ALEXANDRE DUMAS

TRANSLATED BY

E. M. WALLER

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

ANDREW LANG

VOL. VI

1832 TO 1833

WITH A FRONTISPIECE

NEW YORK

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1909

[Pg v]

Alexandre Dumas aet area '67.

CONTENTS

BOOK I CHAPTER I Preparations for my Fancy Dress Ball—I find that my lodgings are too much after the style of Socrates—My artist-decorators—The question of the supper—I go for provisions to la Ferté-Vidame—View of this capital town of the Canton, by night, in a snowstorm—My nephew's room—My friend Gondon—Roebuck hunting—Return to Paris—I invent a Bank of Exchange before M. Proudhon—The artists at work—The dead 1 CHAPTER II Alfred Johannot 10 CHAPTER III Clément Boulanger 18 CHAPTER IV Grandville 28 CHAPTER V Tony Johannot 36 BOOK II CHAPTER I Sequel to the preparations for my ball—Oil and distemper—Inconveniences of working at night—How Delacroix did his task—The ball—Serious men—La Fayette and Beauchene—Variety of costumes—The invalid and the undertaker's man—The last galop—A political play—A moral play 42 [Pg vi] CHAPTER II Dix ans de la vie d'une femme 53 CHAPTER III Doligny manager of the theatre in Italy—Saint-Germain bitten by the tarantula—How they could have livened up

Versailles if Louis-Philippe had wished it—The censorship of the Grand-Duke of Tuscany—The bindings of printer Batelli—Richard Darlington, Angèle, Antony and La Tour de Nesle performed under the name of Eugène Scribe 83 CHAPTER IV A few words on La Tour de Nesle and M. Frédérick Gaillardet—The Revue des Deux Mondes—M. Buloz—The Journal des Voyages—My first attempt at Roman history—Isabeau de Bavière—A witty man of five foot nine inches 91 CHAPTER V Success of my Scènes historiques—Clovis and Hlodewig (Chlodgwig)—I wish to apply myself seriously to the study of the history of France—The Abbé Gauthier and M. de Moyencourt—Cordelier-Delanoue reveals to me Augustine Thierry and Chateaubriand—New aspects of history—Gaule et France—A drama in collaboration with Horace Vernet and Auguste Lafontaine 99 CHAPTER VI Édith aux longs cheveux—Catherine Howard 107 BOOK III CHAPTER I An invasion of cholera—Aspect of Paris—Medicine and the scourge—Proclamation of the Prefect of Police—The supposed poisoners—Harel's newspaper paragraph—Mademoiselle

Dupont—Eugène Durieu and Anicet Bourgeois—Catherine (not Howard) and the cholera—First performance of Mari de la veuve—A horoscope which did not come true 115 CHAPTER II My régime against the cholera—I am attacked by the epidemic —I invent etherisation—Harel comes to suggest to me[Pg vii] La Tour de Nesle—Verteuil's manuscript—Janin and the tirade of the grandes dames—First idea of the prison scene—My terms with Harel—Advantages offered by me to M. Gaillardet—The spectator in the Odéon—Known and unknown authors—My first letter to M. Gaillardet 127 CHAPTER III M. Gaillardet's answer and protest—Frédérick and Buridan's part—Transaction with M. Gaillardet—First performance of La Tour de Nesle—The play and its interpreters—The day following a success—M. * * *—A profitable trial in prospect—Georges' caprice—The manager, author and collaborator 142 CHAPTER IV The use of friends—Le Musée des Familles—An article by M. Gaillardet—My reply to it—Challenge from M. Gaillardet —I accept it with effusion—My adversary demands a first

respite of a week—I summon him before the Commission of Dramatic Authors—He declines that arbitration—I send him my seconds—He asks a delay of two months—Janin's letter to the newspapers 156 CHAPTER V Sword and pistol—Whence arose my aversion to the latter weapon—Philippe's puppet—The statue of Corneille—An autograph in extremis—Le bois de Vincennes—A duelling toilet—Scientific question put by Bixio—The conditions of the duel—Official report of the seconds—How Bixio's problem found its solution 186 BOOK IV CHAPTER I The masquerade of the budget at Grenoble—M. Maurice Duval—The serenaders—Escapade of the 35th of the line—The insurrection it excites—Arrest of General Saint-Clair—Taking of the préfecture and of the citadel by Bastide—Bastide at Lyons—Order reigns at Grenoble—Casimir Périer, Gamier-Pages and M. Dupin—Report of the municipality of Grenoble—Acquittal of the rioters—Restoration of the 35th—Protest of a smoker 198 [Pg viii] CHAPTER II General Dermoncourt's papers—Protest of Charles X.

