The right word came to him, the simple
straightforward phrase. Epithet-hunting may be a pretty sport, and
the bag of the epithet-hunter may contain some agreeable epigrams
and rare specimens of style; but a plain tale of adventure, of love
and war, needs none of this industry, and is even spoiled by
inopportune diligence. Speed, directness, lucidity are the
characteristics of Dumas' style, and they are exactly the
characteristics which his novels required. Scott often failed, his
most loyal admirers may admit, in these essentials; but it is rarely
that Dumas fails, when he is himself and at his best.
In spite of his heedless education, Dumas had true critical
qualities, and most admired the best things. We have already seen
how he writes about Shakespeare, Virgil, Goethe, Scott. But it may
be less familiarly known that this burly man-of-all-work, ignorant
as he was of Greek, had a true and keen appreciation of Homer.
Dumas declares that he only thrice criticised his contemporaries in
an unfavourable sense, and as one wishful to find fault. The
victims were Casimir Delavigne, Scribe, and Ponsard. On each
occasion Dumas declares that, after reflecting, he saw that he was
moved by a little personal pique, not by a disinterested love of
art. He makes his confession with a rare nobility of candour; and
yet his review of Ponsard is worthy of him. M. Ponsard, who, like
Dumas, was no scholar, wrote a play styled Ulysse, and borrowed from
the Odyssey.
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