Chapter XI: Part 11

"I am very well," she writes, shortly after her installation, "and taking into consideration the care, the homage, the comforts, the kindnesses, and the marks of attachment that are lavished upon me, it would be impossible for my heart and my vanity not to be satisfied. My house does not grow less full; the greatest ladies do me the honour of supping with me. You cannot form any idea of the position I occupy in this country. I believe that I am in a dream. Sometimes I am tempted to imagine myself a personage...."

And again, under date October 15, 1773:--

* * * * *

"Would to Heaven, my dear child, that I had you near me! I should then be able to say that never had I been so happy. Every comfort, no kind of vexation, consideration, a commodious and beautiful house, a well-ordered, pleasant, and honourable life independent of the caprices which formerly troubled me, the impossibility of meeting ungrateful people, of seeing or hearing anything which recalls them, the opportunity of doing good--all this renders my life infinitely sweet. Add to all these blessings the certainty of making the happiness of the sweetest and kindest being I have ever known. After you had seen him, you would love him: that is nothing; one cannot form any idea of this good prince, unless you live with him. I see him every day, and am equally astonished at his frankness and the noble simplicity that characterises all his actions. It is for such sovereigns that it is just and right to sacrifice one's life, and I feel no regret at having sacrificed mine to him."

* * * * *

But this enthusiasm does not last long, and, before twelve months have passed, we find Mademoiselle complaining of everything at Anspach, from the air to the cooking. In one letter she tells her correspondent that "the air of the country and _ennui_ are killing her"; in another, that she has had to send for a French cook, because the Anspach cooking "displeased as much as it disagreed with her";[207] in a third, that she has had to abandon an attempt to establish a theatre at the Court, "because there are scarcely a dozen persons there who can carry on a conversation in French, while the rest do not understand a word of the language"; and, in a fourth, that "the women of this country are destitute of every grace to which your eyes are accustomed."

The fact of the matter was that the Court of Anspach did not approve of the advent of Mlle. Clairon; it feared that her installation would, sooner or later, be followed by an invasion of her compatriots, who would seize upon all the most lucrative posts in the State, and generally upset the established order of things. Neither had the Ministers been educated to serve under a _maîtresse en titre_, as had those of France; they resented the interference of a woman--especially a foreigner--in the counsels of their master, and one of them, if Mlle. Clairon is to be believed, actually carried his resentment so far as to conspire against her life. Moreover, although the poor Margravine herself was compelled, through fear of her husband's anger, to treat her rival with courtesy, and even to invite her to her table, the other ladies of the Margrave's family, like the Duchesse of Würtemburg and the Margravine of Baireuth, absolutely refused to recognise the ex-_tragédienne_, and the feminine portion of the Court seems to have taken its cue from them, rather than from its nominal head.

However, in spite of difficulties and mortifications, Mlle. Clairon remained at her post, and, according to her own account, used the influence she had acquired over the Margrave in a highly beneficent manner; destroying abuses, reforming the finances, encouraging agriculture, and so forth. She also beautified the city of Anspach by an ornamental fountain, established a hospital, distributed considerable sums in charity, and was very popular among the poorer classes.

After the drawing by Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS]

In the course of the year 1789, Mlle. Clairon found herself called up to face a rival influence. The eccentric and "_infinitamente_ indiscreet,"[208] but charming and accomplished Elizabeth, Countess of Craven, descended upon Anspach. The countess had separated from her husband in 1780, since which she had spent the greater part of her time in wandering about the Continent. In the course of her travels, she had met the Margrave, whom she had known when she was a child, and who invited her to Anspach. She came, and her stay was a long one. She infused new life into that dull German Court; she organised a theatre in a disused coach-house, and wrote little plays for it; she had a garden laid out in the English style, under her direction, at the Margrave's palace of Triesdorf, near Anspach; she founded a little academy for the encouragement of literature and the arts, and found means to amuse even the unamusable Margravine. Finally, she stole away the heart of the Margrave from his grey-haired Egeria, and wrote to her husband, with whom she still corresponded, that she was to be "treated as a sister."

At length, Lady Craven left for Paris. Soon afterwards, the Margrave announced his intention of visiting the French capital; Mlle. Clairon decided to accompany him. In Paris, the Margrave favoured her with so little of his company that she felt constrained to inquire the reason.

The prince returned an evasive answer; Mlle. Clairon caused a watch to be kept upon his movements, and discovered the fatal truth. So long as the Margrave remained in Paris, the deceived sultana, by a great effort of will, succeeded "in concealing beneath a countenance always calm, and sometimes laughing, the rending tortures of mind and body." But when the prince returned to Anspach, she declined to follow him, and sent instead a long and reproachful letter, wherein she informed him that "his frenzied passion for a woman of whose character, unfortunately, he alone was ignorant, his indifference to public opinion, the license of his new morals, his want of respect for his age and his dignity, obliged her to see in him only one who had thrown aside all restraint and decency in compliance with the dictates of a depraved heart, or as one whose disordered intellect, while it excited pity, evinced also the necessity of restraint; that the veil was now lifted, and she knew herself never to have been anything but the hapless victim of his egotism and his divers caprices; and that, therefore, with infinite pain, she laid at his feet all the boons she had received from him, and bade him adieu ... adieu for ever."

And so ended the last romance of Mlle. Clairon, and the only souvenir of her seventeen years' residence at Anspach is a kind of fancy bread, which is called "_Clairons Weck_" unto this day.[209]

As for the faithless Margrave, he was too happy in the society of Lady Craven, who shortly afterwards took up her residence at Anspach, to care much what became of her predecessor in his affections; and so infatuated did he become with that lady that, on his wife's death in 1791, he married her. In the following year, the prince--in the face of an eloquent letter of remonstrance from Mlle. Clairon--sold his margravates of Anspach and Baireuth to the King of Prussia, and migrated, with his wife, to England, where he died in 1806. The Margravine survived her husband more than twenty years, and died, at Naples, in 1828.

In 1785, during one of the visits to Paris which she had paid in company with the Margrave, Mlle. Clairon had purchased a country-house at Issy, and it was here that she now took up her residence. She lived a very quiet life, receiving and visiting a few old friends, and occupying the rest of her time with collecting objects of natural history, which had always been one of her favourite occupations, and the writing of her _Mémoires_.

Madame Vigée Lebrun, the painter, who met Mlle. Clairon soon after her return to France, at the house of her former pupil, Larive, has left us the following impression of the famous _tragédienne_ in her old age:--

"I had pictured to myself that she was very tall; and, on the contrary, she was very short and very thin; she held her head very erect, which gave her an air of dignity. I never heard any one speak with so much emphasis, for she retained her tragic tone and airs of a princess; but she gave me the impression of being clever and well informed. I sat beside her at table, and enjoyed much of her conversation. Larive showed her the greatest respect and attention."[210]

Early in the year 1792, Mlle. Clairon completed her _Mémoires_, which she entrusted to Henri Meister, the friend of Diderot and the Neckers, who was leaving Paris for Germany, on the condition, so she subsequently asserted, that they should not be given to the world until ten years after her death. One day, however, in 1798, she learned, to her astonishment, through an article in a Paris journal, that they had been published in Germany, whereupon she hurriedly brought out a French edition, bearing the title: _Mémoires d'Hippolyte Clairon et Réflexions sur la déclamation théatrale_.

