[1] The names of the musical instruments in those verses of the Book
of Daniel have formed the basis of a controversy as to the
authenticity of the book.
[2] _Histoire de la musique_ (Paris, 1869), vol. ii. p. 131.
[3] _Music of the most Ancient Nations_ (London, 1864), pp. 42-3.
[4] Hommaire de Hell, _Voyage en Perse_, p. lxii.
[5] _L'Harmonie universelle_ (Paris, 1636), livre iii. p. 174.
[6] _Syntagma musicum_ (Wolfenbuttel, 1618), pl. 18 (3).
[7] Pl. 36 (1).
[8] "Herrn Joh. Joachim Quantzens Lebenslauf von ihm selbst
entworfen," in Fr. W. Marpurg's _Histor. kritische Beytrage_, Bd. i
p. 207 (1754-1755).
[9] _Elementa musica_, chap. xxvi.
DULKEN, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine Province, 11 m. by rail
S.W. from Crefeld. Pop. 10,000. It has a (Roman Catholic) Gothic parish
church. There are manufactures of linen, cotton, silk and velvet, &c.,
ironworks and foundries.
DULONG, PIERRE LOUIS (1785-1838), French chemist and physicist, was born
at Rouen on the 12th (or 13th) of February 1785. He began as a doctor in
one of the poorest districts of Paris, but soon abandoned medicine for
scientific research. After acting as assistant to Berthollet, he became
successively professor of chemistry at the faculty of sciences and the
normal and veterinary schools at Alfort, and then (1820) professor of
physics at the Ecole Polytechnique, of which he was appointed director
in 1830. He died in Paris on the 18th (or 19th) of July 1838. His
earliest work was chemical in character. In 1811 he discovered chloride
of nitrogen; during his experiments serious explosions occurred twice,
and he lost one eye, besides sustaining severe injuries to his hand. He
also investigated the oxygen compounds of phosphorus and nitrogen, and
was one of the first to hold the hydrogen theory of acids. In 1815, in
conjunction with Alexis Therese Petit (1791-1820), the professor of
physics at the Ecole Polytechnique, he made careful comparisons between
the mercury and the air thermometer. The first published research (1816)
dealt with the dilatation of solids, liquids and gases and with the
exact measurement of temperature, and it was followed by another in 1818
on the measurement of temperature and the communication of heat, which
was crowned by the French Academy. In a third, "On some important points
in the theory of heat" (1819), they stated that the specific heats of
thirteen solid elements which they had investigated were nearly
proportional to their atomic weights--a fact otherwise expressed in the
"law of Dulong and Petit" that the atoms of simple substances have equal
capacities for heat. Subsequent papers by Dulong were concerned with
"New determinations of the proportions of water and the density of
certain elastic fluids" (1820, with Berzelius); the property possessed
by certain metals of facilitating the combination of gases (1823 with
Thenard); the refracting powers of gases (1826); and the specific heats
of gases (1829). In 1830 he published a research, undertaken with Arago
for the academy of sciences, on the elastic force of steam at high
temperatures. For the purposes of this determination he set up a
continuous column of mercury, constructed with 13 sections of glass tube
each 2 metres long and 5 mm. in diameter, in the tower of the old church
of St Genevieve in the College Henri IV. The apparatus was first used to
investigate the variation in the volume of air with pressure, and the
conclusion was that up to twenty-seven atmospheres, the highest pressure
attained in the experiments, Boyle's law holds good. In regard to steam,
the old tower was so shaky that it was considered unwise to risk the
effects of an explosion, and therefore the mercury column was removed
bodily to a court in the observatory. The original intention was to push
the experiments to a pressure equivalent to thirty atmospheres, but
owing to the signs of failure exhibited by the boiler the limit actually
reached was twenty-four atmospheres, at which pressure the thermometers
indicated a temperature of about 224 deg. C. In his last paper,
published posthumously in 1838, Dulong gave an account of experiments
made to determine the heat disengaged in the combination of various
simple and compound bodies, together with a description of the
calorimeter he employed.
