DUMAS 



1879 



Dumas' historical drama Henry III per- 

 formed in 1829, was the first great triumph of 

 the Romantic French drama (see ROMANTI- 

 CISM), and was followed by numerous other 

 plays that brought him both fame and wealth. 

 About 1839 he began his career as a writer of 

 fiction. One of his early historical novels, 



DUMB-BELLS 



DUMAS THE ELDER 



Isabelle de Baviere, suggested to him that he 

 might present the whole history of France in 

 a great series of narratives that should "exalt 

 history to the height of fiction," the outcome of 

 his idea being a group of fascinating stories 

 that have never been surpassed for vividness, 

 dramatic action and power to absorb the read- 

 er's interest. The best-known of these are The 

 Three Guardsmen, with its two sequels, Twenty 

 Years After and The Viscount Bragelonne, and 

 the matchless Count of Monte Cristo. The 

 adventures of the young sailor who found the 

 buried treasure on the island of Monte Cristo 

 have been followed with breathless interest by 

 innumerable readers. 



The novels which bear the name of Dumas 

 number about three hundred, but the only 

 claim that he could lay to many of these was 

 that he had either sketched the plots or re- 

 vised them before they were printed. Once 

 his fame was established he hired writers to 

 do the mechanical part, while he supplied the 

 ideas. His best work was done between 1843 

 and 1850, and the latter period of his life was 

 spent in wanderings through Europe in search 

 of "copy." Though he earned enormous sums 

 of money, his extravagance and recklessness 



brought him to extreme poverty in his old age 

 and in his last days he was cared for by his son' 

 Alexandre Dumas (1824-1895), eon of the 

 great novelist, is known as DUMAS THE 

 YOUNGER. He began his literary career with 

 a book of poems (1847), but his first real 

 success came a year later with the novel La 

 dame aux camelias, better known by its English 

 title of Camille (which see). A dramatization 

 of the book, presented in 1852, created a sen- 

 sation, and the play has been enormously suc- 

 cessful since then because of the opportunities 

 it affords the actress who assumes the title role. 

 The role of Camille was one of the triumphs of 

 Sarah Bernhardt. In all of Dumas' plays he 

 seeks to teach stern lessons of morality to a 

 gay and thoughtless world. Among his other 

 dramas are The Money Question, The Prodigal 

 Father and The Wife of Claude. He was 

 highly gifted as a dramatist, and he was elected 

 to the French Academy in 1874. C.W.K. 



DUMAURIER, dumorya', GEORGE Louis 

 PALMELLA BUSSON (1834-1896), an English 

 story-writer and illustrator, whose best-known 

 novel, Trilby, created a sensation on its publi- 

 cation in 1894. Trilby, the heroine, is an art- 

 ist's model who is brought under the influ- 

 ence of a Hungarian musician. By means of 

 mesmerism she becomes one of the greatest 

 singers of her time, but when her teacher dies 

 she loses her powers. The book has strong 

 dramatic qualities; a play founded on it was 

 successfully staged in England and America. 



Du Maurier, of French descent on his father's 

 side, was born in Paris, but he entered Uni- 

 versity College, England, at the age of seven- 

 teen, and in the course of time became a 

 naturalized British subject. In 1856 he chose 

 art as a profession, studied in Paris and in 

 Antwerp, and began his career as an illustrator 

 for London publications. 



In 1864 he became a regular member of the 

 staff of Punch, and his drawings for that 

 periodical gave him an enduring reputation as 

 a skilful portrayer of the social follies of his 

 time. Among the books for which he made 

 illustrations are Thackeray's Henry Esmond 

 and Ballads, Foxe's Book of Martyrs and 

 novels of Henry James, Thomas Hardy and 

 George Meredith. In addition to Trilby he 

 wrote two novels, Peter Ibbetson and The 

 Martian, and he was also the author of light, 

 graceful verse. 



DUMB-BELLS, wooden or iron weights, con- 

 sisting of two balls connected by a bar a few 

 inches in length and used in physical exercises. 