These _Mémoires_, written in an absurdly solemn and grandiloquent style, even for the time, and "interspersed," says the admiring editor of the English edition, "with precepts of practical morality which would do honour to our greatest philosophers," reveal to us a very different Clairon from the Clairon of the police-reports and of the memoirs and correspondence of her contemporaries; but, unfortunately, there can be very little doubt which portrait comes nearer the truth. Partly, no doubt, for this reason, they had only a moderate success; and though several copies bear the words "_Seconde édition_" they were, as a matter of fact, not reprinted until 1822, when they appeared in the well-known _Collection des Mémoires sur l'art dramatique_. The most interesting part of the book, in our opinion, are the chapters which the actress devotes to reflections upon her art, some of which may still be read with profit by candidates for histrionic fame. But what aroused most attention at the time the work was published was the celebrated history of the lady's ghost--the spectre of a young Breton whom she had pitilessly left to die of love, and who had vowed on his death-bed to haunt her for the remainder of her life.

Never was there so persistent and vindictive an apparition--though the term apparition is perhaps a misnomer, as the shade of the departed never actually showed itself. It was perpetually visiting her at the most unexpected times and in the most unexpected places--at her _petits soupers_, while she was riding in her coach to shop in the Rue Saint-Honoré, and so forth. Sometimes its presence was announced by "a long-continued and piteous cry," which so terrified an elderly admirer who happened to be present on one occasion, that he "had to be conducted to his carriage more dead than alive";[211] sometimes by a loud report like that of a musket; at others by "a noise like the clapping of hands"; and finally, by "a celestial voice singing the most tender and pathetic airs."[212] No solution of these singular phenomena was ever forthcoming, though the assistance of the police was invoked in order to probe the mystery. But the most probable explanation is a little plot on the part of some friends of the young Breton to read the lady a much-needed lesson.

On her retirement from the stage, Mlle. Clairon had been in possession of a comfortable fortune, producing an income of some 18,000 livres; and though this had been considerably reduced by the financial jugglery of the Abbé Terrai, the loss had been subsequently repaired by the sale of her jewellery, art treasures, and natural history collection, which had realised 90,000 livres. In her old age, however, she fell into great poverty, though to attribute her financial losses to the Revolution--which swept away so many fortunes--as have several writers, would appear to be without justification, as on Fructidor 26, Year III., at a time when money was exceedingly scarce, we find her writing to a M. Pérignon, advocate, requesting him to find her a secure investment for a sum of 24,000 livres; while so late as October 9, 1801, when she made her will, she would appear, to judge by the various bequests she makes, to have been still in easy circumstances.[213]

On the other hand, there can be no question that between that date and her death, fifteen months later, she was reduced to great distress, as witness the following appeal addressed to Chaptal, the Minister of the Interior, and in response to which she received an order on the Treasury for 2000 livres:--

* * * * *

"CITIZEN MINISTER,--For a month past I have been vainly seeking a protector to bring me to your notice; but if it be true that you are of a generous disposition, it is to you alone that I should address myself. Seventy-nine years of age, almost in want of the necessaries of life, celebrated at one time by the possession of some talents, I wait at your door until you condescend to grant me a moment.

CLAIRON."[214]

* * * * *

In good truth, an object-lesson for the moralist to dilate upon! Clairon, the haughty, the incomparable Clairon, the idol of town and theatre; Clairon, to have met whom in society was the proudest boast of the braggart in _Candide_; Clairon, for whose smiles a King (according to Grimm) had sighed in vain, and a Serene Highness--not in vain; Clairon, whose classic features had been painted by Van Loo and sculptured by Lemoine; Clairon, in whose honour gold medals had been struck, and whose praises "bards sublime" had chanted--forced to beg her bread at the door of a Minister!

At the time when the above letter was written, the old actress had removed from Issy, and was living in the Rue de Lille with a Madame de la Rianderie,[215] the widow of an officer in the Gardes-Françaises. Here she was visited by Lemontey, who describes her as a little, withered old woman, feeble and sickly, but still retaining something of her majestic manner, and who spoke to him in a voice which had lost but little of its power and sweetness. Observing a little boy who had accompanied the historian, she motioned him to approach, saying: "Make that child come here. He will be very pleased to be able to say one day that he has seen and spoken to Mlle. Clairon."

Another of her visitors was the English actor John Kemble, to whom she recited a scene from _Phèdre_ with a majesty and fire truly astonishing in one so old and frail.

Mlle. Clairon died on January 31, 1803, six days after completing her eightieth year.

* * * * *

Animated to the last by the pride which had dominated her whole life, Mlle. Clairon bequeathed to the nation her marble bust by Lemoine and the gold medal which Valbelle and Villepinte had caused to be struck in her honour; but, for some reason, these souvenirs were not accepted. The native town of the great actress showed itself less indifferent than the State, and placed a commemorative tablet on the house in which she had been born. In 1876, however, the house collapsed beneath the weight of years, and the tablet was buried under its ruins.[216]

The remains of Mlle. Clairon were interred in the cemetery of Vaugirard, where they remained until its suppression in April 1837, when, escorted by a deputation from the Comédie-Française, they were transferred to Père-Lachaise, and there re-interred, Samson pronouncing an _éloge_ over the grave. In 1889, at the solicitation of M. Caille, an inhabitant of Condé, the _sociétaires_ of the Comédie-Française decided that the tomb of the famous _tragédienne_ should be completely restored, and voted for that purpose a sum of one thousand francs.

INDEX

A

_Actrice nouvelle, l'_, Poisson's, 151

_Adrienne Lecouvreur_, Scribe and Legouvé's, 129 and note, 182 note

Aiguillon, Duc d', 163

Aiguillon, Duchesse, 319, 337

Aïssé, Mlle., 140, 180, 184 note, 186;
(cited) 180-183, 188-190, 192 note

_Alexandre_, Racine's, 26, 92

Allainval, Abbé d', 129;
(cited) 134, 145, 199

_Amours de Bastien et Bastienne_, Justine Favart's performance in, 268

_Amphitryon_, Molière's, 49, 155

_Andromaque_, Racine's, 11 note, 93

Anne of Austria, Queen of France, 27

Anne Ivanovna, Duchess of Courland, 173, 174, 175

Anspach, Margrave of, his character and personal appearance, 340, 341;
falls in love with Mlle. Clairon and invites her to Anspach, 341;
"the sweetest and kindest of beings," 342;
discards Mlle. Clairon for Lady Craven, 344-346

Anspach, Margravine of, 340, 341, 344, 345, 346.

_Antiochus et Cléopatre_, Deschamps', 154

Argental, d', 164-168, 169, 193 note

_Ariane_, Mlle. de Champmeslé's performance in, 99.

Arles, Council of, excludes the actor from the Sacraments, 66, 67

_Attila_, Pierre Corneille's, 26, 97 note

Aubry, Sebastian, 13

Augustus II., Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, 169, 170, 174, 176

Aunillon, Abbé, 179.

_Avare_, Molière's, 78

B

Bachaumont, (cited) 293 note, 328, 335 note, 337 note

_Bajazet_, 98, 337.

