(_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 performance'--the vocalization of Chopin's Impromptu, A flat. Du Maurier devotes two entire pages to most wonderful description of this wonderful musical achievement; two exquisite pages of music painted in words, in most masterly and matchless fashion. Who can forget the depiction of La Svengali's voice, 'as a light nymph catching the whirl of a double-skipping rope as she warbles that long, smooth, lilting, dancing laugh, that wondrous song without words.' This impromptu should be rechristened the 'Trilby Impromptu,' and musicians everywhere should now--while the Trilby wave is riding 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 Nussbaum" ("The Nut-tree") "Cantique de Noël" and "Au Clair de la Lune," and the music of Chopin's "Impromptu."
On March 1, 1895, a postcard was sent from the office 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?
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 général Comte de la Tour-aux-Loups?
6. In what places does the author compare Gecko to a dog?
8. What was Little Billee's physical explanation of his inability to love?
9. What verbal description of one of the heroes contradicts almost 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?