DULSE (Ir. and Gael. _duileasg_), in botany, _Rhodymenia palmata_, one
of the red seaweeds, consisting of flat solitary or tufted purplish-red
fronds, fan-shaped in general outline and divided into numerous
segments, which are often again and again divided in a forked manner. It
varies very much in size and degree of branching, ranging from 5 or 6 to
12 or more inches long. It grows on rocks, shell-fish or larger
seaweeds, and is used by the poor in Scotland and Ireland as a relish
with their food. It is commonly dried and eaten raw, the flavour being
brought out by long chewing. In the Mediterranean it is used cooked in
ragouts and made dishes.
See W.H. Harvey, _Phycologica Britannica_, vol. ii. plates 217, 218.
DULUTH, a city and the county-seat of St Louis county, Minnesota,
U.S.A., at the W. end of Lake Superior, at the mouth of the St Louis
river, about 150 m. N.E. of Minneapolis and St Paul. Pop. (1880) 3483;
(1890) 33,115; (1900) 52,969, of whom 20,983 were foreign-born and 357
were negroes; (1910 census) 78,466. Of the 20,983 foreign-born in 1900,
5099 were English-Canadians, 5047 Swedes, 2655 Norwegians, 1685 Germans,
and 1285 French-Canadians. Duluth is served by the Duluth and Iron
Range, the Duluth, Missabe & Northern, the Duluth, South Shore &
Atlantic, the Chicago & North-Western (the North-Western line), the
Great Northern, and the Northern Pacific railways. Situated attractively
on the side and along the base of a high bluff rising 600 ft. above the
lake level, Duluth lies at the W. end of Superior Bay (here called
Duluth Harbour), directly opposite the city of Superior, Wisconsin. A
narrow strip of land known as Minnesota Point, 7 m. in length and
extending toward Wisconsin Point, which projects from the Wisconsin
shore, separates the bay from the lake and forms with St Louis Bay one
of the finest natural harbours in the world. The natural entrance to the
harbour is the narrow channel between the two points, but there is also
a ship-canal across Minnesota Point, spanned by a curious aerial bridge
400 ft. long and 186 ft. above the water.
The unusually favourable position for lake transportation, and the
extensive tributary region in the N.W., with ample rail connexions, make
Duluth-Superior one of the greatest commercial ports in the country. The
two cities constitute the largest coal-distributing centre in the N.W.,
and have some of the largest coal-docks in the world. Upwards of twenty
grain elevators, with a net capacity of nearly 35,000,000 bushels, which
receive enormous quantities of grain from the Red River Valley,
Manitoba, and the Dakotas, either for home manufacture or for
transhipment to the East, are among the noteworthy sights of the place;
and extensive ore-docks are required for handling the enormous and
steadily increasing shipments of iron ore from the rich Vermilion and
Mesabi iron ranges first opened about 1890. In 1907 more than 29,000,000
tons of iron ore were shipped from this port. Duluth is also an
important hay market. There are flour and lumber mills, foundries and
machine shops, wooden ware, cooperage, sash, door and blind, lath and
shingle factories, and shipyards. In 1909 great mills of the Minnesota
Steel Co. were begun here. In 1905 the factory product of Duluth was
valued at $10,139,009, an increase of 29.8% over that of 1900. The St
Louis river furnishes one of the finest water-powers in the United
States.
The commanding heights upon which the principal residential section of
the city is built render it at once attractive in appearance and
healthful; there is a fine system of parks and boulevards, the chief of
the former being Lester, Fairmount, Portland, Cascade, Lincoln and
Chester. The popular Boulevard drive at the back of Duluth commands
excellent views of city and lake. Among the principal buildings are the
court house, the Masonic temple, chamber of commerce, board of trade,
Lyceum theatre, Federal, Providence, Lonsdale, Torrey, Alworth, Sellwood
and Wolvin buildings, St. Mary's hospital, St. Luke's hospital and
Spalding Hotel. There is a public (Carnegie) library with 50,000 volumes
in 1908. The building of the central high school (classical), one of the
finest in the United States, erected at a cost of about $500,000, has a
square clock tower 230 ft. high, and an auditorium seating 2000. The
city also has a technical high school, and in addition to the regular
high school courses there are departments of business, manual training
and domestic science. At Duluth also is a state normal school, erected
in 1902. The federal government maintains here a life-saving station on
Minnesota Point, and an extensive fish hatchery.
