gg4 Mr. Walter Berries Pollock [April 23, 



the production of tlie ' Tour de Nesle.' The authors fought a duel, 

 but eventually Gaillardet rendered justice to his colleague. . . . 



Dumas excelled in telling and embellishing romantic and humorous 

 stories and readers of ' The Three Musketeers ' will remember many 

 passa«"es in which the heroes of that immortal work are concerned in 

 many^boyish escapades. It may be noted in passing that amongst 

 the accusations brought against Dumas by his detractors is one to the 

 effect that the whole of 'The Three Musketeers' was written by 

 somebody else. It need hardly be said that the notion is on the face 

 of it absurd and carries with it its own condemnation. But if Dumas 

 excelled in light dialogues and in the description of wild adventure, 

 there are on the other hand, few writers who can touch him in scenes 

 of dramatic passion. "There are to my mind few finer things in 

 fiction than the scenes in the sequel to ' The Three Musketeers ' — 

 ' Twenty Years Later ' it is called — which deal with the trial and 

 execution of Charles I. We know that they are not true to history ; 

 but while we read we are compelled to believe in them and to follow 

 them with breathless interest, and that, after all, has something to 

 say to the question of art, whether in a novelist, a painter, or an 

 actor. I remember a conversation between M. Mounet-Sully and 

 an Enc^lish critic concerning the performance of Hamlet by Mr. 

 Irvinfy. The critic pointed out this and that defect, which he had 

 discovered in the Englishman's rendering. The Frenchman heard 

 him out, and replied, ' It may be all as you say, but what does that 

 matter ? I can only tell you that he moved me as no other actor 

 has ever moved me, and that is all that I care about.' There is, it 

 seems to me, in this speech a great truth, to be accepted of course, 

 like most generalities, with certain reservations. If no fault were 

 to be found with any performance which stirs our feelings, the 

 occupation of criticism would be gone. The crudest means might be 

 employed to harrow up the emotions and might pass for exquisite 

 art. But when a high-toned and highly artistic effort is made to 

 move us and succeeds in moving us, then surely, though we need not 

 be blind to the shortcomings of the attempt, yet it is better to dwell 

 more on its successful than on its insufficient results. 



" Dumas Pere was not of course a deliberately moral writer, but 

 there is hardly one of his books which can be the cause of im- 

 morality to any reasonable grown-up person ; while one, ' La 

 Tulipe Noire,' specially mentioned by Thackeray, has not a line 

 which, to quote Mr. Podsnap, can call a blush to the cheek of the 

 young person. As to Dumas succeeding in moving his readers, that 

 of course must be a matter of individual opinion and experience. 

 We live in a free country, and no one is forced to admire or like 

 Dumas' writing. But those who do not are, I think, deprived of a 

 considerable pleasure. 



"Dumas was born in 1802 at Villers Cotterets, a small country 

 town between Paris and Eheims, and he died in 1870. He began 

 writing when he was between twenty and thirty, and in the course 



