See also:

• ALEXANDRE, NOEL (NATALIS ALEXANDER) (1639-1724)

ALEXANDRE [" See also:

• DUMAS, ALEXANDRE
• ALEXANDRE [" DUMAS FILS"] DUMAS (1824-1895)
• DUMAS, GUILLAUME MATHIEU, COUNT (1753-1837)
• DUMAS, JEAN BAPTISTE ANDRE (1800-1884)

DUMAS FILS"] DUMAS (1824-1895)  , See also:

• FRENCH
• FRENCH, DANIEL CHESTER (1850– )
• FRENCH, NICHOLAS (1604-1678)

French dramatist and novelist, was See also:

• BORN, IGNAZ, EDLER VON (1742–1791)

born in See also:

• PARIS
• PARIS (also called ALEXANDROS)
• PARIS, ALEXIS PAULIN (1800-x881)
• PARIS, BRUNO PAULIN GASTON (1839-1903)
• PARIS, FRANCOIS DE (169o-1727)
• PARIS, LOUIS PHILIPPE ALBERT
• PARIS, TREATIES OF (1814-1815)

Paris on the 27th of See also:

• JULY

July 1824, the natural son of See also:

• ALEXANDRE, NOEL (NATALIS ALEXANDER) (1639-1724)

Alexandre See also:

• DUMAS, ALEXANDRE
• DUMAS, ALEXANDRE [" DUMAS FILS"] (1824-1895)
• DUMAS, GUILLAUME MATHIEU, COUNT (1753-1837)
• DUMAS, JEAN BAPTISTE ANDRE (1800-1884)

Dumas (see above) and the dressmaker See also:

• MARIE

Marie Labay . His See also:

• FATHER

father at that date was still a humble clerk and not much more than a boy . " Happily," writes the son, " my See also:

• MOTHER

mother was a See also:

• GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good woman, and worked hard to bring me up "; while of his father he says, " by a most lucky See also:

• CHANCE (through the O. Fr. cheance, from the Late Lat. cadentia, things happening, from cadere, to fall out, happen; cf. " case ")

chance he happened to be well-natured," and " as soon as his first successes as a dramatist " enabled him to do so, " recognized me and gave me his name." Nevertheless, the lad's earlier school-See also:

• LIFE

life was made See also:

• BITTER, KARL THEODORE FRANCIS (1867– )

bitter by his See also:

• ILLEGITIMACY (from " illegitimate," Lat. illegitimus, not in accordance with law, hence born out of lawful wedlock)

illegitimacy . The cruel taunts and malevolence of his companions rankled through life (see See also:

• PREFACE (Med. Lat. prefatia, for classical praefatio, praefari, to speak beforehand)

preface to La Femme de See also:

• CLAUDE, JEAN (1619-1687)

Claude and L'Afaire See also:

• CLEMENCEAU, GEORGES (1841– )

Clemenceau), and See also:

• LEFT

left indelible marks on his See also:

• CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character and thoughts . Nor was his paternity, however distinguished, without peril . Alexandre the younger and See also:

• ELDER (0. Eng. ellarn; Ger. Holunder; Fr. sureau)
• ELDER (Gr. 1rpev(3iTepos)

elder saw life together very thoroughly, and Paris can have had few mysteries for them . Suddenly the son, who had been led to regard his prodigal father's resources as inexhaustible, was rudely undeceived . Coffers were empty, and he had accumulated debts to the amount of two thousand pounds . Thereupon he pulled himself together . To a son of Dumas the use of the See also:

• PEN (Lat. penna, a feather, pen)

pen came naturally . Like most See also:

• CLEVER

clever See also:

• YOUNG
• YOUNG, A
• YOUNG, ARTHUR (1741-1820)
• YOUNG, BRIGHAM (1801-1877)
• YOUNG, CHARLES MAYNE (1777–1856)
• YOUNG, EDWARD (1683–1765)
• YOUNG, JAMES (1811-1883)
• YOUNG, THOMAS (1773-1829)

young writers—and See also:

