d'une petite Gelan(?) qui me joue des mauves tour et qui ma penses faire
tourner la servelle; je vous en ay écrit quelque chosse lanée passé,
_elle ait possede du démon de l'amour conjugal...._ J'ay etes tente deux
ou trois foy de la noier."--Letter of Maurice de Saxe to his sister, the
Princess von Holstein, March 10, 1747. We hesitate to produce the
remainder of this letter, of which, as Desnoiresterres very justly
remarks, the orthography is the least enormity, even in the original;
but the curious reader will find it in _Les Lettres du Maréchal de Saxe
à la Princesse de Holstein_ (p. 20), published by the Société des
Bibliophiles Français in 1831. A copy, presented by T. J. Dibdin to the
Hon. Thomas Grenville, is in the possession of the British Museum.
[127] This is really very amusing. These pretty verses had been
addressed, many years before, by Voltaire, to Adrienne Lecouvreur; and
the Marshal not only coolly appropriates them, but adds insult to injury
by calling them "rhymed prose"! One can imagine the indignation of the
poet had this letter, by any chance, fallen into his hands. This was not
the first time, however, that Voltaire's verses had been purloined by an
unscrupulous lover. The charming lines, in English, which he addressed
to Lady Hervey, beginning--
"Hervey, would you know the passion
You have kindled in my breast,"
were subsequently transcribed by the lover of a Mrs. Harley, the wife of
a London merchant, and formed part of the evidence on which her husband
based his claim for a divorce.
[128] _Nouveaux Lundis_ (1869), xi. 106-108.
[129] _Manuscrit trouvé à la Bastille_ (1789), p. 5.
[130] We might add the testimony of Marmontel, who, from his very
intimate relations with two prominent members of Maurice's seraglio,
Mlles. Navarre and de Verrières, was without doubt well informed in
regard to the Marshal's love-affairs. "He (Maurice de Saxe) always kept
an _opéra comique_ in his camp. Two performers belonging to this
theatre, called _Chantilly_ and Beaumenard, were his favourite
mistresses; and he declared that their rivalry and caprices plagued him
more than the Queen of Hungary's Hussars. I have read these words in one
of his letters. For them it was that he neglected Mlle. Navarre."
[131] This was, of course, incorrect.
[132] Favart, _Mémoires et Correspondance_ (edit. 1808), i. 30.
[133] A military surgeon at Brussels.
[134] The Marquis Dumesnil, afterwards Lieutenant-General of Dauphiné.
[135] _Correspondance littéraire_, vii. 464, cited by Desnoiresterres.
[136] _Manuscrit trouvé à la Bastille_ (1789), p. 6.
[137] Collé, _Journal et Mémoires_ (edit. 1868), i. 99. Collé, like
Grimm, shows himself very severe on Justine, whom almost all other
contemporary writers agree in representing as a charming woman and an
actress of remarkable talent. He describes her as "an impudent creature,
without intelligence or skill, who sings vaudevilles with repulsive
indecency, and dances with movements which seem suggestive and
disgusting to persons of the smallest delicacy."
[138] _Manuscrit trouvé à la Bastille_ (1789) p. 8.
[139] Mlle. Rivière, one of Maurice's numerous mistresses.
[140] The Marquis de Paulmy, son of the Marquis d'Argenson, and
afterwards Minister for War.
[141] Without doubt, Maurice de Saxe.
[142] Letter of December 6, 1749; _Manuscrit trouvé à la Bastille_, p.
36 _et seq._
[143] Allusion to Justine's stage name of Chantilly, which the Marshal
spelt _Jantilly_.
[144] Cited by Desnoiresterres, _Épicuriens et lettrés_, p. 253.
[145] _Manuscrit trouvé à la Bastille_ (1789), p. 15.
[146] _OEuvres de l'Abbe de Voisenon_ (edit. 1781), iv. 70.
[147] According to the official version, of a malignant fever: according
to local rumour, of wounds received in a duel with the Prince de Conti,
with whom he had a long-standing quarrel. The Marshal's biographer, M.
Saint-René Taillandier, inclines, we observe, to the latter view; but
the evidence he adduces does not seem to us altogether satisfactory.
[148] Compardon, _Les Comédiens du Roi de la Troupe italienne_, ii. 210.
