Mlle. Duclos, daughter of a former member of the Marais troupe named
Châteauneuf, who made her _début_ at the Comédie-Française in 1693, and
was soon afterwards engaged to understudy the great actress in first
tragedy parts. She excelled in rôles requiring "majesty of bearing and
the impetuous sway of passion," and in such secured several notable
successes; but her style both of speaking and acting seems to have been
very artificial. She was, moreover, cursed with a most abominable
temper, which made her a perfect terror to her colleagues at rehearsals,
and which she could not always control, even before the audience. At the
first performance of La Motte's _Inès de Castro_, in 1723, a scene
which was intended to be intensely pathetic excited the merriment of the
pit, upon which Mlle. Duclos, who was playing Inès, stopped the
performance, and coming to the front of the stage, shouted angrily,
"Foolish pit! You are laughing at the finest thing in the play." On
another occasion, when Dancourt apologised to the audience for the
lady's non-appearance in one of her most popular rôles, at the same time
indicating, by a significant gesture, the cause of her indisposition,
the actress, who happened to be standing in the wings, rushed on to the
stage, beside herself with passion, and soundly boxed her facetious
colleague's ears, amid roars of laughter. In 1733, when in her
fifty-sixth year, Mlle. Duclos was foolish enough to marry an actor
named Duchemin, a youth scarcely seventeen! Two years later, she was
compelled to obtain a separation from her juvenile husband, whom she
alleged had "maltreated her daily," and dealt her "_coups de pied et de
poing tant sur le corps que sur le visage_." Mlle. Duclos's most
successful creation was Zénobie, in the _Rhadaminthe et Zénobie_ of
Crébillon, and among her other impersonations were Ariane, in Thomas
Corneille's play of that name, Josabeth, in _Athalie_, Hersélie in La
Motte's _Romulus_, and the title-part in the _Électre_ of Longpierre.
She retired, in 1733, with a pension of 1000 livres from the theatre,
and another of the same amount from the court, which she enjoyed for
twelve years.
The second of Mlle. de Champmeslé's pupils was her own niece, Charlotte
Desmares, of whom we have already spoken. After playing in child-parts
for some years at the Comédie-Française, Mlle. Desmares made her _début_
in 1699, the year after her aunt's death. She was an exceedingly pretty
young woman, and, though inferior to Mlle. Duclos in declamatory
tragedy, greatly her superior in pathetic rôles. Her best tragedy parts
were Iphigénie in La Grange-Chancel's _Oreste et Pilade_, which had been
Mlle. de Champmeslé's last creation, Sémiramis in Crébillon's play of
that name, Jocaste in the _OEdipe_ of Voltaire, and Antigone in La
Motte's _Machabées_, which crowned her career. She was even more
successful in comedy, and no better _soubrette_ had been seen since the
days of Madeleine Béjart. In 1715, she became the mistress of the Regent
d'Orléans, by whom she had a daughter. "My son," wrote the old Duchesse
d'Orléans, "has been presented with a daughter by the Desmares. She
tried to pass off another child on him as his, but he replied, '_Non,
celui-ci est par trop Arlequin_.'"
Mlle. Desmares retired from the stage in 1721, and died in 1743 at the
age of sixty-one.
* * * * *
Charles de Champmeslé did not long survive his wife. A curious story
attaches to his death. On the night of August 19-20, 1701, he dreamed
that his dead mother and his wife appeared to him and beckoned him to
follow them. Convinced that this dream was a warning of his approaching
death, he went, early the following morning, to the church of the
Cordeliers, and, handing the sacristan a thirty-sol piece, requested him
to have two Requiem Masses said for the souls of his departed relatives.
Then, as the monk was about to return him the change--the fee for a Mass
was ten sols--the actor exclaimed: "Keep the balance and say a third
Mass for me; I will stay and listen to it." On leaving the church,
Champmeslé made his way to a tavern adjoining the Comédie-Française,
and sat down on a bench by the door, where he remained for some time,
deep in thought. Presently he entered the theatre and walked about the
_foyer_, muttering to himself the old proverb: "_Adieu, paniers!
vendanges sont faites_" ("Farewell, baskets! the grapes are gathered").