Balicourt, Mlle., 228 and note

Barbier, (cited) 161, 213, 301

Barbier d'Aucour, 102

Bauffremont, Marquis de, 318

Baron, Michel, 56-58, 63, 75, 94, 147, 151, 152, 159

Bayle, 8, 41

Bazin, 9, 44

Beaumarchais, 325

Beaumenard, Mlle., mistress of Maurice de Saxe, 239, 243 note

Beffara, 9, 15, 211 note

Béjart, Armande, her marriage with Molière, 3;
controversy concerning her parentage, 7-20;
accompanies the Illustre Théâtre to the provinces, 20;
her education, 21;
her personal appearance, 22-25;
her gifts as an actress, 25, 26;
her _début_, 27;
plays before the Court in the _Impromptu de Versailles_, 27;
and during _Les Plaisirs de l'Ile enchantée_, 27-29;
bears Molière a son, 27;
her rendering of the part of Célimène in the _Misanthrope_, 29-31;
other performances by her, 31, 32;
her moral conduct considered, 32-40;
charges brought against her in _La Fameuse Comédienne_, 40-48;
temporarily separated from her husband, 48-54;
her supposed _liaison_ with Baron, 56-58;
her platonic friendship with Pierre Corneille, 58, 59;
birth of her second son, 60;
endeavours to dissuade Molière from playing in the _Malade imaginaire_, 62;
goes to find a priest to administer the last Sacraments to her husband, 63;
her appeal to the Archbishop of Paris, 63, 64;
her interview with Louis XIV. at Saint-Germain, 64;
throws money among the crowd on the day of Molière's funeral, 71;
causes a fire to be lighted on his grave, 72;
conclusion as to her moral conduct, 72, 73;
resumes her place in the company three days after her husband's
death, 74 and note;
secures the Théâtre Guénégaud, 77, 78;
her adventure with Président Lescot, 79-82;
libelled by Guichard, 82 and note;
marries Guérin d'Estriché, 83, 84;
her later years, 84, 85

Béjart, Bénigne Madeleine, 10, 19

Béjart, Geneviève, 7, 15

Béjart, Joseph _pére_, 3, 7, 9, 10

Béjart, Joseph _fils_, 4, 10, 15, 75

Béjart, Louis, 15

Béjart, Madeleine, her parentage, 34;
becomes an actress, 4, 5;
has a daughter by the Comte de Modène, 5, 6;
commonly believed to be the mother of Armande Béjart, 7-10;
and to have been the mistress of Molière, 11;
hideous accusation of Montfleury, 11, 12;
repeated by Guichard, Le Boulanger de Chalussay, and in _La
Fameuse Comédienne_, 12-15;
joins the Illustre Théâtre, 15;
her talent as an actress and personal appearance, 16;
question as to her relations with Molière considered, 17-20;
promotes the marriage between Molière and Armande, 21, 22

Bellerose, 76 note

Benoît (surgeon), his dispute with Dubois of the Comédie-Française, 328, 329

_Bérénice_, Racine's, 96, 97, 98

Bergheick, Comte de, lover of Mlle. Clairon, 281

Bernard, Samuel, 216

Bernhardt, Madame Sarah, 138

Berri, Duchesse de, 205

Berryer, Lieutenant of Police, 285, 304, 305, 306, 318

Besenval, Baron de, Mlle. Clairon's love-letters to him, 303

Bimorel, Madame de, 282, 283, 285

Blainville, expelled from the Comédie-Française, 329

Blondi, dancing-master, 206

Blot, 42

Boileau-Despréaux, 60, 71, 100, 103, 108, 109, 116;
(cited) 102

Boileau-Puimorin, 60

Bossuet, denounces the plays of Molière, 70;
his _Maximes et réflexions sur la comédie_, 119, 120

Botte de la Barondière, Père, insists on Brécourt renouncing the
stage, 117 and note

Bouillon (Louise Françoise de Lorraine), Duchesse de, enamoured of
Maurice de Saxe, 179;
her personal appearance, 179 note;
accused by the Abbé Bouret of having engaged him to poison Adrienne
Lecouvreur, 179-188;
suspected of having caused the death of the actress, 188-190;
consideration of this charge, 190, 191;
discarded by the Comte de Clermont for Mlle. de Camargo, 213

Bouillon (Marie-Anne Mancini), Duchesse de, intrigues to ruin Racine's
_Phèdre_, 103-105

Bourdaloue, Père, preaches against _Tartuffe_, 70;
denounces the theatre, 120

Bouret, Abbé, accuses the Duchesse de Bouillon of having engaged him to
poison Adrienne Lecouvreur, 179-184;
sent to Saint-Lazare, 184;
released, 184;
rearrested, 185;
persists in his accusation, 186;
but finally recants, 187;
set at liberty and disappears, 187

_Bourgeois gentilhomme_, Molière's, 23, 24, 97 note

Bouteville, Duc de, 302

Bouty, Marie (mother of Mlle. de Champmeslé), 130

Boyer, Abbé, 92, 114, 115, 153

Brécourt, compelled by the curé of Saint-Sulpice to renounce his
profession, 117 and note

Breuze de la Martinière, 8

Brie, Mlle, de, joins the Illustre Théâtre, 17;
becomes Molière's mistress, 17;
resides in the Béjart's house, 48;
resumes her intimacy with Molière, 55, 56;
jealousy between her and Mlle. Molière, 73

Brizard, 330

Brossette, (cited) 17, 100

Brotok, Comte de, ruined by Mlle. Clairon, 303

By, Chevalier de, lover of Mlle. Clairon, 286

C

Caffaro, Père, his _Lettre d'un Théologien_, in defence of the
theatrical profession, 119, 120

Cahusac, (cited) 203

Calandrini, Madame, 180

Camargo, Marie-Anne de: _see_ Cupis de Camargo

Cartouche (brigand), 135

_Cartouche, ou les voleurs_, Le Grand's, 135

Casanova, (cited) 220

Castelnau, Marquis de, 265

Castil-Blaze, (cited) 200, 208

Champmeslé, Charles de: _see_ Chevillet de Champmeslé

Champmeslé, Marie de: _see_ Chevillet de Champmeslé

Chantilly, Mlle.: _see_ Favart, Justine

Chapelle, 42, 49-52, 53, 54, 71, 98

Chappuzeau, Samuel, (cited) 76 note, 77

Chardon, M. Henri, (cited) 4, 18, 19

Châteauroux, Duchesse de, 215, 289

Chevillet de Champmeslé, Charles,
runs away from home to become an actor, 90, 91;
marries Marie Desmares, 91;
joins the Théâtre du Marais, 91;
leaves it for the Hôtel de Bourgogne, 93;
a complacent husband, 93;
on the best of terms with his wife's admirers, 108;
joins the Théâtre Guénégaud, 113;
his _Parisien_, 113;
singular incident connected with his death, 125, 126

Chevillet de Champmeslé, Marie,
birth and parentage, 89;
becomes an actress and makes her _début_ at Rouen, 90;
marries Charles de Champmeslé, 91;
comes to Paris with her husband, 91;
joins the Théâtre du Marais, 91;
her first successes, 92;
leaves the Marais for the Hôtel de Bourgogne, 93;
her triumph as Hermione in _Andromaque_, 93;
her gifts as an actress, 94, 95;
her personal appearance, 95, 96;
becomes the mistress of Racine, 96;
her successes in _Bérénice_, 97;
in _Bajazet_, 98;
in _Ariane_, 99;
in _Mithridate_, 99;
in _Iphigénie en Aulide_, 100-102;
in _Phèdre_, 106;
her house "the rendezvous of all persons of distinction in
both Court and town," 107;
unfaithful to Racine, 107, 108;
her relations with Charles de Sévigné, 108-110;
_liaison_ with the Comte de Clermont-Tonnerre, 111;
discarded by Racine, 111;
her impersonation of Queen Elizabeth in the _Comte d'Essex_, 113;
joins the Théâtre Guénégaud, 113;
one of the original _sociétaires_ of the Comédie-Française, 113;
secures her brother Nicolas's admission _sans début_, 114;
later performances by her, 114-116;
falls ill and retires from stage, 116;
with difficulty induced to renounce her profession, 122;
dies, 122;
two letters of Racine on her death, 122, 123;
her pupils, Mlles. Duclos and Charlotte Desmares, 123-125

