Dumas was readily enough received into the folds of the great. Indeed, as we know, he made his _entrée_ under more than ordinary, if not exceptional, circumstances, and his connection with the great names of literature and statecraft extended from Hugo to Garibaldi. As for his own predilections in literature, Dumas' own voice is practically silent, though we know that he was a romanticist pure and simple, and drew no inspiration or encouragement from Voltairian sentiments. If not essentially religious, he at least believed in its principles, though, as a warm admirer has said, "He had no liking for the celibate and bookish life of the churchman." Dumas does not enter deeply into the subject of ecclesiasticism in France. His most elaborate references are to the Abbey of Ste. Genevieve--since disappeared in favour of the hideous pagan Panthéon--and its relics and associations, in "La Dame de Monsoreau." Other of the romances from time to time deal with the subject of religion more or less, as was bound to be, considering the times of which he wrote, of Mazarin, Richelieu, De Rohan, and many other churchmen. Throughout the thirties Dumas was mostly occupied with his plays, the predominant, if not the most sonorous note, being sounded by "Antony." As a novelist his star shone brightest in the decade following, commencing with "Monte Cristo," in 1841, and continuing through "Le Vicomte de Bragelonne" and "La Dame de Monsoreau," in 1847. During these strenuous years Dumas produced the flower of his romantic garland--omitting, of course, certain trivial and perhaps unworthy trifles, among which are usually considered, rightly enough, "Le Capitaine Paul" (Paul Jones) and "Jeanne d'Arc." At this period, however, he produced the charming and exotic "Black Tulip," which has since come to be a reality. The best of all, though, are admittedly the Mousquetaire cycle, the volumes dealing with the fortunes of the Valois line, and, again, "Monte Cristo." By 1830, Dumas, eager, as it were, to experience something of the valiant boisterous spirit of the characters of his romances, had thrown himself heartily into an alliance with the opponents of Louis-Philippe. Orleanist successes, however, left him to fall back upon his pen. In 1844, having finished "Monte Cristo," he followed it by "Les Trois Mousquetaires," and before the end of the same year had put out forty volumes, by what means, those who will read the scurrilous "Fabrique des Romans"--and properly discount it--may learn. The publication of "Monte Cristo" and "Les Trois Mousquetaires" as newspaper _feuilletons_, in 1844-45, met with amazing success, and were, indeed, written from day to day, to keep pace with the demands of the press.