Chapter I: Front Matter

MY MEMOIRS

BY

ALEXANDRE DUMAS

TRANSLATED BY

E. M. WALLER

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY

ANDREW LANG

IN SIX VOLUMES

VOL. V

1831 TO 1832

WITH A FRONTISPIECE

NEW YORK

THE MACMILLAN COMPANY

1908

CONTENTS

BOOK I

CHAPTER I

Organisation of the Parisian Artillery--Metamorphosis of my
uniform of a Mounted National Guardsman--Bastide--Godefroy
Cavaignac--Guinard--Thomas--Names of the batteries and
of their principal servants--I am summoned to seize the
_Chamber_--How many of us came to the rendezvous

CHAPTER II

Odilon Barrot, Préfet of the Seine--His soirées--His
proclamation upon the subject of riots--Dupont (de l'Eure)
and Louis-Philippe--Resignation of the ministry of Mole and
Guizot--The affair of the forest of Breteuil--The Laffitte
ministry--The prudent way in which registration was carried
out

CHAPTER III

Béranger as Patriot and Republican 20

CHAPTER IV

Béranger, as Republican 28

CHAPTER V

Death of Benjamin Constant--Concerning his life--Funeral
honours that were conferred upon him--His funeral--Law
respecting national rewards--The trial of the
ministers--Grouvelle and his sister--M. Mérilhou
and the neophyte--Colonel Lavocat--The Court of
Peers--Panic--Fieschi

CHAPTER VI

The artillerymen at the Louvre--Bonapartist plot to take
our cannon from us--Distribution of cartridges by Godefroy
Cavaignac--The concourse of people outside the Luxembourg
when the ministers were sentenced--Departure of the
condemned for Vincennes--Defeat of the judges--La Fayette
and the riot--Bastide and Commandant Barré on guard with
Prosper Mérimée

CHAPTER VII

We are surrounded in the Louvre courtyard--Our ammunition
taken by surprise--Proclamation of the Écoles--Letter of
Louis-Philippe to La Fayette--The Chamber vote of thanks to
the Colleges--Protest of the École polytechnique--Discussion
at the Chamber upon the General Commandership of the
National Guard--Resignation of La Fayette--The king's
reply--I am appointed second captain

CHAPTER VIII

The Government member--Chodruc-Duclos--His portrait--His
life at Bordeaux--His imprisonment at Vincennes--The
Mayor of Orgon--Chodruc-Duclos converts himself into
a Diogenes--M. Giraud-Savine--Why Nodier was growing
old--Stibert--A lesson in shooting--Death of Chodruc-Duclos

CHAPTER IX

Alphonse Rabbe--Madame Cardinal--Rabbe and the Marseilles
Academy--_Les Massénaires_--Rabbe in Spain--His return--The
_Old Dagger_--The Journal _Le Phocéen_--Rabbe in prison--The
writer of fables--_Ma pipe_

CHAPTER X

Rabbe's friends--_La Sœur grise_--The historical résumés--M.
Brézé's advice--An imaginative man--Berruyer's style--Rabbe
with his hairdresser, his concierge and confectioner--_La
Sœur grise_ stolen--_Le Centaure_

CHAPTER XI

Adèle--Her devotion to Rabbe--Strong meat--_Appel à
Dieu_--_L'âme et la comédie humaine_--_La mort_--_Ultime
lettere_--Suicide--_À Alphonse Rabbe_, by Victor Hugo

CHAPTER XII

Chéron--His last compliments to Harel--Obituary of
1830--My official visit on New Year's Day--A striking
costume--Read the _Moniteur_--Disbanding of the Artillery
of the National Guard--First representation of _Napoléon
Bonaparte_--Delaistre--Frédérick-Lemaître

BOOK II

CHAPTER I

The Abbé Châtel--The programme of his church--The Curé of
Lèves and M. Clausel de Montals--The Lévois embrace the
religion of the primate of the Gauls--Mass in French--The
Roman curé--A dead body to inter

