The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-10-08

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and lung troubles. died at 2:so o'clock this
morning. His death was peaceful.
If George Du Maurier had died year
and half ago the event would have
caused a greater sensation than the loss
Of any other man of letters 1t was then
that 'Trilby'' had reached a vogue here
which surpassed that OF any other book
in recent times. Cultivated and unculti-
waited, persons of taste and persons of no
taste whatever, had come under the spell
of the story. You could not take up
paper or magazine without finding some
reference to the graceful model, who was
no better than she ought to be. The
ethics of the book, the style of the book
| were discussed in college debating socie-
ties, in drawing rooms, at dinner tables
and even in the pulpit.
Have you read fTrilby'? % was ques-
ton that became such weariness to the
flesh that thousands upon thousands of
persons We're forced to get the book in
order to escape the sense of being out of
the swim which invariably followed if
honesty compelled one to answer mo. .
The book was dramatized, and furnished
forth one of the greatest stage successes
of the period. Parodies innumerahle ap-
peared. The fame of the story reached
the Bowery as well as Fifth avenue. Jokes
! innumerable had their origin in the tale
/ In fact, "Trilby" was epidemic on this
side of the Atlantic for about six months.
1t was only after the novel had become
a great and astonishing success in America
had civ
Du Maurier's literary fame came to him
very late in life. At the age Of ffty-six
he had published Paul Ibbetson," his
first effort in the direction of novel writ
ing. Up to that time he had devoted
| himself entirely to his work as an Illus
traitor and society cartoonist in black and
white. It was our Mr.. Henry James who
| first induced him to try his hand at seri-
Gus tale While walking on Hampstead
Heath one day with the American nov
elist the artist remarked that if he were
a writer he would have no difficulty about
plots. He told his companion one of them.
1t was that of ssTrilby." He even went
so far as to ask Henry James to use it
himself but the latter begged of him
to make an effort at a story. So Du
Maurier went home and wrote not the
tale of the model. but Peter Ibbetson.''
Having overcome the initial difficulties
Of composition, and encouraged by the
comparative success of his first venture.
he then set TO work on his more famous
work, which made its appearance in
''HarpH's Magazine in 1884, The story
excited little comment while it was run
ming in the, pages of the periodical. 1t
was when 1t was published in book form
that the demand for 1t became so great
| that the presses were unable TO turn out
copies fast enough. It is difficult to say
whether the publishers or the writer was
the more surprised by the result.
| Du Maurier has told US himself that the
plot of "Trilby'' was purely imaginary.
| His first idea was to make his heroine a
| girl of very low birth, servant or some
/ thing like that. Then it occurred TO him
that it would be better to make her in
teresting. to create a person who would
be liked by readers. So he made the
change. and subsequent circumstances
! justified the event.
But if the plot Of 'Trilby, was i'm
| aginary, the characters, or some of
them, were not. A number of the au-
thor's friends, whom he had known as
art students in Paris, were introduced.
One of these was Whistler. This man of
genius objected to the figure he was
made to cut in the tale. The result was
a pretty and interesting quarrel which
| drew more widespread attention TO the
book. The Whistler passage was ex-
purgated, but the two men who had
shared the same bed in the days of their
struggling youth, never became friends
| again.
| The Quarter Latin which Du Maurier
| depicted in .sTrilby'' was not that of to-
I day. 1t was that of the time of AIurger
If the famous .'Vie de Boheme" of the
latter had never been written, it is prob
able that Du Maurier would not have
! thought of Paris as the scene of his
story The influence of the older book
| is shown plainly In the English one
! One remarkable thing about "Trilby'' is
the anachronism which is displayed in the
/ Illustrations. These are characteristically
Du Maurieresque. The artist had always
been noted in the Punch drawings for
his accuracy in the matter of details.
| His cartoons were exact as mirrors Of
| contemporary fashion. But in the Tril-
| by pictures The Laird. and Little Billee
| and Taffy are depicted as wearing the
clothes not of the time In which they
lived, but of the year Of grace 1924 This
was an incongruisy which did not meet
with any criticism at the moment. The
| public accepted the book and everything
between the two covers.
| Du Maurier,s latest novel, 'sFhe Mar
! tian,'' was finished only a short time
since and has begun its course in s'Har-
| per 1t was only the other day that
| the author finished the correction of the
| last batch of proofs The story is COM
plete and win run for the greater part OF
| a year.
! If Du Mauriers eyesight had not failed
| ii is probable that he would have stuck
| to his drawing and would not have taken
! to writing novels This misfortune over
| took him a few years ago. He did not
! quite sever his connection with Punch, 2
(! hut continued to contribute an occasional
society satire in black and white. But Of
late these things have net been up to
| the standard OF those which Tor many
years made Du Maurier the best OF social
critics with the pencil. OF late he had
been compelled 70 do his work III large