• REPORT (O.Fr. report or raport, modern rapport, from O.Fr. reporter, mod. rap porter, Lat. reportare, to bring back, in poetical use only, of bringing back an account, news, &c.)

report speaks of him as specially brilliant a.t that See also:

• TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
• TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
• TIME, STANDARD

time—he opened with a See also:

• BOOK

book of See also:

• VERSE (from Lat. versus, literally a line or furrow drawn by turning the plough, from vertere, and afterwards signifying an arrangement of syllables into feet)

verse, Peches de jeunesse (1847) . It was succeeded in 1848 by a novel, La See also:

• DAME
• DAME (through the Fr. from Lat. domina, mistress, lady, the feminine of dominus, master, lord)

Dame aux camelias, a sort of reflection of the See also:

• WORLD

world in which he had been living .

The book had considerable success, and was followed, in fairly See also:

• QUICK

quick See also:

• SUCCESSION (Lat. successio, from succedere, to follow after)

succession, by Le See also:

• ROMAN

Roman d'une femme (1848) and Diane de Lys (1851) . All this, however, did not deliver him from the load of See also:

• DEBT (Lat. debitum, a thing owed)

debt, which, as he tells us, remained odious . In 1849 he dramatized La Dame aux camelias, but for various reasons, the rigour of the censorship being the most important, it was not till the and of See also:

• FEBRUARY

February 1852, and then only by the intervention of See also:

• NAPOLEON

Napoleon's all-powerful See also:

• MINISTER (Lat. minister, servant)

minister, See also:

• MORNY, CHARLES AUGUSTE LOUIS JOSEPH

Morny, that the See also:

• PLAY

play could be produced at the See also:

• VAUDEVILLE

Vaudeville . It succeeded then, and has held the See also:

• STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage ever since, less perhaps from inherent superiority to other plays which have foundered than to the See also:

• GREAT

great opportunities it affords to any actress of See also:

• GENIUS (from Lat. genere, gignere)

genius . Thenceforward Dumas's career was that of a brilliant and prosperous dramatist . Diane de Lys (1853), Le Denti-Monde (1855), La Question d' argent (1857), Le Fils naturel (1858), Le Pere prodigue (1859) followed rapidly . Debts became a thing of the past, and Dumas a wealthy See also:

• MAN
• MAN, ISLE OF (anc. Mona)

man . The didactic See also:

• HABIT (through the French from Lat. habitus, from habere, to have, hold, or, in a reflective sense, to be in a certain condition; in many of the English senses the French use habitude, not habit)

habit was always strong upon him . " Alexandre loves See also:

• PREACHING (Fr. preecher, from Lat. praedicare, to proclaim)

preaching overmuch," wrote his father; and in most of his plays he assumes the attitude of a rigid and uncompromising moralist commissioned to impart to a heedless world lessons of deep import . The lessons them-selves are mostly concerned with the " eternal feminine," by which Dumas was haunted, and differ in ethical value . Thus in See also:

• LES

Les Idees de Madame Aubray (1867) he inculcates the See also:

• DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty of the seducer to marry the woman he has seduced; but in La Femme de Claude (1873) he argues the right of the See also:

• HUSBAND

husband to take the See also:

• LAW
• LAW (0. Eng. lagu, M. Eng. lawe; from an old Teutonic root lag, " lie," what lies fixed or evenly; cf. Lat. lex, Fr. loi)
• LAW, JOHN (1671—1729)
• LAW, WILLIAM (1686-1761)

law into his own See also:

• HAND
• HAND (a word common to Teutonic languages; cf. Ger. Hand, Goth. handus)
• HAND, FERDINAND GOTTHELF (1786-185r)

hand and kill the wife who is unfaithful and worthless—a thesis again defended in his novel, L'Afaire Clemenceau, and in his pamphlet, L'Homme-femme; while in Diane de Lys he had taught that the betrayed husband was entitled to kill—not in a See also:

• DUEL (Ital. duello, Lat. duellum—old form of bellum-from duo, two)

duel, but summarily—the man who had taken his See also:

• HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour; and in L'Etrangere (1876) the See also:

• BAD, BCD

bad husband is the victim . Nor did he preach only in his plays .

