Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1851-12-31
PORTRAIT OF DUMAS, THE GREAT
FRENCH NOVELIST.

PORTRAIT OF DUMAS, THE GREAT
FRENCH NOVELIST.
From Paris letter of Prof. Brney in the
Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, we extract
the following graphic and eloquen. descrIp-
tion of the great French Novelist, AleXan-
der Dumas:
Povers Portrait Of Alexander Dumas
Agreeably 10 my promise TO your readers, a
fortnight ago, have dropped in at the stu
din Of our coun,ryman, Wm. II. POWELL
He was jus, painting IN the background OF
a hslf-inished portrait of the French novel
lat aud dramal,st. Half dozen eminent
artists have endeavored, without success, to
put on The canvass a correct likeness oi Du-
mas, in one of the happiest expressions OF
his ever varying counlenance; Powell has
succeeded in getting The ming led express
sions of dignity, and something between
wagserv and playful sarcasm, SO natural TO
Dumas in general society. What painting
can never represent is the general, symPa-
lhe,ic, af1e c,ionate, hearty, impulsIve, whole
soul-d character of the man; character
which has made him troops of warm friends,
taken the sting out Of The hatred Of his lite
prudences of all kinds, and caused those
storms which have bent with such fury on
his Tree of Life and made fall abou. bis
feet 50 msnv bitter fruits Of experience
An "airy child of vspor and The SUM-" o'
nsgina,ion and genius, he has always been
The sport Of every passing impulse, of every
chsnee impression. Like lady Adeline, he
is remarkable for that
''yvacious versatility,
Which many people take for want of heart;
They err-'tis merely what is called nobility,
A thing of temperament and not of art.
Hi, cordially, kindness of disposition snd
wan. Of suspicion ma ke> him The easy prey
Of The selfish and interested : so long as he
has ANYTHING in his purse, il is for the use
Of his friends. Were he Emperor of Russia
the gold mines of Ural would not be ade-
qnare to his boundIess and needless gene
ro>ily. HIS table is ever crowded. and spite
Of hi. enormous losses by endorsements. he
has scarcely ever had the heart To refuse his
name. II was his generosity of character
that precipita'ed him into the very foolish
marriage ahIch ended go badly. Like DAME,
Milton, Byron and hosts Of Other men Of
genius, his domestic relations have no, been
his most happy ones.
have met with celebrated men, but nev-
er with one who appears the genius he is
50 much as Dumas. Not the slighte., af-
lectaiion about HIM 3; on the contrary a most
astonishing nairete nr natural simplicity and
frankness. Whether gay or grave, lively or
sad, humorous or descriptive, bis conversa-
lion is interesting, but fairly takes possession
Of the hesrer, captivating and charming him
and making him forget that time is flying
fast. He mskes you laugh or cry as he may
be in the mood. AT times, metaphors, tropes,
images of The mos. beautiful kind follow
each other in rapid succession-hls conver-
salinn becomes like his novels, a succession
Of brilliant tHbleaux. Nothing to obscure :;
every thing he touches lives and breahes
under his hand. You cease TO wonder tia
he has been able t" produce so many books,
for what he has thrown off in talking would
make most fascinating volume. Unlike hi
friend d'OsSav, he has sold nothing you can't
remember; for weeks after, perhaps for
months, his very words are sraved on your
memory, and his illustrations reour 10 you.
Wherever he has passed through the reslm
of thought, flowers have sprung up on his
path, as IN some operas. they do on the path
Of Fairy queen. For The moment, be is
whatever he describes; some authors iden-
.i(y themselves with one of their fdvorile
chaclers; Dumas is, for the moment, every
character he paints. You recognize in him,
at difieren, times, every king, great seigneur,
hero, guardsman. monk and puritan he has
described. As Frenchmen say, he is capa.
bic de tout.
IN bis manners, there is not the sligh,es,
mark Of the s,uden. or the pedant. lie would
be great lord in any court Of Europe, a
jovlal comrade by camp fire, capital
stump speaker. and just the cheerful, sym
palhising friend sick man would like to
see. Common scandal has made him bon
vivant, lover Of good things, both for eat
ing and drinking. But common scandal has
made here Gne Of her faults, Dumas may
think with Zen", that all the good things
were not made for fools his socIsl dspn-
si,lon, too, may have led him into occasional
excesses; but his general habits are not only
temperate but ahstemous. This kind OF
moderation has been forced on him by the
necessity of immense literary labor and OF
coun,erac,ing a natural tendency to corpu-
Iency. His person is large and por,ly, his
limbs admirably and strongly moulded and
his feet and hands small enough to make a
smaller man vain.
Blu, my sketch would be imperfect, #
did not satisfy the curiosity of my readers
as to the proportion of African blood in his
veins and its revelation in his personal ap-
pearance.
This is a subject on which Dumas has
not the slightest false pride to wound; he
speaks of it without any sor. of affec,alion
His celebrated answer to a man who ask ed
him "Is it really true, Mr.. Dumas, 'ha
your grandfather was negro :" was intend