The first Europeans to visit the site of Duluth were probably French
_coureurs-des-bois_, possibly the adventurous Radisson and Groseilliers.
The first visitor certainly known to have been here was Daniel
Greysolon, Sieur Du Lhut (d. 1709), a French trader and explorer, who
about 1678 skirted Lake Superior and built a stockaded trading-post at
the mouth of Pigeon river on the N. shore. From him the place received
its name. A trading-post was established near the present city, at Fond
du Lac, about 1752, and this eventually became a depot of Astor's
American Fur Company. There was no permanent settlement at Duluth
proper, however, until 1853, and in 1860 there were only 80 inhabitants.
Incorporated in 1870, in which year railway connexion with the South was
established, its growth was slow for some years, the increase for the
decade 1870-1880 being very slight (from 3131 to 3483); but the
extension of railways into the north-western wheat region, the opening
up of Lake Superior to commerce, and finally the development of the
Vermilion and Mesabi iron ranges, brought on a period of almost
unparalleled growth, marked by the remarkable increase in population of
more than 850% between 1880 and 1890; between 1890 and 1900 the increase
was 60%.
See J.R. Carey, _History of Duluth and Northern Minnesota_ (Duluth,
1898); Leggett and Chipman, _Duluth and its Environs_ (Duluth, 1895);
and J.D. Ensign, _History of St Louis County_ (Duluth, 1900).
DULWICH, a district in the metropolitan borough of Camberwell, London,
England. The manor, which had belonged to the Cluniac monks of
Bermondsey, passed through various hands to Edward Alleyn (q.v.) in
1606. His foundation of the College of God's Gift, commonly called
Dulwich College, was opened with great state on the 13th of September
1619, in the presence of Lord Chancellor Bacon, Lord Arundell, Inigo
Jones and other distinguished men. According to the letters patent the
almspeople and scholars were to be chosen in equal proportions from the
parishes of St Giles (Camberwell), St Botolph without Bishopsgate, and
St Saviour's (Southwark), and "that part of the parish of St Giles
without Cripplegate which is in the county of Middlesex." By a series of
statutes signed in 1626, a few days before his death, Alleyn ordained
that his school should be for the instruction of 80 boys consisting of
three distinct classes:--(1) the twelve poor scholars; (2) children of
inhabitants of Dulwich, who were to be taught freely; and (3) "towne or
foreign schollers," who were "to pay such allowance as the master and
wardens shall appoint." The almspeople consisted of six "poor brethren"
and six "poor sisters," and the teaching and governing staff of a master
and a warden, who were always to be of the founder's surname, and four
fellows, all "graduates and divines," among whom were apportioned the
ministerial work of the chapel, the instruction of the boys, and the
supervision of the almspeople. That it was the founder's intention to
establish a great public school upon the model of Westminster and St
Paul's, with provision for university training, is shown by the
statutes; but for more than two centuries the educational benefits of
God's Gift College were restricted to the twelve poor scholars.
Successive actions at law resulted in the ruling that it was not within
the competence of the founder to divert any portion of the revenues of
his foundation to the use of others than the members thereof, as
specified in the letters patent. In 1842, however, some effort was made
towards the realization of Alleyn's schemes, and in 1858 the foundation
was entirely reconstituted by act of parliament. It comprises two
schools, the "Upper" and the "Lower," now called respectively Dulwich
College and Alleyn's school. In the Upper school, now one of the
important English "public schools," there are classical, modern, science
and engineering sides. The Lower school is devoted to middle-class
education. The buildings of the Upper school, by Charles Barry, contain
a fine hall. The college possesses a splendid picture gallery,
bequeathed by Sir P.F. Bourgeois, R.A., in 1811, with a separate
endowment. The pictures include some exquisite Murillos and choice
specimens of the Dutch school. The surplus income of the gallery fund is
devoted to instruction in drawing and design in the two schools.
