Page:The life and writings of Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) (IA lifewritingsofal00spurrich).pdf/83

 The curtain down, the audience in a fury of impatience demanded a sight of the author. Calls and recalls followed. Dumas, in rushing behind the scenes from his box, took a short cut through the corridors; he was recognised, and chased by a crowd of young enthusiasts, and his coat was torn to ribbons.

"Antony" excited much enthusiasm and opposition. It was a daring, provocative play, destined to set the fashion in French society dramas for the rest of the century. When it was about to be revived, three years later, this time at the Comédie Française, one of the many journals hostile to Dumas attacked "Antony" for its immorality. The denunciation came from such a powerful quarter that Thiers, who had arranged not only for the revival, but for new plays from its author's pen, was forced to forbid the performance. Dumas went to law, and obtained £400 damages, and an order that the piece should be produced within a certain time.

But even "Antony" failed to bring its author fortune, so greatly were the public preoccupied by things political; and to avoid the unsettling atmosphere of Paris, Dumas went for a holiday to Trouville, which in those days was a quiet and charming little Normandy seaside village. As usual with him, Dumas's holiday meant a different working-place, for here he was busy evolving his most