[149] Desnoiresterres, _Épicuriens et Lettrés_, p. 315.
[150] Cited by Gueullette, _Acteurs et Actrices du Temps passé_, p. 260.
[151] Hawkins, "The French Stage in the Eighteenth Century," i. 355.
[152] Edmund de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 4.
[153] _Mémoires de Mademoiselle Clairon_ (edit. 1799), p. 235.
[154] _Mémoires de Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 166 _et seq._
[155] Mlle. Balicourt played queens and princesses, and had probably
impersonated the Queen Elizabeth of Thomas Corneille's play on the
evening when Clairon visited the Comédie. She made her _début_ in 1727,
and retired in 1738, on account of ill-health.
[156] Ravaisson, _Archives de la Bastille_, xii. 348.
"Mlle. Clairon contrived, during the early part of her career, to have
three lovers at a time constantly in her train--one whom she deceived,
one whom she received _à la derobée_, and one who lived on
sighs."--"Memoirs of the Margravine of Anspach," i. 220.
[157] Charles Spencer, third Duke of Marlborough, and fifth Earl of
Sunderland (1706-1758). He was, at this time, colonel of the 28th Foot,
and, the following year, commanded a brigade at the battle of Dettingen.
The name is written Mar*** in the French edition of Mlle. Clairon's
Memoirs, but in full in the German.
[158] Cited by Campardon, _Les Comédiens du Roi de la Troupe française_.
[159] Cited by Edmond de Goncourt.
[160] Hawkins, "The French Stage in the Eighteenth Century," i. 375.
[161] If Marmontel and Bachaumont are to be believed, this inspiration
was as often as not aided by wine, and a servant, glass and bottle in
hand, was always in attendance in the wings.
[162] Edmond de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 134.
[163] See p. 334 _infra._
[164] See p. 322 _infra._
[165] "_Journal et Mémoires_," ii. 33.
[166] In Le Franc de Pompignan's _Didon_.
[167] Madame Vestris, when a girl, was taken to visit Mlle. Clairon, who
appeared to her "a little woman about forty years of age, who had once
been pretty." Some days later, she went to the Comédie-Française to
witness a performance of _Andromaque_, and, when she saw the celebrated
actress in the part of Hermione, cried in astonishment: "That is not
Mlle. Clairon!" She was assured that it was, but flatly refused to
believe, saying: "See how tall that actress is! I have seen Mlle.
Clairon at her house; she is a very little woman." It was Mlle. Clairon
none the less.--Edmond de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 171.
[168] "Private Correspondence of David Garrick," i. 356.
[169] "Private Correspondence of David Garrick," ii. 359.
[170] Cited by Adolphe Jullien, _L'Histoire du costume au Théâtre_.
[171] In her _Mémoires_, Mlle. Clairon has the effrontery to declare
that she never had any cause to be ashamed of her love-affairs, and
defies any one to name "a single man who had purchased her favours."
[172] Ravaisson, _Archives de la Bastille_, xii. 348.
[173] Edmond de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 43 _et seq._
[174] Ravaisson, _Archives de la Bastille_, xii. 292 _et seq._
[175] Ravaisson, _Archives de la Bastille_, xii. 295. From the same
report we learn that the Prince of Würtemberg, then on a visit to Paris,
had fallen violently in love with Mlle. Gaussin, "_et qu'il a commencé
par lui faire un présent de 200 louis pour souper avec elle_." Mlle.
Clairon was probably no worse than the other divinities of the Comédie.
[176] _Archives_, xii. 295.
[177] This was not the only occasion upon which Marmontel trespassed
upon Maurice's preserves. He took a similar liberty with the heart of
Mlle. de Verrières, "on learning which the Marshal fell into a passion
unworthy of so great a man."
[178] _Mémoires de Marmontel_ (edit. 1804), i. 266.
[179] Marmontel tells us that Mlle. Clairon made "a very desirable
mistress." "She had," says he, "all the charms of an agreeable character
without any mixture of caprice; while her only desire, her most delicate
attentions, were directed towards rendering her lover happy. So long as
she loved, no one could be more faithful or more tender than she.... I
left her charming, I found her equally, and, if possible, still more
charming. What a pity that with so seductive a character so much levity
should be joined, and that love so sincere, and even so faithful, should
not have been more constant!"
