my apprenticeship in paris — portraits — oddities — all sorts of things
to celebrate the arrival of her son, silvia gave a splendid supper to which she had invited all her relatives, and it was a good opportunity for me to make their acquaintance. baletti’s father, who had just recovered from a long illness, was not with us, but we had his father’s sister, who was older than mario. she was known, under her theatrical name of flaminia, in the literary world by several translations, but i had a great wish to make her acquaintance less on that account than in consequence of the story, known throughout italy, of the stay that three literary men of great fame had made in paris. those three literati were the marquis maffei, the abbe conti, and pierre jacques martelli, who became enemies, according to public rumour, owing to the belief entertained by each of them that he possessed the favours of the actress, and, being men of learning, they fought with the pen. martelli composed a satire against maffei, in which he designated him by the anagram of femia.
i had been announced to flaminia as a candidate for literary fame, and she thought she honoured me by addressing me at all, but she was wrong, for she displeased me greatly by her face, her manners, her style, even by the sound of her voice. without saying it positively, she made me understand that, being herself an illustrious member of the republic of letters, she was well aware that she was speaking to an insect. she seemed as if she wanted to dictate to everybody around her, and she very likely thought that she had the right to do so at the age of sixty, particularly towards a young novice only twenty-five years old, who had not yet contributed anything to the literary treasury. in order to please her, i spoke to her of the abbe conti, and i had occasion to quote two lines of that profound writer. madam corrected me with a patronizing air for my pronounciation of the word ‘scevra’, which means divided, saying that it ought to be pronounced ‘sceura’, and she added that i ought to be very glad to have learned so much on the first day of my arrival in paris, telling me that it would be an important day in my life.
“madam, i came here to learn and not to unlearn. you will kindly allow me to tell you that the pronunciation of that word ‘scevra’ with a v, and not ‘sceura’ with a u, because it is a contraction of ‘sceverra’.”
“it remains to be seen which of us is wrong.”
“you, madam, according to ariosto, who makes ‘scevra’ rhyme with ‘persevra’, and the rhyme would be false with ‘sceura’, which is not an italian word.”
she would have kept up the discussion, but her husband, a man eighty years of age, told her that she was wrong. she held her tongue, but from that time she told everybody that i was an impostor.
her husband, louis riccoboni, better known as lelio, was the same who had brought the italian company to paris in 1716, and placed it at the service of the regent: he was a man of great merit. he had been very handsome, and justly enjoyed the esteem of the public, in consequence not only of his talent but also of the purity of his life.
during supper my principal occupation was to study silvia, who then enjoyed the greatest reputation, and i judged her to be even above it. she was then about fifty years old, her figure was elegant, her air noble, her manners graceful and easy; she was affable, witty, kind to everybody, simple and unpretending. her face was an enigma, for it inspired everyone with the warmest sympathy, and yet if you examined it attentively there was not one beautiful feature; she could not be called handsome, but no one could have thought her ugly. yet she was not one of those women who are neither handsome nor ugly, for she possessed a certain something which struck one at first sight and captivated the interest. then what was she?
beautiful, certainly, but owing to charms unknown to all those who, not being attracted towards her by an irresistible feeling which compelled them to love her, had not the courage to study her, or the constancy to obtain a thorough knowledge of her.
silvia was the adoration of france, and her talent was the real support of all the comedies which the greatest authors wrote for her, especially of, the plays of marivaux, for without her his comedies would never have gone to posterity. never was an actress found who could replace her, and to find one it would be necessary that she should unite in herself all the perfections which silvia possessed for the difficult profession of the stage: action, voice, intelligence, wit, countenance, manners, and a deep knowledge of the human heart. in silvia every quality was from nature, and the art which gave the last touch of perfection to her qualities was never seen.
to the qualities which i have just mentioned, silvia added another which surrounded her with a brilliant halo, and the absence of which would not have prevented her from being the shining star of the stage: she led a virtuous life. she had been anxious to have friends, but she had dismissed all lovers, refusing to avail herself of a privilege which she could easily have enjoyed, but which would have rendered her contemptible in her own estimation. the irreproachable conduct obtained for her a reputation of respectability which, at her age, would have been held as ridiculous and even insulting by any other woman belonging to the same profession, and many ladies of the highest rank honoured her with her friendship more even than with their patronage. never did the capricious audience of a parisian pit dare to hiss silvia, not even in her performance of characters which the public disliked, and it was the general opinion that she was in every way above her profession.
