From A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père by Frank Wild Reed: Dumas wrote two quatrains in the album of Mlle. Ernestine Aubourg, the daughter of the hostess of the auberge of Saint-Jouin, near Etretat (Seine-Inférieure). (See "Le Gil Blas" for Tuesday. the 16th of August, 1887, the article "Ernestine," by Mirliton (Guillaume Liret).) The first of the quatrains in question was written or reproduced by Dumas at Valenciennes, the leaf upon which it was written, bearing the impression of a plain embossed stamp: "Hôtel des Princes, kept by Meynart, Rue de la Nouvelle Hollande, à Valenciennes (Nord)."
This first quatrain is an imitation of Patoefi Sandor. and was published in "Le Gaulois" for the 21st of August, 1873.
The same strophe was written in Dumas' hand in an autograph album collected by M. Lallart, former editor of the "Progrès de l'Aisne." This album, since 1874, has been owned by M. Collet, Director of the Soissons Museum, to whom it was presented by Mlle. Jeanne Lallart, in memory of her father.
The second quatrain is an imitation from Poushkine, with variants. It appeared in "La France," the No. for September 7th, 1874.
The translation of Poushkine's quatrain is to be found in "Le Monte-Cristo," No. for November 25th, 1858. It may also be read in the "Impressions de Voyage : En Russie," Chapter XXII.