See W.H. Blanch, _Dulwich College and Edward Alleyn_ (London, 1877);
R. Hovenden, _The History of Dulwich College, with a short biography
of its founder_ (London, 1873).
DUMAGUETE, the capital town of the province of Negros Oriental, island
of Negros, Philippine Islands, on Tanon Strait. Pop. (1903) 14,894. The
town of Sibulan (pop. in 1903, 8413) was annexed to Dumaguete in 1903,
after the census had been taken. Dumaguete lies in the midst of a
fertile agricultural district. The inhabitants are chiefly natives, but
the shops are kept by Chinese merchants. The public buildings, which
include an interesting watch-tower and belfry, are large, substantial
and well cared for.
DUMANJUG, a town of the province of Cebu, island of Cebu, Philippine
Islands, on the W. coast, at the mouth of the Dumanjug river, about 40
m. S.W. of the town of Cebu. Pop. (1903) 22,203. In 1903, after the
census had been taken, the adjacent town of Ronda (pop. 9662) was
annexed to Dumanjug. Dumanjug is in communication with the town of
Sibonga, on the opposite shore of one of the few passes through the
mountains of the interior. Indian corn and sugar-cane are grown
successfully in the neighbouring country, and the town has an important
coast trade.
DU MARSAIS, CESAR CHESNEAU, SIEUR (1676-1756), French philologist, was
born at Marseilles on the 17th of July 1676. He was educated in his
native town by the Fathers of the Oratory, into whose congregation he
entered; but he left it at the age of twenty-five and went to Paris,
where he married and was admitted an advocate (1704). He was tutor to
the sons successively of the president de Maisons, of John Law, the
projector, and of the marquis de Bauffremont. He then opened a boarding
school in the faubourg St Victor, which scarcely afforded him the means
of subsistence. He made contributions of great value on philological and
philosophical subjects to the _Encyclopedie_, and after vain attempts to
secure a competence from the court he was insured against want by the
generosity of a private patron. He died in Paris on the 11th of June
1756. The researches of Du Marsais are distinguished by considerable
individuality. He held sensible views on education and elaborated a
system of teaching Latin, which, although open to grave criticism, was a
useful protest against current methods of teaching. His best works are
his _Principes de grammaire_ and his _Des tropes, ou des differents sens
dans lesquels on peut prendre un mot_ (1730).
An edition of his works (7 vols.) was collected by Duchosal and
Millon, and was published with an eloge on Du Marsais by D'Alembert at
Paris in 1797.
DUMAS, ALEXANDRE [ALEXANDRE DAVY DE LA PAILLETERIE] (1802-1870), French
novelist and dramatist, was born at Villers-Cotterets (Aisne) on the
24th of July 1802. His father, the French general, Thomas Alexandre
Dumas (1762-1806)--also known as Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie--was