silvia did not think that her good conduct was a merit, for she knew that she was virtuous only because her self-love compelled her to be so, and she never exhibited any pride or assumed any superiority towards her theatrical sisters, although, satisfied to shine by their talent or their beauty, they cared little about rendering themselves conspicuous by their virtue. silvia loved them all, and they all loved her; she always was the first to praise, openly and with good faith, the talent of her rivals; but she lost nothing by it, because, being their superior in talent and enjoying a spotless reputation, her rivals could not rise above her.
nature deprived that charming woman of ten year of life; she became consumptive at the age of sixty, ten years after i had made her acquaintance. the climate of paris often proves fatal to our italian actresses. two years before her death i saw her perform the character of marianne in the comedy of marivaux, and in spite of her age and declining health the illusion was complete. she died in my presence, holding her daughter in her arms, and she was giving her the advice of a tender mother five minutes before she breathed her last. she was honourably buried in the church of st. sauveur, without the slightest opposition from the venerable priest, who, far from sharing the anti-christain intolerancy of the clergy in general, said that her profession as an actress had not hindered her from being a good christian, and that the earth was the common mother of all human beings, as jesus christ had been the saviour of all mankind.
you will forgive me, dear reader, if i have made you attend the funeral of silvia ten years before her death; believe me i have no intention of performing a miracle; you may console yourself with the idea that i shall spare you that unpleasant task when poor silvia dies.
her only daughter, the object of her adoration, was seated next to her at the supper-table. she was then only nine years old, and being entirely taken up by her mother i paid no attention to her; my interest in her was to come.
after the supper, which was protracted to a late hour, i repaired to the house of madame quinson, my landlady, where i found myself very comfortable. when i woke in the morning, the said madame quinson came to my room to tell me that a servant was outside and wished to offer me his services. i asked her to send him in, and i saw a man of very small stature; that did not please me, and i told him so.
“my small stature, your honour, will be a guarantee that i shall never borrow your clothes to go to some amorous rendezvous.”
“your name?”
“any name you please.”
“what do you mean? i want the name by which you are known.”
“i have none. every master i serve calls me according to his fancy, and i have served more than fifty in my life. you may call me what you like.”
“but you must have a family name.”
“i never had any family. i had a name, i believe, in my young days, but i have forgotten it since i have been in service. my name has changed with every new master.”
“well! i shall call you esprit.”
“you do me a great honour.”
“here, go and get me change for a louis.”
“i have it, sir.”
“i see you are rich.”
“at your service, sir.”
“where can i enquire about you?”
“at the agency for servants. madame quinson, besides, can answer your enquiries. everybody in paris knows me.”
“that is enough. i shall give you thirty sous a day; you must find your own clothes: you will sleep where you like, and you must be here at seven o’clock every morning.”
baletti called on me and entreated me to take my meals every day at his house. after his visit i told esprit to take me to the palais- royal, and i left him at the gates. i felt the greatest curiosity about that renowned garden, and at first i examined everything. i see a rather fine garden, walks lined with big trees, fountains, high houses all round the garden, a great many men and women walking about, benches here and there forming shops for the sale of newspapers, perfumes, tooth-picks, and other trifles. i see a quantity of chairs for hire at the rate of one sou, men reading the newspaper under the shade of the trees, girls and men breakfasting either alone or in company, waiters who were rapidly going up and down a narrow staircase hidden under the foliage.
i sit down at a small table: a waiter comes immediately to enquire my wishes. i ask for some chocolate made with water; he brings me some, but very bad, although served in a splendid silver-gilt cup. i tell him to give me some coffee, if it is good.
“excellent, i made it myself yesterday.”
“yesterday! i do not want it.”
“the milk is very good.”
“milk! i never drink any. make me a cup of fresh coffee without milk.”
“without milk! well, sir, we never make coffee but in the afternoon. would you like a good bavaroise, or a decanter of orgeat?”