CHAPTER II

Fine example of religious toleration--The Abbé Dallier--The
Circes of Lèves--Waterloo after Leipzig--The Abbé Dallier is
kept as hostage--The barricades--The stones of Chartres--The
outlook--Preparations for fighting
CHAPTER III

Attack of the barricade--A sequel to Malplaquet--The
Grenadier--The Chartrian philanthropists--Sack of the
bishop's palace--A fancy dress--How order was restored--The
culprits both small and great--Death of the Abbé
Ledru--Scruples of conscience of the former schismatics--The
_Dies iræ_ of Kosciusko

CHAPTER IV

The Abbé de Lamennais--His prediction of the Revolution of
1830--Enters the Church--His views on the Empire--Casimir
Delavigne, Royalist--His early days--Two pieces of poetry
by M. de Lamennais--His literary vocation--_Essay on
Indifference in Religious Matters_--Reception given to
this book by the Church--The academy of the château de la
Chesnaie

CHAPTER V

The founding of l'_Avenir_--L'Abbé Lacordaire--M.
Charles de Montalembert--His article on the sacking
of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois--l'_Avenir_ and the new
literature--My first interview with M. de Lamennais--Lawsuit
against l'_Avenir_--MM. de Montalembert and Lacordaire as
schoolmasters--Their trial in the _Cour des pairs_--The
capture of Warsaw--Answer of four poets to a word spoken by
a statesman

CHAPTER VI

Suspension of l'_Avenir_--Its three principal editors
present themselves at Rome--The Abbé de Lamennais as
musician--The trouble it takes to obtain an audience of the
Pope--The convent of Santo-Andrea della Valle--Interview
of M. de Lamennais with Gregory XVI.--The statuette of
Moses--The doctrines of l'_Avenir_ are condemned by the
Council of Cardinals--Ruin of M. de Lamennais--The _Paroles
d'un Croyant_

CHAPTER VII

Who Gannot was--Mapah--His first miracle--The wedding
at Cana--Gannot, phrenologist--Where his first ideas on
phrenology came from--The unknown woman--The change wrought
in Gannot's life--How he becomes Mapah

CHAPTER VIII

The god and his sanctuary--He informs the Pope of his
overthrow--His manifestoes--His portrait---Doctrine of
escape--Symbols of that religion--Chaudesaigues takes me to
the Mapah--Iswara and Pracriti--Questions which are wanting
in actuality---War between the votaries of _bidja_ and the
followers of _sakti_--My last interview with the Mapah

CHAPTER IX

Apocalypse of the being who was once called Caillaux

BOOK III

CHAPTER I

The scapegoat of power--Legitimist hopes--The
expiatory mass--The Abbé Olivier--The Curé of
Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois--Pachel--Where I begin
to be wrong--General Jacqueminot--Pillage of
Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois--The sham Jesuit and the Préfet of
Police--The Abbé Paravey's room

CHAPTER II

The Préfet of Police at the Palais-Royal--The function
of fire--Valérius, the truss-maker--Demolition of the
archbishop's palace--The Chinese album--François Arago--The
spectators of the riot--The erasure of the fleurs-de-lis--I
give in my resignation a second time--MM. Chambolle and
Casimir Périer

CHAPTER III

My dramatic faith wavers--Bocage and Dorval reconcile
me with myself--A political trial wherein I deserved to
figure--Downfall of the Laffitte Ministry--Austria and the
Duc de Modena--Maréchal Maison is Ambassador at Vienna--The
story of one of his dispatches--Casimir Périer Prime
Minister--His reception at the Palais-Royal--They make him
the _amende honorable_

CHAPTER IV

Trial of the artillerymen--Procureur-général
Miller--Pescheux d'Herbinville--Godefroy
Cavaignac--Acquittal of the accused--The ovation they
received--Commissioner Gourdin--The cross of July--The red
and black ribbon--Final rehearsals of _Antony_

