The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-04-02
DU MAURIER AT HOME.
He Chats About His Pictures and
His Novel.
rlenty Moro Novels to Follow "rcter Ib-
besson''-!tow lilo Camo to De nm
Ariist-itis Drawings. Ills
:omc Lnd Family.
lcopyi:,G,.T, 1897

lcorri:tGrT, lS1e.1
All OF you have heard of uampsteod
heath. Less than century ago it was
favorite haunt of industrious cut
purses and jolly rascals of all sorts and
conditions.
tbs thoroughly proper and respccta-
Die now. You may wander about it Mt
any time and without meeting high
wayman, blundcrbuss in hand, or any
one more dangerous than cheerful, in
offensive tramp. / met this person ut
the very edge of the heath. He greeted
me cheerfully and cordially and ex,
pressed his entire willingness to relieve
me of any small coin that might wish
to part with.
Hi as to hadn't, sir, has low Him q
wanderer," he said, but Him q decent,
'ardworkin' one"
Who could resist this tramp? could
not, and did not. l thought Of Charles
Dickens tramp, who was called SO by q
pompous bcadle.
"'Then you're n tramp he ses," so
the tramp himself tells the story. I'D
rather be that than beadle, ses'"
verify believed that it was Dickens
tramp that met. But it was not to
meet tramps that was on Hampstead
heath. had received note which ran
this way:
''If you will drop down upon me in
my den shall be glad to chat with you
for awhile, though won't promise that
will say anything interesting"
The name signed to this note was that
of George Du Maurier, the famous So
ciety artist of Punch, the creator of
Maudle and Postlethwaite and Sir
Georgius Midas and scores of other de-
lightful characters. The famous carl
caturist has of late been following tho
example of Thackeray and gone from
the drawing of pictures to the building
of novels as we'll. His first effort was
published in America and was so well
received that he is just about to launch
another one. 1t was in response to his
note that found myself at Hampstead
couple of days ago.
The artists house stands on q high
hill at the very edge of the heath and
the view from it is magnificent. On
one side you may see the famous school
OF Harrow, where Pitt and Byron and
many other famous men were educated
Beyond the steeples of Harrow YOU can
just see in the distance the keep of
Windsor castle. Then the heath
stretches away from you, and from the
top of the hill you may see thirteen
counties under the smiling winter sun
shine. On another side you may sec tho
city of London with that inevitable
mist lying upon it, except where the
golden cross that tops st. Paul's cathe-
dral rises bright and clear above the fog.
Du Maurier is Il modest, uuassuming
man, of an age that appears to be
wholly uncertain. He might he forty
and he might be sixty. He wears q
mustache and chin whiskers. but they
are not of the heavy type familiar to all
OF us through the pictures of Charles
Dickens. His beard barely covers his
chin, and there is no trace of gray in it.
The man does not appear to value his
reputation highly for the mere sake Of
reputation. He seems to consider him
self simply as an artist who has his
work to do and who does it as we'll as
he can, without thought of the trcmen-
dous prestige that it brings him. Meth
err he nor his wife have kept any of the
many published accounts of his life.
Henry James once wrote n very
kindly sketch of me-" the artist said,
leaning back in his chair, "but do you
know he made one mistake that all
other writers have since made. He
stated that I was born in London.
Now as matter of fact l was born in
Paris and was educated there
You know was not educated IN
artist. was intended to be scientific
chemist. The first work did in Eng
land was in charge of an alleged gold
mine down in Devonshire. The only
trouble with that mine was that there
NaSss