“yes, give me the orgeat.”
i find that beverage delicious, and make up my mind to have it daily for my breakfast. i enquire from the waiter whether there is any news; he answers that the dauphine has been delivered of a prince. an abbe, seated at a table close by, says to him —
“you are mad, she has given birth to a princess.”
a third man comes forward and exclaims —
“i have just returned from versailles, and the dauphine has not been delivered either of a prince or of a princess.”
then, turning towards me, he says that i look like a foreigner, and when i say that i am an italian he begins to speak to me of the court, of the city, of the theatres, and at last he offers to accompany me everywhere. i thank him and take my leave. the abbe rises at the same time, walks with me, and tells me the names of all the women we meet in the garden.
a young man comes up to him, they embrace one another, and the abbe presents him to me as a learned italian scholar. i address him in italian, and he answers very wittily, but his way of speaking makes me smile, and i tell him why. he expressed himself exactly in the style of boccacio. my remark pleases him, but i soon prove to him that it is not the right way to speak, however perfect may have been the language of that ancient writer. in less than a quarter of an hour we are excellent friends, for we find that our tastes are the same.
my new friend was a poet as i was; he was an admirer of italian literature, while i admired the french.
we exchanged addresses, and promise to see one another very often.
i see a crowd in one corner of the garden, everybody standing still and looking up. i enquire from my friend whether there is anything wonderful going on.
“these persons are watching the meridian; everyone holds his watch in his hand in order to regulate it exactly at noon.”
“is there not a meridian everywhere?”
“yes, but the meridian of the palais-royal is the most exact.”
i laugh heartily.
“why do you laugh?”
“because it is impossible for all meridians not to be the same. that is true ‘badauderie’.”
my friend looks at me for a moment, then he laughs likewise, and supplies me with ample food to ridicule the worthy parisians. we leave the palais-royal through the main gate, and i observe another crowd of people before a shop, on the sign-board of which i read “at the sign of the civet cat.”
“what is the matter here?”
“now, indeed, you are going to laugh. all these honest persons are waiting their turn to get their snuff-boxes filled.”
“is there no other dealer in snuff?”
“it is sold everywhere, but for the last three weeks nobody will use any snuff but that sold at the ‘civet cat.’”
“is it better than anywhere else?”
“perhaps it is not as good, but since it has been brought into fashion by the duchesse de chartres, nobody will have any other.”
“but how did she manage to render it so fashionable?”
“simply by stopping her carriage two or three times before the shop to have her snuff-box filled, and by saying aloud to the young girl who handed back the box that her snuff was the very best in paris. the ‘badauds’, who never fail to congregate near the carriage of princes, no matter if they have seen them a hundred times, or if they know them to be as ugly as monkeys, repeated the words of the duchess everywhere, and that was enough to send here all the snuff-takers of the capital in a hurry. this woman will make a fortune, for she sells at least one hundred crowns’ worth of snuff every day.”
“very likely the duchess has no idea of the good she has done.”
“quite the reverse, for it was a cunning artifice on her part. the duchess, feeling interested in the newly-married young woman, and wishing to serve her in a delicate manner, thought of that expedient which has met with complete success. you cannot imagine how kind parisians are. you are now in the only country in the world where wit can make a fortune by selling either a genuine or a false article: in the first case, it receives the welcome of intelligent and talented people, and in the second, fools are always ready to reward it, for silliness is truly a characteristic of the people here, and, however wonderful it may appear, silliness is the daughter of wit. therefore it is not a paradox to say that the french would be wiser if they were less witty.
“the gods worshipped here although no altars are raised for them — are novelty and fashion. let a man run, and everybody will run after him. the crowd will not stop, unless the man is proved to be mad; but to prove it is indeed a difficult task, because we have a crowd of men who, mad from their birth, are still considered wise.
“the snuff of the ‘civet cat’ is but one example of the facility with which the crowd can be attracted to one particular spot. the king was one day hunting, and found himself at the neuilly bridge; being thirsty, he wanted a glass of ratafia. he stopped at the door of a drinking-booth, and by the most lucky chance the poor keeper of the place happened to have a bottle of that liquor. the king, after he had drunk a small glass, fancied a second one, and said that he had never tasted such delicious ratafia in his life. that was enough to give the ratafia of the good man of neuilly the reputation of being the best in europe: the king had said so. the consequence was that the most brilliant society frequented the tavern of the delighted publican, who is now a very wealthy man, and has built on the very spot a splendid house on which can be read the following rather comic motto: ‘ex liquidis solidum,’ which certainly came out of the head of one of the forty immortals. which gods must the worthy tavern-keeper worship? silliness, frivolity, and mirth.”
“it seems to me,” i replied, “that such approval, such ratification of the opinion expressed by the king, the princes of the blood, etc., is rather a proof of the affection felt for them by the nation, for the french carry that affection to such an extent that they believe them infallible.”