CHAPTER V

The first representation of _Antony_--The play, the actors,
the public--_Antony_ at the Palais-Royal--Alterations of the
_dénoûment_

CHAPTER VI

The inspiration under which I composed _Antony_--The
Preface--Wherein lies the moral of the piece--Cuckoldom,
Adultery and the Civil Code--_Quem nuptiæ demonstrant_--Why
the Critics exclaimed that my Drama was immoral--Account
given by the least malevolent among them--How prejudices
against bastardy are overcome

CHAPTER VII

A word on criticism--Molière estimated by Bossuet, by
Jean-Jacques Rousseau and by Bourdaloue--An anonymous
libel--Critics of the seventeenth and nineteenth
centuries--M. François de Salignac de la Motte de
Fénelon--Origin of the word _Tartuffe_--M. Taschereau and M.
Étienne

CHAPTER VIII

Thermometer of Social Crises--Interview with M. Thiers--His
intentions with regard to the Théâtre-Français--Our
conventions--_Antony_ comes back to the rue de
Richelieu--_The Constitutionnel_--Its leader against
Romanticism in general, and against my drama in
particular--Morality of the ancient theatre--Parallel
between the Théâtre-Français and that of the
Porte-Saint-Martin--First suspension of _Antony_

CHAPTER IX

My discussion with M. Thiers--Why he had been compelled
to suspend _Antony_--Letter of Madame Dorval to the
_Constitutionnel_--M. Jay crowned with roses--My lawsuit
with M. Jouslin de Lasalle--There are still judges in
Berlin!

CHAPTER X

Republican banquet at the _Vendanges de Bourgogne_--The
toasts--_To Louis-Philippe!_--Gathering of those who were
decorated in July--Formation of the board--Protests--Fifty
yards of ribbon--A dissentient--Contradiction in the
_Moniteur_--Trial of Évariste Gallois--His examination--His
acquittal

CHAPTER XI

The incompatibility of literature with riotings--_La
Maréchale d'Ancre_--My opinion concerning that
piece--_Farruck le Maure_--The début of Henry Monnier at the
Vaudeville--I leave Paris--Rouen--Havre--I meditate going
to explore Trouville--What is Trouville?--The consumptive
English lady--Honfleur--By land or by sea

CHAPTER XII

Appearance of Trouville--Mother Oseraie--How people are
accommodated at Trouville when they are married--The
price of painters and of the community of martyrs--Mother
Oseraie's acquaintances--How she had saved the life of
Huet, the landscape painter--My room and my neighbour's--A
twenty-franc dinner for fifty sous--A walk by the
sea-shore--Heroic resolution

CHAPTER XIII

A reading at Nodier's--The hearers and the
readers--Début--_Les Marrons du feu_--La Camargo and the
Abbé Desiderio--Genealogy of a dramatic idea--Orestes
and Hermione--Chimène and Don Sancho--_Goetz von
Berlichingen_--Fragments--How I render to Cæsar the things
that are Cæsar's

CHAPTER XIV

Poetry is the Spirit of God--The Conservatoire and l'École
of Rome--Letter of counsel to my Son--Employment of my
time at Trouville--Madame de la Garenne--The Vendéan
Bonnechose--M. Beudin--I am pursued by a fish--What came of
it

CHAPTER XV

Why M. Beudin came to Trouville--How I knew him under
another name--Prologue of a drama--What remained to
be done--Division into three parts--I finish _Charles
VII._--Departing from Trouville--In what manner I learn of
the first performance of _Marion Delorme_

CHAPTER XVI

_Marion Delorme_

CHAPTER XVII

Collaboration

BOOK IV

CHAPTER I

The feudal edifice and the industrial--The workmen of
Lyons--M. Bouvier-Dumolard--General Roguet--Discussion
and signing of the tariff regulating the price of the
workmanship of fabrics--The makers refuse to submit to
it--_Artificial prices_ for silk-workers--Insurrection
of Lyons--Eighteen millions on the civil list--Timon's
calculations--An unlucky saying of M. de Montalivet