against the usurpation of the Duc d'Orléans—The stoutest of political men—Attempt at restoration planned by Madame la duchesse de Berry—The Carlo-Alberto—How I write authentic notes—Landing of Madame near La Ciotat—Legitimist affray at Marseilles—Madame set out for La Vendée—M. de Bonnechose—M. de Villeneuve—M. de Lorge 215 CHAPTER III Madame's itinerary—Panic—M. de Puylaroque—Domine salvum fac Philippum—The château de Dampierre—Madame de la Myre—The pretended cousin and the curé—M. Guibourg—M. de Bourmont—Letter of Madame to M. de Coislin—The noms de guerre—Proclamation of Madame—New kind of henna—M. Charette—Madame is nearly drowned in the Maine—The sexton in charge of the provisions—A night in the stable—The Legitimists of Paris—They dispatch M. Berryer into la Vendée 230 CHAPTER IV Interview between MM. Berryer and de Bourmont—The messenger's guides—The movable column—M. Charles—Madame's hiding-place—Madame refuses to leave la Vendée—She rallies her followers to arms—Death of General Lamarque—The

deputies of the Opposition meet together at Laffitte's house—They decide to publish a statement to the nation—MM. Odilon Barrot and de Cormenin are commissioned to draw up this report—One hundred and thirty-three deputies sign it 247 CHAPTER V Last moments of General Lamarque—What his life had been— One of my interviews with him—I am appointed one of the stewards of the funeral cortège—The procession—Symptoms of popular agitation—The marching past across the place Vendôme—The Duke Fitz-James—Conflicts provoked by the town police—The students of the École Polytechnique join the cortège—Arrival of the funeral procession at the pont d'Austerlitz—Speeches—First shots—The man with the red flag—Allocution of Étienne Arago 260 [Pg ix] CHAPTER VI The artillerymen—Carrel and le National—Barricades of the boulevard Bourdon and in the rue de Ménilmontant— The carriage of General La Fayette—A bad shot from my friends—Despair of Harel—The pistols in Richard—The women are against us—I distribute

arms to the insurgents—Change of uniform—The meeting at Laffitte's—Progress of the insurrection—M. Thiers—Barricade Saint-Merry—Jeanne—Rossignol—Barricade of the passage du Saumon—Morning of 6 June 281 CHAPTER VII Inside the barricade Saint-Merry, according to a Parisian child's account—General Tiburce Sébastiani—Louis-Philippe during the insurrection—M. Guizot—MM. François Arago, Laffitte and Odilon Barrot at the Tuileries—The last argument of Kings—Étienne Arago and Howelt—Denunciation against me—M. Binet's report 301 BOOK V CHAPTER I Le Fils de l'Émigré—I learn the news of my premature death—I am advised to take a voyage for prudence and health's sake—I choose Switzerland—Gosselin's literary opinion on that country—First effect of change of air—From Châlon to Lyons by a low train—The ascent of Cerdon—Arrival at Geneva 317 CHAPTER II Great explanations about the bear-steak—Jacotot—An ill-sounding epithet—A seditious felt hat—The carabineers who were too clever—I quarrel with King Charles-Albert over

the Dent du Chat—Princes and men of intellect 323 CHAPTER III 22 July 1832 339 CHAPTER IV Edict unbaptizing the King of Rome—Anecdotes of the childhood of the Duc de Reichstadt—Letter of Sir Hudson Lowe announcing the death of Napoleon 346 [Pg x] CHAPTER V Prince Metternich is appointed to teach the history of Napoleon to the Duc de Reichstadt—The Duke's plan of political conduct—The poet Barthélemy at Vienna—His interviews with Count Dietrichstein—Opinion of the Duc de Reichstadt on the poem Napoleon en Egypt 353 CHAPTER VI Journey of the Duc de Reichstadt—M. le Chevalier de Prokesch—Questions concerning the recollections left by Napoléon en Égypte—The ambition of the Duc de Reichstadt—The Countesse Camerata—The prince is appointed lieutenant-colonel—He becomes hoarse when holding a review—He falls ill—Report upon his health by Dr. Malfatti 363 CHAPTER VII The Duc de Reichstadt at Schönbrünn—Progress of his disease—The Archduchess Sophia—The prince's last moments—His death—Effect produced by the news at