[180] _Mémoires de Marmontel_ (edit. 1804), ii. 41 _et seq._
[181] Lekain had made his _début_ at the Comédie-Française on September
14, 1750, as Titus in the _Brutus_ of Voltaire. His admission into the
company was bitterly opposed by Mlle. Clairon, who gave no other reason
for her hostility than that his personal appearance--he was a remarkably
plain man, short and thick-set, with a harsh voice and rough
manners--was displeasing to her. Lekain retaliated by giving publicity
to certain episodes in the lady's private life which did not redound to
her credit. To which Mlle. Clairon rejoined by addressing him before the
assembled company as follows: "I was well aware, Monsieur, that you were
a man of repulsive appearance, but I did not know that you possessed a
soul a thousand times more hideous than your person." Lekain left the
theatre in a towering passion, and, with the assistance of another enemy
of Mlle. Clairon, the Chevalier de la Morlière, composed a letter, "the
most insulting, the most atrocious, that it was possible to conceive,"
which he sent to the actress. For this he was expelled from the Comédie,
but subsequently, on writing another letter, this time of apology,
reinstated. Soon after this affair, which was common knowledge, Lekain
happened to be playing Æneas to the Dido of Mlle. Clairon, in Le Franc
de Pompignan's tragedy. In one of the most touching passages of the
play, the ill-fated queen, addressing her faithless lover, exclaims:--
"Je devrais te haïr, ingrat! Et je t'adore."
No sooner were the words out of her mouth, than the whole pit burst into
such peals of merriment that it was fully five minutes before the
performance could be continued.
[182] See p. 294 _supra._
[183] Grimm says that Voltaire surrendered to the players his share of
the profits, in order to help them to defray the expense of the
costumes.
[184] _Journal et Mémoires_, ii. 33.
[185] Grimm, _Correspondance littéraire_, cited by Edmond de Goncourt,
_Mademoiselle Clairon_, 131 _et seq._
[186] "Report of Meunier to the Lieutenant of Police;" Ravaisson,
_Archives de la Bastille_, xii. 367.
[187] Grimm, _Correspondance littéraire_, i. 377.
[188] Report of Meunier to Berryer, Lieutenant of Police, _Archives de
la Bastille_, xii.
[189] Edmond de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 170.
[190] We read in Mlle. Clairon's _Mémoires_: "'The walls alone of this
house,' I said to myself, 'ought to make me feel the sublimity of the
poet, and enable me to attain the talent of the actress. It is in this
sanctuary that I ought to live and die.'" We fear that the sanctuary
was, on occasion, somewhat profaned, since the lady was in the habit of
entertaining here not only dames of high degree, but some of the most
dissolute members of Paris society.
[191] "M. Carle Van Loo's picture, in which Mlle. Clairon is painted as
Medea, had a great reputation while it was still unfinished. Hardly had
the artist opened his studio, than all Paris crowded to admire his _chef
d'oeuvre_. Never did work obtain more unanimous praise."--_Le Tableau
de Mlle. Clairon, par M. Carle Vanloo_, a manuscript document cited by
Edmond de Goncourt. When it was nearly completed, Louis XV. expressed a
wish to see it, and came to Van Loo's studio, while the actress was
sitting to him. "You are indeed fortunate," said he to the painter, "to
have been inspired by such a model;" and, turning to the lady, added:
"And you, Mademoiselle, have reason to congratulate yourself on being
immortalised by such an artist." He then announced his intention of
defraying the cost of the frame, which came to 5000 livres.
[192] Forty thousand francs a year, a house, a coach, and a table for
six persons.
[193] _Mémoires de Mademoiselle Clairon_ (edit. 1799), 307 _et seq._
[194] In reference to the arrangement of these names, Monnet wrote to
Garrick: "The drawing you gave Mlle. Clairon is engraved; it is now on
sale, and M. de Crébillon is annoyed because they have placed his father
after Voltaire, that is to say, below him: it is the last of the volumes
on which Mlle. Clairon is leaning. I have thrown the blame on M.
Gravelot, telling him that you held too high an opinion of his father's
talent to commit such an error."--"Private Correspondence of David
Garrick," ii. 442.