CHAPTER II

Death of _Mirabeau_--The accessories of _Charles VII._--A
shooting party--Montereau--A temptation I cannot
resist--Critical position in which my shooting companions
and I find ourselves--We introduce ourselves into an empty
house by breaking into it at night--Inspection of the
premises--Improvised supper--As one makes one's bed, so
one lies on it--I go to see the dawn rise--Fowl and duck
shooting--Preparations for breakfast--Mother Galop

CHAPTER III

Who Mother Galop was--Why M. Dupont-Delporte was absent--
How I quarrelled with Viardot--Rabelais's quarter of an
hour--Providence No. I--The punishment of Tantalus--A waiter
who had not read Socrates--Providence No. 2--A breakfast for
four--Return to Paris

CHAPTER IV

_Le Masque de fer_--Georges' suppers--The garden
of the Luxembourg by moonlight--M. Scribe and
the _Clerc de la Basoche_--M. d'Épagny and _Le
Clerc et le Théologien_--Classical performances
at the Théâtre-Français--_Les Guelfes_, by M.
Arnault--Parenthesis--Dedicatory epistle to the prompter

CHAPTER V

M. Arnault's _Pertinax_--_Pizarre_, by M. Fulchiron--M.
Fulchiron as a politician--M. Fulchiron as magic poet--A
word about M. Viennet--My opposite neighbour at the
performance of _Pertinax_--Splendid failure of the
play--Quarrel with my _vis-à-vis_--The newspapers take it
up--My reply in the _Journal de Paris_--Advice of M. Pillet

CHAPTER VI

Chateaubriand ceases to be a peer of France--He leaves
the country--Béranger's song thereupon--Chateaubriand as
versifier--First night of _Charles VII._--Delafosse's
vizor--Yaqoub and Frédérick-Lemaître--_La Reine
d'Espagne_--M. Henri de Latouche--His works, talent and
character--Interlude of _La Reine d'Espagne_--Preface of the
play--Reports of the pit collected by the author

CHAPTER VII

Victor Escousse and Auguste Lebras

CHAPTER VIII

First performance of _Robert le Diable_--Véron, manager
of the Opéra--His opinion concerning Meyerbeer's
music--My opinion concerning Véron's intellect--My
relations with him--His articles and _Memoirs_--Rossini's
judgment of _Robert le Diable_--Nourrit, the
preacher--Meyerbeer--First performance of the _Fuite de
Law_, by M. Mennechet--First performance of _Richard
Darlington_--Frédérick--Lemaître--Delafosse--Mademoiselle
Noblet

CHAPTER IX Horace Vernet

CHAPTER X

Paul Delaroche

CHAPTER XI

Eugène Delacroix

CHAPTER XII

Three portraits in one frame

CHAPTER XIII

Collaboration--A whim of Bocage--Anicet
Bourgeois--_Teresa_--Drama at the Opéra-Comique--Laferrière
and the eruption of Vesuvius--Mélingue--Fancy-dress ball
at the Tuileries--The place de Grève and the barrière
Saint-Jacques--The death penalty

CHAPTER XIV

The peregrinations of Casimir Delavigne--_Jeanne
Vaubernier_--Rougemont--His translation of Cambronne's
_mot_--First representation of _Teresa_--Long and short
pieces--Cordelier Delanoue and his _Mathieu Luc_--Closing
of the Taitbout Hall and arrest of the leaders of the
Saint-Simonian cult

CHAPTER XV

Mély-Janin's _Louis XI._

CHAPTER XVI

Casimir Delavigne's _Louis XI._

NOTE (Béranger)

NOTE (de Latouche)

THE MEMOIRS OF ALEXANDRE DUMAS