Volume one of a two volume set Never did the reign of any European sovereign present so many and such varying phases. A contest for empire, a captive monarch, a female regency, and a religious war; the poisoned bowl and the burning pile alike doing their work of death amid scenes of uncalculating splendor and unbridled dissipation; the atrocities of bigotry and intolerance, blent with the most unblushing licentiousness and the most undisguised profligacy - such are the materials offered to the reader by the times of Francis I. The period thus characterized is that in which the scene of the present romance is laid, and although the plot is mainly concerned with the fortunes of others than subjects of the Roi Chevalier, we are treated to a succession of vivid pictures of life and manners at the French court and in the French capital. By universal consent Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), Pere is now acknowledged the most entertaining of the writers of romance. For variety of incidents, sprightliness of dialogue, and vividness of narrative no tales of adventure can compete with such works as The Three Musketeers or The Count of Monte Cristo. It is doubtful also, whether the life of any novelist comes as near as the life of Alexandre Dumas to what is expected of an entertaining work of fiction. Viewed as a hero of romance, the great novelist is almost as striking a figure as his picturesque and fascinating D'Artagnan, so that his memoirs and the numerous volumes in which he relates the story of his travels seem to differ from his other narrative works only in the use, for the hero, of the first instead of the third person of the verb.

Volume two of a two volume set Never did the reign of any European sovereign present so many and such varying phases. A contest for empire, a captive monarch, a female regency, and a religious war; the poisoned bowl and the burning pile alike doing their work of death amid scenes of uncalculating splendor and unbridled dissipation; the atrocities of bigotry and intolerance, blent with the most unblushing licentiousness and the most undisguised profligacy - such are the materials offered to the reader by the times of Francis I. The period thus characterized is that in which the scene of the present romance is laid, and although the plot is mainly concerned with the fortunes of others than subjects of the Roi Chevalier, we are treated to a succession of vivid pictures of life and manners at the French court and in the French capital. By universal consent Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870), Pere is now acknowledged the most entertaining of the writers of romance. For variety of incidents, sprightliness of dialogue, and vividness of narrative no tales of adventure can compete with such works as The Three Musketeers or The Count of Monte Cristo. It is doubtful also, whether the life of any novelist comes as near as the life of Alexandre Dumas to what is expected of an entertaining work of fiction. Viewed as a hero of romance, the great novelist is almost as striking a figure as his picturesque and fascinating D'Artagnan, so that his memoirs and the numerous volumes in which he relates the story of his travels seem to differ from his other narrative works only in the use, for the hero, of the first instead of the third person of the verb.

This romance is usually accredited entirely to Paul Meurice, and indeed there is little of the sprightliness and rapid movement which we have grown to expect from Dumas. At the same time it is to be noted that several of the band of adventurers who play a minor part in "Ascanio" again appear. Moreover, they are once more to the fore in "Le Page du Duc de Savoie," which Dumas wrote alone; and he even uses one or two at an impossibly anterior date in his drama "La Tour de Saint-Jacques." Meurice, it may be noted, is thought to have had a small share in "Ascanio." In 1865 this last named produced a dramatised version of "Les Deux Diane," in which Dumas had no hand, and to which he made no objection. (See under the date of 1865.) Some think that Dumas sketched the plot. The two Dianas are Madame de Poitiers and her daughter Madame de Castro. The period is 1521-74, and includes the taking of Calais, the battle of Saint-Quentin, the death of Henri II. and the First Religious Wars.

Alexandre Dumas, père (French for "father", akin to 'Senior' in English), born Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie (24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870) was a French writer, best known for his numerous historical novels of high adventure which have made him one of the most widely read French authors in the world. Many of his novels, including The Count of Monte Cristo, The Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, and The Vicomte de Bragelonne were serialized. He also wrote plays and magazine articles and was a prolific correspondent. This is volume II of III and was published in 1894. The Two Dianas ( Les Deux Diane, 1846) tells the fictionalized story of Gabriel, Comte de Montgomery, who mortally wounded King Henry II of France. The two Dianas in the title refer to Henry II's favorite, Diana de Poitiers, and her daughter, Diana de Castro. The novel also includes a fictionalization of the Martin Guerre story.\* \* - Martin Guerre, a French peasant of the 16th century, was at the center of a famous case of imposture. Several years after he had left his family, a man claiming to be Guerre took his name and lived with Guerre's wife and son for three years. The false Martin Guerre was tried, discovered to be a man named Arnaud du Tilh and executed. The case continues to be studied and dramatized to this day.