Paris—Article of the Constitutionnel upon this event 373 BOOK VI CHAPTER I Lucerne—The lion of August 10—M. de Chateaubriand's fowls—Reichenau—A picture by Conder—Letter to M. le duc d'Orléans—A walk in the park of Arenenberg 383 CHAPTER II News of France—First performance of Le Fils de l'Émigré— What Le Constitutionnel thought of it—Effect produced by that play on the Parisian population in general and on M. Véron in particular—Death of Walter Scott—Perrinet Leclerc—Sic vos non vobis 401 CHAPTER III La Duchesse de Berry returns to Nantes disguised as a peasant woman—The basket of apples—The house Duguigny—Madame in her hiding-place—Simon Deutz—His antecedents—His mission—He enters into treaty with MM. Thiers and Montalivet—He starts for la Vendée 412 [Pg xi] CHAPTER IV M. Maurice Duval is made Préfet of the Loire-Inférieure— The Nantais give him a charivari—Deutz's persistent attempts to see Madame—He obtains a first and then a second audience—Besieging of the maison Duguigny—The

hiding-place—The police searches—Discovery of the Duchess 424 CHAPTER V First moments after the arrest—Madame's 13,000 francs—What a gendarme can win by sleeping on a camp-bed and making philosophic reflections thereon—The duchess at the Château de Nantes—She is transferred to Blaye—Judas 438 BOOK VII CHAPTER I Le Roi s'amuse—Criticism and censorship 462 CHAPTER II Le Corsaire trial—The Duc d'Orléans as caricaturist—The Tribune trial—The right of association established by jury—Statistics of the political sentences under the Restoration—Le Pré-aux-Clercs 500 CHAPTER III Victor Jacquemont 505 CHAPTER IV George Sand 513 CHAPTER V Eugène Sue—His family, birth, godfather and godmother— His education—Dr. Sue's wine-cellar—Choir of botanists —Committee of chemistry—Dinner on the grass—Eugène Sue sets out for Spain—His return—Ferdinand Langlé's room—Captain Gauthier 520 CHAPTER VI Eugène Sue is ambitious enough to have a groom, horse and trap—He does business with the maison Ermingot,[Pg xii] Godefroi

et Cie which permits him to gratify that fancy—Triumph at the Champs-Élysées—A vexing encounter—Desforges and Eugène Sue separate—Desforges starts Le Kaléidoscope at Bordeaux—Ferdinand Langlé starts La Nouveauté at Paris—César and the negro Zoyo—Dossion and his dog 531 CHAPTER VII Eugène Sue's début in journalism—L'Homme-Mouche—The merino sheep—Eugène Sue in the Navy—He takes part in the battle of Navarino—He furnishes a house—The last folly of youth—Another Fils de l'Homme—Bossange and Desforges 540 BOOK VIII CHAPTER I The political duels 547 CHAPTER II Lucrèce Borgia—Discouragement—First conception of the Historical Romances 572 CHAPTER III Condition of the Théâtre-Français in 1832 and 1833—Causes which had led to our emigration from the Théatre-Français—Reflections concerning the education of dramatic artists 577 CHAPTER IV Talma—Mademoiselle Mars—The Conservatoire—Macready—Young —Kean—Miss Smithson—Mrs. Siddons—Miss Faucit—Shakespeare —The limits to dramatic art in France 582 APPENDIX 587

TRANSLATOR'S NOTE 636 [Pg 1]

THE MEMOIRS OF ALEXANDRE DUMAS

CHAPTER I

Preparations for my Fancy Dress Ball—I find that my lodgings are too much after the style of Socrates—My artist-decorators—The question of the supper—I go for provisions to la Ferté-Vidame—View of this capital town of the Canton, by night, in a snowstorm—My nephew's room—My friend Gondon—Roebuck hunting—Return to Paris—I invent a Bank of Exchange before M. Proudhon—The artists at work—The dead

Carnival time was drawing near, and the suggestion Bocage had made that I should give a ball spread abroad throughout the artist world, and was flung back at me on all sides. One of the first difficulties which arose was the question of the smallness of my lodgings—my rooms comprised a dining-room, sitting-room, bedroom and study, which, however adequate in size for a dwelling, were too limited for a party. A ball, given by me, necessitated three or four hundred invitations; and how could I have three or four hundred people in a dining-room, drawing-room, bedroom and study? Happily I bethought myself of a set of four rooms on the same landing, not only empty, but still void of all decoration—[Pg 2]except for the mirrors above the chimney-pieces, and the blue-grey paper which covered the walls. I asked the landlord's permission to use this set of rooms for the purpose of the ball I intended to give. It was granted me. Next came the question of decorating the rooms. This was the business of my artist friends. Hardly did they know that I needed them before they came and offered me