He repeated this so often, and his manner appeared so strange, that his
colleagues feared his mind had suddenly become affected. But, after a
while, he recovered his usual cheerfulness, and invited his
brother-in-law, Nicolas Desmares, and several others to dine with him at
the tavern, in order to settle some dispute which had arisen between two
of them. Scarcely, however, had they reached the door, than Champmeslé
staggered, put his hands to his forehead, and fell, face downwards, on
the floor. When his friends raised him up, he was dead.
III
ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR
Although not the greatest, Adrienne Lecouvreur is perhaps the most
interesting, and certainly the most sympathetic, figure in the history
of the French stage. She was the first actress to enjoy not only renown
in the theatre, but consideration in society; she was beloved by the
greatest soldier of her time; she was on terms of the closest friendship
with the greatest poet, and inspired him to a most touching elegy; while
the terrible suspicion attaching to her death and the deplorable scandal
connected with her burial have invested her with a halo of romance. She
seems, moreover, to possess an attraction for French writers which is
shared by no other actress. She has found a well-informed contemporary
biographer in the dramatist d'Allainval; Sainte-Beuve has given her a
place in his _Lundis_, and Michelet one in his _Histoire de France_;
Lemontey pronounced an eloquent _éloge_ of her before the Academy;
Régnier has allotted her a chapter in his _Souvenirs et études du
théâtre_, and M. Larroumet has consecrated to her a fine study in his
_Études de littérature et d'art_. Finally, she has been made the subject
of a famous tragedy,[61] in which the heroine was impersonated by the
greatest French actress of the nineteenth century, Rachel.
Within recent years, interest in Adrienne Lecouvreur has been greatly
stimulated owing to the publication by M. Georges Monval, the learned
archivist of the Comédie-Française, of a collection of the actress's
letters, preceded by an admirable biography, containing much information
about the early part of her theatrical career, of which, up to that
time, little or nothing was known. These letters, besides affording us a
valuable insight into Adrienne's character, contain, in the opinion of
eminent French critics, some truly exquisite pages, which entitle the
writer to a place beside the Caylus, the Staals, the Aïssés, and other
mistresses of the language of her time.
Adrienne Lecouvreur was born on April 5, 1692, at Damery, a little town
of Champagne, overlooking the smiling valley of the Marne. Her father
was a journeyman hatter, named Robert Couvreur;[62] her mother's name
was Marie Bouty. Soon after Adrienne was born, her parents removed to
Fismes, between Rheims and Soissons, and, about the year 1702, migrated
to Paris, where they resided in the Rue des
Fossés-Saint-Germain-des-Prés, close to the Comédie-Française, the
little girl being sent to the Couvent des Filles de l'Instruction
Chrétienne, Rue du Gindre, one of the convents at which a certain number
of poor children received a free education.
Adrienne appears to have had a very unhappy childhood. In a letter in
verse which she addressed, many years later, to her faithful friend
d'Argental, she declares that a divinity "furious and jealous" seated
herself near her cradle and controlled her destiny from her earliest
years. In the "ruin" where she was born,--
"Residaient le misère et l'aigreur,
L'emportement, la grossière fureur."
This last statement was probably true enough, as her father was a man of
the most violent temper, who, after leading his family a sad life,
finally became insane and had to be sent to the _maison de santé_ at
Charleville. Here, Adrienne tells us, the unfortunate man distinguished
himself by "setting fire to the four corners of his room, and concealing
himself in the chimney, which he had previously stopped up with the
coverlet of his bed." His intention apparently was to make his escape
amid the confusion which would follow the discovery of the fire, but, in
the result, he was nearly burned to death. In spite of all she seems to
have suffered at her father's hands, Adrienne never ceased to love him,
and saw in this calamity "the chief of all her misfortunes."
When Adrienne was thirteen, a chance circumstance revealed her vocation
for the theatre. She and some other children of her quarter took it into
their heads to perform some plays for their own amusement, and met to
rehearse at a grocer's shop in the Rue Ferou. The young people had the
hardihood to attempt _Polyeucte_, Adrienne playing Pauline, one of the
most touching of the great Corneille's heroines, and reciting the famous
dramatist's verses with a fire and pathos which eclipsed Mlle. Duclos
herself.
