Page:Imperialdictiona02eadi Brandeis.pdf/188

DUM unmistakable marks of his origin, that he is understood to have abandoned on sound advice the desire he once cherished of visiting the birthplace of Washington and Franklin, and the land of republican equality. Such a resolution is to be deplored, as the world would have rung with indignation at insults being offered to a man of genius on account of his colour, and a case of prejudiced outrage so extreme might probably have produced a salutary reaction. However, M. Dumas although passionately fond of travelling, and a man of uncommon bodily strength and courage, shrunk from presenting himself in a country where his works are read with delight. His father a thorough negro in appearance, rose under Napoleon to the rank of general; but notwithstanding his valorous deeds he seemed to have been unable to overcome the repugnance with which the first consul, probably on account of the disgrace of his arms in St. Domingo, regarded black heroes. Like Toussaint L'Ouverture, General Dumas died in prison, leaving his son, the future writer, at four years old to the care of a mother too poor to bestow on him the advantages of a regular education. Nor does it appear that he evinced any strong disposition for books; his great animal spirits tempting him rather to feats of agility and strength. At fifteen he was bound apprentice to a notary, fulfilling the term of five years; his only apparent acquisition being that of fine penmanship. On the occasion of a royal visit to a first night representation of one of his plays, the author presented to the late duchess of Orleans a copy of the piece in his own handwriting, which was regarded as a choice specimen of calligraphy. To his handwriting Dumas owed his first step in the way of advancement. Arriving almost destitute in Paris when twenty years of age, he presented himself to the minister of war, pleading his father's services. The minister finding that the only qualification he possessed was that of good penmanship, recommended him as a simple copying clerk to the duke of Orleans. Once in the literary atmosphere of Paris the genius of the youth began to stir. He made some attempts at poetry and plays, which, as is not uncommon, proved spiritless imitations of familiar examples. Towards the fall of the old Bourbon dynasty, a revolution was brewing in the world of letters as great as in the circle of politics, and which was completely determined by the appearance of Mr. Macready and an English company. Amongst the first converts to Romantique principles, as opposed to the old Classique school, rose Alexandre Dumas. The image of Voltaire was thrown down, and that of Shakspeare enthroned in its place. In imitation or supposed imitation of the English school, Dumas produced in 1828 his romantic drama of "Henri III.," which took the town by storm. What the author did was to present an exact picture of the time in every possible respect. Scenery, costume, language were imitated with fidelity, according to the pictures and memoirs found in libraries and galleries of art. Yet this was only the outside, or, as the Germans would say, objective part of the great English model. Perhaps it was enough for a beginning. At all events it was as much as Dumas could give. Other plays followed, and if they were considered to mark increasing power, we fear it was because they chimed in more and more with the growing disregard for decorum, which, with the extravagant tendencies of all violent reaction, was denounced as a dull and frigid chain upon the free rights of fancy. "Antony," which to the critics of the year 1831 seemed a chef d'œuvre, was in fact an outrage upon modesty, and "Don Juan de Marana," which in 1837 reached the current notions of the sublime, was a monstrous parady of all that christians hold as most sacred. In this play the Virgin is represented surrounded by adoring angels, and the soul of one lately departed is seen to ascend. Dumas did not intend any deliberate profanation of sacred subjects. He merely followed the impulse of the day, for his fancy is quite unrestrained by reflective qualities of any kind or degree. He seeks for effect, and is quite indifferent as to means. Edmund Kean was about the same period made the hero of a drama, with the view of teaching the vulgar and unsound doctrine that genius ought to be free from moral restraint. The comedies of Dumas, although successful, were not so much admired as the tragic dramas. Like the latter they were full of incident, but deficient in delicacy and refinement. In 1839 appeared the "Impressions de Voyage," which exhibited the writer in the aspect of a brilliant and lively narrator; but it was the publication of the "Trois Mousquetaires" in 1845 which in reality crowned, if it did not actually make, the wide-world reputation