Evening star., 1896-11-02
REcoLLEcTIoNs OF DU MAUR1ER.
Ellen Terry Was His Ideal Trilby.
bat She Never Play eel the Part.

Ellen Terry Was His Ideal TriIby,
hut She Never Played the Part.
From the London Morning.
A correspondent writes: The last time
met Mr. Du Maurier was on the top of an
omnibus. He was In taikat:ve mood. His
last novel. The Martian,' had been just
finished DO think it will dramatizc" re
said. I don't know. You see. l never
thought of making play out uf .Trilby"
1t was Mr.. Paul Potter's idea and admir-
ably he did his work. Wha; performaa Ace
Tree gave OF SvengaH! Miss Baird. toe.
was very charming. indeed OF course she
Is very young actress nut where could
one lock for woman who combined ali
the eXcellencies OF the part? Ellen Ter
ry!-'aid for moment the hight of en-
thusiasm shone i'll his eyes--'I.Ilcn Terry.
Yes; as she was few years ago. even as
she is today >he would have been the deal
representative of Trilby-but you Sc. no enc
can get Ellen Terry-she belongs to lie
Lyceum, and the plays cf dead writer's.
People don't notice such things, but Miss
Terry's Whole personality is suggestive OF
Triiby. You know l described her as lelng
exactly the same height lha: beautiful
actress, mentioning her by naIla. that
there could be no nis;ake about it, FOR She
Is the type of WOMAN ;hlt appeals riost to
me- ar.is;Ically.
Who the original Of Trllby and is
there a No non who posed as the mcdcl
people say that there wa: a e"rtIrT Amer
lean woman who lived in Paris :tDD.I: mat
time. and who was taught 20 sing ~ inn:
ta1ns the notes of a harp. There may have
been, but l lad never heard of her until
after 'Trilby" was written. published and
the play produced. You see, authors are
such stupid people Just at this point the
omnibus passed his turning, .anI ne got
down. with the CHEEKY remark: To "ur ncXI
meeting. AS 1 turned to catch The last
glimpse of him il was impossible not to
note that. although he had said he was
much better. his step betrayed the fact
that he was anything but strong.
1T has been stated that his iea;h was al
most the direct resal: Gf success. Of few
men. In all probability, could this remark
have been made with less likelihood Of
truth. He had lived in an atnCs here #
success for the best part OF his artistic life
Was not his name known over the whole
Anslo-Saxon world as the creator Of types
OF men and women whose names nave .'c-
come the symbols of marked characters
ties? Was not Punch looked forward TO ON
Wednesday chiefly for the sake Of his dra W
ings? The br.suing dialogue or pognan.
jest which accompanied them grew from a
brain scarcely less skillful than the hand
which drew the pictures. To the writing Ct
these scraps Of dialogue he attributed In no
small measure the ease with which he was
able to make drama tic the conversations of
the immortal three mIsketeers Lf The brush
and their companions in Bohemia.
If the excitement OF his unique SUCCESS
acted detrimentally On his weakened heart
1t certainly produced no outward sign
Never was success more modestly worn
never was an increasing fame SO uncon-
stiously carried. To no one did the popu-
larity of 'Triiby' come as a greater surprise
than to Du Maurier himself. He made no
secret of the fact. which he acknowledged
frankly when he said: I assure you never
dreamed of the vogue the work would ha We
a lot Of people have told me how SURPRISED
they were a its phenomenal repute; moi one
Of them was ever half so surprised as 1
was
Pc 1pie will. no doubt, wrangle over the
place to which postcrity will assign him in
the ranks of the literature of the last guar
ter of this century. Whatever that place
may be. he will remain an example of one
Of those few beings who. late in life, es-
sayed an incursion Into a new field of ar
tfstic labor and succeeded beyond the high
est hopes of his dearest friends. To the
student Of the social customs of our day his
contributions to Punch Will be Invaluable
not only for the way in which they touch
the manners and habits of his generation,
but as offering the most accurate details
regarding the fashions of the clothes of the
men and women OF the period. To his
friends and the privileged band of those
who knew him. his gentleness and geniality
Lis unyarytng courtesy and the kindness
which was one of his chief characteristics
will be an neffaceable memory"