Of plays we have an illustration of a scene from Voltaire’s tragedy of Brutus, first produced in Paris in 1730, and revived in 1790, the names of the several characters inscribed below the figures.
On another fan, three scenes from Chénier’s play of Charles IX. ou l’École des Rois, which appeared in Paris in 1789. On the reverse, a long quotation from the second scene of the third act.
An adventure of Philippe-Égalité, Duc d’Orléans, provided the subject of several fans. The story is related at length upon a fan which shows the interior of a cottage where the Duke, during a walk near Bency, in January 1786, had stopped to ask for a breakfast. The peasant’s wife was at the point of childbirth, and was actually delivered whilst the unknown prince ‘que la France admire’ ate his frugal meal of bread and cheese. With his natural bonhomie he proposed himself as godfather, and only at the signing of the register he disclosed his identity by exhibiting his ‘cordon-bleu.’
A fan in the Schreiber collection shows the interior of a parish church, with the prince standing as sponsor. The inscription, ‘Couplets dédiés à S.A.S. Monseigneur le Duc d’Orléans.’
‘Admirons son noble courage,
Son Joquet se trouve en danger,
Ce Héros se jette à la nage,
Rien ne lui paroit étranger.
.....
Exaltons le Prince fait homme