of Alexandre Dumas as a romance writer of untiring nerve and exhaustless invention. "Monte Christo," which followed, excited no less astonishment and delight. As these stories appeared in daily newspapers, and as the Roman-feuilleton had become the most attractive portion of the journal, and as Dumas was the most attractive of novel writers, the demands on his pen increased and multiplied to such a degree, that our author, determined not to allow the golden opportunity to pass, set up a sort of literary workshop, in which a number of clever handicraftsmen were employed to fill up outlines, paint in accessary parts, and even to finish principal figures, on the condition that they took payment quietly and held their tongues. When the troubles of 1848 stopped this mercantile-literary firm, the principal turned his hand to political writing, and, as might have been expected, failed egregiously. Having no capital stock of political knowledge or principle to support the concern. La Liberte and Le Mois died out one after another; and Dumas, availing himself of the popularity of his "Mousquetaires," set up a lively little publication under a name borrowed from this romance, which continues to do well. Exhaustless invention and boundless animal spirits give to the writings of Dumas an exhilarating character; and if there be questionable passages, he must be acquitted of any studied attacks on feelings or opinions, following, as he ever does, the impulses of the moment, without any thought of consequences beyond amusement. His rapidity of composition is marvellous. A few years ago, being called on by the Theatre Français for a play, he undertook to produce a five-act piece within as many days, and kept his word. The subject being the youthful days of the licentious Louis XV., the imperial censor forbade the performance. Within a week Dumas, to prevent disappointment, presented a second play of equal length. The censor again interfered with a decree against irreverent intrusion on royal peccadilloes, and like an offended soldier who breaks his sword, Dumas flung away his dramatic pen. He has written his own "Memoirs," but they partake rather of the colouring of his lively romances than of sober reality.—J. F. C.  * DUMAS,, son of the preceding, was born on the 28th July, 1824. Following at a very early age in the footsteps of his renowned father, he wrote some tales, which failed to attract particular notice until he made one of them the groundwork of a drama, called the "Dame aux Camelias." The heroine, an abandoned woman, remarkable for her fondness for the flower from which she derives her qualification, dies of consumption on the stage; and the affecting incidents of the performance are mainly drawn from her pitiful exhibitions of physical suffering. The morbid interest with which the French public followed the long-protracted agonies of this novel sort of heroine, certainly marked no improvement of popular taste. Young Dumas has enjoyed the satisfaction of finding himself the founder of a new school; for imitators rapidly succeeded, without, however, being able to disturb his supremacy in this new line of art. "Diane de Lys," another questionable heroine of a neglected novel, has sustained a dramatic reputation, which has been further increased by the "Demi-Monde," a piece of the same class. The literary claims of Dumas fils are not all of a spurious character. He has the art of constructing a telling story, and his dialogue is well turned and pointed, displaying much shrewd observation of character.—J. F. C.  DUMAS,, a celebrated French physician, was born at Lyons in 1765, and died at Montpellier in 1813. He studied medicine at Montpellier, and received his doctor's degree in 1785. After a sojourn in Paris he returned to Montpellier, when he delivered a course of lectures on physiology. He became physician to the hospital de la charite, and in 1791 was appointed vice-professor by the university. Dumas, being physician to the Hôtel Dieu at Lyons at the time when that city was besieged by the army of the convention, had the opportunity of making some valuable observations on intermittent fever. He was afterwards attached to the army of Italy; and, when the reorganization of the medical schools took place, became professor of anatomy and physiology at Montpellier. On the death of M. René, he was thought a proper person to succeed him, and was accordingly, on the incorporation of the college into the université impériale, chosen rector. Dumas was a member of the legion of honour, a corresponding member of the Institute, &c. He wrote "Essais sur la Vie, ou analyse raisonnée des facultés vitales;" "Principes de Physiologie, ou introduction à la science expérimentale, philosophique et médicale de l'homme vivant," and a considerable number of other works.—R. M., A. 