lang  to  take  up  and  follow  the  chase  farther.  He  might  be 
worse  occupied  than  in  tracing  out  the  original  John  Trilby 
MacFarlane,  and  whence  he  got  his  English-sounding  name, 
his  fairy  powers  and  his  connection  with  Saint  Columba — 
the  last  probably  from  Nodier  himself,  who  may  have  been 
reading  Montalembert's  "  Monks  of  the  West  "  before  setting 
out  upon  his  pilgrimage.  Mr.  Dole,  by  the  way,  irreverently 
converts  the  Dove  of  the  Churches  into  a  "  Saint  Columbine," 
unknown  to  any  respectable  hagiographer.  Think,  Mr.  Lang, 
what  a  delightful  coil  this  romancing  Frenchman,  let  loose 
among  your  Hielan'  men,  fairies,  monks  and  Scotch  novels, 
has  made  for  you  to  straighten  out,  and  how  many  strange 
discoveries  may  be  made  while  you  are  about  the  job  ! 

Miss  Smith  (2)  has  prepared  another  translation  of  Nodier's 
story,  and,  though  there  is  little  choice  between  her  version 
and  Mr.  Dole's,  we  prefer  it.  It  seems  a  trifle  less  exact,  but 
it  is  more  idiomatic ;  and,  if  anything,  she  perhaps  intensifies 
the  local  color  a  little,  which  does  not  do  the  tale  any  harm. 
Her  book  is  got  up  in  tartan  cover ;  Mr.  Dole's  has  a  design 
adapted  from  Paul  Konewka. 

*     *    * 

Mr.  Richard  Mansfield  has  secured  from  Estes  &  Lau- 
riat  the  right  to  dramatize  and  produce  Mr. Dole's  translation 
of  Nodier's  "  Trilby,  le  Lutin  d'Argail." 


Nodier's  **  Trilby,  le  Lutin  d'  Argail" 

It  was  not  long  after  the  appearance  of  "Trilby"  that 
our  readers  detected  the  French  origin  of  the  name  of  Mr. 
du  Maurier's  heroine.  The  story  of  the  unearthing  of  this 
dehghtful  French  fairy-tale  may  be  followed  in  this  series  of 
communications  to  The  Critic : 

On  looking  over  Roche's  "  Prosateurs  Fran^ais,"  I  find 
that  one  of  the  "  plus  jolis  "  contes  of  Charles  Nodier  (1788- 
1844)  is  entitled  "Trilby";  therefore  the  title  of  du  Mau- 
rier's much-bought  novel  is  not  original  with  him.  I  should 
be  pleased  if  any  reader  of  T/ie  Critic  would  inform  me  as 
to  the  plot  of  Nodier's  story. 

St.  Francis  of  Assisi  Rectory,         Wm.  J.  McClure, 
Mt.  Kisco,  N.  Y.,  29th  Oct.,  1894. 

*  *    * 

The  following  lines  occur  in  the  "Reponse  a  M.  Charles 
Nodier  "  of  Alfred  de  Musset : — 

"  Non  pas  cette  belle  insomnia 
Du  genie 
Ou  Trilby  vient,  pret  a  chanter, 
T'ecouter. " 

This  would  seem  to  offer  some  clue  to  the  origin  of  the  name 
chosen  by  Mr.  du  Maurier  for  his  heroine.  Can  you  en- 
lighten me  as  to  the  identity  of  the  "  Trilby  "  referred  to  by 
Musset  ? 

RiDGEFIELD,  CoNN.,   I  9  Nov.,   I  894.         ROSWELL  BaCON. 

*  *        =H 

In  answer  to  the  request  of  your  correspondent  in  The 
Critic  of  Nov.  17,1  find  the  tale  of  "  Trilby  "  in  my  copy  of  the 
"Contes  de  Charles  Nodier,  illustr^s  par  Tony  Johannot." 
"Trilby"  is  the  story  of  a  household  fairy  of  Scotland  (a 
"Lutin  familier  de  la  Chaumiere ").  It  is  fantastic  and 
touching,  but  it  has  nothing  in  common  with  du  Maurier's 
"Trilby." 

Leesburgh,  Virginia,  20  Nov.,  1894.  I.  L.  P. 

