New-York tribune., 1908-10-21
4nother Volume of the Memoirs OF
Dumas the Elder.

NY MEMOIRS BY Alexandra Dumas d1a5Siatgo ms R9
by z AZ. Waller WITH an intZqoac{lon u ,SSS,1SS2 - 50
with fronfispiece- nno. pp. XII. 656- The Mac
milan Company
E,aussug in the course Of his narrative OF ""iA
6one and things witnessed. Dumas says: In 'nls
manner did ! stride across the invisible aoSes
that divided one year from another. and passed
from The year 1880 TO that Of 1881. which brought
me insensibly TO my twenty-ninth year he
-,oaas To be grave But for the life Of him he
cannot helm being gay He does not stride across
an invisible abyss He lightly leaps: we might
even saw he prances Never was there more
vivacicus reading than is to be found IN ms
Memoirs" In the present volume the next 10
the last Of the six in which the precious Iras-
r1ent IS being put into English. Dumas GOES
what would be fatal 10 any other writer; ne
discourses al large about politics and he makes
long quotations from other authors in prose and
I'm verse One tolerates il. in him. The dull pas
sages are carried bravely along on the sparkling
current Of his recollections. Here are some OF
his best portraits At one moment he is treating
Of I-arnennais and in the next he tells US about
Mapah. or Cannot, a gambler and eccentric.
Best Of all he deals, at this stage Of his Me
rnoirs." with the production OF Antony" de-
scribfnR IS success. waxing eloquent over its
suspension, giving US vivid gImpses Of Nine
Dorval and altogether carrying Us back into the
atnosphere Of great moment in HIS career.
He has. Of course, his amusing stories TO tell
about the play Its success was largely due to
the sensational denoument The stabbing Of
ADELE b. antony Is followed by six words from
the latter which never failed to electrify the
house: Ellie me resistait: je TAI assassinee!"
Might after night this the sentence that set
the audience frantic once the curtain fell too
soon and the magical words were unspoken. The
result is thus described:
That was not what they wanted: it the de-
tbev shouted loudly lie denolmenti le den0u-
nentt" They clamored 10 such an extent that The
Torz-sj o. go p[o5 TatlTed resumed her nose in
the armchair The dead woman. while they ran
70 find Antony. But he had gone into his dressing
room. furious because they had made him miss his
final effect. and Withdrawing himself into as tent
like Achilles; like Achilles, too he obstnaIely re-
fused 10 come out Of il All the time the audience
went on eapPing, and shouting and caI:lEgi 30
enng 70 break the benches The manage raised
The curtain, hoping that BOcage when driven TO
But Bocage sent the manager about his business
Meanwhile, Doryal waited in her chair, with her
fbey saS fSs4 Focs tr noi Coming back rhev
felt that the atmosphere was becoming stormy, and
raised her stiff arms, lifted her bent head, rose
walked 10 the footlights. and. in the midst OF the
silence which had settled down miracuously at the
hrsJ movement she ventuIed TO make: -. .-,-.-,-
aSSaSSi16ef'' Then ulade graceful Obe-
sa1ce and left the stage hailed by thunders Of ap-
plause- The curtain fell and the Spectators went
away enchanted They had had their denoument
with Z variation il IS true: but this variation was
50 clever that would have had TO be very III
nstured not TO prefer II 70 the original form.
II is good TO read these Memoirs" for the
anecdotes IN them. Il is good 70 read them
also for their many artless revelations OF the
authors character, and especially Of his warm,
cornradely feeling toward so many OF his brill
faut contemporaries. His taste had its linlita-
tons He found the "Peau de chagrin' irritat-
ing. and he adds: Once for all. my estimation
Of Balzac both as a man and as an author is
not 10 be relied upon: as a man. I knew him
hut little. and what I did know did not rouse
in me the least sympathy: regards his tai
enJ, his manner Of composition, OF creation. OF
production, was so different from mine that I
am 2 bad Judge Of him. and condemn myself
on this head, quite conscious that can Justly
De called in question But let him have the
smallest excuse for an alIusion TO Victor Hugo,
say, Of DelaCroix and he let's himself go with
affectionate ardOr. You feel then, as you feel
il reading such a letter Of advice to his fifteen
year-old IS printed in this volume what
sterling heart collaborated with that pro-
6igious brain. AS We have already noted, one
more volume brings the Memoirs to a close.
Il is a great pity that Dumas did not leave twice
many Of these delightful pages
curious retributton seems to have overtaken
Thomas Carlyle He made no bones of saving
whatever came into his head about ANYBODY
\ who happened 10 attract his notice-he was no
-especter Of persons. He could not even keen
his hands of the character of Charles Lamb
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