Molière's company at the same time. At this period, and indeed for long
afterwards, actresses bore officially the title of "demoiselle," as did
all women other than the wives of the nobility, or of ennobled citizens,
or daughters of noble parents who had married citizens: these were
styled "dame" and "madame." Thus, we find Colbert, before he rose to
fame, "offering a coach to _Mademoiselle_, his wife;" the mother of La
Bruyère described in a legal document as a "_demoiselle veuve_"; while
La Fontaine, in his correspondence, invariably refers to his wife as
"_Mademoiselle_." People spoke also of _la_ Du Parc, _la_ de Brie, _la_
Béjart, _la_ Molière, and so forth, a custom which has continued to this
day. This _la_, which appears so contemptuous, was not the exclusive
property of actresses or of women of the people. Madame de Sévigné and
Saint-Simon employ it for ladies of the fashionable world, but, by
preference, for those of medium virtue: _la_ Beauvais, _la_ Montespan,
&c.; and eighteenth century writers frequently make use of it in
referring to the mistresses of Louis XV.: _la_ Châteauroux, _la_
Pompadour, _la_ Du Barry. Nowadays, however, it is no longer a term of
contempt; "it has become a particle which confers nobility and
immortality on great singers and _tragédiennes_, if the race is not
extinct."--M. J. Noury, _La Champmeslé_, p. 94.
[12] M. Henri Chardon, _Nouveaux documents sur la vie de Molière: M. de
Modène, ses deux femmes, et Madeleine Béjart_.
[13] Jal, _Dictionnaire critique de Biographie et d'Histoire_: Article
"Béjart."
[14] M. Henri Chardon, _Nouveaux documents sur la vie de Molière: M. de
Modène, ses deux femmes, et Madeleine Béjart_.
[15] M. Larroumet, _La Comédie de Molière_, 105 _et seq._
[16] _La Comédie de Molière_, p. 134.
[17] Molière was responsible for the plot, the prologue, the first act,
and the first scenes of the second and third acts; Quinault contributed
all the lyrical matter, with the exception of the Italian plainte,
which, like the music, was by Lulli; Pierre Corneille wrote the rest.
[18] Mr. W. E. Henley in the _Cornhill Magazine_, xli. 445.
[19] Gaboriau's _Les comédiennes adorées_, 269.
[20] "Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature."
[21] _La Comédie de Molière_, p. 146.
[22] The first edition, now very rare, a copy of which is in the
possession of the British Museum, contains a "foreword" from the
bookseller to the reader, which is so curious that we make no apology
for transcribing it:
"I know neither the author of this history, nor the hand from whence it
came to me. A courier who, in passing through this town, purchased some
books at my shop, made me a present of it, and assured me that it is
true in every detail. I believe it to be incumbent upon me to give this
present to the public, in order that it may share the principal
adventures of this famous actress, as celebrated by her coquetry as by
the reputation of the late Molière, her first husband.
"The same courier assured me that the author of this history has
included therein only the chief adventures which happened to this
actress, having passed over an infinity of other little amorous
incidents, as trifles unworthy of his book or his heroine. I am
persuaded that there is not an actress in France whose career would not
afford sufficient material for a similar history. But, while we await
their appearance, I give you this one, precisely as it came into my
hands, without adding or subtracting anything. May it afford you
diversion! Adieu."
[23] M. Gustave Larroumet, _La Comédie de Molière_, p. 149.
[24] Among the writers who accept wholly, or in part, the statements of
_La Fameuse Comédienne_ may be mentioned Grimarest, Taschereau, M.
Loiseleur, and Gaboriau, though the last-named writer ought not perhaps
to be taken very seriously. The article on Armande in Mr. Sutherland
Edwards's "Idols of the French Stage"--hitherto, we believe, the only
attempt to give any detailed account of the actress in English--is
admittedly largely based on the information contained in this libel.
[25] Armand de Gramont, Comte de Guiche, brother of Philibert de
Gramont, the hero of Count Hamilton's Memoirs.