“it is certain that everything here causes foreigners to believe that the french people adore the king, but all thinking men here know well enough that there is more show than reality in that adoration, and the court has no confidence in it. when the king comes to paris, everybody calls out, ‘vive le roi!’ because some idle fellow begins, or because some policeman has given the signal from the midst of the crowd, but it is really a cry which has no importance, a cry given out of cheerfulness, sometimes out of fear, and which the king himself does not accept as gospel. he does not feel comfortable in paris, and he prefers being in versailles, surrounded by twenty-five thousand men who protect him against the fury of that same people of paris, who, if ever they became wiser, might very well one day call out, ‘death to the king!’ instead of, ‘long life to the king!’ louis xiv. was well aware of it, and several councillors of the upper chamber lost their lives for having advised the assembling of the states-general in order to find some remedy for the misfortunes of the country. france never had any love for any kings, with the exception of st. louis, of louis xii, and of the great and good henry iv.; and even in the last case the love of the nation was not sufficient to defend the king against the dagger of the jesuits, an accursed race, the enemy of nations as well as of kings. the present king, who is weak and entirely led by his ministers, said candidly at the time he was just recovering from illness, ‘i am surprised at the rejoicings of the people in consequence of my health being restored, for i cannot imagine why they should love me so dearly.’ many kings might repeat the same words, at least if love is to be measured according to the amount of good actually done. that candid remark of louis xv. has been highly praised, but some philosopher of the court ought to have informed him that he was so much loved because he had been surnamed ‘le bien aime’.”
“surname or nickname; but are there any philosophers at the court of france?”
“no, for philosophers and courtiers are as widely different as light and darkness; but there are some men of intelligence who champ the bit from motives of ambition and interest.”
as we were thus conversing, m. patu (such was the name of my new acquaintance) escorted me as far as the door of silvia’s house; he congratulated me upon being one of her friends, and we parted company.
i found the amiable actress in good company. she introduced me to all her guests, and gave me some particulars respecting every one of them. the name of crebillon struck my ear.
“what, sir!” i said to him, “am i fortunate enough to see you? for eight years you have charmed me, for eight years i have longed to know you. listen, i beg ‘of you.”
i then recited the finest passage of his ‘zenobie et rhadamiste’, which i had translated into blank verse. silvia was delighted to see the pleasure enjoyed by crebillon in hearing, at the age of eighty, his own lines in a language which he knew thoroughly and loved as much as his own. he himself recited the same passage in french, and politely pointed out the parts in which he thought that i had improved on the original. i thanked him, but i was not deceived by his compliment.
we sat down to supper, and, being asked what i had already seen in paris, i related everything i had done, omitting only my conversation with patu. after i had spoken for a long time, crebillon, who had evidently observed better than anyone else the road i had chosen in order to learn the good as well as the bad qualities by his countrymen, said to me,
“for the first day, sir, i think that what you have done gives great hopes of you, and without any doubt you will make rapid progress. you tell your story well, and you speak french in such a way as to be perfectly understood; yet all you say is only italian dressed in french. that is a novelty which causes you to be listened to with interest, and which captivates the attention of your audience; i must even add that your franco-italian language is just the thing to enlist in your favour the sympathy of those who listen to you, because it is singular, new, and because you are in a country where everybody worships those two divinities — novelty and singularity. nevertheless, you must begin to-morrow and apply yourself in good earnest, in order to acquire a thorough knowledge of our language, for the same persons who warmly applaud you now, will, in two or three months, laugh at you.”
“i believe it, sir, and that is what i fear; therefore the principal object of my visit here is to devote myself entirely to the study of the french language. but, sir, how shall i find a teacher? i am a very unpleasant pupil, always asking questions, curious, troublesome, insatiable, and even supposing that i could meet with the teacher i require, i am afraid i am not rich enough to pay him.”
