ALEXANDRE DUMAS.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 969, 16 March 1871, Page 2

ALEXANDRE DUMAS.

The London correspondent of a con-, temporary writes :—How much of thepublic attention is engrossed by the waris illustrated by the fact that the death of the celebrated Alexandre Dumas, which occurred at the small village of Pays, near Dieppe, seven days ago, was only made known this afternoon in London. The well-known novelist-had been very ill for several months before his .decease, and his fiiends had at all events the melancholy satisfaction of knowing that he passed away without pain, his latter days having degenerated into those of second childhood. At another time, and under more favorable national circumstances, his death would haye been quite an event in France, but in the present terrible crisis the announcement of his demise has only called forth a brief announcement in the provincial newspapers. Notwithstanding the general decay of his powers, which, as J have said, some months ago resulted in dotage, his family hoped against hope up till the end ; and.only a month ago, when there seemed to be some sign of improvement in his condition, it was confidently stated that he would soon be back again to his old work. Few purely literary men perhaps have gone through such a career, and fewer still have equalled him in the multiplicity of his labors. He turned, out novels by the dozen, and, in fact, employed apprentices 10 do the rough work of his craft much in the same way as Telbin has the groundwork of his. scenes painted by his assistants. Paris and her boulevards will miss him much, especially one noted cafi in the Italiens, in which it was the custom of the grizzly-headed old man to discourse on an afternoon with his friends. He enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best connoisseurs in the French capital, and few among modern men of" letteis were more popular in Parisian society than the author of " Monte Christo." Alexandre-Davy was born at Yilliers-Cotterets, in the department of the Aisne, on the 24th July, 1803. His father, of the same name, distinguished himself during the revolutionary wars, and was the illegitimate son of a negress in £>t. Domingo, After his father's death Dumas repaired to Pari*, where he procured a clerkship in the office of the Duk'e of Orleans, afterwards king. He devoted all his time to supplying the defects of his education, and soon acquired a taste for literature, to which he was stimulated by the representation of " Hamlet" by an English company. He resolved to. be a dramatist, and produced shortly afterwards " Henri 111 et sa Cour," which was well received and spread the name of the author far-an.d wide. His. success in the drama induced him to, write a great number of other pieces, which followed in rapid succession, and many of which were acted with much acceptance- But M. Dumas is. better known as a novelist than as a dramatist, more especially by his novels " Monte Christo" and "Les Trois Mosquetaires," both of which have been translated into, most European languages. He visited England during the general elections of 1857, and in 1860 he was with Garibaldi, whose memoir he wrote. For a short time he held the office of Con* servator of the Naples museum. In 1852 he began to publish his " Memoirs, 5 ' of which several volumes have appeared. It is said that the full extent of his writings comprise morethan 1,200 volumes ! How many of them will live ?