From A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père by Frank Wild Reed: Five regular six-line stanzas, rhyming a, a, b, c, c, b.
In the catalogue of autographs issued by Noel Charavay, 3 Rue de Furstemberg, Paris (for April—May, 1898), appears the item :—
DUMAS (Alexandre), the great romancer. To Mme. la Comtesse de Revieski, a piece of signed autographic verse, l page, large 4to.—40 francs. A superb piece, of which this is the first appearance.
This is followed by the first strophe of the piece in question. There are several variants of the printed copies, and against one of these is a note by the author: "At one of the balls given by the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Madame la Comtesse de Revieski wore a wreath of cypress with diamond clusters."
These verses have appeared in print under the following circumstances :—
1. In "La Chronique," in 1842, Second Year, pp. 202-203, printed by Béthune et Plon.
2. In the "Paris-Londres Keepsake Français," 1842, 8vo., Paris, H. L. Delloye et Gamier frères, printed by Félix Loespiez.
3. In "Le Mousquetaire" for the 15th of March, 1854.
4. They were also reproduced in facsimile in "L'Autographe," 1864, page 61. M. Glinel notes a number of variations among the different texts, and also calls attention to the resemblance between these verses and some published by Alexandre Dumas fils, under the title "Vers mis sur un Album."