*  *    * 

From  the  recent  contributions  to  "  Trilbyana "  in  your 
columns,  it  would  appear  as  if  the  name  of  Trilby  (originally 
Scotch  or  Irish  ?)  were  not  uncommon  in  the  writings  of 
French  authors.  Charles  Nodier,  in  his  conte,  says  that  M. 
de  Latouche — a  contemporary — wrote  on  the  same  subject, 
"oti  cette  charmante   tradition  etait  racontee  en  vers   en- 

37 


38  TRILBYANA 

chanteurs  " — which  gives  one  to  suppose  that  "  Trilby  "  was 
the  name  of  his  enchantress ;  though,  perhaps,  he  refers  to 
the  old  story  of  "  Le  Diable  Amoureux  "  I  find,  moreover, 
that  Balzac  takes  the  name  for  a  type  in  his  "  Histoire  des 
Treize:  Ferragus:  Vol.  I.  Scenes  de  la  Vie  Parisienne" 
(page  48  of  edition  of  1843) : — "Pour  developper  cette  his- 
toire dans  toute  la  verite  de  ses  details,  pour  en  suivre  le 
cours  dans  toutes  ses  sinuosites,  il  faut  ici  divulguer  quelques 
secrets  de  I'amour,  se  gllsser  sous  les  lambris  d'une  chambre 
a  coucher,  non  pas  effrontement,  mais  a  la  maniere  de  Trilby 
[the  opposite  to  du  Maurier's  Trilby],  n'efifaroucher  ni  Dou- 
gal,  ni  Jeannie,  n'effaroucher  personne,"  etc. 

Tuxedo  Park,  26  Nov.,  1894.  E.  L.  B. 

*    *    * 

{Boston  Evening  Transcript,  i  Dec.  iSg4.) 

"  The  Listener  was  asked  the  other  day  where  du  Maurier 
got  the  name  of  Trilby — a  sweet  and  pleasant  word,  neither 
English  nor  French,  which  seemed  to  suit  so  perfectly  the 
adorable  young  person  of  his  creation.  He  was  able  to 
answer,  more  by  accident  certainly  than  as  the  result  of  eru- 
dition, that  the  name  was  not  invented  by  du  Maurier  but 
belongs  to  the  French  classics — possibly  to  Scottish  folk- 
lore. In  the  year  1822  there  was  first  published  in  Paris  a 
nouvelle,  by  Charles  Nodier,  after^vard  a  member  of  the 
French  Academy,  entitled,  "Trilby,  or  the  Fay  of  Argyle"; 
it  was  a  sort  of  fairy-story,  in  which  a  fay  is  in  love  with  a 
mortal  woman,  and  the  woman  is  very  far  from  being  indif- 
ferent to  his  sentiment.  This  '  Trilby '  attained  a  consider- 
able degree  of  popularity ;  it  became,  indeed,  a  French 
classic ;  Sainte-Beuve  has  particularly  praised  the  charm  of 
its  style.  *  *  *  In  his  preface  to  the  story,  Nodier  says: 
'The  subject  of  this  story  is  derived  from  a  preface  or  a 
note  to  one  of  the  romances  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  I  do  not 
know  which  one.'  This  is  a  very  indefinite  acknowledg- 
ment. While  Nodier  may  have  got  his  subject  from  Scott, 
the  Listener  doubts  if  he  got  the  name  '  Trilby '  from  him. 
It  is  just  the  sort  of  name  that  a  French  writer  would  give 
to  a  Scotch  fay.  Nevertheless,  Trilby  may  be  a  real  Scotch 
elfin.  The  Listener  would  hardly  claim  personal  acquaint- 
ance with  them  all. 

"  Du  Maurier's  'Trilby'  is  curiously  prefigured,  in  part  at 
least,  in  Nodier's ;  and  yet  there  is  not  the  smallest  thing 
that  the  most  jealous  critic  could  call  a  plagiarism;  it  is  a 
legitimate  parentage.  As  you  go  on  with  Nodier's  story, 
you  love  his  Trilby  more  and  more,  as  you  do  du  Maurier's, 
until  you  think  that  there  was  never  so  bewitching  a  fairy ; 


