The Three Musketeers, Alexandre Dumas [top business books of all time TXT] 📗

The Three Musketeers

By Alexandre Dumas.

Translated by William Robson.

Table of Contents Titlepage Imprint Author’s Preface The Three Musketeers I: The Three Presents of d’Artagnan the Elder II: The Antechamber of M. de Tréville III: The Audience IV: The Shoulder of Athos, the Baldric of Porthos and the Handkerchief of Aramis V: The Kings’s Musketeers and the Cardinal’s Guards VI: His Majesty King Louis XIII VII: The Housekeeping of the Musketeers VIII: Concerning a Court Intrigue IX: d’Artagnan Shows Himself X: A Mousetrap in the Seventeenth Century XI: In Which the Plot Thickens XII: George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham XIII: Monsieur Bonacieux XIV: The Man of Meung XV: Men of the Robe and Men of the Sword XVI: In Which M. Séguier, Keeper of the Seals, Looks More Than Once for the Bell, in Order to Ring It, as He Did Before XVII: Bonacieux at Home XVIII: Lover and Husband XIX: Plan of Campaign XX: The Journey XXI: The Comtesse de Winter XXII: The Ballet of La Merlaison XXIII: The Rendezvous XXIV: The Pavillion XXV: Porthos XXVI: Aramis and His Thesis XXVII: The Wife of Athos XXVIII: The Return XXIX: Hunting for the Equipments XXX: Milady XXXI: English and French XXXII: A Procurator’s Dinner XXXIII: Soubrette and Mistress XXXIV: In Which the Equipment of Aramis and Porthos Is Treated Of XXXV: All Cats Are Grey in the Dark XXXVI: Dream of Vengeance XXXVII: Milady’s Secret XXXVIII: How, Without Incommoding Himself, Athos Procures His Equipment XXXIX: A Vision XL: A Terrible Vision XLI: The Seige of La Rochelle XLII: The Anjou Wine XLIII: The Sign of the Red Dovecot XLIV: The Utility of Stovepipes XLV: A Conjugal Scene XLVI: The Bastion of Saint-Gervais XLVII: The Council of the Musketeers XLVIII: A Family Affair XLIX: Fatality L: Chat Between Brother and Sister LI: Officer LII: Captivity: The First Day LIII: Captivity: The Second Day LIV: Captivity: The Third Day LV: Captivity: The Fourth Day LVI: Captivity: The Fifth Day LVII: Means for Classical Tragedy LVIII: Escape LIX: What Took Place at Portsmouth August 23, 1628 LX: In France LXI: The Carmelite Convent at Béthune LXII: Two Varieties of Demons LXIII: The Drop of Water LXIV: The Man in the Red Cloak LXV: Judgment LXVI: Execution LXVII: Conclusion Epilogue Endnotes Colophon Uncopyright Imprint

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Author’s Preface

In which it is proved that, notwithstanding their names’ ending in os and is, the heroes of the story which we are about to have the honor to relate to our readers have nothing mythological about them.

A short time ago, while making researches in the Royal Library for my History of Louis XIV, I stumbled by chance upon the Memoirs of M. d’Artagnan, printed⁠—as were most of the works of that period, in which authors could not tell the truth without the risk of a residence, more or less long, in the Bastille⁠—at Amsterdam, by Pierre Rouge. The title attracted me; I took them home with me, with the permission of the guardian, and devoured them.

It is not my intention here to enter into an analysis of this curious work; and I shall satisfy myself with referring such of my readers as appreciate the pictures of the period to its pages. They will therein find portraits penciled by the hand of a master; and although these squibs may be, for the most part, traced upon the doors of barracks and the walls of cabarets, they will not find the likenesses of Louis XIII, Anne of Austria, Richelieu, Mazarin, and the courtiers of the period, less faithful than in the history of M. Anquetil.

But, it is well known, what strikes the capricious mind of the poet is not always what affects the mass of readers. Now, while admiring, as others doubtless will admire, the details we have to relate, our main preoccupation concerned a matter to which no one before ourselves had given a thought.

D’Artagnan relates that on his first visit to M. de Tréville, captain of the king’s Musketeers, he met in the antechamber three young men, serving in the illustrious corps into which he was soliciting the honor of being received, bearing the names of Athos, Porthos, and Aramis.

We must confess these three strange names struck us; and it immediately occurred to us that they were but pseudonyms, under which d’Artagnan had disguised names perhaps illustrious, or else that the bearers of these borrowed names had themselves chosen them on the day in which, from caprice, discontent, or want of fortune, they had donned the simple Musketeer’s uniform.

From that moment we had no