The news of their rehearsals reached the ears of a certain Madame du
Gué, the wife of a President of the Parliament of Paris and a great
patroness of the drama. Madame la Présidente invited the little players
to give a representation in the courtyard of her hôtel in the Rue
Garancière, where she had a stage erected, and asked a large and
distinguished company to witness the performance. Struck by the novelty
of the entertainment, a great many people came who had not been invited,
and, despite the efforts of eight tall Swiss, the door was forced, and
when the curtain--or whatever did duty for it--rose, the courtyard,
large as it was, was inconveniently crowded.
It had been arranged that the performance should consist of Pierre
Corneille's famous tragedy, to be followed by a lively little play, in
one act, and in verse, called _Le Deuil_, the joint work of Hauteroche
and Thomas Corneille. In those days, we may observe, a tragedy was
almost invariably followed by a comedy, the idea presumably being to
dissipate the sad impressions produced by the former, and send the
audience home in good spirits.
In default of a costume suitable to the period in which the action of
_Polyeucte_ passes, Adrienne had borrowed a gown of fashionable make
from Madame du Gué's waiting-woman, which, unfortunately, was very much
too large for her. But the little actress's talent triumphed over
sartorial disadvantages, and her impersonation of the faithful wife of
Polyeucte struggling against the memory of her first love was perfectly
extraordinary for one of her age. "She charmed every one by a quite
novel style of recitation, so natural and so true that it was the
unanimous opinion that she had but a step to take to become the greatest
actress ever seen upon the French stage."
Adrienne's efforts were ably seconded by a lad named Menou, who played
Sévère, and entered so thoroughly into the spirit of his rôle that, as
he uttered the words: "_Soutiens-moi, ce coup de foudre est grand!_" he
fell to the ground in a swoon, and had to be carried away and bled.
After which, he pluckily returned and finished his part.
_Polyeucte_ concluded, the little actors were about to begin their
performance of _Le Deuil_, and every one was looking forward to see
whether Adrienne would shape as well in comedy as she had in tragedy,
when the archers of the Lieutenant of Police suddenly appeared on the
scene. The members of the Comédie-Française had got wind of this
entertainment, composed of two pieces from their own répertoire; and,
indeed, several of them had assisted at it. The popularity of the
national theatre was just then much weakened by the rivalry of the Opera
and the unlicensed playhouses of the fairs in the neighbourhood of
Paris, and they feared that by tolerating such performances as the
present one their receipts would be still further diminished. They
accordingly sent a deputation to d'Argenson, begging him to uphold the
exclusive privileges conferred upon the Comédie-Française at its
foundation, and to nip the enterprise of their youthful competitors in
the bud.
The police informed Madame du Gué that they had come with orders from
their chief to arrest the little players. But that good lady begged the
_exempt_ in charge for a short respite, and despatched a messenger to
d'Argenson, who consented to pardon the delinquents, on condition that
the performances should cease. Madame la Présidente's guests,
accordingly, were disappointed of their comedy; but it was performed
none the less, for the Grand Prieur de Vendôme, head of the Order of
Malta, learning of what had occurred, invited Adrienne and her comrades
to the Temple, which was outside the ordinary jurisdiction of the
police; and here they gave several performances, in which the little
girl confirmed the great impression she had made at Madame du Gué's.
"After which," says d'Allainval, "the party was entirely disbanded."
Adrienne had an aunt, a laundress, who numbered among her customers an
actor named Le Grand, who had recently been admitted a _sociétaire_ of
the Comédie-Française, and was in the habit of increasing his
professional income by training pupils for the stage. Le Grand was an
amusing character. The son of a surgeon-major of the Invalides, he had
received a fair education, and, after serving his apprenticeship in the
provinces, had left France to accept an engagement at the Polish Court,
where he had remained for some years. He seems to have owed his
admission to the Comédie-Française to the patronage of no less a person
than the Grand Dauphin himself, for, though an excellent teacher, he was
an actor of but moderate ability, and was, moreover, so singularly
ill-favoured that for some time he could not appear on the stage without
being exposed to bursts of derisive laughter. His ready wit and
imperturbable good-humour, however, eventually gained him the favour of
the public. One night when he was being unmercifully chaffed by the pit,
he came to the front of the stage, and coolly addressed his persecutors
as follows: "Gentlemen, it will be easier for you to accustom yourselves
to my face than for me to change it."
From that moment, his popularity was assured, but, to the last, his
ungainly figure and comical face proved a source of merriment to the
less seriously disposed patrons of the theatre, especially when he
happened to be undertaking an heroic part.