born in Saint Domingo, the natural son of Antoine Alexandre Davy,
marquis de la Pailleterie, by a negress, Marie Cessette Dumas, who died
in 1772. In 1780 he accompanied the marquis to France, and there the
father made a mesalliance which drove the son into enlisting in a
dragoon regiment. Thomas Alexandre Dumas was still a private at the
outbreak of the revolution, but he rose rapidly and became general of
division in 1793. He was general-in-chief of the army of the western
Pyrenees, and was transferred later to commands in the Alps and in La
Vendee. Among his many exploits was the defeat of the Austrians at the
bridge of Clausen on the 22nd of April 1797, where he commanded
Joubert's cavalry. He lost Napoleon's favour by plain speaking in the
Egyptian campaign, and presently returned to France to spend the rest of
his days in retirement at Villers Cotterets, where he had married in
1792 Marie Elisabeth Labouret.
The novelist, who was the offspring of this union, was not four years
old when General Dumas died, leaving his family with no further resource
than 30 acres of land. Mme Dumas tried to obtain help from Napoleon, but
in vain, and lived with her parents in narrow circumstances. Alexandre
received the rudiments of education from a priest, and entered the
office of a local solicitor. His chief friend was Adolphe de Leuven, the
son of an exiled Swedish nobleman implicated in the assassination of
Gustavus III. of Sweden, and the two collaborated in various vaudevilles
and other pieces which never saw the footlights. Leuven returned to
Paris, and Dumas was sent to the office of a solicitor at Crepy. When in
1823 Dumas contrived to visit his friend in Paris, he was received to
his great delight by Talma. He returned home only to break with his
employer, and to arrange to seek his fortune in Paris, where he sought
help without success from his father's old friends. An introduction to
the deputy of his department, General Foy, procured for him, however, a
place as clerk in the service of the duke of Orleans at a salary of 1200
francs. He set to work to rectify his lack of education and to
collaborate with Leuven in the production of vaudevilles and melodramas.
Madame Dumas presently joined her son in Paris, where she died in 1838.
Soon after his arrival in Paris Dumas had entered on a liaison with a
dressmaker, Marie Catherine Labay, and their son, the famous Alexandre
Dumas _fils_ (see below), was born in 1824. Dumas acknowledged his son
in 1831, and obtained the custody of him after a lawsuit with the
mother.
The first piece by Dumas and Leuven to see the footlights was _La Chasse
et l'amour_ (Ambigu-Comique, 22nd of Sept. 1825), and in this they had
help from other writers. Dumas had a share in another vaudeville, _La
Noce et l'enterrement_ (Porte Saint-Martin, 21st of Nov. 1826). It was
under the influence of the Shakespeare plays produced in Paris by
Charles Kemble, Harriet Smithson (afterwards Mme Berlioz) and an
English company that the romantic drama of _Christine_ was written. The
subject was suggested by a bas relief of the murder of Monaldeschi
exhibited at the Salon of 1827. The piece was accepted by Baron Taylor
and the members of the Comedie Francaise with the stipulation that it
should be subject to revision by another dramatist because of its
innovating tendencies. But the production of the piece was deferred.
Meanwhile Dumas had met with the story of the ill-fated Saint-Megrin and
the duchess of Guise in Anquetil's history, and had written, in prose,
_Henri III. et sa cour_, which was immediately accepted by the Comedie
Francaise and produced on the 11th of February 1829. It was the first
great triumph of the romantic drama. The brilliant stagecraft of the
piece and its admirable historical setting delighted an audience
accustomed to the decadent classical tragedy, and brought him the
friendship of Hugo[1] and Vigny. His literary efforts had met with
marked disapproval from his official superiors, and he had been
compelled to resign his clerkship before the production of _Henri III._
The duke of Orleans had, however, been present at the performance, and
appointed him assistant-librarian at the Palais Royal. _Christine_ was
now recast as a romantic trilogy in verse in five acts with a prologue
and epilogue, with the sub-title of _Stockholm_, _Fontainebleau_,
_Rome_, and was successfully produced by Harel at the Odeon in March
1830.
The revolution of 1830 temporarily diverted Dumas from letters. The
account of his exploits should be read in his _Memoires_, where, though
the incidents are true in the main, they lose nothing in the telling.
During the fighting in Paris he attracted the attention of La Fayette,
who sent him to Soissons to secure powder. With the help of some
inhabitants he compelled the governor to hand over the magazine, and on
his return to Paris was sent by La Fayette on a mission to raise a
national guard in La Vendee. The advice he gave to Louis Philippe on
this subject was ill-received, and after giving offence by further
indiscretions he finally alienated himself from the Orleans government
by being implicated in the disturbances which attended the funeral of
General Lamarque in June 1832, and he received a hint that his absence
from France was desirable. A tour in Switzerland undertaken on this
account furnished material for the first of a long series of amusing
books of travel. Dumas remained, however, on friendly and even
affectionate terms with the young duke of Orleans until his death in
1842.
