Collected works > Edinburgh edition, 1894-98 - Works of Robert Louis Stevenson > Volume 1, 1894 - Miscellanies, Volume I

A GOSSIP ON A NOVEL OF DUMAS'S
in quest of what we may call puritan morality. The
ventripotent mulatto, the great eater, worker, earner
and waster, the man of much and witty laughter, the
man of the great heart and, alas ! of the doubtful
honesty, is a figure not yet clearly set before the
world ; he still awaits a sober and yet genial portrait ;
but with whatever art that may be touched, and
whatever indulgence, it will not be the portrait of
a precisian. Dumas was certainly not thinking of
himself, but of Planchet, when he put into the
mouth of d'Artagnan's old servant this excellent
profession : '^ Monsieur, J etais une de ces bonnes pdtes
dliommes que Dieu a faits pour sanwier 'pendant un
certain temps et pour trouver bonjies toutes choses
qui accompagnent leur sejour sur la terre.' He was
thinking, as I say, of Planchet, to whom the words
are aptly fitted ; but they were fitted also to
Planchet 's creator; and perhaps this struck him as
he wrote, for observe what follows: ^UArtagnan
s'assit alors pres de la fenetre, et, cette pMlosophie de
Planchet lui ay ant paru solide, il y reva.' In a man
who finds all things good, you will scarce expect
much zeal for negative virtues : the active alone wiU
have a charm for him; abstinence, however wise,
however kind, will always seem to such a judge
entirely mean and partly impious. So with Dumas.
Chastity is not near his heart ; nor yet, to his own
sore cost, that virtue of frugality which is the armour
of the artist. Now, in the Vicomte, he had much
to do with the contest of Fouquet and Colbert.
Historic justice should be all upon the side of
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