TRILBYANA  39 

and  your  love  for  Trilby  is  interwoven  with  your  love  for 
Jeannie,  his  mortal  sweetheart,  just  as  your  love  for  du 
Maurier's  Trilby  is  forever  mixed  up  with  your  tender  senti- 
ment for  Little  Billee.  You  feel  a  sort  of  enchantment  over 
you  like  the  hypnotism  that  you  are  under  in  du  Maurier's 
strange  book.  And  both  stories,  while  abounding  in  wit 
and  pretty  things,  are  deeply  tragical.  It  has  been  said  of 
Nodier's  '  Trilby '  that  it  belongs  to  the  realm  of  the  supra- 
sensible,  and  so,  in  large  measure,  certainly  does  du  Mau- 
rier's. Du  Maurier  has  confessed  his  obligation  flatly  in 
giving  his  story  the  very  name  that  Nodier's  bore.  It  is  con- 
ceivable that  the  image  of  the  Frenchman's  haunting  fairy 
dwelt  with  him  until  he  resolved  to  reincarnate  the  adorable 
elf  in  the  body  of  a  girl  as  adorable.  He  gave  his  Trilby  a 
Scotch  ancestry  to  connect  her  the  more  naturally  with  the 
liiti7i  (TArgail;  and  her  fairy  ancestry  will  easily  account 
not  only  for  her  early  prankishness,  but  for  her  later  unreality. 
But  it  is  a  prefiguring  merely,  and  not  a  direct  suggestion. 
Whatever  du  Maurier's  '  Trilby  '  lacks,  it  isn't  originality  !" 


{From  Mr.  C.  E.  L.  Wingate's  Boston  Letter  in  The  Critic  of  20 
April,  iSqj.) 
It  appears  that  the  first  mention  of  the  French  book  ap- 
peared in  T/ie  Critic,  last  November.  It  was  in  the  same 
month  that  Mr.  Bradford  Torrey  *  *  *  happened  to 
find  a  copy  of  Nodier's  "  Trilby  "  in  the  Boston  Athenaeum. 
He  took  the  book  to  his  friend,  Mr.  J.  E.  Chamberlin  of 
The  Youth's  Companion,  who  began  its  translation  at  once. 
A  few  days  later  appeared  a  note  in  The  Critic  from  a  cor- 
respondent in  Virginia.  Thinking  that  secrecy  was  no  longer 
worth  while,  Mr.  Chamberlin  wrote  his  paragraphs  for  the 
Transcript  "  Listener  "  column,  incorporating  a  bit  of  trans- 
lation. This  was  printed  on  Dec.  i.  Miss  Minna  C.  Smith 
went  to  Roberts  Bros,  at  once,  to  ask  them  if  they  would  con- 
sider the  publication  of  a  translation  of  the  romance  by  her 
Transcript  confrere,  and  Mr.  F.  Alcott  Pratt  replied  that 
they  would  like  very  much  to  see  that  gentleman's  work. 
Circumstances  made  Mr.  Chamberlin  decide  not  to  finish  the 
translation,  and  he  gave  Miss  Smith  his  idea  and  a  few  pages 
of  the  manuscript  for  a  Christmas  present.  During  several 
weeks  following  she  was  engaged  upon  her  careful  transla- 
tion. The  Scotch  words  and  names  of  localities  in  her 
manuscript  were  corrected  by  Mr.  J.  Murray  Kay  of  Hough- 
ton, Mifiiin  &  Co.,  an  accomplished  Scot,  who  walked  through 
Argyle  with  his  daughters  last  summer.     On  March  19,  an 


40  TRILBYANA 

article  on  Charles  Nodier's  story,  foreshadowing  Miss  Smith's 
translation,  appeared  in  the  Transcript.  On  the  morning  of 
March  20,  Mr.  Dana  Estes  sent  for  Mr.  Nathan  Haskell 
Dole  and  asked  him  to  make  a  translation,  which  was  done 
with  remarkable  rapidity,  and  put  out  on  March  29.  Learn- 
ing of  this,  Lamson,  Wolfife  &  Co.  hurried  on  Miss  Smith's 
book,  which  had  been  in  the  hands  of  their  printer  at  the 
Collins  press  for  days,  advertised  it  on  Thursday  and  brought 
it  out  on  Saturday,  in  Scotch  plaid  covers. 