Chevreuse, Duchesse de, 246, 247

Choiseul, Duc de, 327

Christian VII., King of Denmark, 337

Cindré, Marquis de, lover of Mlle. Clairon, 306

_Circé_, Thomas Corneille's, 78

Clairon, Mlle., her parentage, 276;
her birth, 276, 277;
comes with her mother to Paris, 277;
her account of how she was led to become an actress, 278-281;
makes her _début_ at the Comédie-Italienne, 281;
accepts an engagement at Rouen, 281;
her life there, 282, 283;
adventure with Gaillard de la Bataille, 283, 284;
_Histoire de Mademoiselle Cronel, dite Frétillon_, 284, 285;
her mother tries to coerce her into marriage, 285;
"three rival warriors contending for her heart," 286;
rejects the proposals of "my lord" Marlborough, 287;
returns to Paris and joins the Opera, 287;
leaves the Opera for the Comédie-Française, 288;
her admission opposed by certain members of the troupe, 289;
insists on making her _début_ in the part of Phèdre, 289, 290;
her brilliant success, 290, 291;
her personal appearance, 291;
her remarkable gifts as an actress, 293;
testimony of Favart, 294;
of Collé, 294, 295;
of Hérault de Séchelles, 295;
of Oliver Goldsmith, 295, 296;
of Sturtz, 296-299;
of Garrick, 299, 300;
performances by her, 300, 301;
her brilliant success as Aménaïde in _Tancrède_, 301;
her lovers, 301-307;
her _liaison_ with Marmontel, 307-309;
changes her style of acting, 309-313;
brings about a reform in stage costume, 313-314;
an indefatigable student of everything connected with her art, 314-316;
continuing her career of gallantry, 317-318;
conceives a genuine passion for the Comte de Valbelle, 318, 319;
her social success, 319 and note;
her portrait painted by Carle van Loo, 319 and note, 320;
declines an offer to take up her residence at St. Petersburg, 320, 321;
Garrick commissions an engraving of her "in all the attributes
of Tragedy," 321;
gold medal struck in her honour, 322;
her pride and arrogance, 322, 323;
has the interests of her profession sincerely at heart, 323, 324;
endeavours to relieve the stage from the ban of the Church, 324;
attacked by Fréron, in the _Année littéraire_, 324-328;
_l'affaire_ Dubois, 328-331;
sent to For l'Évêque, 331, 332;
her letter to Garrick, 332, 333;
visits Voltaire at Ferney, 334, 335;
enthusiastically acclaimed by the pit at Marseilles, 335;
retires from the Comédie-Française, 335, 336;
her life after her retirement, 336, 337;
plays before the King of Denmark, 337, 338;
and at Versailles, 338;
her correspondence with her pupil Larive, 339, 340;
accompanies the Margrave of Anspach to Germany, 341;
her life at Anspach, 341-344;
supplanted by Lady Craven in the affections of the Margrave, 344-346;
takes up her residence at Issy, 346, 347;
publication of her _Mémoires_, 347;
her last years and death, 349-351;
removal of her remains from Vaugirard to Père-Lachaise in 1837, 351, 352

Clavel, Adrienne Lecouvreur's letters to him, 142-145

Clement XI., Pope, declines to interfere between the Church and the
theatrical profession, 121 note

Clermont, Comte de, his character, 212;
becomes the lover of Mlle. de Camargo, 213;
can refuse her nothing, 214;
insists on her quitting the stage, 214;
appointed abbot of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, 215;
installs Mlle. de Camargo at the Château de Berny, 215;
discards her for Mlle. Le Duc, 216;
presents his new enchantress with a magnificent equipage, 217, 218;
makes Mlle. de Camargo an allowance, 220

Clermont-Tonnerre, Comte de, one of the admirers of Mlle. de
Champmeslé, 107, 108, 111

Cochin, Charles Nicolas _fils_, his drawing of Justine Favart, 228 note

Colbert, 17 note, 77

Collé, (cited) 152, 153, 216 and note, 252 note, 294, 295, 301, 314, 322 note

Comédie-Française, its foundation, 113

_Comte d'Essex_, Thomas Corneille's, 153, 156

Conti, Prince de, 69

Coraline, Mlle., shocked at the conduct of Justine Favart, 256

Corneille, Pierre, 17, 26, 32 note, 58, 59, 96, 97 and note,
114, 131, 132, 266, 294

Corneille, Thomas, 78, 92, 112

Coulanges, Madame de, (cited) 99

Couvreur, Robert, father of Adrienne Lecouvreur, 130, 131

Couvrigny, Père de (chaplain to the Bastille), his letter to
the Lieutenant of Police, 186

Coypel, Charles, his portrait of Adrienne Lecouvreur, 142-145

Crébillon _père_, 124, 145, 227, 294, 300, 321 and note

Crébillon _fils_, 321 note

_Critique de l'École des femmes_, Molière's, 27

Cupis de Camargo, Ferdinand Joseph de (father of Mlle. de Camargo),
descended from "one of the noblest families in Rome," 199;
gives his daughter lessons in dancing, 200;
accompanies her to Rouen, 201;
and to Paris, 202;
exercises unsleeping vigilance over her, 208;
his letter to Cardinal de Fleury after her elopement with the
Comte de Melun, 209-211

Cupis de Camargo, Marie-Anne de, birth and parentage, 199, 200;
her precocious talent, 200;
sent to Paris to take lessons from Mlle. Prévost, 200;
_première danseuse_ at Brussels theatre, 201;
goes to Rouen, 201;
engaged at the Paris Opera, 201, 202;
her triumphal _début_, 202 and note;
her personal appearance, 202, 203;
"abbreviates her skirts," 203, 204;
triumphs over the intrigues of Mlle. Prévost and becomes queen of
the Opera, 204-206;
revolutionises the ballet, 206, 207;
patronised by the Duchesse de Villars, 207;
carried off by the Comte de Melun, 208-211;
conceives "_une belle passion_" for the Marquis de Sourdis, 211, 212;
becomes the mistress of the Comte de Clermont, 212-214;
temporarily retires from the Opera, 214;
does the honours of the Château de Berny, 215;
discarded by the count for Mlle. Le Duc, 216;
becomes the mistress of the Président de Rieux, 216, 217;
receives a magnificent present, 217;
breaks with the président and resumes her _liaison_ with the
Marquis de Sourdis, 218;
returns to the Opera, 219;
rivalry between her and Mlle. Sallé, 219;
verses addressed to them by Voltaire, 219;
makes her _début_ as a singer, 220;
definitely retires from the Opera, 220;
her later years and death, 220, 221

Cupis de Camargo, Sophie de, 208, 209-211

D

D----, Baron, lover of Adrienne Lecouvreur, 141

Dancourt, 135

Dangeville, Mlle., inspires Mlle. Clairon with a desire to
become an actress, 278-280;
finds it "impossible to live" with Mlle. Clairon, 323