Le Grand's forte lay in the writing rather than the acting of plays. In
this he was very successful, for, like Dancourt, he possessed the happy
knack of giving dramatic form to the topics of the hour. Thus when, in
October 1721, the notorious robber Cartouche was awaiting his trial, Le
Grand made him the central figure of a comedy, called _Cartouche, ou les
Voleurs_, and paid several visits to the Châtelet to study and converse
with the prisoner. The play, as might be expected, drew crowded houses,
and the grateful author sent Cartouche a hundred crowns as his share of
the profits. But that worthy, whose vanity had at first been flattered
by the idea of figuring as the hero of a play, now complained that the
piece might prejudice his case, and, after the thirteenth performance,
it was stopped by order of the Lieutenant of Police. Le Grand's best
play was his _Roi de Cocagne_, a farcical comedy with interludes by Jean
Baptiste Quinault, which had a great vogue, and is highly spoken of by
August Wilhelm von Schlegel in his "Lectures on Dramatic Art and
Literature."
Proud of her little niece's talent, Adrienne's aunt mentioned her to Le
Grand, who, after hearing the girl recite, at once perceived the great
future which lay before her, and "decided to become her second master,
Nature having been her first." He accordingly took her to live with
him,[63] gave her lessons, and found her opportunities for acting in
several amateur companies. Finally he persuaded Robert Couvreur, whose
financial affairs had reached a very parlous state, to allow his
daughter to make the stage her profession.
Knowing, from his own experience, that the provinces were the best
school and the nursery for the Comédie-Française, Le Grand recommended
Adrienne to an old colleague of his, a Mlle. Fonpré, whose husband had
formerly been manager of the Brussels theatre, and who had just obtained
from the magistrates of Lille a three years' monopoly of dramatic
performances in that town. Before her the girl recited some scenes from
the _Cid_, which so delighted Mlle. Fonpré that she engaged her on the
spot, and gave her permission to bring her father with her to Flanders.
Then began for Adrienne the life of a provincial actress, which, if it
had somewhat improved since the days of the Illustre Théâtre, was still
very far from being a bed of roses. "Mixture of hard work and of
compulsory pleasure," says M. Larroumet, "with the companionships of the
_coulisses_, the persistent attentions of young men of fashion and
garrison officers, the errors of sentiment and conduct which were the
consequence, and the repentance and disgust which followed, it was the
most miserable and most trying to which a refined nature could
submit."[64]
For ten years, that is to say, from 1706 to 1717, Adrienne exploited
Flanders, Lorraine, and Alsace, now accepting a lengthy engagement at
some important theatre, now journeying with some travelling company from
town to town, acquiring in this rude apprenticeship a thorough knowledge
of her art and a particularly cruel experience of life.
At Lille, where she appears to have remained for about three years,
dramatic performances were during several weeks carried on to the
accompaniment of the cannon of a besieging army, first, under the Duke
of Marlborough, and, afterwards, under Prince Eugène, to whom the
citadel surrendered on October 28, 1708. On one occasion, a shell
exploded within a few paces of the theatre, notwithstanding which the
performances were as well attended as in time of peace.
After leaving Lille, Adrienne accepted an engagement as "leading lady"
at the theatre at Lunéville, and she is also believed to have played at
Metz, Nancy, and Verdun. Finally, early in the year 1711, we find her
occupying a similar position at the Strasburg theatre, one of the finest
houses to be met with out of Paris, with a salary of two thousand
livres, a considerable sum for those days; and here she seems to have
remained until the spring of 1717, when she returned to Paris to make
her _début_ at the Comédie-Française.
The portrait of Adrienne Lecouvreur was painted by several of the
leading artists of her time: Charles Coypel, Fontaine, H. de Troy _le
père_, Jean Baptiste Van Loo, and, it is believed, Nattier. None of
these portraits, unfortunately, have come down to us, though the works
of the two first painters are well known through the engravings of
Drevet and Schmidt.