[26] Antoine Nompar de Caumont, Comte, and afterwards Duc, de Lauzun,
the beloved of _la Grande Mademoiselle_, who so nearly succeeded in
securing the hand and vast possessions of that princess, and who, in
November 1671, was imprisoned at Pignerol, where he remained ten years.
For an account of his adventures, see the author's "Madame de Montespan"
(London, Harpers: New York, Scribners: 1903).
[27] When Molière married, he went to live in the Rue de Richelieu. In
the following year, however, he removed to the Béjarts' house situated
at the corner of the Rue Saint-Thomas du Louvre and the Place du
Palais-Royal. It was a very large house, capable of accommodating two or
three families, and Mlle. de Brie had for some time occupied part of it.
Molière's object in residing there seems to have been to allow his young
wife to enjoy the society of her family, but there can be no doubt that
he committed a very grave mistake in residing under the same roof as a
woman with whom he had formerly had a _liaison_.
[28] _Études sur la vie et les oeuvres de Molière._
[29] _La Comédie de Molière_, p. 158.
[30] Molière's troupe only played three times a week, on Sundays,
Tuesdays, and Fridays; on the other days, the theatre was occupied by
the Italian comedians. Friday was the favourite day for the production
of new plays. The playhouses were also frequently closed: during Holy
Week and the week following Easter, during the illness of a member of
the Royal Family, on public fête days, and also, occasionally, when any
particularly notorious criminal was to be executed in the Place de
Grève. Thus, there were no performances on July 17, 1676, the day on
which Madame de Brinvilliers, the poisoner, paid the penalty of her
crimes. The play began at four o'clock and was always over before seven.
Early in the century, the curtain, in winter, seems to have risen at two
o'clock, in order to allow of the audience reaching their homes before
the footpads were abroad.
[31] Grimarest places Molière's income as high as 30,000 livres, a sum,
according to M. Larroumet's computation, equal to 150,000 francs to-day.
[32] Cited by M. Gaston Maugras, _Les Comédiens hors la loi_, p. 122.
[33] Under the term actor, the early Fathers seem to have included not
only actors in the modern acceptation of the word, but mimes, jugglers,
acrobats, gladiators, chariot-drivers, and, in fact, almost all public
performers.
[34] M. Gaston Maugras, _Les Comédiens hors la loi_, passim.
[35] M. Gaston Maugras, _Les Comédiens hors la loi_, p. 124.
[36] "It is true that the loss of Molière is irreparable," writes the
Comte de Limoges to Bussy-Rabutin on March 3, 1673. "I believe that no
one will be less affected than his wife; she acted in comedy yesterday."
And Bussy answers: "So far as I can see, her mourning will not cost her
much."
[37] It was the "orator's" duty to come before the curtain to make
announcements or crave the indulgence of the audience in a neat little
speech, flowered with compliments and sparkling with witty allusions. It
was a very important post and was always filled by an actor of
distinction. Thus Bellerose and Floridor were the orators of the Hôtel
de Bourgogne, Mondory of the Marais, while Molière was for some years
his own bellman. La Grange, however, appears to have excelled them all.
"Although," says Chappuzeau, "he is but of middle height, his presence
is good, and his air easy and elegant. You are charmed before he opens
his lips. As he has a great deal of fire and of the decent boldness an
orator should have, it is a pleasure to listen to him when he comes on
to speak the compliment. That one with which he regaled his audience at
the opening of the theatre of the Troupe du Roi (Hôtel Guénégaud) was in
the best imaginable taste. What he had excellently contrived he spoke
with marvellous grace."
[38] Guichard was convicted of the charge of attempted poisoning,
declared "infamous," and sentenced to the _amende honorable_ and to pay
a heavy fine, while the printers of the memoir in which he had libelled
Armande and others were also punished. He appealed against the sentence,
which, in the following year, was quashed, a result undoubtedly due to
the fact that he had powerful protectors at Court.