Des Boulmiers, (cited) 171

Desheys introduces Mlle. Clairon to the Comédie-Italienne, 281

Deshoulières, Madame, intrigues against Racine, 103

Desmares, Charlotte, 114, 124, 125, 126

Desmares, Guillaume, father of Marie de Champmeslé, 89

Desmares, Marie: _see_ Chevillet de Champmeslé, Marie

Desmares, Nicolas, brother of Marie de Champmeslé, 89, 114, 126

Desmarets de Saint-Sorlin, 69

Desnoiresterres, Gustave, (cited) 229 note, 239, 240 note, 242

Des OEillets, Mlle., 93, 94, 98

_Devineresse, La_, 78

Diderot, 347

_Don Garcie de Navarre_, Molière's, 301

_Don Juan_, Molière's, 65, 78, 79

Donneau de Visé, 8, 27, 78, 79, 99

Dubois, Abbé, (cited) 106

Dubois (actor of the Comédie-Française), his dispute with the
surgeon Benoît, 328;
expelled from the Comédie, 329;
temporarily reinstated, 329;
Mlle. Clairon and four of her colleagues decline to act with him, 330;
his partisans create a riot in the theatre, 330, 331;
resigns his place, 334

Dubois, Mlle., 329, 330, 331

Duclos, Mlle., 123, 124, 125, 126

Du Deffand, Marquise, 319

Du Gué, Madame, invites Adrienne Lecouvreur to perform at her hôtel, 131-133

Du Maine, Duchesse, 158

Du Marsais, César, his "_Bon, cela!_" 148;
gives Adrienne Lecouvreur lessons in elocution, 149

Dumas d'Aigueberre, (cited) 152, 153

Dumesnil, Marie Françoise, a worthy successor to Adrienne Lecouvreur, 275;
her triumph in _Mérope_, 276;
compared with Mlle. Clairon, 292, 293;
preferred by Louis XV. to the latter, 338

Dumolard, (cited) 242

Du Parc, Mlle., rejects the advances of Molière, 17;
and of Pierre Corneille, 58;
confidante of Armande Béjart, 45;
Racine "experiences with her a sentiment which has the dignity
of love," 107

Duras, Duc de, 327, 335, 336

Duronceray, Justine: _see_ Favart, Justine

Duronceray, M. (father of Justine Favart), 228;
a tool in the hands of Maurice de Saxe, 254-256, 258, 259, 261

Duronceray, Madame (mother of Justine Favart), 228

Du Rouvray, M., 283

E

_École des femmes_, Molière's, 14, 33, 34

_École des maris_, Molière's, 33

Edwards, Mr. Sutherland, 43 note

_El Desden con el Desden_, Moreto's, 28

_Électre_, Crébillon's, 145, 312

_Électre_, Longpierre's, 33

_Électre_, Voltaire's, 322

Elizabeth Petrovna, Czarina of Russia, wooed by Maurice de Saxe, 173-175;
invites Mlle. Clairon to St. Petersburg, 320

_Élomire hypocondre_, Le Boulanger de Chalussay's, 13, 14

Elzevirs, the, print an edition of _Élomire hypocondre_, 14

Épinay, Madame d', 315

Eugène of Savoy, 135, 169

F

_Fameuse Comédienne, La_, libel on Armande Béjart, 15, 21, 22,
25, 40-54, 56, 72, 73, 82, 84

_Fausse Prude, La_, 121 note

Favart, Charles Nicolas Joseph, 272

Favart, Charles Paul, 225 and note

Favart, Charles Simon, his early life, 225, 226;
produces _La Chercheuse d'esprit_, 227;
director of the Opéra-Comique, 227;
engages Justine Duronceray, 228;
marries her, 229;
invited by Maurice de Saxe to accompany him to Flanders, 231;
celebrates the Marshal's entry into Brussels, 233;
his adventures in Flanders, 234, 235;
announces in verse Maurice's intention to give battle, 237, 238;
his account of the battle of Lawfeld, 244, 245;
learns of his wife's misconduct with the Marshal, 245;
takes her to Brussels, 246;
his letter to her, 247;
prosecuted by the proprietors of the Brussels theatre, at the
instigation of the Marshal, 249;
returns to Paris and persuades Justine to leave Maurice, 251;
flies to Strasburg, 251;
Justine's letter to him, 253, 254;
refuses money offered him by the Marshal, 259;
reduced to terrible straits, 265;
returns to Paris, 265;
his verses upon the death of Maurice de Saxe, 266;
regards love as "the greatest of all evils," 267;
tolerates his wife's _liaison_ with the Abbé de Voisenon, 267;
his later works, 267-272;
his admiration for Mlle. Clairon's acting, 294

Favart, Justine, her parentage, 228;
engaged at the Opéra-Comique, 228;
makes her _début_, 229;
her marriage with Favart, 229 and note, 230;
her success in _Les Vendanges de Tempé_, 230;
accompanies her husband to Flanders, 232;
the object of a violent passion on the part of Maurice de Saxe, 239, 240;
"possessed by the demon of conjugal love," 240;
Maurice's letter to her, 240, 241;
yields to the importunities of the Marshal, 242, 243 and note;
refuses to continue the _liaison_, 244;
confesses her misconduct to her husband, 245, 246;
flies to Brussels, 246;
Favart's letter to her, 247;
continues her flight to Paris, 248;
persuaded to resume her intimacy with the Marshal, 249, 250;
again leaves him and declares that "her salvation is dearer to her
than all the fortunes in the world," 250;
her successful _début_ at the Comédie-Italienne, 252;
her letter to her husband in hiding at Strasburg, 253;
her father a tool in the hands of Maurice de Saxe, 254-255;
_lettre de cachet_ issued against her, 255;
leaves Paris to join her husband, 256;
arrested, at the instigation of Maurice, and taken to Les
Grands-Andelys, 257;
her correspondence with her husband and Maurice de Saxe, 257-259;
removed to a convent at Angers, 259;
further correspondence with the Marshal, 259-262;
exhorted by Mlle. Fleury to "become reasonable," 263;
and by her sister-in-law, Marguerite Favart, to remain
inflexible, 264, 265;
terrified into submission to the Marshal, and is released, 265;
returns to Paris, 265;
her relations with the Abbé de Voisenon, 267;
reappears at the Comédie-Italienne, 267;
her extraordinary versatility, 268;
strenuous for a reform in stage costume, 268;
performances by her, 268-270;
retires from the stage, 270;
her last illness and death, 271

_Femmes savantes_, Molière's, 32

Fénelon, denounces the theatre, 120

Ferriol, Madame de, Adrienne Lecouvreur's letter to, 165-167, 169

_Fête de Vénus_, Marie de Champmeslé's appearance in, 92

_Fils ingrats_, Piron's, 155

Fléchier, denounces the theatre, 120

Flemming, Count, intrigues against Maurice de Saxe, 170, 176

_Florentin, Le_, Adrienne Lecouvreur's performances in, 155, 189

Floridor, 11;
refused ecclesiastical burial, 70

Florimont, 55

Folleville, Président de, his affray with the Marquis de Cony, 282

Fonpré, Mlle., engages Adrienne Lecouvreur to play at Lille, 136

Fontaine, his portrait of Adrienne Lecouvreur, 137-139

Forcalquier, Madame de, 319

Fouché, Paul, (cited) 89

Fournier, Edouard, 9

Fréron, his attack upon Mlle. Clairon, 324-338

Fronsac, Duc de, lover of Mlle. Dubois, 329;
interferes on behalf of her father, 329

G

Gaboriau, Emile, (cited) 37, 43 note, 203, 206, 215

Gaillard de la Bataille, his adventure with Mlle. Clairon, 283, 284;
his libel upon her, 284, 285

