ffe & 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 joking 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-slinging penny-a-liners:--

"Car on en veut aux Trilbys
* * * * * * * *
Ils 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 (1) 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 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
Musketeers 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 attention 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 XII., after the first paragraph,
you will find the germ of "Peter Ibbetson."

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH.

C. C.

* * * * *