[39] An epigram ran:--
"Elle avoit un mari d'esprit, qu'elle aimoit peu,
Elle en prend un de chair, qu'elle aime d'avantage."
[40] M. Larroumet, _La Comédie de Molière_, p. 174.
[41] No. 11 Rue des Pierres. See Arsène Houssaye's interesting account
of a visit paid to it, in his beautifully illustrated work, _Molière: sa
femme et sa fille_ (Paris: Dentu, 1880), p. 129 _et seq._
[42] Paul Foucher, _Les Coulisses du Passé_.
[43] And not of a _marchana des rubans_, of the Pont-au-Change, as so
many writers state, so that the epigram of Le Noble:--
"Tu les as mesuré sans doute [tes vers] à l'aune antique
Dont jadis ton papa mesurant ses rubans,"
loses its point.
[44] It was performed twenty-one times, and the average receipts were
680 livres. But for twenty-four representations of Molière's comedy, the
_Bourgeois gentilhomme_, which was played concurrently with _Tite et
Bérénice_, the average takings were 1000 livres. Corneille received 2000
livres for his play, the same amount as Molière had paid him for
_Attila_.
[45] See p. 108 _infra._
[46] Letter of January 13, 1673.
[47] Letter of March 1673.
[48] Letter of April 1673.
[49] Letter of February 24, 1673.
[50] _Les divertissements de Versailles donnez par le roy à toute sa
cour, au rétour de la conqueste de la Franche-Comté, en l'anneé 1674_:
_Paris_, 1676, folio. A copy of this very rare and valuable work, with
its beautiful engravings by La Paute and Chauveau, is in the possession
of the British Museum.
[51] Hawkins, "Annals of the French Stage," ii. 116.
[52] M. J. Noury, _La Champmeslé_, p. 193.
[53] Letter of Madame de Sévigné to Madame de Grignan, March 13, 1671.
[54] "You know," he wrote to his son, Louis Racine, "what I have said to
you about operas and plays; there will probably be some performances at
Marly; the King and the Court are aware of the scruples which I
entertain about attending them, and they will have a poor opinion of
you, if you show so little regard for my sentiments. I know that you
will not be dishonoured before men should you go to the play, but do you
count it nothing to be dishonoured before God?"
[55] Charles Boileau, Abbé of Beaulieu, and a member of the Academy.
[56] Here is the renunciation: "In the presence of M. Claude Botte de la
Barondière, priest, doctor of theology of the Sorbonne, curé of the
church and parish of Saint-Sulpice, at Paris, and the witnesses
hereinafter named, Guillaume Marconnau de Brécourt has declared that,
having formerly followed the profession of an actor, he renounces it,
and promises, with a true and sincere heart, to exercise it no more,
even if restored to full and complete health."--Extract from the
Register of Saint-Sulpice, cited by M. Gaston Maugras, _Les Comédiens
hors la loi_, p. 154 _note_.
It appears also to have been customary in the case of an actor to pin to
the register of deaths the following paper: "The said person was not
absolved and received into holy ground until after having publicly
renounced the profession he had formerly exercised, by an act before the
notaries."
[57] Among Bossuet's supporters was Père Lebrun, of the Oratory, who
published a _Discours sur la comédie_. One of this good father's chief
objections to the theatre was "because it is perpetually turning into
Ridicule parents who strive to prevent their children from contracting
love-matches."
[58] According to Saint-Simon, the immediate cause of their expulsion
was the representation of a licentious comedy, called _La Fausse Prude_,
in which character Madame de Maintenon was easily recognised.
[59] In 1696, the French actors, desirous of testing the legality of the
attitude of the Church towards them, addressed a petition to Innocent
XII., in which, after representing that they performed in Paris "none
but honest plays, purged of all obscenities, and more calculated to
influence the faithful for good than for evil, and inspire them with a
horror of vice and a love of virtue," they besought him to inform them
if the bishops had the right to excommunicate them. The Holy See,
however, unwilling to provoke a conflict with the independent French
bishops, who, it well knew, would not hesitate to resist its orders, if
it took the part of the actors, referred the petitioners to the
Archbishop of Paris, "that they might be treated according to the law."