Meanwhile he had produced _Napoleon Bonaparte_ (Odeon, 10th of Jan
1831), his unwillingness to make a hero of the man who had slighted his
father having been overcome by Harel, who put him under lock and key
until the piece was finished. His next play, _Antony_, had a real
importance in the history of the romantic theatre. It was put in
rehearsal by Mlle Mars, but so unsatisfactorily that Dumas transferred
it to Bocage and Mme Dorval, who played it magnificently at the Porte
Saint-Martin theatre on the 3rd of May 1831. The Byronic hero Antony was
a portrait of himself in his relations with Mme Melanie Waldor, the wife
of an officer, and daughter of the journalist M.G. T. de Villenave,
except of course in the extravagantly melodramatic _denouement_, when
Antony, to save his mistress's honour, kills her and exclaims, "Elle me
resistait, je l'ai assassinee." He produced more than twenty more plays
alone or in collaboration before 1845, exclusive of dramatizations from
his novels. _Richard Darlington_ (Porte Saint Martin, 10th of Dec 1831),
the first idea of which was drawn from Sir Walter Scott's _Chronicles of
the Canongate_, owed part of its great success to the admirable acting
of Frederick Lemaitre. _La Tour de Nesle_ (Porte Saint-Martin, 29th of
May 1832), announced as by MM. X X X and Gaillardet, was the occasion of
a duel and a law-suit with the original author, Frederic Gaillardet,
whose MS. had been revised, first by Jules Janin and then by Dumas. In
rapidity of movement, and in the terror it inspired, the piece surpassed
_Henri III._ and _Antony_. A lighter drama, _Mademoiselle de
Belle-Isle_ (Theatre Francais, 2nd of April 1839), still remains in the
repertory.
In 1840 Dumas married Ida Ferrier, an actress whom he had imposed on the
theatres that took his pieces. The amiable relations which had subsisted
between them for eight years were disturbed by the marriage, which is
said to have been undertaken in consequence of a strong hint from the
duke of Orleans, and Mme Dumas lived in Italy separated from her
husband.
As a novelist Dumas began by writing short stories, but his happy
collaboration with Auguste Maquet,[2] which began in 1839, led to the
admirable series of historical novels in which he proposed to
reconstruct the whole course of French history. In 1844 he produced,
with Maquet's help, that most famous of "cloak and sword" romances, _Les
Trois Mousquetaires_ (8 vols.), the material for which was discovered in
the _Memoires de M. d'Artagnan_ (Cologne, 1701-1702) of Courtils de
Sandras. The adventures of d'Artagnan and the three musketeers, the
gigantic Porthos, the clever Aramis, and the melancholy Athos, who unite
to defend the honour of Anne of Austria against Richelieu and the
machinations of "Milady," are brought down to the murder of Buckingham
in 1629. Their admirers were gratified by two sequels, _Vingt ans apres_
(10 vols., 1845) and _Dix ans plus tard, ou le vicomte de Bragelonne_
(26 pts., 1848-1850), which opens in 1660, showing us a mature
d'Artagnan, a respectable captain of musketeers, and contains the
magnificent account of the heroic death of Porthos. The three musketeers
are as famous in England as in France. Thackeray could read about Athos
from sunrise to sunset with the utmost contentment of mind, and R.L.
Stevenson and Andrew Lang have paid tribute to the band in _Memories and
Portraits_ and _Letters to Dead Authors_. Before 1844 was out Dumas had
completed a second great romance in 12 volumes, _Le Comte de
Monte-Cristo_, in which he had help from Fiorentino as well as from
Maquet. The idea of the intrigue was suggested by Peuchet's _Police
devoilee_, and the stress laid on the earlier incidents, Dantes,
Danglars and the Chateau d'If, is said to have been an afterthought.
Almost as famous as these two romances is the set of Valois novels of
which Henri IV. is the central figure, beginning with _La Reine Margot_
(6 vols., 1845), which contains the history of the struggle between
Catherine of Medicis and Henry of Navarre; the history of the reign of
Henry III. is told in _La Dame de Monsoreau_ (8 vols., 1846), generally
known in English as _Chicot the Jester_, from its principal character;
and in _Les Quarante-cinq_ (10 vols., 1847-1848), in which Diane de
Monsoreau avenges herself on the duke of Anjou for the death of her
former lover, Bussy d'Amboise.
