and la Glu as well: just as la Tour de Nesle is the beginning of Patrie and la Haine. A ND if these greater and loftier pre- At Least. tensions be still contested; if the theory of the gifted creature who wrote that the works of the master wizard are like summer fruits brought forth abundantly in the full blaze of sunshine, which do not keep'-if this preposterous fantasy be generally accepted, there will yet be much in Dumas to venerate and love. If Antony were of no more account than an ephemeral burlesque; if la Reine Margot and the immortal trilogy of the Musketeers — that 'epic of friendship '—were dead as morality and as literature alike; if it were nothing to have re-cast the novel of adventure, formulated the modern drama, and perfected the drama of incident; if to have sent all France to the theatre to see in three dimensions those stories of Chicot, Edmond Dantès, d'Artagnan, which it knew by heart from books were an achievement within the reach of every scribbler who dabbles in letters; if all this were true, and Dumas 46 VIEWS AND REVIEWS were merely a piece of human journalism, produced to-day and gone to-morrow, there would still be enough of him to make his a memorable name. He was a prodigy-of amiability, cleverness, energy, daring, charm, industry-if he was nothing else. Gronow tells that he has sat at table with Dumas and Brougham, and that Brougham, outfaced and out-talked, was forced to quit the field. J'ai conservé,' says M. Maxime du Camp, in his admirable Souvenirs littéraires, 'd'Alexandre Dumas un souvenir ineffaçable; malgré un certain laisser-aller qui tenait à l'exubérance de sa nature, c'était un homme dont tous les sentiments étaient élevés. On a été injuste pour lui; comme il avait énormément d'esprit, on la accusé d'être léger; comme il produisait avec une facilité incroyable, on l'a accusé de gâcher la besogne, et, comme il était prodigue, on l'a accusé de manquer de tenue. Ces reproches m'ont toujours paru misérables.' 6 This is much; but it is not nearly all. He had, this independent witness goes on to note, une générosité naturelle qui ne comptait jamais; il ressemblait à une corne d'abondance qui se vide sans cesse dans les mains. tendues; la moitié, sinon plus, de l'argent He gagné par lui a été donnée.' That is true; and it is also true that he gave at least as largely of himself—his prodigious temperament, his generous gaiety, his big, manly heart, his turn for chivalry, his gallant and delightful genius-as of his money. He was reputed a violent and luxurious debauchee; and he mostly lived in an attic-(the worst room in the house and therefore the only one he could call his own)-with a camp-bed and the deal table at which he wrote. passed for a loud-mouthed idler; and during many years his daily average of work was fourteen hours for months on end. 'Ivre de puissance,' says George Sand of him, but 'foncièrement bon.' They used to hear him laughing as he wrote, and when he killed Porthos he did no more that day. It would have been worth while to figure as one of the crowd of friends and parasites who lived at rack and manger in his house, for the mere pleasure of seeing him descend upon them from his toil of moving mountains and sharing in that pleasing half-hour of talk which was his common refreshment. After that he would return to the attic and the deal table, and move more mountains. With intervals of travel, sport, adventure, and what ון His Monument. in France is called 'l'amour'-(it is strange, by the way, that he was never a hero of Carlyle's) he lived in this way more or less for forty years or so; and when he left. Paris for the last time he had but two napoleons in his pocket. 'I had only one when I came here first,' quoth he, 'and yet they call me a spendthrift.' That was his way; and while the result is not for Dr. Smiles to chronicle, I for one persist in regarding the spirit in which it was accepted as not less exemplary than delightful. ΟΝ N M. du Camp's authority there is a charming touch to add to his son's description of him. Il me semble,' said the royal old prodigal in his last illness, 6 que je suis au sommet d'un monument qui tremble comme si les fondations étaient assises sur le sable.' 'Sois en paix,' replied the author of the Demi-Monde: 'le monument est bien bâti, et la base est solide.' He was right, as we know. It is good and fitting that Dumas should have a monument in the Paris he amazed and delighted and amused so long. But he could have done without one. In what language is he |