A similar fate awaited a second appeal to Clement XI. in 1701.
[60] M. Gaston Maugras, _Les Comédiens hors la loi_, p. 154 _et seq._
[61] _Adrienne Lecouvreur_, by Eugène Scribe and Ernest Legouvé, first
represented at the Théâtre de la République, April 1849.
[62] It was only when she became an actress that Adrienne prefaced her
patronymic by the article "_Le_," in order to give it a more artistic
sound. For a long time she wrote her name as two words.
[63] Several writers have stated that she was his mistress, but this is
incorrect. It was her cousin, the laundress's daughter, who occupied
that position.
[64] _Études de littérature et d'art: Adrienne Lecouvreur_, p. 124.
[65] _Le Mercure de France_, March 1730.
[66] _Profils de Femmes: Adrienne Lecouvreur._
[67] Note the change from the familiar and affectionate "_ton_" of the
previous letter to the formal "_votre_."
[68] _Causeries du Lundi_, I. 161.
[69] Lemontey, _Notice sur Adrienne Lecouvreur_.
[70] Cited by M. Georges Monval, _Lettres d'Adrienne Lecouvreur_.
[71] There were, at this period, four members of the Quinault family in
the troupe of the Comédie-Française: two brothers, Jean Baptiste
Quinault and Abraham Alexis Quinault-Dufresne, and two sisters,
Marie-Anne Quinault and Jeanne Françoise Quinault.
[72] _Mercure de France_, March 1730.
[73] In Thomas Corneille's tragedy, _Le Comte d'Essex_.
[74] According to another version of this affair, it was the challenge,
and not the quarrel, which took place in Adrienne's dressing-room.
[75] _Études du littérature et d'art: Adrienne Lecouvreur_, p. 141.
[76] _Lettres d'Adrienne Lecouvreur_, by M. Georges Monval, p. 252.
[77] The acceptance of this charge must have required some little
courage on the good councillor's part, since rumour credited him with
being something more than a friend to the actress, which is perhaps not
altogether a matter for surprise, seeing that he was so frequent a
visitor in the Rue des Marais that he "passed for the master of the
house, and was addressed by the servants as 'Monsieur' only, without the
addition of his name."
[78] M. Paléologue, _Profils de femmes: Adrienne Lecouvreur_.
[79] For a specimen of Maurice's orthography, see page 240, _note_,
_infra._
[80] And not £30,000, as Carlyle and so many writers have stated.
[81] Carlyle's "History of Frederick the Great," ii. 160.
[82] Louise Henriette Françoise of Lorraine (Mlle. de Guise), daughter
of the Prince and Princesse d'Harcourt, and fourth wife of Emmanuel
Théodose de la Tour d'Auvergne, Duc de Bouillon, whom she married in
1725. Here is a contemporary portrait of her: "Very pretty; rather tall
than short; neither stout nor slender; an oval face; a broad forehead;
black eyes and eyebrows; brown hair; very wide mouth and very red lips."
[83] She numbered among her lovers the Comte de Clermont, a Prince of
the Blood, the actors Quinault-Dufresne and Grandval of the
Comédie-Française, and a singer of the Opera, named Tribou.
[84] The real obstacle was probably an Opera girl named Cartou, of whom
Maurice was desperately enamoured. According to Grimm, this young lady
followed her lover to the famous Camp of Mühlberg, in Saxony, where she
had the honour of supping with two kings, Augustus II. of Poland and
Frederick William of Prussia, and two future kings, Augustus III. and
Frederick the Great.
[85] His name was Bouret, and he was the son of a government official at
Metz. He was at this time nineteen years of age, and had come to Paris,
some months before, to study painting.
