28 FEBRUARY 1925, Page 27

A LIFE'S. AMBITION. By Alexandre Dimas. A First Translation into

English. With an Introduction by R. S. Garnett. (Stanley Paul. 7s. 6d. net.) Mr. R. S. Garnett's introduction is one of the most interesting things in this volume, containing, as it does, translations of letters from Lamartine and Michelet. and an epigrammatic note from Victor Hugo. Alexandre Dumas's stories emerge from their long neglect with a freshness of outlook which makes the weary modern reader feel that the world was very young in those days. The translation is more than adequate and but for the Gallic outlook would make the reader forget that he was not reading an original English novel.