[22] Afterwards Dauphin and then the unfortunate Louis XVII.
[23] “Your name?”
“Poppo.”
“Your profession?”
“I play the violin.”
“What did you do in the time of the tyrant?”
“I played the violin.”
“What do you do now?”
“I play the violin.”
“And what shall you do for the nation?”
“I shall play the violin.”
—“Salons d’Autrefois” (de Bassanville).
[24] “Salons d’Autrefois” (Bassanville).
CHAPTER V
The theatre—Raincy—Chantilly—Calonne—Attempt to ruin the reputation of Mme. Le Brun—Two deplorable marriages—Fate of Mme. Chalgrin—Under the shadow of death—Mme. Du Barry.
THE theatre was a passion with Mme. Le Brun, and all the more interesting to her from her friendships with some of the chief actors and actresses, and her acquaintance with most of them, from the great geniuses such as Talma, Mlle. Mars, and Mlle. Clairon to the débutantes like Mlle. Rancourt, whose career she watched with sympathetic interest. For Mme. Dugazon, sister of Mme. Vestris and aunt of the famous dancer Vestris, she had an unmixed admiration; she was a gifted artist and a Royalist heart and soul. One evening when Mme. Dugazon was playing a soubrette, in which part came a duet with a valet, who sang:
“J’aime mon maître tendrement,”