There are also other confidantes, whom it is not worth while to mention.
I shall conclude this account of the tragedians belonging to the Théâtre Français, by observing that the revolution is said to have given a new turn to the mind and character of the French women; and the success which several actresses, at this day obtain in the dramatic career, in the line of tragedy, is quoted in support of this opinion. For a number of years past, as has been seen, Melpomene seemed to have placed the diadem on the head of Mademoiselle RAUCOURT, and this tragic queen would probably have grown gray under the garments of royalty, had not the revolution imparted to her sex a degree of energy sufficient for them to dispute her empire. Women here have seen so many instances of cruelty, during the last ten or twelve years, they have participated, in a manner more or less direct, in an order of things so replete with tragical events, that those among them who feel a penchant for the stage, find themselves, in consequence, disposed to figure in tragedy.[[10]]
[Footnote 1]: Fénélon is no longer performed. It is a very bad tragedy by Chénier. [Return to text]
[Footnote 2]: There are players members of the National Institute. MONVEL belongs to the Class of Literature and the Fine Arts. [Return to text]
[Footnote 3]: Notwithstanding the ill effects likely to result from such doctrine, far more dangerous to society than the poniards of a host of assassins, it appears that, when those actors called terrorists, or partisans of terror, were hunted down, MONVEL was not molested. [Return to text]
[Footnote 4]: There are a great many enthusiastic admirers of his talent. [Return to text]
[Footnote 5]: It is really to TALMA that the French are indebted for the exact truth of costume which is at this day to be admired on the theatres of Paris, especially in new pieces. An inhabitant of a country the most remote might believe himself in his native land; and were an ancient Greek or Roman to come to life again, he might imagine that the fashion of his day had experienced no alteration. [Return to text]
[Footnote 6]: The subject of it is the massacre of St. Bartholomew's day. [Return to text]
[Footnote 7]: He wears his hair cut short, and without powder. [Return to text]
[Footnote 8]: One evening at the opera, M. DE DURAS authoritatively took possession of a box hired for the night by another person. The latter, dreading his power, but at the same time desirous to stigmatize him, said: "'Tis not he who took Minorca, 'tis not he who took this place nor that, the man of whom I complain, never took any thing in his life but my box at the opera!" [Return to text]