Eugène Sue is ambitious enough to have a groom, horse and trap--He does business with the maison Ermingot, Godefroi et Cie which permits him to gratify that fancy--Triumph at the Champs-Élysées--A vexing encounter--Desforges and Eugène Sue separate--Desforges starts _Le Kaléidoscope_ at Bordeaux--Ferdinand Langlé starts _La Nouveauté_ at Paris--César and the negro Zoyo--Dossion and his dog CHAPTER VII Eugène Sue's début in journalism--_L'Homme-Mouche_--The merino sheep--Eugène Sue in the Navy--He takes part in the battle of Navarino--He furnishes a house--The last folly of youth--Another _Fils de l'Homme_--Bossange and Desforges BOOK VIII CHAPTER I The political duels CHAPTER II _Lucrèce Borgia_--Discouragement--First conception of the Historical Romances CHAPTER III Condition of the Théâtre-Français in 1832 and 1833--Causes which had led to our emigration from the Théatre-Français--Reflections concerning the education of dramatic artists CHAPTER IV Talma--Mademoiselle Mars--The Conservatoire--Macready--Young --Kean--Miss Smithson--Mrs. Siddons--Miss Faucit--Shakespeare --The limits to dramatic art in France APPENDIX TRANSLATOR'S NOTE THE MEMOIRS OF ALEXANDRE DUMAS BOOK I CHAPTER I Preparations for my Fancy Dress Ball--I find that my lodgings are too much after the style of Socrates--My artist-decorators--The question of the supper--I go for provisions to la Ferté-Vidame--View of this capital town of the Canton, by night, in a snowstorm--My nephew's room--My friend Gondon--Roebuck hunting--Return to Paris--I invent a Bank of Exchange before M. Proudhon--The artists at work--The dead Carnival time was drawing near, and the suggestion Bocage had made that I should give a ball spread abroad throughout the artist world, and was flung back at me on all sides. One of the first difficulties which arose was the question of the smallness of my lodgings--my rooms comprised a dining-room, sitting-room, bedroom and study, which, however adequate in size for a dwelling, were too limited for a party. A ball, given by me, necessitated three or four hundred invitations; and how could I have three or four hundred people in a dining-room, drawing-room, bedroom and study? Happily I bethought myself of a set of four rooms on the same landing, not only empty, but still void of all decoration--except for the mirrors above the chimney-pieces, and the blue-grey paper which covered the walls. I asked the landlord's permission to use this set of rooms for the purpose of the ball I intended to give. It was granted me. Next came the question of decorating the rooms. This was the business of my artist friends. Hardly did they know that I needed them before they came and offered me their services. There were four rooms to decorate, and they shared the task between them. The decorators were no other than Eugène Delacroix,