[86] The Duchesse and her stepson's wife, the Princesse de Bouillon
(Marie Charlotte Sobieska), wife of Charles Godefroi de la Tour
d'Auvergne, Prince de Bouillon, whom she married in 1724. Several
writers have confounded the two ladies, and Scribe and Legouvé, in their
tragedy, _Adrienne Lecouvreur_, make the _princess_, and not the
duchess, the rival and murderess of the heroine.
[87] _Lettres de Mademoiselle d' Aïssé à Madame Calandrini_ (edit.
1846), p. 230 _et seq._
[88] The points in which Mlle. Aïssé's story and Bouret's evidence
differ are as follows:--
(1) Bouret was acquainted with the Duchesse de Bouillon _prior_ to his
adventure, having been employed by her to paint her portrait. (2) He had
not one, but several interviews with her two emissaries, who, he stated,
wore masks. (3) He received the suspicious lozenges after, and not
before, warning Adrienne. (4) It was not the Lieutenant of Police,
Hérault, but the Chemist Geoffroy, of the Académie des Sciences, who
made the experiment on the dog. He reported that some of the lozenges
appeared suspicious, but that their number was insufficient to permit of
his conducting experiments and forming a definite opinion. This, as M.
Larroumet remarks, is the language of a man who is unwilling to
compromise himself.
[89] Scribe and Legouvé make this incident one of the principal scenes
of their tragedy.
[90] _Lettres d'Adrienne Lecouvreur_, p. 51.
[91] Cited M. Georges Monval, _Lettres d'Adrienne Lecouvreur_, p. 57.
[92] Marie-Anne Mancini, Racine's enemy.
[93] Marie Magdeleine de la Vieuville, Comtesse de Parabère (1693-1750).
On her husband's death, in 1716, she became _maîtresse en tître_ of the
Regent d'Orléans, which exalted position she occupied for five years,
when the prince, wearying of her caprices, replaced her by Madame
Ferrand d'Averne.
[94] That of Hortense. According to Titon du Tillet, Adrienne had never
been surpassed in this character.
[95] This is not the case.
[96] _Lettres de Mademoiselle d'Aissé à Madame Calandrini_, p. 234 _et
seq._
[97] Voltaire wrote and signed the following note: "She died in my arms
of an inflammation of the intestines, and it was I who caused an autopsy
to be performed. All that Mlle. Aïssé says on the subject are only
popular rumours which have no foundation."--Cited by M. Monval.
[98] Sainte-Beuve, _Causeries du Lundi_, i. 174. This letter formed part
of the last _dossier_.
[99] The spot where Adrienne was buried was discovered, in 1786, by
d'Argental. It was at the south-east angle of the Rues de Grenelle and
de Bourgogne, on ground now occupied by No. 115 in the former street.
The old man erected a marble tablet, inscribed with some rather
indifferent verses of his own composition, to the memory of the actress
on an adjoining wall. "This tablet," says M. Monval, "is still preserved
by Madame Jouvencel, the present (1892) owner of No. 115 Rue de
Grenelle."
[100] Two years before Adrienne's old teacher, Le Grand, had died, also
without renouncing his profession. He was, of course, denied Christian
burial, but no objection was raised by the curé of Saint-Sulpice to his
interment in the unconsecrated portion of the cemetery.
[101] _Lettres d'Adrienne Lecouvreur_, by M. Georges Monval, p. 67.
[102] _La Danse et des Ballets_, p. 190.
[103] Her shoemaker, one Choisy by name, found himself on a sudden
overwhelmed with customers. All the ladies of the Court and the town
wanted to be shod by the man who made such divine little shoes.
[104] Gaboriau, _Les Comédiennes adorées_, p. 128.
[105] _Correspondance littéraire_, vi. 42.
[106] Gaboriau, _Les Comédiennes adorées_, p. 131.
