Page:The life and writings of Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) (IA lifewritingsofal00spurrich).pdf/16

 The ex-employee of the Duke of Orleans is accused of having alternately abused and fawned upon that dignitary when he became king. We prefer to take the responsibility of suppressing the allegations respecting this episode in Dumas's career as utterly at variance with his practice and his nature.

Another omission requires explanation. We have dealt with the plays of Dumas, so far as they affected his career, in Part I.; we have touched on them in general terms in other portions of the book; but have refrained from dealing with them at all extensively. The general reader of the English-speaking public does not know Dumas's plays, and has had no opportunity of seeing them or of reading them, therefore one cannot hope to interest him in them; and at the risk of throwing the subject out of its proper proportion we have omitted to treat them fully. To those who do know and appreciate him as a dramatist, we can recommend "Le Drame d'A. Dumas" by M. H. Parigot, published by Calmann-Lévy.

There is a general confusion in books of reference concerning the year of Dumas's birth. As Glinel shows, by reproducing the certificate of birth, the author was born in 1802.

The author has tried to make his book as accurate as possible, but the task has been difficult, as no impartial and complete biography of Dumas exists,