Page:The life and writings of Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) (IA lifewritingsofal00spurrich).pdf/298

 cess, we shall try to go backward as far as Alexander, and forward as far as Napoleon." Evidently the series did not appeal to Dumas's public.

Of one of these books its author tells an amusing anecdote. He was chatting with a somewhat supercilious savant, and incidentally mentioned that he had written a history of Cæsar.

"You have written a history of Cæsar?" repeated the incredulous listener with a smile.

"Yes."

"You?"

"Why not?'

"Pardon! But it has not been spoken of amongst scholars..."

"Oh, the scholars never speak of me."

"But a history of Cæsar should have caused some sensation?..."

"Mine caused none; people read it, that's all. It is the unreadable histories which make sensations; they are like the dinners which one doesn't digest; the dinners which one does digest, one has forgotten by next day."

Of these excursions into history "La Route de Varennes" (1860) and "La Terreur Prussienne' (1867) are two of the most valuable. The former was an attempt to write the story of Louis XVI.'s flight from Paris, of which historical accounts seemed confusing and contradictory. Dumas followed the