Galitzin, Princess, 319, 320

Garrick, Sturtz's letter to him, 296-299;
his opinion of Mlle. Clairon's acting, 299;
commissions Gravelot to engrave a design in honour of Mlle. Clairon, 321;
her letter to him, 333;
offers her a loan, 334 note

Gaultier-Garguille, 4 and note

Gaussin, Jeanne, 275, 292, 306 note

Gautier, Mlle., 281, 285

Geoffroy (chemist), his report on the suspicious lozenges given
to the Abbé Bouret, 184 note

_George Dandin_, Molière's, 33, 35-37, 145

Gesvres, Duc de, 158, 289

Gesvres, Duchesse de, 158

Goldsmith, Oliver, (cited) 295, 296

Goncourt, Edmond de, 298 note, 318

Gozlan, M. Léon, (cited) 236, 240

Grandval, 180 note, 195, 280

Grimarest, (cited) 21, 43 note, 36, 53, 62 note

Grimm, (cited) 203, 204, 247, 315

Gros-Guillaume, 4 and note

Guénégaud, Théâtre, 76 and note, 77, 78, 79

Guérin d'Estriché, marries the widow of Molière, 83-85

Gueullette, M., (cited) 111

Guichard, attempts to poison Lulli, 12, 13;
repeats the accusation of Montfleury against Molière, 13;
accuses Mlle. Molière of immorality, 82 and note

Guiche, Comte de, his supposed relations with Mlle. Molière, 45
and note, 46, 47, 51, 57

Guise, Duc de, 100

H

Hardouin de Péréfixe, Archbishop of Paris, issues an order
against _Tartuffe_, 70

Harlay de Chanvalon, Archbishop of Paris, his conduct in regard
to the funeral of Molière, 63, 64, 65, 68

Hawkins, Mr. Frederick, (cited) 292

Henley, Mr. W. E., (cited) 37

Henrietta of England, Duchesse d'Orléans, 12, 27, 96, 97

Hérault (Lieutenant of Police), his conduct in _l'affaire_ Bouret,
181, 182, 184 note, 187

Hermite, Jean Baptiste de l', 19

Hermite, Tristan de l', 19

Hervé, Marie (mother of the Béjarts), 1, 7-10, 20

_Histoire de Mademoiselle Cronel, dite Frétillon_, libel on
Mlle. Clairon, 284, 285

Holstein, Princess of, 240 note, 242

Hôtel de Bourgogne, its amalgamation with the Théâtre Guénégaud, 84

Hugues de Giversac, d', admirer of Mlle. Clairon, 304

I

_Impromptu de l'hôtel de Condé, l'_, 11

_Impromptu de Versailles_, Molière's, 11, 27, 33, 34, 35

Innocent XII., Pope, 121 note

_Iphigénie en Aulide_, Racine's, 100-102, 116

J

Jal, Auguste, (cited) 8 note

_Journal de Police_, (cited) 217, 218

_Judith_, Boyer's, 114-116

K

Kemble, John, 351

Klinglin, Comte François de, his _liaison_ with Adrienne Lecouvreur, 144, 145

Königsmark, Aurora von (mother of Maurice de Saxe), 169, 170, 174

L

La Chalotais, Marquis de, 158, 163, 164, 168

La Fare, Marquis de, 107

La Fayette, Madame de, 103

La Fontaine, 16, 17 and note, 96, 107;
(cited) 95, 106

La Grange, Charles: _see_ Varlet de la Grange

La Grange-Chancel, 116

La Guérault, Antoine, 89

La Harpe, 324, 325

La Janière, his reports to the Lieutenant of Police on Mlle.
Clairon, 285, 286, 287, 301, 303

Lambert, Marquise de, 158, 160

La Morlière, 313 note

La Motte, Mlle., 251, 252

Lancret, his portraits of Mlle. de Camargo, 221

Lang, Mr. Andrew, (cited) 10

Languet de Gergy (curé of Saint-Sulpice), his conduct in regard to
the burial of Adrienne Lecouvreur, 192, 194

La Noue, 281, 285, 286, 289

La Paute, 101 note

La Popelinière, 287, 302

Laporte, Abbé de, (cited) 93, 94

Larive, 339, 340, 342, 343, 347

Laroque, 93

Larroumet, M. Gustave, 129;
(cited) 4, 15, 18, 19, 22, 29, 43, 44, 48, 49, 54, 62 note,
81, 111, 122, 123, 136, 138, 143, 157, 190

La Thorillière, 97

Lauraguais, Duc de, 289

Lauzun, Comte (afterwards Duc) de, his supposed _liaison_
with Mlle. Molière, 45-47

Lawfeld, Battle of, 244, 245

Le Boulanger de Chalussay, his _Élomire hypocondre_, 13, 14

Le Brun, Père, denounces the theatre, 120 note

Lecouvreur, Adrienne, her attraction for French writers, 129;
her birth and parentage, 130;
comes to Paris, 130;
takes part in a performance, by children, at the hôtel of
Madame du Gué, 131-133;
and at the Temple, 133, 134;
receives lessons from the actor Le Grand, 135, 136;
accepts an engagement at Lille, 136;
her career as a provincial actress, 136, 137;
her portrait by Charles Coypel and Fontaine, 137-139;
her beauty attested by her contemporaries, 139, 140;
possesses a very susceptible nature, 140, 141;
her early love affairs, 141, 142;
her letters to the actor Clavel, 142-144;
her _liaison_ with the Comte de Klinglin, 144, 145;
her children, 145;
her brilliant _début_ at the Comédie-Française, 145;
her natural style of elocution the principal cause of her success, 146-148;
her debt to César du Marsais, 148, 149;
bitterly opposed by the champions of the old school of
declamation, 149-151;
her triumph assured by the support of Baron, 151, 152;
her wonderful by-play, 152;
contemporary criticisms of her acting, 152, 153;
her faults as an actress, 153;
her principal rôles in tragedy, 152, 153;
quarrel between Voltaire and the Chevalier de Rohan in her
dressing-room, 154, 155;
does not excel in comedy, 155;
her costumes, 155-157;
her unique social position, 157-159;
complains of the burden of her social duties, 159, 160;
her favourite occupations, 160, 161;
her reputed lovers, 161;
her relations with Voltaire, 161, 162;
resolved to abjure _la vie passionnelle_, 162, 163;
rejects the advances of La Chalotais, 163, 164;
the object of a violent passion on the part of d'Argental, 164, 165;
her letter to his mother, Madame de Ferriol, 165-168;
becomes the mistress of Maurice de Saxe, 171;
secret of her devotion to him, 172;
disposes of her jewels to assist him in his candidature for
the throne of Courland, 175;
unjustly accused by him of infidelity, 177;
charge against the Duchesse de Bouillon of having attempted
to poison her, 179-188;
her last appearance on the stage, 188-190;
her death, 190;
the question of poison considered, 190, 191;
the scandal of her burial, 191-195;
her _éloge_ written by Voltaire, 195, 196

Le Duc, Mlle., supplants Mlle, de Camargo in the affections of
the Comte de Clermont, 216-218

