Nuancer tous ses tons, varier sa figure, Molé pronounced her eulogium at the Lycée des Arts in 1794, and her bust was crowned in the October following. Fleury hoped, in the year 1771, under the auspices of Lekain, to become a member of the Comèdie Française, but Bellecourt, Molé, and Monvel, the three reigning artistes of the day, opposed it, and he was obliged to go to Lyons, to take up an engagement there, at the theatre of which Madame Lobreau was manager. This lady had been deprived of her situation by means of an intrigue got up by some of her enemies with an under-secretary of the famous Turgot. A douceur of 8000 livres perjannum was promised to the understrapper to complete the job; but Louis XVI., to whom the queen represented the matter, dismissed his minister, and reinstated the lady-manager. The celebrated Malesherbes resigned at the same time, on account of the dismissal of his friend. The first part acted by Fleury on the boards of the Theatre Français was the character of Egysthe in "Mérope." He felt when he came on the stage perfectly confounded and bewildered, until Mdlle. Dumesnil, who played along with him, suggested the opening words of his part, when he went on smoothly. She afterwards gave him a bottle of bouillon de poulet, (chicken broth), mixed with some wine, (her usual beverage) to keep up his nerves and spirits. Bellecourt was, at this time, one of the leading comic actors. He had succeeded Grandval, and being patronised by M.de Richelieu, endeavoured to rival Lekain, but felt himself obliged to give up the trial. With a handsome person, he became a correct and pleasing, though never a brilliant, actor, and could dance a minuet in almost faultless style. He was old, and about to retire, and to him Fleury hoped to succeed. Molé proved a very difficult model to imitate; he had a hesitation in his specchi, and an unpleasing delivery; yet he continued to be the idol of the public, and an especial favorite with the ladies, who flocked at one time to his house in such numbers, when he lay ill, that the street was crammed with emblazoned carriages. Louis XV. himself sent twice to enquire after his health, because M. Dubarry favored him. Monvel was diminutive without dignity, his voice harsh and very thin, yet he rose very nearly to the height of Lekain in tragedy. Preville was an universal actor; he had originally run away from his father's house, became an apprentice to a mason, afterwards a clerk to a notary, and finally, through admiration for the acting of Poisson, took to the stage, on which he shone for many years. Lekain, a great friend to Fleury, is represented by Mdlle. Clairon, in her memoirs, to have been very plain in face and figure, vulgar in his manners in private, and somewhat ungainly; he was, however, the great tragic performer of the age. On the 3rd February, 1778, he appeared at the Theatre Francais, in "Vendome," which character he performed to perfection. At this time he lived with a very intimate friend, Madame Benôit. Another lady, with whom he formerly had had a liaison, was present in the theatre that evening, and thrown into raptures by the action of the player. Madame Benôit conceived some jealousy on account of this, and received the actor on his return with a storm of tears. The consequence was that he got a fit, which carried him off in a few hours, in his 49th year. Voltaire came to Paris the very day on which Lekain was buried, after an absence of twenty-seven years, to see his own tragedy of Irène" performed. The death of the principal supporter of it, in whom he relied, affected the Philosopher of Ferney so much, that he is said to have fainted. was, however, consoled shortly after, at the fifth representation of the play, by his bust being produced on the stage and crowned by the actors, amid a burst of enthusiasm from the audience. He Molé had taken some unfortunate dislike to M. Fleury, and prevented for a long time his being admitted as a sociétaire of the Theatre Français. At length this was arranged by Madame Campan, by introducing Fleury to Marie Antoinette, who commanded his reception. The first effect of this success was that he had a duel with Dugazon, each new actor being obliged to serve his noviciate in the sword exercise, before he was acknowledged to be worthy of the troupe. The two became at once great friends. The green-room at the Theatre Français became the resort of all the élite of men of letters of the day, among the rest Beaumarchais and Goldoni. Two actresses, Mdlle. Sainval and Madame Vestris, were rivals, and divided com pletely adverse parties in the capital. The former had some intimacy with the Duke de Duras, who wrote her some letters privately, supporting her claims. She was injudicious enough to publish those; the Duke de Duras became so indignant at the disclosures that he used his influence at court, and had the fair offender sent into exile at Clermont in Beauvoisin, a species of punishment reserved for disgraced ministers. She was degraded from her place as sociétaire and forbidden to act in the provinces. Her sister having been appointed to play in her stead, when she appeared in the piece of "Tancrède" the audience became so enthusiastic, that she was borne off the stage in a state of insensibility. The pit raised a shout for "Les deux Sainval," which the guards could not quell. Marie Antoinette conceived the project of getting a wife for Fleury. She proposed Mdlle. Racecourt, to whom the actor politely objected. This lady, when seventeen years of age, had been so aspersed in her character by a letter of Voltaire, that she fell into a life of great expense, and, getting into debt to the extent of 100,000 crowns, was obliged