[107] "While Mlle. de Camargo delighted the Parisians with her dancing,
her uncle, Don Juan, employed his time in causing Jews and sorcerers to
be burned. Don Juan de Camargo, Bishop of Pampeluna, succeeded Don Diego
d'Astorga y Cespedes on July 18, 1720, and was the thirty-fifth
Inquisitor-General in Spain."--Castil-Blaze, _La Danse et les Ballets_,
p. 196.
[108] This is no doubt a slip of the pen. Mlle. de Camargo had only been
two years on the Paris stage.
[109] _Revue rétrospective_, Série I. tom. 1. (1833), p. 401. The
original letter was, at this time, in the possession of Beffara.
[110] _Journal de Barbier_, ii. 416.
[111] She was then living in the Rue Neuve-des-Petits-Champs.
[112] _Les Comédiennes adorées_, p. 144.
[113] Collé, _Journal_ (edit. 1868), i. 317. We fear that Collé, who is
very severe upon the lady, is hardly an impartial witness, as elsewhere,
in his _Journal_, we read that Mlle. le Duc "meddled with everything,
and prevented the Count using his influence except on behalf of herself
and her base vassals." As the dramatist was a _protégé_ of Clermont,
this would seem to point to some private grievance against her.
[114] The _Tenebrae_ service at the Abbey of Longchamps on Wednesdays
and Thursdays in Holy Week was a fashionable function at this period.
Its popularity dated from 1727, when the famous singer, Mlle. Lemaure,
took the veil, and transferred her services from the stage of the Opera
to the abbey choir.
[115] See p. 180, _note, supra_.
[116] Cited by Jules Cousin, _Le Comte de Clermont, sa cour et ses
maîtresses_.
[117] Catalogue of the Wallace Collection.
[118] Favart is said to have claimed that he had invented the bun. But,
as several learned writers assert that it was in vogue in the time of
the Crusades, he probably only meant that he had perfected it. _See_
Desnoiresterres, _Épicuriens et Lettrés_, p. 182.
[119] We are not told the name of the farmer-general. In Favart's
_Mémoires_ he is referred to merely as M. B***.
[120] Justine's portraits, the most pleasing of which is perhaps
Flipart's engraving of the drawing by Charles Nicolas Cochin _fils_,
reproduced in this volume, show us a pretty and vivacious-looking young
woman, but with features somewhat too irregular for beauty. It is
probable, however, that the attraction which she possessed for her
contemporaries was, like that of Mlle. Molière, of the kind in which
Nature plays the lesser part, and the desire to please the greater.
[121] A document found in the Bastille on its capture in July 1789,
written by one Meusnier, an inspector of police who was employed by
Maurice de Saxe in his persecution of the Favarts, and published the
same year, under the title of _Manuscrit trouvé à la Bastille (signé
Meusnier) concernant deux lettres-de-cachet lâchées contre Mlle. de
Chantilly et M. Favart par le Maréchal de Saxe_, asserts that for some
time Justine lived with Favart, as his mistress, in a house in the Rue
de Buci. But in the opinion of Desnoiresterres, the best informed of the
poet's biographers, this charge is sufficiently controverted by the
following letter written by Favart to his _fiancée_: "Take care of your
health; remember that mine is involved in it. You will take more care of
yourself, if you have any regard for me, who love you more than life;
though do not take offence, for my very sentiments are your eulogy. Your
talents seduce me, but your virtue binds me. If your thoughts were in
contradiction to your actions, you would be worthy neither of my esteem
nor my love.... I am speaking to you against the interests of my heart;
but I, at the same time, prove to you that I am the sincerest and the
best of your friends."--Favart, _Mémoires et correspondance littéraire_
(edit. 1808), i. 20. Desnoiresterres, _Épicuriens et Lettrés_, p. 196
_et seq._
[122] _Madame Favart et le Maréchal de Saxe._
[123] _Mémoires et Correspondance_ (edit. 1808), i. 25.
[124] Marie Rinteau, the great-grandmother of George Sand.
[125] Desnoiresterres, _Épicuriens et Lettrés_, p. 215.