their services. There were four rooms to decorate, and they shared the task between them. The decorators were no other than Eugène Delacroix, Louis and Clément Boulanger, Alfred and Tony Johannot, Decamps, Grandville, Jadin, Barye, Nanteuil—our first painters, in fact. Ciceri undertook the ceilings. The question arose as to whether the subject should be from a novel or from a play of each of the authors who would be there. Eugène Delacroix undertook to paint King Rodrigo after the defeat of the Guadalèté, a subject taken from the Romancero, translated by Émile Deschamps; Louis Boulanger chose a scene from Lucrèce Borgia; Clément Boulanger, a scene from the Tour de Nesle; Tony Johannot, a scene from the Sire de Giac; Alfred Johannot, a scene from Cinq-Mars; Decamps promised a Debureau in a cornfield studded with poppies and corn-flowers; Grandville took a panel twelve feet long by eight feet wide, in which he undertook to reproduce all our professions in a picture representing an orchestra of thirty or forty musicians, some clanging cymbals, others shaking Chinese hats,

some blowing on horns and bassoons, others scraping on violins and violoncellos. There were, besides, animals at play above each door.

Barye took upon himself the window frames: lions and tigers as large as life formed these supports. Nanteuil did the surroundings, the ornamentations and the panels of the doors. This point settled, it was decided that, four or five days before the ball, Ciceri should stretch the canvases on the walls and bring paint-brushes, measures and colours. When the artists had begun their work, they were not to leave it except to go to bed: they were to[Pg 3] be fed and provided with drink in the house. The collation was to consist of three items.

There now remained a thing of the highest importance to attend to, namely, supper. I thought of providing the main foundation of this with game killed by my own hand; this would be both a pleasure and an economy. I went in search of M. Deviolaine, who gave me leave to shoot over the forest of la Ferté-Vidame. This was the more delightful as my old friend Gondon was inspector of it, and I was very sure he would not grudge a roebuck more or less. Furthermore, the permission included some friends as well as myself. I invited Clerjon de Champagny, Tony Johannot, Géniole and Louis Boulanger. My brother-in-law and nephew were to set out from Chartres and to turn up at the appointed hour at la Ferté-Vidame. I gave Gondon two days' notice in advance, so that he could procure the necessary beaters, and it was arranged that we should stop the night at an inn, the address of which he gave me; that we should sleep there; that we should shoot the whole of the following day, and that, according as we were too tired or not, we should either

leave that evening or the next morning. We were to make the journey in a huge berline which, somehow or other, I happened to possess. Everything decided upon was carried out punctiliously. We started between nine and ten in the morning. We reckoned upon arriving about six or seven in the evening, but snow overtook us when a third of our journey was done, and, instead of arriving at seven, it was midnight before we got there, and we had not had anything to warm us the whole of that long journey except the never-failing wit and charming spirits of Champagny, to which, as an accompaniment, was joined the noise of a tin trumpet which he had bought somewhere or other, I know not for what purpose, its droll sound affording the boon of making us shout with laughter.

When we arrived, we naturally found everybody asleep; at la Ferté-Vidame they go to bed at ten in summer and eight[Pg 4] in winter. We set foot on a magnificent carpet of snow, which reminded me of the wolf-hunts of my youth, with my old friends M. Deviolaine and the gamekeepers. How many things had happened between the snows of 1817 and those of 1832 and had melted away even as they! We looked like those who knocked at the outbuildings of the Castle of the Sleeping Beauty; nobody answered us, and, as we were getting more and more benumbed, I was already beginning to talk of breaking in the door of the inn, as I had at M. Dupont-Delporte's country-house, when, from the other side of the door, I heard my nephew's voice. He was exactly the age that I was when going shooting kept me from sleeping—poor boy, he has since died! Half awake from the pleasure to which he was looking forward in the next day's sport he woke up completely at the racket we made, at our desperate cries and, especially, at the sound of Champagny's

trumpet. He exerted himself inside as we did outside, to rouse the hotel people from their beds. Finally, swearing, scolding, crotchety, a man got up, calling upon heaven to know if this was the hour to wake honest people. The door opened and the host's bad temper calmed down a little when he saw we had come by post-chaise! That made it justifiable for him to be disturbed at night, and, thenceforward, we were well received. My brother-in-law had not been able to come. Émile, my nephew, was alone, and he had naturally taken the best room in the house, by virtue of his right as first arrival. It was immediately pointed out to him that, being at the age when one can eat anything, he was also, naturally, at the age when one gets the worst beds and cold rooms. His room had a splendid fireplace, in which burned the remains of a fire which I tended with the conscientiousness of a vestal, until they brought a load of wood. It was a large room; we held council, and it was unanimously decided to carry the mattresses from the small rooms