, in eight volumes, comprising eighteen titles--all of which
now appear in the present carefully translated text. The success of the
original work was instantaneous. Dumas laughingly said that he thought
he had exhausted the subject of famous crimes, until the work was off the
press, when he immediately became deluged with letters from every
province in France, supplying him with material upon other deeds of
violence! The subjects which he has chosen, however, are of both
historic and dramatic importance, and they have the added value of giving
the modern reader a clear picture of the state of semi-lawlessness which
existed in Europe, during the middle ages. "The Borgias, the Cenci,
Urbain Grandier, the Marchioness of Brinvilliers, the Marchioness of
Ganges, and the rest--what subjects for the pen of Dumas!" exclaims
Garnett.

Space does not permit us to consider in detail the material here
collected, although each title will be found to present points of special
interest. The first volume comprises the annals of the Borgias and the
Cenci. The name of the noted and notorious Florentine family has become
a synonym for intrigue and violence, and yet the Borgias have not been
without stanch defenders in history.

Another famous Italian story is that of the Cenci. The beautiful
Beatrice Cenci--celebrated in the painting of Guido, the sixteenth
century romance of Guerrazi, and the poetic tragedy of Shelley, not to
mention numerous succeeding works inspired by her hapless fate--will
always remain a shadowy figure and one of infinite pathos.

The second volume chronicles the sanguinary deeds in the south of France,
carried on in the name of religion, but drenching in blood the fair
country round about Avignon, for a long period of years.

The third volume is devoted to the story of Mary Queen of Scots, another
woman who suffered a violent death, and around whose name an endless
controversy has waged. Dumas goes carefully into the dubious episodes of
her stormy career, but does not allow these to blind his sympathy for her
fate. Mary, it should be remembered, was closely allied to France by
education and marriage, and the French never forgave Elizabeth the part
she played in the tragedy.

The fourth volume comprises three widely dissimilar tales. One of the
strangest stories is that of Urbain Grandier, the innocent victim of a
cunning and relentless religious plot. His story was dramatised by
Dumas, in 1850. A