Ledoux, plays a trick upon Président Lescot, 80-82

Le Grand, 134, 135 and note, 193 note

Le Kain, 156, 292, 313 and note, 330, 336 note

Lemaure, Mlle., 199

Lemontey, 129; (cited) 162, 172, 173

Lenclos, Ninon de, 108-111

Le Roy, Philippe, lover of Adrienne Lecouvreur, 141, 142

Lerys, François Joseph, father of Mlle. Clairon, 276

Le Sage, (cited) 115

Lescot, Président, his adventure with Mlle. Molière, 78-82

Loiseleur, M. Jules, 57;
(cited) 9, 10, 15

Loret, 16

Loo, Jean Baptiste van, 137

Loo, Carle van, 300;
his portrait of Mlle. Clairon, 319 note, 350

Louis XIII., 6, 19

Louis XIV., 12, 27, 64, 84, 114, 206

Louis XV., 338

Louis XVI., 325 note

Löwendal, Maréchal, 231, 247, 265

Lulli, 12, 13, 75, 82

Luxembourg, Duc de, 302

M

_Machabées_, Le Motte's, 123

Maintenon, Madame de, 121 note

_Malade imaginaire_, Molière's, 32, 61-63, 71

_Mariage forcé_, Molière's, 29, 33, 35

_Mariamne_, Voltaire's, 154

Marie Leczinska, Queen of France, 154, 326

Mariette (_danseuse_), 204

Marlborough, Charles Spencer, Duke of, his propositions rejected
by Mlle. Clairon, 287 and note

Markheim, Mr. Gegg, (cited) 53, 54

Marmontel, 269;
his relations with Mlle. Clairon, 307-313;
assists in her apotheosis of Voltaire, 335;
(cited) 243 note, 293 note, 336

Mars, Mlle., 30

Massillon, denounces the theatre, 120

Maugras, M. Gaston, (cited) 120

Maurepas, Comte de, 192

_Maximes et refléxions sur la comédie_, Bossuet's, 119

Mazarin, Cardinal, 68

_Médecin malgré lui_, Molière's, 29, 49

_Médée_, Longpierre's, 116, 300

Meister, Henri, 347

_Mélicerte_, Molière's, 49, 56, 85

Melun, Comte de, carries off Mlle. de Camargo, 208-211

_Mercure de France_, (cited) 24, 148, 152, 153, 155, 288, 301

_Mercure galant_, (cited) 25

Merlin, Père (curé of Saint-Sulpice), refuses ecclesiastical
burial to Molière, 63, 68

Meusnier (police-inspector), 229, 255-256, 257;
(cited) 214, 242, 253, 254, 265

Michelet, 139;
(cited) 137, 138

Mignard, Pierre (painter), 53, 60

_Misanthrope_, Molière's, 29, 31, 33, 37-39, 53, 54, 55, 78

_Mithridate_, Racine's, 99, 100

Modène, Comte de, 5, 6, 7, 9, 18

Modène, Comtesse de, 5 and note, 9

Molé, 292, 330, 337 and note

Molière, his marriage with Armande Béjart, 3;
abominable charge brought against him by Montfleury _père_, 11, 12;
the accusation repeated by Guichard in _Élomire hypocondre_
and in _La Fameuse Comédienne_, 12-15;
question of his relations with Madeleine Béjart considered, 15-20;
becomes the lover of Mlle. de Brie, 17;
allusions to his relations with his wife in his plays, 33-40;
his jealousy, 40;
separated from his wife, 48;
supposed conversation with Chapelle at Auteuil, 49-55;
resumes his _liaison_ with Mlle. de Brie, 55;
but still adores his wife, 55;
reconciled to her, 55, 56;
goes to reside in the Rue de Richelieu, 60;
his health failing, 60, 61;
insists on playing in _Malade imaginaire_, 62;
his death, 62, 63;
refused ecclesiastical burial, 63;
compromise made, 64;
effect of his _Tartuffe_ upon the attitude of the Church
to the theatre, 69, 70;
his funeral, 70-72;
not entirely blameless for his domestic unhappiness, 73, 74;
his genius not fully appreciated by his contemporaries, 83

Molière, Madeleine, 85

Molière, Mlle.: _see_ Béjart, Armande Monaco, Princesse de, 100

Montalant, M. de, marries Madeleine Molière, 85

Montausier, Duc de, 38

Montespan, Madame de, 105, 106, 212

Montfleury, _père_, his abominable charge against Molière, 11,
12, 13, 15, 18, 19, 40

Montfleury, _fils_, 11, 40

Monval, M. Georges, 130, 132, 163;
(cited) 139, 193 and note

_Mort de Pompée, La_, 156

Mounet-Sully, M., 138

Myesses, the Demoiselles, prosecute Favart, 249, 251

N

Nantes, Mlle. de, 212

Navarre, Mlle. (mistress of Maurice de Saxe), 243 note, 307, 308

Necker, Madame, (cited) 270

Nicole, Père, denounces the theatre, 69

Noury, M., (cited) 90, 113

O

_OEdipe_, Voltaire's, 189

Oligny, Mlle. d', 325 and note, 326

Orléans, Gaston, Duc d', 6

Orléans, Duchesse d' (Princess Palatine), 125, 213

Orléans, Regent d', 125, 213

_Orphelin de la Chine_, Voltaire's, 294, 295, 300, 314

P

Paléologue, M. Maurice, (cited) 139, 140, 171, 172

Parabère, Comtesse de, 189 and note

Parfaict, Brothers, 72;
(cited) 25, 95, 111

_Parisien_, Charles de Champmeslé's, 84, 85, 113

Parmentier, 231, 235, 239

Peterborough, Earl of, 161

Peter the Great, Czar of Russia, 145

_Phèdre_, Pradon's, 103-105

_Phèdre et Hippolyte_, Racine's, 102-106, 112, 290, 291, 351

Piron, 158

Poisson, Mlle., (cited) 24, 25

Poisson, Philippe, satirises Adrienne Lecouvreur in _l'Actresse
nouvelle_, 151

_Polyeucte_, Pierre Corneille's, 135, 136

Pompadour, Madame de, 214, 322

Pont-de-Veyle, Marquis de, 158

Préault (sculptor), 138

Préville, 292

Prévost, Mlle, (_danseuse_), gives lessons to Mlle. de Camargo, 200;
intrigues against her, 202, 204;
supplanted by her in the affections of the public, 204-206

_Princesse d' Élide_, Molière's, 28, 29, 45, 46

Prungent (intendant of the Duchess of Brunswick), 161

_Psyché_, 32 and note, 56, 57, 59, 60

Q

Quinault, Jean Baptiste, 135

Quinaults, the, 150 and note

Quinault-Dufresne, 180 note

R

Rachel, Mlle., 30, 129, 156

Racine, Jean, enraptured at Marie de Champmeslé's rendering of Hermione, 94;
gives her lessons in elocution, 94, 95;

makes her his mistress, 95;
his dramatic duel with Pierre Corneille, 96-98;
his _Bajazet_, 98;
his _Mithridate_, 99;
his _Iphigénie en Aulide_, 100-102;
writes his _Phèdre_, 102, 103;
the Duchesse de Bouillon and Madame Deshoulières persuade Pradon
to enter the lists against him, 103;
production of the two _Phèdres_, 104;
discreditable tactics of Madame de Bouillon to ruin his play, 104, 105;
he eventually triumphs, 105;
character of his intimacy with Marie de Champmeslé, 107, 108;
breaks off the connection, 111;
probable reasons for his withdrawal from dramatic authorship, 111,
112 and note;
his letter to his son, Louis Racine, on Mlle. de Champmeslé's death,
122, 123

