Mademoiselle Mars, who was of a much wider discernment in her art than Joanny, was uniformly excellent; once she was sublime, namely, where, springing up on her bed, she exclaims, giving the lie in advance to Iago's accusation—
"He will not say so."
I am writing all this from memory, as will be readily guessed, so I quote only the parts that stand out most clearly in my mind, after an interval of twenty-two years. I may therefore be pardoned for not quoting more than these two instances.
Well, the strange part of the situation was that the Liberal papers, those which cried up movement and progress in politics, were the reactionaries in literature; while the Royalist papers, those which took the side of stagnation and conservatism in politics, were the revolutionaries in literature. It was still more difficult to comprehend if one did not know that the Constitutionnel, the Courrier français and the Pandore were edited by MM. Jay, Jouy, Arnault, Étienne, Viennet, etc., whilst the Quotidienne, the Drapeau blanc and the Foudre were under the management of Merle, Théaulon, Brisset, Martainville, Lassagne, Nodier and Mély-Jeannin. The one set worked for the Théâtre-Français and, having usurped the position, meant to keep it; the others, in general, had only worked for the boulevard theatres, and these were eager to have a breach made in the classical ramparts to give access to themselves. Merle was, besides, the husband of Madame Dorval, whose talent was just beginning to make a sensation and who had created with incontestable success the rôles of Amélie in Trente Ans ou la Vie d'un Joueur and of Charlotte Corday in Sept Heures, also of Louise in l'Incendiaire. We need not mention the part of Héléna in Marino Faliero, for the part was poor and Madame Dorval was not able to transform a bad part into a good one.
I have mentioned that the rehearsals of Christine had begun. Let us leave them to pursue their course and take a peep into the world of city-life, which we have deserted for a very long time for the world of the stage. Whilst changing scenes, we will nevertheless conduct our reader to the house of a comedian who was worth quite as much attention as the actors we are leaving. Furthermore, he was not among those who for fifty years had been playing the less conspicuous parts in the great drama which had attracted all attention and occupied all minds, during the conclusion of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century. Let us reveal the fact that we are about to speak of Paul-François-Jean-Nicodème, Comte de Barras.
[CHAPTER XIV]
Citizen-general Barras—Doctor Cabarrus introduces me to him—Barras's only two regrets—His dinners—The Princess de Chimay's footman—Fauche-Borel—The Duc de Bordeaux makes a mess—History lesson given to an ambassador—Walter Scott and Barras—The last happiness of the old directeur—His death