Much has been written about the exact share which Dumas had in the
novels which bear his name. The Dumas-Maquet series is undoubtedly the
best, but Maquet alone never accomplished anything to approach them in
value. The MSS. of the novels still exist in Dumas's handwriting, and
the best of them bear the unmistakable stamp of his unrivalled skill as
a narrator. The chief key to his enormous output is to be found in his
untiring industry and amazing fertility of invention, not in the system
of wholesale collaboration which was exposed with much exaggeration by
Querard in his _Supercheries litteraires_ and by "Eugene de Mirecourt"
(C.B.J. Jacquot) in his misleading _Fabrique de romans, maison
Alexandre Dumas et c^ie_ (1845). His assistants, in fact, supplied him
with outlines of romances on plans drawn up by himself, and he then
rewrote the whole thing. That this method was never abused it would be
impossible to say; _Les Deux Diane_, for instance, a prelude to the
Valois novels, is said to have been written entirely by Paul Meurice,
although Dumas's name appears on the title-page.
The latter part of Dumas's life is a record of excessive toil to meet
prodigal expenditure and accumulated debts. His disasters began with the
building of a house in the Renaissance style, with a Gothic pavilion and
an "English" park, at Saint Germain-en-Laye. This place, called
Monte-Cristo, was governed by a crowd of hangers-on of both sexes, who
absorbed Dumas's large earnings and left him penniless. Dumas also
founded the Theatre Historique chiefly for the performance of his own
works. The enterprise was under the patronage of the duc de Montpensier,
and was under the management of Hippolyte Hostein, who had been the
secretary of the Comedie Francaise. The theatre was opened in February
1847 with a dramatic version of _La Reine Margot_. Meanwhile Dumas had
been the guest of the duc de Montpensier at Madrid, and made a
quasi-official tour to Algeria and Tunis in a government vessel, which
caused much comment in the press. Dumas had never changed his republican
opinions. He greeted the revolution of 1848 with delight, and was even a
candidate for electoral honours in the department of the Yonne. But the
change was fatal to his theatrical enterprise, for the failure of which
in 1850 he was made financially responsible. His son, Alexandre Dumas,
was at that time living with his mother Mlle Labay, who was eventually
reconciled with the elder Dumas. Father and son, though always on
affectionate terms when they met, were too different in their ideas to
see much of one another. After the _coup d'etat_ of 1851 Dumas crossed
the frontier to Brussels, and two years of rapid production, and the
economy of his secretary, Noel Parfait, restored something like order to
his affairs. On his return to Paris in the end of 1853 he established a
daily paper, _Le Mousquetaire_, for the criticism of art and letters. It
was chiefly written by Dumas, whose _Memoires_ first appeared in it, and
survived until 1857, when it was succeeded by a weekly paper, the
_Monte-Cristo_ (1857-1860). In 1858 Dumas travelled through Russia to
the Caucasus, and in 1860 he joined Garibaldi in Sicily. After an
expedition to Marseilles in search of arms for the insurgents, he
returned to Naples, where Garibaldi nominated him keeper of the museums.
After four years' residence in Naples he returned to Paris, and after
the war of '66 he visited the battlefields and produced his story of _La
Terreur prussienne_. But his powers were beginning to fail, and in spite
of the 1200 volumes which he told Napoleon he had written, he was at the
mercy of his creditors, and of the succession of theatrical ladies who
tyrannized over him and feared nothing except the occasional visits of
Dumas _fils_. He was finally rescued from these by his daughter, Mme
Petel, who came to live with him in 1868; and two years later, on the
5th of December 1870, he died in his son's house at Puys, near Dieppe.
Dumas was never an actual candidate for academic honours, but he had
more than once taken steps to investigate his chances of success. A
statue of him was erected on the Place Malesherbes, Paris, in 1883, and
the figure of d'Artagnan finds a place on the pedestal.
Auguste Maquet was Dumas's chief collaborator. Others were Paul Lacroix
(the bibliophile "P.L. Jacob"), Paul Bocage, J.P. Mallefille and P.A.