Racine, Louis, 112 note, 122, 123;
(cited) 94, 96

Régnier, 129;
(cited) 138, 148, 150

Revel, Comte de, 107

Riccoboni, (cited) 147

Riccoboni, Madame, (cited) 338

Richelieu, Abbé de, his supposed _liaison_ with Mlle. Molière, 44, 45, 46

Richelieu, Cardinal de, 58, 266

Richelieu, Duc de, 211, 329, 334, 336

Rieux, Président de, 216, 217, 218

Robinet, (cited) 29, 31, 60

Rohault (physician), 53

Rohan, Cardinal de, 82

Rohan, Chevalier de, his quarrel with Voltaire, 154, 155

Rotrou, Jean, 16

Roucoux, Battle of, 238

Roullé, Père, denounces Molière, 70

S

Sainte-Beuve, 129, 179;
(cited) 146, 190, 242

Saint-René Taillandier, M. de, (cited) 242, 266 note

Saint-Marc (police-inspector), his reports to Berryer, 304-306

Sallé, Mlle., 219

Samson, 351

Saxe, Maurice, Maréchal de, his early life, 169, 170;
comes to Paris, 170;
his character, 170;
becomes the lover of Adrienne Lecouvreur, 171, 172;
her beneficial influence over him, 173;
his candidature for the throne of Courland, 173-176;
returns to Paris, 176, 177;
unjustly accuses Adrienne Lecouvreur of infidelity, 177, 178;
the object of an unrequited passion on the part of the Duchesse de
Bouillon, 179, 180;
present at Adrienne Lecouvreur's death, 191;
unable to prevent the indignity offered to her remains, 194;
invites Favart to accompany him to Flanders, 231;
his entry into Brussels, 232-234;
orders Favart to announce from the stage his intention to engage
the enemy, 236-238;
wins the Battle of Roucoux, 238;
conceives a violent passion for Justine Favart, 240;
his letter to her, 240, 241;
steals Voltaire's verses, 241 and note;
makes Justine his mistress, 242, 243 and note;
discarded by her, 244;
wins the Battle of Lawfeld, 244, 245;
determined to recover his prey, 245;
furious at Justine's escape, 247, 248;
instigates the proprietors of the Brussels Theatre to prosecute
Favart, 249;
compels Justine to return to him, but loses her again, 250, 251;
continues his persecution of her husband, 251, 252;
persuades Justine's father to apply for a _lettre de cachet_
against her, 254;
causes her to be arrested and conveyed to Les Grands-Andelys, 257;
his correspondence with her, 258-262;
compels her to submit to him, 264, 265;
his death, 266 and note;
Marmontel's liberties with his seraglio, 307

Scanapiecq, Marie (mother of Mlle. Clairon), 276-281, 282, 284, 285

Schlegel, August Wilhelm von, (cited) 39, 135

Seine, Mlle., de, 150

Sévigné, Madame de, (cited) 59, 96, 98, 99, 108, 109, 110

Sévigné, Charles de, 107, 108-111

_Sicilien_, Molière's, 49

_Siège de Calais_, De Belloy's, 300, 328-331, 335

Soubise, Prince de, 302

Soulié, Eudore, 9, 15

Sourdis, Marquis de, 211, 212, 218

Sturtz, his letter to Garrick on Mlle. Clairon, 296-299

T

Tallemant des Réaux, 16

_Tancrède_, Voltaire's, 301

_Tartuffe_, Molière's, 29, 65, 70, 155

Taschereau, M., 43 note

Théâtre du Marais, its amalgamation with Molière's troupe, 77, 78

Thiériot, 161

Titon du Tillet, (cited) 72, 158

Tourelle (courtesan), personates Mlle. Molière, 80-81

Tribou (singer), 180 note

Turlupin, 4 and note

V

Valbelle d'Oraison, Comte de, _amant de coeur_ of Mlle. Clairon, 318, 319;
offers to make her his wife and accompany her to Russia, 320;
has a gold medal struck in her honour, 320;
quarrels with her, 341

Varlet de la Grange, Charles, 73, 75, 76 and note, 78

Vestris, Madame, 171 note

Vigée Lebrun, Madame, (cited) 347

Villars, Duchesse de, patronises Mlle. de Camargo, 207

Villeguillon, M. de, 317

Villepinte, M. de, 322, 351

Villeroi, Duchesse de, 332, 337

Voisenon, Abbé de, his relations with Justine Favart, 267;
his _bon mot_ at the first representation of _Les Amours de
Bastien et Bastienne_, 268;
overcomes Justine's unwillingness to renounce the theatre, 271;
(cited) 265

Voltaire, production of his _Mariamne_, 154;
his quarrel with the Chevalier de Rohan, 154, 155;
indebted to Adrienne Lecouvreur for the favourable reception
of his _l'Indiscret_, 155;
his relations with Adrienne Lecouvreur, 161, 162;
present at her death, 191;
demands that an autopsy should be held, 191;
refuses to believe that she was poisoned, 192 note;
endeavours to bring about a revolt at the Comédie-Française, 195;
his poem upon Adrienne's death, 195;
writes her _éloge_, 195, 196;
his verses to Mlles. Camargo and Sallé, 275;
his _Orphelin de la Chine_, 294 and 314 and note;
triumph of Mlle. Dumesnil in his _Mérope_, 176;
success of his _Tancrède_, 301;
his admiration of Mlle. Clairon's acting, 312;
visited by Mlle. Clairon at Ferny, 334, 335;
apotheosised by her and Marmontel, 335 note

W

Walpole, Horace, (cited) 336, 344

Würtemberg, Prince of, sups with Mlle. Gaussin, 306 note

X

Ximenès, Marquis de, lover of Mlle. Clairon, 317;
his love killed by a _bon mot_, 317;
his retort, 318

Z

_Zaïre_, Voltaire's, Mlle. Gaussin's acting in, 275

Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO.

Edinburgh & London

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Their real names were Hugues Guéru, Robert Guérin, and Henri Legrand. Apprenticed to bakers in the Faubourg Saint-Laurent, they deserted their masters to play in a tennis-court near the Estrapade, a machine invented, in the days of François I., for the benefit of heretics. Turlupin usually played a roguish valet, Gros-Guillaume a pedant, and Gaultier-Garguille a supremely stupid old man. They eventually joined the company of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, whose popularity was immensely strengthened by their inclusion.--Hawkins, "Annals of the French Stage," i. 51.

[2] The Civil Lieutenant was, after the Provost of Paris, the first magistrate of the Châtelet; to him belonged, among other functions, the supervision of guardians and trustees of children under age and of _conseils de famille_.

[3] He was a child of seven or eight, and his father's object in inserting his name in the _acte de naissance_ was probably to annoy his unfortunate wife.

[4] This is Jal's conclusion. While compiling his famous _Dictionnaire critique de Biographie et d'Histoire_, he made an exhaustive search of the registers of all the old parishes of Paris--there were sixty-eight--but failed to discover either the _acte de naissance_ of Armande or the death certificate of Joseph Béjart, which two events must have taken place within a few days of each other.

[5] Jal, _Dictionnaire critique de Biographie et d'Histoire_, Article "Béjart."

[6] His real name was Zacharie Jacob. A gentleman by birth, he had been educated for the army and had served the Duc de Guise as page, but his passion for the theatre led him to become an actor. In spite of the ridicule to which he was subjected by Molière, he was an excellent tragedian, and in parts made up of "transports and bursts of rage" much admired. His death, which occurred in 1668, is said to have been caused by over-exertion as Orestes in Racine's _Andromaque_.

[7] _OEuvres complètes de J. Racine_ (_édit. d'Aime-Martin_), vi. 136.

[8] See p. 33, _infra_.