He preached in voluminous introductions, and See also:

• PAMPHLETS

pamphlets not a few . And when, in 1870 and 1872, See also:

• FRANCE
• FRANCE, ANATOLE (1844– )

France was going through bitter See also:

• HOURS, CANONICAL

hours of humiliation, he called her to repentance and See also:

• AMENDMENT (through the O. Fr. amender, to correct, from Lat. mendum, a fault)

amendment in a Nouvelle Lettre de See also:

• JUNIUS
• JUNIUS, FRANZ (in French, Francois du Jon)

Junius and two Lettres sur les choses du jour . As a moralist Dumas fits took himself very seriously indeed . As a dramatist, didacticism apart, he had great gifts . He knew his business thoroughly, possessed the See also:

• ART

art of situation, See also:

• INTEREST

interest, crisis—could create characters that were real and alive . His See also:

• DIALOGUE

dialogue also is admirable, the repartee See also:

• RAPIER

rapier-like, the wit most keen . He was singularly happy, too, in his dramatic interpreters . The See also:

• CAST (from the verb meaning " to throw "; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. kaste, and Swed. kasta; " cast " in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. weor pan, cf. Ger. werf en)

cast of L'Etrangere, for instance, comprised Sarah See also:

• BERNHARDT, SARAH (ROSINE BERNARD) (1845- )

Bernhardt, Sophie Croizette, Madeleine See also:

• BROHAN (1833-1900)
• BROHAN, AUGUSTINE SUSANNE (1807-1887)

Brohan, in the See also:

• FEMALE

female characters; and See also:

• COQUELIN, BENOIT CONSTANT (1841-1909)

Coquelin, Got, Mounet-See also:

• SULLY, JAMES (1842– )
• SULLY, MAXIMILIEN DE BETHUNE
• SULLY, THOMAS (1783—1872)

Sully and See also:

• FEBVRE, ALEXANDRE

Febvre in the male characters; and Aimee Desclee, whom he discovered, gave her genius to the creation of the parts of the heroine in Une Visite de notes, the Princes-se Georges and La Femme de Claude . His wit has been mentioned . He possessed it in abundance, of a singularly trenchant See also:

• KIND (O. E. ge-cynde, from the same root as is seen in " kin," supra)

kind . It shows itself less in his novels, which, however, do not contain his best See also:

• WORK

work; but in his introductions, whether to his own books or those of his See also:

• FRIENDS, SOCIETY
• FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF

friends, and what may be called his " occasional " writings, there is an admirable brightness . At work of this kind he showed the highest See also:

• LITERARY

literary skill .

His See also:

• STYLE
• STYLE (from Gr. a-6'1ms, a column; a different word from that used in literature, see below)

style is that of the best French traditions . Towards his father Dumas acted a kind of See also:

• BROTHER

brother's See also:

• PART

part, and while keeping strangely See also:

• FREE

free from his literary See also:

• INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence, both loved and admired him . The father never belonged to the French See also:

• ACADEMY, GREEK
• ACADEMY, ROYAL

Academy . The son was elected into that See also:

• AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

august See also:

• ASSEMBLY, UNLAWFUL

assembly on the 3oth of See also:

• JANUARY

January 1894 . He died on the 27th of See also:

• NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November 1895 . See also Jules See also:

• CLARETIE, JULES

Claretie, A . Dumas fits (1883); See also:

• PAUL
• PAUL (PAULUS)

Paul See also:

• BOURGET, PAUL CHARLES JOSEPH (1852– )

Bourget, Nouveaux Essais de psychologie contemporaine (1885) ; " La Comedie de meeurs," by Rene See also:

• DOUMIC, RENE (186o– )

Doumic, in L . See also:

• PETIT, SIR DINSHAW MANECKJI, BART

Petit de Julleville's Histoire de la langue et de la litterature francaise, viii. pp . 82 et seq . ; R . Doumic, Portraits d'ecrivains (1892) , Emile See also:

• ZOLA, EMILE EDOUARD CHARLES ANTOINE (1840-1902)

Zola, Documents litteraires, etudes et portraits (1881) . (F .

T .