The examiner. [volume] (Louisville, Ky.) 1847-1849, 1848-05-27

Niex.ssaer Dsnns, tire fr~neh Noseitss'
Mons. Querard, a celebrated French an
thor, distinguished for accuracy and indus
Try, has Just published work on the litera-
ry imposiures Of France, in which he con-
victs the popular .feWilietonisf, Alexander
Dumas, OF being the greatest literary impos-
ter, the most inpudenl and wholesale pla-
giarist that the world ever saw. The Ahie-
neum, in noticing the work in question.
says, There are few of our readers who
have not been struck BY the exaggeraiea
figure and impossible preiensions. the match.
less effrontery, ineffable coxcombry, colos-
sal gasconading, and al the same time pro-
digious success OF Alexander Dumas, the
monster FeuiIletonist, the Briareus Of liter
AZURE. He viii survive as type Of the liz.
erary swaggeres: letters have not produced
his peer There need be no delicacy-iI
such revelations as these before US be true
with man who has had no delicacy for his
own secrets He has not himself thought Of
concealing his craft. He has attitudinized
in newspapers and strutted into courts Of
Justice claiming to be a conluror. The sPir-
il Of the mountebank he has paraded on the
open stage of literature. He has been fond
Of visibly throwing dust in the eyes OF the
public, showing his tricks and defying you
20 find them out. Like Katterfelto, won-
dering al HIMSELF he has, by all possible
means, advertised his wonders OF course
most people suspected an imposition, though
they knew not its secret. That any man
should produce eighty volumes year Of
his own writing few believed: it was enough
TO have sold them" In the first place, il
appears that this scribe, whose imagined fe
cundity has astonished the world, has KEEP
in his pay company Of no less than seven
ty-four oOllaborateErs. A popular name
has been used as the guarantee Of the vilesl
trash, and thus goods have been sold to the
public under false pretenceS. He has SOLD
the works of others as his own. He ha;
stolen, wholesale, TRANSACTIONS Of foreign
works, and published them as his own ori
ginal versions. He has taken entire stories
written by his contemporaries, and giver
them to the world as his sole work. AL
the plays save four, which he has sold tc
the theatres. are proved to be from the pen'
Of his oollabOrateHrs, and the four, which
are Henri Ill.,, Christine, Charles VII.
and Don Juan de Mariana are cooked up
from numerous authors, whole scenes being
taken in some instances, while character
and incidents are appropriated unblushingly
and without compunction. The most pop
ular Of his novels are here given to the au.
lhors who wrote them. Even Homie Girls
10, Les Tr0is MousqGetaiTes, and ViagI
Ans APres are the work OF others. and the
pet Of the Parisians is left bare indeed
Monte CristO' is in two parts; and thess
two parts have different authors. P A. Flo
rentino for the first, and NJ. Aug. Maquel
for the second. From work, published
in Paris, in 1873, bearing the title Ne
moiry tires des Archives de la Police d.
Paris, pour servir PhisOire de la morale
ct de Ia police depuis Louis XIV. jusqu a
nos jOurs, par J. p. Peuchet, ArchiUiste d.
la Police, Dumas has copied, and textu
element, two episodes: namely, Francois
Picaud. historic contemporaries, and Mad
anne de Vartelle, on uR Crime de Famille
In the latter, he has simply altered the
names OF the people. From the novel cal
led La Rou de Fortune, by A. Arnould, he
has completed his history Of w. MOrel. Lee
TTOis MOusquetaires, and Vingt Ans Ap
res were composed by NJ Maquet; though
very naturally, following the example Of hi'
chief, he has boldly stolen a great part O
them from the Memories fATtagnan- A
scheme of association on system Of annex
alton like this, somewhat enlarged, woult
soon bring the whole literary estate of the
world into the territorial keeping Of a com