Fiorentino. The novels of Dumas may be conveniently arranged in a
historical sequence. The Valois novels and the musqueteers series
brought French history down to 1672. Contributions to later history
are:--_La Dame de volupte_ (2 vols., 1864), being the memoirs of Mme de
Luynes, and its sequel _Les Deux Reines_ (2 vols., 1864); _La Tulipe
noire_ (3 vols., 1850), giving the history of the brothers de Witt; _Le
Chevalier d'Harmental_ (4 vols., 1853), and _Une Fille du regent_ (4
vols., 1845), the story of two plots against the regent, the duke of
Orleans; two books on Mme du Deffand, _Memoires d'une aveugle_ (8 vols.,
1856-1857) and _Les Confessions de la marquise_ (8 vols., 1857), both of
doubtful authorship; _Olympe de Cleves_ (9 vols., 1852), the story of an
actress and a young Jesuit novice in the reign of Louis XV., one of his
most popular novels; five books on the beginning of the Revolution down
to the execution of Marie Antoinette: the _Memoires d'un medecin_,
including _Joseph Balsamo_ (19 pts., 1846-1848), in which J.J.
Rousseau, Mme du Barry and the dauphiness Marie Antoinette figure, with
its sequels; _Le Collier de la reine_ (9 vols., 1849-1850), in which
Balsamo appears under the alias of Cagliostro; _Ange Pitou_ (8 vols.,
1852), known in English as "The Taking of the Bastille"; _La Comtesse de
Charny_ (19 vols., 1853-1855), describing the attempts to save the
monarchy and the flight to Varennes; and _Le Chevalier de maison rouge_
(6 vols., 1846), which opens in 1793 with the hero's attempt to save the
queen. Among the numerous novels dealing with the later revolutionary
period are:--_Les Blancs et les bleus_ (3 vols., 1868) and _Les
Compagnons de Jehu_ (7 vols., 1857). _Les Louves de Machecoul_ (10
vols., 1859) deals with the rising in 1832 in La Vendee. Other famous
stories are:--_Les Freres corses_ (2 vols., 1845); _La Femme au collier
de velours_ (2 vols., 1851); _Les Mohicans de Paris_ (19 vols.,
1854-1855), detective stories with which may be classed the series of
_Crimes celebres_ (8 vols., 1839-1841), which are, however, of doubtful
authorship; _La San Felice_ (9 vols., 1864-1865), in which Lady Hamilton
played a prominent part, with its sequels _Emma Lyonna_ and _Souvenirs
d'une favorite_. Of his numerous historical works other than fiction the
most important is his _Louis XIV et son siecle_ (4 vols., 1845). _Mes
Memoires_ (20 vols., 1852-1854; Eng. trans. of selections by A.F.
Davidson, 2 vols., 1891) is an account of his father and of his own life
down to 1832. There are collective editions of his plays (6 vols.,
1834-1836, and 15 vols., 1863-1874), but of the 91 pieces for which he
was wholly or partially responsible, 24 do not appear in these
collections.
The complete works of Dumas were issued by Michel Levy _freres_ in 277
volumes (1860-1884). The more important novels have been frequently
translated into English. There is a long list of writings on his life
and his works both in English and French. The more important French
authorities are: his own memoirs, already cited; C. Glinel, _Alexandre
Dumas et son oeuvre_ (Reims, 1884); H. Parigot, _Dumas pere_ (Grands
ecrivains francais series, 1902), and _Le Drame d'Alexandre Dumas_
(1899); H. Blaze de Bury, _Alexandre Dumas_ (1885); Philibert
Andebrand, _Alexandre Dumas a la maison d'or_ (1888); G. Ferry,
_Dernieres Annees d'Alexandre Dumas_ (1883); and L.H. Lecomte,
_Alexandre Dumas_ (1904). Of the English lives of Dumas perhaps the
best is that by Arthur F. Davidson, _Alexandre Dumas Pere, his Life
and Works_ (1902), which contains an extensive bibliography. See also
lives by P. Fitzgerald (2 vols., 1873) and H.A. Spurr (1902), and
essays by Andrew Lang (_Letters to Dead Authors_), Brander Matthews
(_French Dramatists_), R.L. Stevenson (_Memories and Portraits_).
(M. Br.)