of the Musketeers 48. A family
affair 49. Fatality 50. Chat
between brother and sister 51.
Officer 52. Captivity: The
first day 53. Captivity:
The second day 54. Captivity:
The third day 55. Captivity:
The fourth day 56. Captivity:
The fifth day 57. Means
for classical tragedy 58. Escape
59. What took place at Portsmouth
60. In France 61. The Carmelite
convent at Bethune 62. Two
varieties of demons 63. The
drop of water 64. The man
in the red cloak 65. Trial
66. Execution 67. Conclusion
The Three Musketeers
Alexandre Dumas
In which it is proved that, notwithstanding their
names’ ending in OS and is, the heroes
of the story which we are about to have the honor
to relate to our readers have nothing mythological
about them.
A short time ago, while making researches in the Royal
Library for my History of Louis XIV, I stumbled by
chance upon the Memoirs of M. d’Artagnan, printed—as
were most of the works of that period, in which authors
could not tell the truth without the risk of a residence,
more or less long, in the Bastille—at Amsterdam,
by Pierre Rouge. The title attracted me; I took
them home with me, with the permission of the guardian,
and devoured them.
It is not my intention here to enter into an analysis
of this curious work; and I shall satisfy myself with
referring such of my readers as appreciate the pictures
of the period to its pages. They will therein
find portraits penciled by the hand of a master; and
although these squibs may be, for the most part, traced
upon the doors of barracks and the walls of cabarets,
they will not find the likenesses of Louis XIII, Anne
of Austria, Richelieu, Mazarin, and the courtiers
of the period, less faithful than in the history of
M. Anquetil.
But, it is well known, what strikes the capricious
mind of the poet is not always what affects the mass
of readers. Now, while admiring, as others doubtless
will admire, the details we have to relate, our main
preoccupation concerned a matter to which no one before
ourselves had given a thought.
D’Artagnan relates that on his first visit to
M. de Treville, captain of the king’s Musketeers,
he met in the antechamber three young men, serving
in the illustrious corps into which he was soliciting
the honor of being received, bearing the names of
Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.