[195] Collé, _Journal et Mémoires_, iii. 6. Collé was himself intensely
disgusted by the conduct of Mlle. Clairon's fanatical admirers, and
declares that if medals were to be struck in honour of an actress, who,
after all, was nothing but a parrot, then statues--nay, pyramids--ought
to be raised to the authors whose works she interpreted.
[196] She refused first, the protection, and, afterwards, the hand of
the Marquis de Gouffier, the latter on the ground that "while esteeming
herself too much to be his mistress, she esteemed herself too little to
be his wife." On her retirement from the stage in 1783, Louis XVI.
granted her a special pension, "as if to show that virtue under his
reign was as profitable as vice had been under his predecessor."--Hawkins,
"The French Stage in the Eighteenth Century," ii. 107 and 299.
[197] _L' Année Littéraire par M. Fréron, Lettre V. Janvier 17_, cited
by Edmond de Goncourt.
[198] To which institution women of loose character who had misbehaved
themselves were sent.
[199] Collé, _Mémoires et Journal_, iii. 27 _et seq._
[200] Collé, _Mémoires et Journal_, iii. 31.
[201] "Private Correspondence of David Garrick," ii. 432. Soon after
this, Garrick very generously offered Mlle. Clairon a loan of 500
guineas, which, however, was not accepted.
[202] It seems to have been as a kind of return for the homage paid her
at Ferney, that, towards the end of 1772, Mlle. Clairon organised, at
her house in Paris, the apotheosis of Voltaire, "in which she displayed
all the riches of her imagination." "The bust of Voltaire," says
Bachaumont, "was placed pompously in the midst of the assembly, when M.
Marmontel, the _coryphée_ of the house, presented an ode, composed by
himself, in honour of the new god of Pindar. Mlle. Clairon, habited as a
priestess of Apollo, placed a crown of laurel on the bust, and recited
the ode with the most vehement enthusiasm. The assembly applauded
loudly." This piece of adulation, grotesque though it was, seems to have
been far from displeasing to the Patriarch, who returned thanks in a
letter in verse, wherein he assured the lady that "his glory was
entirely her work."--Gueullette, _Acteurs et Actrices du Temps passé_,
p. 316.
[203] Mlle. Clairon had demanded a pension of 1500 livres, though thirty
years' service was required to entitle her to this. It is probable,
however, that her request would have been granted, but for the
opposition of Lekain, who had not forgiven her for her treatment of him
in years gone by.
[204] The takings, at a louis a head, amounted to 24,000 livres, which
sum, if we are to believe Bachaumont, was spent by Molé, not in paying
his debts, but in buying diamonds for his mistress.
[205] _Correspondance littéraire_, vi. 75.
[206] Letter of Madame Riccoboni to Garrick, January 29, 1767.
[207] "During this time, Mlle. Clairon was living at the Margrave's
expense, with four French servants in livery, Madame Senay, her
_femme-de-chambre_, and a lackey, besides a French cook. The Margrave
supplied her with the best wines from his cellar. Her expenses were
enormous, and all paid from the Chamber of Finances of Anspach. These
facts I had from the Maréchaux of the Court."--"Memoirs of Elizabeth
Berkeley, Margravine of Anspach," i. 210.
[208] Horace Walpole to Sir Horace Mann, March 7, 1785.
[209] Edmond de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 385.
[210] _Souvenirs de Madame Vigée Lebrun_, i. 83.
[211] Its effect was less terrifying upon "an amorous and jealous
_intendant_," who mistook the ghostly visitant's cry for that of a lover
in the flesh, and had the bad taste to remark to Mlle. Clairon that "the
signals of her rendezvous were somewhat too noisy." And this after the
poor lady had just recovered from a swoon lasting nearly a quarter of an
hour!
[212] _Mémoires de Mademoiselle Clairon_ (edit. 1799), p. 1 _et seq._
[213] Edmond de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 466.
[214] Gueullette, _Acteurs et Actrices du Temps passé_, p. 320.
[215] Marie Pauline Ménard. Mlle. Clairon had adopted her when a little
girl and provided her _dot_, which led to a widespread belief that she
was her natural daughter. This, however, was not the case.
[216] Gueullette, _Acteurs et Actrices du Temps passé_, p. 321.
End of Project Gutenberg's Queens of the French Stage, by H. Noel Williams