to fly into the Netherlands. Subsequently the queen insisted on her being received again into the theatre, paid her debts, and wished her to marry Fleury; she, however, relieved him, by running away with the Prince d'Hénin. At this time Bellecour died, and Fleury succeeded to his position in the company. Private theatricals now became very much in fashion at the court, without the knowledge or approval of the king. The Comte de Provence, and the Comte d'Artois, afterwards Louis XVIII., and Charles X., used to perform at them, but privately, and behind a screen, so that if any person not initiated happened to come in, the scene was closed by a sliding panel, and the company began to play at battledoor and shuttlecock. Marie Antoinette at length obtained. the consent of the king to these representations. He even attended the rehearsals, but objected to the kissing scenes, and coughed loudly to prevent any repetition of them. The queen's appearance is very well described as follows: "Her eyes, though not large, had a power of expression which rendered them a perfect index of her mind. Her skin was delicately fair, and the contour of her neck and shoulders exquisitely formed. Her mouth, though stamped with that peculiarity which has been termed the Austrian lip, was exceedingly pretty, and had that pouting expression which was peculiarly appropriate in many of the characters she personated. In "Blaize et Babet," for example, nothing could be more charming than her manner of half-reciting, half-singing, the following lines: Le soir on dansa sur l'herbette, Blaise et moi nous dansions tous deux; Qui vint se mêler à nos jeux.'" The Comédie Italienne now became a rival of the Comédie Française, throwing overboard its own language, and bringing forward farces in the vernacular. This caused a counteracting influence by the latter company, in which Fleury was ably assisted by Mdlle. Contat, a pupil of Préville. She had been received into the Theatre Français at a very early age, and played Suzanne in Beaumarchais' "Marriage of Figaro" with great effect. Marivaux's plays, to which she gave some vogue, suited her exceedingly well until her person attained too much enbonpoint for the petit jeu of these pieces. Marie Antoinette ordered suddenly the comedy of "La Gouvernante," of which the actress knew not one single line; she was obliged to learn off 500 verses in the short space of twenty-four hours, and performed her part in first-rate style. The occasion suggested to her the following witty saying, "J'ignorais où était le siége de la a mémoire, je sais à present qui'il est dans le cœur." She died in 1813, of cancer, having become a perfect saint at the end of her life. It might be well to notice here the different migrations which the French comedy underwent from the time of Molière. His troupe was at first stationed in 1658, by a grant of Louis XIV., at the Petit Bourbon, near the Louvre, and, two years after, went to the theatre of the Palais Royal, which had been erected by Richelieu in 1634, for the use of Rotrou and Pierre Corneille. The death of the great dramatist sent his company to wander, first to the Rue Guénégaud, next to the Rue des Fossés St. Germain, and to the Tuilleries, where they were in 1770. Twelve years afterwards the "Odéon" began to be built, and they established themselves in it, under the name of the Theatre Français. Again they changed to the Theatre de la Nation in 1790, and finally the present Theatre Français, built in 1787, was ceded to them in 1799, where they have remained since, sometimes under the appellation of "Theatre de la Republique," and sometimes simply called, "la Comédie Française." An allowance for its support has been made by the state of 200,000 francs a year, under the superintendance of a royal or imperial commissioner. We have before noticed the difference of sociétaires and pensionaires, besides which it would seem that there are now élèves, or pupils, who bind themselves to the theatre, which has a right to their services, to the exclusion of any other stage within the confines of France. Mdlle. Rachel, who, it is believed, became a pupil of the institution,at one time resisted this ordinance very strenuously, but was obliged to fly to England or America, in order to make use of her talent outside the theatre. When the company transferred themselves to the new theatre of the "Odéon" in 1782, it was considered a great innovation to provide seats in the pit. La Harpe, the famous critic, shewed himself one of the most strenuous advocates for these, on the ground that no first performance had a chance with a standing pit, liable to cabal at any moment, and enough to mar the success of any piece. He brought out at the new theatre, with unexampled success, a piece entitled, "Molière à la nouvelle salle," and fell in love with a young lady, Mdlle. Cléophile, a third-rate dancer at the opera, because she applauded it. La ilarpe was, however, generally disliked; his segregious vanity rendered him generally ridiculous. A witty writer of the day made the following epigram upon him:- "Si vous voudrez faire bientôt, Une fortune immense autant que légitime, Et le vendre ce qu'il s estime." Dugazon endeavoured now to negotiate a marriage for his friend. The object was a Mdlle. Luzi, who had retired from the stage at fifty years of age, with a moderate fortune of 18,000 francs per annum, and turned devotee. Fleury, however, after a few visits, broke off the connexion, saying "that it was infinitely easier to become a martyr than a saint." He afterwards gained further promotion as a senior associate in the company by the departure of Monvel for Stockholm, at the instance of the court of Sweden. |