From A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père by Frank Wild Reed: Four stanzas of regular four-line formation, rhyming a, b, a, b.
The MS. in Dumas' hand is signed by him, "A. Dumas." To judge by the writing and what we know of Dumas' acquaintance with the Bonaparte family, it may probably be placed somewhere between 1835 and 1845, though possibly later; say in the 60's.
The paper on which it is written is thin, the lines are neatly and regularly spaced, the writing is of the usual size used by Dumas for his romances, nicely written, but without marked ornateness and with few flourishes. A fine pen had been used, but a very flexible one; the lettering is thin, but here and there, rather erratically, as is usual with him, Dumas has made a very heavy down stroke, such, in fact, as could only probably be made, in conjunction with such fine writing, by the use of a quill. This MS. is in the Reed Dumas Collection.
M. Glinel knew it only in autograph, entitled "À la Princesse M. Napoleon," in the album of P. Amigo, No. 59 of a sale of autograph letters made by M. Delestre, with Noel Charavay, April 30th, 1906.
