From that day Chénier renounced the theatre, although there were rumours of two plays lying waiting to come forth some day from his portfolio, called Tibère and Philippe II.
Ducis succeeded Chénier.
After the death of Beaumarchais—who had written two charming comedies of intrigue and three poor dramas—Ducis became the patriarch of literature.
There was in Rome, under all the popes down to the days of Gregory XVI., who had them removed, a sign over certain surgeon's doors with the inscription—
"Ici on perfectionne les petits garçons."
The reader will understand what that means: parents who desired that their boys should remain beardless, and possess pretty voices, took their children to these establishments, and by a twist of the hand they were ... perfectionnés.
Ducis did to Sophocles and to Shakespeare pretty much what Roman surgeons did to small boys. Those who like smooth chins and sweet voices may prefer the Œdipe-roi, Œdipe à Colone, Hamlet, Macbeth, Roméo and Juliet and Othello of Ducis, to the Œdipus of Sophocles and the Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and Othello of Shakespeare; but we must confess that we like Nature in all her virility, that we think the stronger a man is, the more beautiful he is and that we prefer entire dramas to castrated ones: this being so, whether in the case of small boys or of tragedies, we hold all perfectionnement to be sacrilege. But let us give Ducis his due. He led the way to Sophocles by a poor road, to Shakespeare by a narrow path; but, at all events, he left those guide-posts by the way, which Voltaire had taken such pains to remove. When Voltaire made a veil for Zaire out of Desdemona's handkerchief, he was very careful to obliterate the mark on the linen he stole. This was more than imitation—it was theft.
In the period that elapsed between 1769 and 1795, Ducis produced Hamlet, Œdipe chez Admète, King Lear, Macbeth, Othello and Abufar. This was the condition of the Théâtre-Français, this was the state of French literature, in the year of grace 1802, when Napoleon Bonaparte was First Consul, and Cambacérès and Lebrun were assistant consuls.