The historical novel as known and practised in nineteenth-century France was, to all intents and purposes, the creation of Sir Walter Scott.Between 1814 and his death in 1832, Scott produced the sequence known as the Waverley Novels (so named after the first novel in the series). These novels were hugely popular both in France and elsewhere in Europe: his lustre undimmed by depressingly pedestrian translations,Scott became the lodestone of aspiring French novelists, even if the more successful amongst them seemed not entirely to grasp what it was that he had been trying to achieve.

One of the most celebrated and popular historical romances ever written, The Three Musketeers tells the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman D'Artagnan and his three friends from the regiment of the King's Musketeers - Athos, Porthos and Aramis.

Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of Cardinal Richelieu, and the honour of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of seventeenth-century France are vividly played out in the back-ground.

But their most dangerous encounter is with the Cardinal's spy,Milady, one of literature's most memorable female villains, and Alexandre Dumas employs all his fast-paced narrative skills to bring this enthralling novel to a breathtakingly gripping and dramatic conclusion.

INTRODUCTION

BIBIBLIOGRAPHY

HISTORICAL NOTE

The Three Presents of M. d'Artagnan, the Father

The Antechamber of M. de Treville

The Audience

The ShouMer of Athos, the Belt of Porthos and the Handkerchief of Aramis

The King's Musketeers and the Cardinal's Guards

His Majesty King Louis the Thirteenth

The Domestic Manners of the Musketeers

The Court Intrigue

D'Artagnan Begins to Show Himself

A Mousetrap of the Seventeenth Century

The Intrigue Becomes Confused

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham

Monsieur Bonancieux

The Man of Meung

Civilians and Soldiers

In which the Keeper of the Seals, Seguier, looked more than once after the bell, that he might ring it as he had been used to do

The Bonancieux Household

The Lover and the Husband

The Plan of Campaign

The yourney

The Countess de Winter

The Ballet of The Merlaison

The Appointment

The Pavilion

Porthos

The Thesis of Aramis

The Wife of Athos

The Return

The Hunt afwr Equipments

'MyLady'

English and French

An Attorney's Dinner

Maid and Mistress

Concerning the Equipments of Aramis and Porthos

All Cats are alike Grey in the Dark

The Dream of Vengeance

The Lady's Secret

How, without disturbing himself, Athos obtained his Equipment

A Charming Vision

A Terrible Vision

The Siege of La Rochelle

The Wine of Anjou

The Red Dovecot Tavern

The Utility of Stove Funnels

A Conjugal Scene

The Bastion of St Gervais

The Council of the Musketeers

A Family Affair

Fatality

A Chat between a Brother and Sister

The Officer

The First Day of Imprisonment

The Second Day of Imprisonment

The Third Day of Imprisonment

The Fourth Day of Imprisonment

The Fifth Day of Imprisonment

An Event in Classical Tragedy

The Escape "

What Happened at Portsmouth on the Twenty-third of August 1628

In France

The Carmelite Convent of Bethune

Two Kinds of Demons

A Drop of Water

The Man in the Red Cloak

The Judgment

The Execution

A Message from The Cardinal

The Epilogue

NOTES