This  firm  of  Lamson,  Wolffe  &  Co.,  by  the  way,  has  just 
been  dissolved  for  a  novel  reason.  Mr.  Wolffe  is  a  member 
of  the  class  of  '95  at  Harvard.  The  pubhcation  of  "  Trilby, 
the  Fairy  of  Argyle  "  called  the  attention  of  the  faculty  to  his 
publishing  business,  and  he  was  asked  to  give  it  up,  or  else 
forfeit  his  degree.  He  chose  the  former  alternative,  and 
although  the  firm  name  will  remain  Lamson,  Wolffe  &  Co.,  a 
new  and,  for  the  present,  silent  member  of  the  firm  has  added 
capital  and  scholarship  to  the  house. 


♦'  Trilby,  the  Fairy  of  Argyle  " 

By  Charles  Nodier.  t.  Translated  from  the  French,  with  introduction, 
by  Nathan  Haskell  Dole.  Estes  6^  Laiiriat.  2.  From  the  French 
by  Minna  Caroline  Smith.     Boston  :  La?/ison,  Wolffe  <5r*  Co. 

Nodier's  "  Trilby,"  who  now  revisits  the  book-stores 
owing  to  Mr.  du  Maurier's  having  taken  his  name  for  his 
heroine's,  is  one  of  the  few  latter-day  fairies  that  have  fairy 
blood  (or  ichor)  in  their  veins.  He  belongs  on  the  same 
shelf  with  Fouque's  "Undine,"  but,  though  he  was  only  jok- 
ing when  he  personated  a  father  who  "  had  not  seen  him 
since  the  days  of  King  Fergus,"  he  is  certainly  of  the  breed 
of  Una  and  Maer,  Caoilte  and  Mananan.  That  he  made  a 
sensation  on  his  first  appearance  in  the  world  of  letters  is 
shown  by  Victor  Hugo's  ode,  warning  the  Fairy  of  Argyle  to 
beware  of  ink-shnging  penny-a-liners  : — 

"  Car  on  en  veut  aux  Trilbys 
******** 

lis  souilleraient  d'encre  noire, 
Helas  !  ton  manteau  de  moire, 
Ton  aigrette  de  rubis  " — 

advice  which  might  be  repeated  apropos  of  Mr.  du  Maurier's 
creation. 

Mr.  Dole,  who  has  made  a  translation  (i)  of  Nodier's 
"  Trilby,"  has  looked  through  all  of  Scott's  novels,  he  says, 
to  discover,  if  possible,  the  "  preface  or  note  "  from  which 
the  French  author  claimed  to  have  drawn  his  story,  and  has 


TRILBYANA  41 

the  deft  art  of  "  Pendennis  "  and  "  The  Newcomes."  And 
the  "Cave  of  Harmony,"  with  its  songs  and  its  bumpers  and 
long  whiffs,  the  gay  nights  and  rollicking  days  of  F.  B,  and 
Clive  and  Pendennis — the  glamor  of  all  which  has  enticed 
full  many  a  youngster  towards  the  easy  descent,  or  the  shining 
slopes  (as  the  case  may  be)  of  art  and  letters — all  these  scenes 
have  doubtless  served  as  the  studies  of  the  pictures,  almost  as 
delightful  and  masterly  as  their  prototypes,  that  du  Maurier 
gives  us  of  the  joyous  Bohemian  life  of  the  three  jolly  Musket- 
eers of  the  Brush  in  the  Quartier  Latin  in  "  Trilby." 
Auburn,  Ala.,  26  Dec,  1894.  Charles  C.  Thach. 
*    *    * 

As  a  small  contribution  to  "  Trilbyana,"  I  would  call  at- 
tention to  the  fact,  unnoted  so  far,  that  Trilby  was  the  name 
of  Eugenie  de  Guerin's  pet  dog,  mentioned  several  times  in 
the  journal  she  kept  for  her  brother  Maurice.  Was  the  dog, 
perhaps,  named  for  the  fairy? 

Louisville,  Ky.  ^  A.  C.  B. 

=|:         *         * 

As  there  seems  to  be  a  mania  for  hunting  up  the  sources 
of  the  inspiration  of  certain  authors,  I  will  engage  in  the 
game  also.  In  Saintine's  "  Picciola,"  Book  I.,  Chap  XIL, 
after  the  first  paragraph,  you  will  find  the  germ  of  "  Peter 
Ibbetson.'' 

Grand  Rapids,  Mich.  C.  C. 


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