From A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père by Frank Wild Reed: A prose drama in five acts.
This was signed by Eugène Bourgeois alone, but it is well known that Dumas was his active collaborator.
At the time Dumas was much concerned about his prospects for the Académie, and M. Lecomte refers to him as saying to Frédérick-Lemaitre: "Silence, the most absolute silence is my condition. At this moment a failure or a work of little literary merit would fling me back a hundred leagues from the Academic. .. ." Frédérick was to have taken the principal part, but it seemingly finally devolved on Bocage.
The play concerns a worthy Breton, persuaded to take the position of "responsible manager" for a newspaper, under the impression that he is thus serving the cause of his king—it is in the early days of the First Republic—whereas he is being used as a tool by a couple of scoundrels.
First performed at the Porte Saint Martin Théâtre on the 27th of November; 1841.
Original edition : Paris, Beck, 1842, 8vo. of two columns, forming part of the "Repertoire Dramatique des Auteurs Contemporains."
References :— Quérard: "Supercheries Littéraires Dévoilées," Vol. I., Columns 1073-74. Lecomte: "Alexandre Dumas," pp. 116, 184. Gautier: "Art Dramatique," Série II., pp. 187-88.
