New-York tribune., 1907-11-15
Famous Crimes Narrated by the
Elder Dumas.

Not long ago attention was given in this place
70 the first volume of the new edition, which the
Macmillan Company is bringing out of the
Memoirs Of the elder Dumas. We cordiaIly cor,,
rrended that enterprise, for the great ron1ancers
photographed pages are not onlv valuahIe
On the side Of portraiture, but contain some of
the most amusing writing to be found in all his
works IL was good idea of the same pub
fishers 70 issue simultaneously a complete trans
iation OF his Grimes Celebres" The first VOL
ume IS at hand. bearing the title of The Crimes
Of the Boreias and Others" Caesar Borgia is the
leading figure in the first and longest of the mar
ratives included, but Lucrezia is NOT naoleo+ad
and the character and perfdies of Pope AlAx-
ander VI are also duly sketched Dumas mr.
sued in these professedly historical studies much
the same method that he followed IN bis 1T.
toricai fiction. He sought to rustic the dr,,
bones Of the past with dramatic fire n brine
his famous personages upon the scene with the
aid OF dialogue and OF all those little Incidents
which go to fill out the picture and lend il YER
isimiitude 1t was a piece of hack work that
he had undertaken, and he made no pretence
Of scrutini2ing with the eye of the scholar the
material that was brought to him for the MAX
ing Of his book. But hack work in the hands
Of Dumas became something very different
from the work OF hack
Though he had still to write those ronances
which have made him immortal he was already
the facile improviser. the master Of emotional
and picturesque effect, and he rehandled the
larnliiar ola tales of wickedness and folly with
warmth and animation all his own. II does
not matter that he wrote with a cheerful indif
ference TO all that is nowadays summed up in
the phrase scientific research II does no+
matter that his portrait OF Lucrezia Rorgia for
example closely follows the old conventional
lines ana possesses thorough going blackness
which would scandalize the modern student oP
documentary evidence. Recent hIographers oF
Lucrezia take a much more amiable view of
her career than Dumas had any Idea Of develop
ing But If Dumas. according 10 his lights
meant to be accurate and edfying he meant
even more to be stirring and picturesque and in
this he was abundantly successful. Take. in
illustration, his story of how Caesar Borgia and
the Pope drank Of poisoned wine prepared l,,-
the former for other lips. He shows us Alex
ander going TO the fateful supper on a hot
summers afternoon and presently sending Car
olhal CaraHa back to the Vatican to find a
talisnan he had left behind him. a gold medal
hon inclosing the consecrated wafer which an
astrologer had told him would ward off steel
ana poison. Meanwhile, the Pope felt thirsty
and Cesar sent for wine and glasses. AS It
happened the Pope's butler TO whom the poi
apart but had failed TO lock them up. The rest
OF the story follows:
BY curious coincidence the butler had fust
gone PACK TO the Vatican 10 fetch some magnificent
go Tsces 80 tnat had been sent that very day to the
mere so the valet went to the under butler saving
Romagna were thirsty and asking for drDk T6 6
Inder butler; seeing two bottles of wine set apart
the Pope. took one and. telling the valet to bring
Two glasses on tray, poured out this wine. which
II VIII had
unHeinselNes prepared 10 poison their guests.
he knew the palace well went up to the Popes pes
bedroom light in his hand and attended by no
servant As he turned round a corridor a puff of
wind blew out his lamp; still. he knew the way
TO find the object he was in search % Of but Sr as he
entered the room he recoiled step, with a cry Of
that there before his eyes in the mniade Of the
the medallion Alexander VI. motioniess and livid
MAS iyi9g F on bier at At whose four corners there
moment. his eyes fixed, and his hair standing on
forward; then. thinking it was ali a trick of fancy
or an apparttion OF the devils making, he made
instantly vanished. torches. bier and corpse and
the seeming mortuary chamber was once more in
Then Cardinal Caraffa who has himself recorded
Paul " entered boldly and though an icy sweat
net. and in the drawer indicated found the gold
chain and the medallion took them; and hastily
per served. the guests arrived. and His Holiness
ready 10 take his place Ca at ia 2Ie as soon as the
pale. made one step toward him; Caraffa doubled
his pace and handed the medallion TO him; but
the Pope stretched forth his arm TO take IT, he fell
back with a cry instantly followed by violent con-
WILSON'S: an instant later, he advanced 10 rem
fezed: the effect Of the poison had been rapid
than usual for Cesar had doubled the dose and
there is little doubt that their heated condition IN
creased its activity
The two stricken men were carried side by side
70 the Vatican, where each was taken 10 ms own
rooms: from that moment they never met again.
The nnisdemeanors of the Borgias occupy the
bulk Of this volume. The remaining space is
given to the stories Of the Cenci Joan or
Naples and the Countess de Saint-Geran Ihe
four divisions are Of varying length but they
are uniformly luri5 and dramatic. with all
their limitations they nevertheless nave III
them the SAVIOR OF the true Dumas and IL is d
uleasure 70 have them resuscitated anc put
forth in the same style as the new translation
Of the Memoirs.
NOT many versihers make as frank apology
for their poetry as does Mr.. Alec JOY IN ms
''wayside Verses"
All that I say by others has been sac, sa.
Ard viii be said again when ] am dead;
Nsucbf can we find but twas aforetne known
Tho each man thinks his treasure IS MS o"h'
For future poets. then. care no 1ot
And The wise dead, cen they torment me not"
The fancies that in verse here express,
I-1 reader n they seem old-worn TO you
Know that for me they are alive ana he"
Divers Fnglishrnen have been making COM
parisons between the methods Of our Con-
gressio,sl library and those Of the great library
Of the British Museum much 10 the disadvan-
sass ~ +le latter The English Library World
in reviewing recently some specimens of the
49, . Ha washington