Dumas Alexandrethe Elder

Dumas, Alexandre, the Elder, was the son of General Dumas, a Creole, sprung from the union of the Marquis de la Pailleterie with a black woman of St. Domingo. Born in 1802 at Villars-Cotterets, his physical and moral nature showed strong traces of his grandmother's blood, though his own mother was of French race and exercised a very salutary influence upon his character. Having lost his father at the age of four, he seems to have led a rather desultory life until 1823, when poverty compelled him to seek his fortune in Paris. A small place in the Duke of Orleans' household enabled him to keep body and soul together whilst he turned his ambitious energies towards dramatic literature. After producing one or two lighter pieces, he resolved, under the influence of a mere casual glimpse of Shakespeare's genius, to introduce naturalism upon the French stage. His Henry III, the starting-point of the Romantic school, proved a decided success in 1829, but the Revolution, into which Dumas plunged recklessly as an opponent of the monarchy, caused its withdrawal. Antony in 1831 added to his reputation, though grossly immoral,and La Tour de Nesle in 1832, a brilliant plagiarism, enjoyed a long run. Down to 1860, when La Dame de Monsoreau appeared, he constantly recurred to the historical drama, in which his best faculties are displayed, La Reine Margot, Mile, de Belleisle, La Jeunesse de Louis XIV., and Le Mariage sous Louis XV. being the chief of his sixty pieces. In 1832 the Revue de Deux Mondes began to publish some of his romances, in which he had for model the works of Scott, then beginning to find appreciation in France, and a temporary expatriation led him to compile his Impressions de Voyage and other books on travel, most of the matter being appropriated from previous writers, though the treatment of it is original enough. Indeed, this remark holds good of nearly all his literary productions. The climax of his fame was reached oh the publication of Monte Cristo in 1844, followed next year by Les Trois Mousquetaires. This was the period of his most extraordinary fecundity, when about forty volumes a year was his regular output. It was, of course, physically impossible that he should write or even dictate this prodigious mass of stuff. He employed a number of journeymen, to whom he gave his instructions as regards plot and treatment, correcting their productions before going to press. The chief of this staff was Maquet, who was said to have been the real author of the best of the stories; but what he published under his own name will not bear comparison with the work that bears the signature of Dumas. In 1842 he contracted an unhappy marriage with an actress, Ida Ferrier, and they began together a career of extravagance, which was continued after they parted, as they soon did. Dumas was now in receipt of an enormous income, which he spent in a reckless fashion, building a theatre for himself and a palatial villa, besides indulging every whim of the hour. He accompanied the Duc de Montpensier to Spain in 1846, and indulged in a trip to Algeria and Tunis at the expense of the Government. The Revolution of 1848 saw the beginning of his decline, though he contrived to spend money for twenty years longer. In 1860 he joined Garibaldi, and almost succeeded in bringing Italian patriotism into ridicule. From this time forth he led a hand-to-mouth existence, engaging in any scheme that might furnish him with money to squander, and degrading his old age by his connection with Adah Menken. Ill-health, poverty, and decay of intellect marked his closing years. In 1870, at the outbreak of the war, he was taken to Puys, near Dieppe, where, he lingered until the end of the year under the assiduous care of his son and daughter. His remains were transferred in 1872 to Villars-Cotterets, his native town. Braggart, plagiarist, and epicurean as he was, it is impossible to feel unkindly towards him, or to forget that his talents did much towards breaking down the absurd conventionality that had since the epoch of Louis XIV. impeded the development of French literature.