From A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père by Frank Wild Reed: Twenty-two regular four-line stanzas, rhyming alternately.
This is a free imitation of a German ballad by Sedlitz.
It first appeared in Dumas' journal "Le Monte-Cristo," the number for July 16th, 1857. But here, owing to a printer's error, the last strophe was omitted. The next number, that for July 23rd, explained this, and rectified matters by printing the omitted lines. But apparently, when the piece came to be reprinted, this defect was not noticed, and the final verse is always lacking. As "Le Monte-Cristo" seems to be the only place where it may be read, it will perhaps not be amiss, to quote it here, since the journal in question is not easy to procure
Voilà la funèbre revue
Qu'à l'heure de minuit, dit-on,
Rêvant à sa grandeur déchue,
Passe l'autre Napoléon !
The first twenty-one verses are included in the collection of articles by Dumas entitled "Propos d'Art et de Cuisine."
"La Revue Nocturne" was also reproduced, with some suppressions and variations, in the " Dictionnaire de Larousse," article "Ballade."
An English translation is included in the article "Alexandre Dumas, Benefactor," - "Colophon", New York, New Series, No. 1, 1935.
