Page:The life and writings of Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) (IA lifewritingsofal00spurrich).pdf/301

 events of the time, and sketches the characters of his famous contemporaries. It is evident that even the stout-hearted Alexandre himself shirked the task of bringing such a record up to date. Needless to add, these volumes are full of entertainment. The "Causeries" (1860) contain the sketches of travel in England, chatty fragments of autobiography, and two jeux d'esprit. The two volumes "Bric-à-brac," issued the following year, are similar in nature—"Propos d'art, de cuisine"—et de Dumas. "Les Morts vont vite" contains appreciations of the author's friends, de Musset, Chateaubriand, Béranger, and recollections of Marie Dorval, and others. The "Histoire de mes Bêtes" (1868) shows us Dumas as he was in the forties, en famille at Monte Cristo, amongst his dogs, monkeys, servants, and hangers-on. The "Souvenirs dramatiques" (1868) are written with an unusual degree of dignity for Dumas, and with a genial masterhood of stage-craft. The studies in criticism, the appreciation of Shakespeare, and the views expressed on the art of the playwright, and the management of the theatre, are all excellent in matter and manner.

Two volumes of "Mémoires" with which Dumas's name has been associated are not easy to classify. One is the "Mémoires d'Horace," published in 1860. It was supposed to be taken from an MS.