The times., 1897-08-22
DUMAS AND DARTAGNAN.

AIeNandre Dumas. in his preface TO the
firs, EDITION OF The Three Musketeefs."
explains that the foremost of tue three
heroes was discovered by him while col
lccaing material for history of Louis
XIV 4 writer in Blackwooa's tells mot
for the first tiu9l what sort of hero tie
real q Ar agnan was, as shown III his
.ne,noirs ana the description given there.
we are tcid, does not in any way detract
froln the description given by Dumas
so far from icing inferior In constant
movement ana thrill to that series of
novels" says the Biackwood's article,
referring To THE Three Musketeers'
rles. this wonderful autobiography, r
any ling. eXreIs them in those respects
The meIEcirs have u soldicr like simplicity
in style thai cOhvinces one that tie author
is not posing nor trying 10 impose upon
his ft.a,!ers There are passages that
deseEi,e scenes Of outrageous immortality
IN d'Ar'arnan's career and in the careers
of others, hut these, ii is to be fear"d.
were ali TOO char acteristic OF the times.
We qtate from the further description Gf
the farIoas captain:
"D'Arfagnan' real name was Charles de
Bat ze-Ca steIElore, but he took tl,e EaIne OF
has not hers family The poverty of his
Bcarnais home, his departure therefr6m to
seek mis- fortunes by the help of NJ. de
1sey,iie, mis- fat hers repeated in1unctlons
never q suffer the slightest a1front 40
pass una aveEged, and the events on the
Journey hes weeu mois and Orleans. are all
set forth in his own narrative, just Us
viridIy as in that Of Dumas. Evea the
ardor with which. after his ARRIVAL in
Paris Ire set to- work to discover the un-
! known who had insulted him about his
| biaet jaune at Mcang, and the violent way
| he would dash from the room In pHrs uit of
his rnemy at the most incongruUlls mo-
ments, are described in terms which show
| that Dumas. at least. was not guilty of
ovcrioading his canvas. NJ. de Treville is
| there also-g grave, stupid intrepid, loyal
| III the midst of frivolous, intriguing,
| selfish -captaiD-lieutenant OF the
/ Aiousqeet aires, the corps III w Inch 1t n
| young d'Arpagnan's day dream TO be en-
| rolled. I.ut there is one disappointment
| in store FOR readers of these memoirs.
AthoS. Porrhos and A Aramis-the immortal
| trio-aEpear it is tue, very early In the
| story: the acquaintance made with them
bs the raw Gascon lad in the antsroon
OF NJ. de Treville rIpens sintointimate friend
| slip, and many time in his early expert
| ence OF Paris has d'Artagnan recourse to
the magic cry. a moi, mousquetaires !
But they ale altogether subs idiary charao-
| iers: thev disappear altogether after the
first few chapters, and they were literal
| brothers-rot friends sticking closer than
| bruthers-w hich impairs the artistic effect
D'Artagnan has to serve many years in
the Gardes Of NJ des Essarts before he is
| allowed to don the baudrier OF a Nous
| uueuaire, and when at last he does SO
there is no further mention OF his three
friends
''rhe fact is that these three types
the noble, naughty, unselfish Athos, the
staggering. roistering. fearless Porthos
the refined, seheming, insincere Aramis-
are creations of the novelist. He has in
vested them with the qualities and made
them the heroes of adventures assigned
by d'Artagan to number of other raa
characters. Many of these qualities ant
adventures must have seemed outrageousl.
| exaggerated to readers OF the 'Troi:
| Mousquetaires;' but the exaggeration onl
| consists in crowding them into the per
sonality of three individuals
.Extrava CANT as the degree to which
| the cut dnu-tnruSt DuslIeSS seems 10 "
carried in the romance, it is not one whi
more So than it appears in the matter of
fact pages of NJ. d'Artagnan himself
Oueliing, though strictly prohibited by tn
| pious Louis XIII under pain Of visit o
indefinite length to the Bastile, was In ful
vogue, and was all the more sanguinar
because OF the prevalent custom whicl
imposed npon the seconds the duty of fight
ing beside their principals. The morta
rivalry between the Kings Mousqnetaire
| and Richelieus Gardes, incredible as
nay seem in the first capital of Europe
existed just as Dumas has described il
and the famous encounter between d'Al
taguan and the three Mousquetaires on on
side, and Jussac and three Of the cardinal
men on the other, actually took place ~
Literary Digest.