In regard to the merits of the two portraits, there seems to be
considerable difference of opinion. Michelet, in his _Histoire de
France_, speaks with enthusiasm of the painting by Coypel, reproduced in
this volume, in which Adrienne is represented as Cornélie in _La Mort de
Pompée_, weeping over the urn of her husband, which she holds clasped to
her breast. "She must have exercised a terrible power over hearts, to
have been able to transform beasts into men, to have caused the feeble
and mediocre Coypel to paint such a portrait. An inspired artist of our
time, our first sculptor, Préault, told me that he knew not a word of
the history of Mlle. Lecouvreur when he saw this engraving. He was very
affected by it, enraptured, and he seized upon it greedily.... It is
more than a work of art, it is, as it were, a dream of grief. Those
heavenly eyes, suffused with sublime tears, the gesture of those arms
clasping the funeral urn, the grief expressed by that countenance, the
silent accusation which that whole figure brings against destiny, all
make of this picture a unique work, an honour alike to painter and
model."
M. Larruomet agrees with Michelet: "I, for my part, am of opinion that
if Charles Coypel, as a rule an artist of but moderate ability, invented
the pose of this portrait, he had, by chance, an inspiration of genius,
and that, if he only borrowed it from the actress, she possessed that
innate sense of attitude which we admire in our own day (1892), in M.
Mounet-Sully and Madame Sarah Bernhardt, and which alone would have
sufficed to make of them great actors." M. Larroumet declares the
portrait to possess "the incontestable merit of being a superb work of
art," and greatly prefers it to the one by Fontaine, which shows us the
actress "_en robe de chambre_," with her hair dressed in the fashion of
the day. In the latter he can see only a "_tableau d'apparat_" of but
little merit.
On the other hand, Régnier, M. Maurice Paléologue, and M. Georges
Monval, to the last of whom we owe the publication of Adrienne's
correspondence, give the preference to Fontaine's work. "It is a truer,
a more human, a more lifelike, a more familiar Adrienne," remarks M.
Monval, who stigmatises the portrait by Coypel as "a fantastic and
studied picture, a _tête d'étude_, a banal figure, under which one might
equally well inscribe the name of Magdalene repentant, or of Sophie
Arnould."
For ourselves, while on the whole inclined to endorse the high opinion
which Michelet and M. Larroumet have formed of Coypel's portrait, we
cannot but think that the latter has unduly depreciated that by
Fontaine, which appears to us both pleasing and natural.
However that may be, the two portraits, in all essential respects, are
far from dissimilar, and as they accord well with the descriptions of
the actress given by contemporary writers, we see no reason to doubt the
fidelity of either. In both we find a high forehead, fine eyes, a
slightly aquiline nose, a well-shaped mouth, with the rather prominent
lower lip which recalls the portraits of princesses of the House of
Austria, and a rounded chin; in a word, the features of a very pretty
woman.
In default of portraits painted or engraved, Adrienne's beauty would be
amply attested by her contemporaries. Not that the testimony in her
favour is altogether unanimous, as M. Paléologue rather boldly asserts;
to expect unanimity in regard to the appearance of a celebrated actress,
whose triumphs must of necessity arouse envy and jealousy in many
quarters, would be as unreasonable as to look for a general appreciation
of her dramatic talent. But the number of those who decline to admit her
attractiveness is very small, and not above suspicion of prejudice,
while the evidence to the contrary is abundant and authoritative.
"Without being tall," wrote, in 1719, the author of _Les Lettres
historiques sur tous les spectacles de Paris_, "she is very well made,
and has an air of distinction, which prepossesses one in her favour; no
one in the world has more charms. Her eyes speak as much as her mouth,
and often supply the place of her voice. In short, I cannot do better
than compare her to a miniature, since she has agreeableness, finesse,
and delicacy."
The _Mercure_ confirms this portrait: "Mlle. Lecouvreur was about the
middle height and admirably formed, with a noble and confident air, a
well-poised head and shapely shoulders, eyes full of fire, a pretty
mouth, a slightly aquiline nose, and very pleasing manners; although not
plump, her face was somewhat full, with features admirably adapted to
express sorrow, joy, tenderness, fear, and pity."[65]
* * * * *
Nature, besides endowing Adrienne with beauty, had given her an
exceedingly susceptible heart. Her letters, published some years ago by
M. Georges Monval, though, with one or two exceptions, none of them can
be said to come within the category of love-letters, reveal an ardent
and imperious need of loving and being loved. "_Que faire au monde sans
aimer?_" she writes to one of her friends; and these words might very
well have been taken as her motto.