“for fifty years, sir, i have been looking out for a pupil such as you have just described yourself, and i would willingly pay you myself if you would come to my house and receive my lessons. i reside in the marais, rue de douze portes. i have the best italian poets. i will make you translate them into french, and you need not be afraid of my finding you insatiable.”
i accepted with joy. i did not know how to express my gratitude, but both his offer and the few words of my answer bore the stamp of truth and frankness.
crebillon was a giant; he was six feet high, and three inches taller than i. he had a good appetite, could tell a good story without laughing, was celebrated for his witty repartees and his sociable manners, but he spent his life at home, seldom going out, and seeing hardly anyone because he always had a pipe in his mouth and was surrounded by at least twenty cats, with which he would amuse himself all day. he had an old housekeeper, a cook, and a man-servant. his housekeeper had the management of everything; she never allowed him to be in need of anything, and she gave no account of his money, which she kept altogether, because he never asked her to render any accounts. the expression of crebillon’s face was that of the lion’s or of the cat’s, which is the same thing. he was one of the royal censors, and he told me that it was an amusement for him. his housekeeper was in the habit of reading him the works brought for his examination, and she would stop reading when she came to a passage which, in her opinion, deserved his censure, but sometimes they were of a different opinion, and then their discussions were truly amusing. i once heard the housekeeper send away an author with these words:
“come again next week; we have had no time to examine your manuscript.”
during a whole year i paid m. crebillon three visits every week, and from him i learned all i know of the french language, but i found it impossible to get rid of my italian idioms. i remark that turn easily enough when i meet with it in other people, but it flows naturally from my pen without my being aware of it. i am satisfied that, whatever i may do, i shall never be able to recognize it any more than i can find out in what consists the bad latin style so constantly alleged against livy.
i composed a stanza of eight verses on some subject which i do not recollect, and i gave it to crebillon, asking him to correct it. he read it attentively, and said to me,
“these eight verses are good and regular, the thought is fine and truly poetical, the style is perfect, and yet the stanza is bad.”
“how so?”
“i do not know. i cannot tell you what is wanting. imagine that you see a man handsome, well made, amiable, witty-in fact, perfect, according to your most severe judgment. a woman comes in, sees him, looks at him, and goes away telling you that the man does not please her. ‘but what fault do you find in him, madam?’ ‘none, only he does not please me.’ you look again at the man, you examine him a second time, and you find that, in order to give him a heavenly voice, he has been deprived of that which constitutes a man, and you are compelled to acknowledge that a spontaneous feeling has stood the woman in good stead.”
it was by that comparison that crebillon explained to me a thing almost inexplicable, for taste and feeling alone can account for a thing which is subject to no rule whatever.
we spoke a great deal of louis xiv., whom crebillon had known well for fifteen years, and he related several very curious anecdotes which were generally unknown. amongst other things he assured me that the siamese ambassadors were cheats paid by madame de maintenon. he told us likewise that he had never finished his tragedy of cromwell, because the king had told him one day not to wear out his pen on a scoundrel.
crebillon mentioned likewise his tragedy of catilina, and he told me that, in his opinion, it was the most deficient of his works, but that he never would have consented, even to make a good tragedy, to represent caesar as a young man, because he would in that case have made the public laugh, as they would do if madea were to appear previous to her acquaintances with jason.
he praised the talent of voltaire very highly, but he accused him of having stolen from him, crebillon, the scene of the senate. he, however, rendered him full justice, saying that he was a true historian, and able to write history as well as tragedies, but that he unfortunately adulterated history by mixing with it such a number of light anecdotes and tales for the sake of rendering it more attractive. according to crebillon, the man with the iron mask was nothing but an idle tale, and he had been assured of it by louis xiv. himself.
on the day of my first meeting with crebillon at silvia’s, ‘cenie’, a play by madame de graffigny, was performed at the italian theatre, and i went away early in order to get a good seat in the pit.
the ladies all covered with diamonds, who were taking possession of the private boxes, engrossed all my interest and all my attention. i wore a very fine suit, but my open ruffles and the buttons all along my coat shewed at once that i was a foreigner, for the fashion was not the same in paris. i was gaping in the air and listlessly looking round, when a gentleman, splendidly dressed, and three times stouter than i, came up and enquired whether i was a foreigner. i answered affirmatively, and he politely asked me how i liked paris. i praised paris very warmly. but at that moment a very stout lady, brilliant with diamonds, entered the box near us. her enormous size astonished me, and, like a fool, i said to the gentleman:
“who is that fat sow?”
“she is the wife of this fat pig.”
“ah! i beg your pardon a thousand times!”
but my stout gentleman cared nothing for my apologies, and very far from being angry he almost choked with laughter. this was the happy result of the practical and natural philosophy which frenchmen cultivate so well, and which insures the happiness of their existence under an appearance of frivolity!
i was confused, i was in despair, but the stout gentleman continued to laugh heartily. at last he left the pit, and a minute afterwards i saw him enter the box and speak to his wife. i was keeping an eye on them without daring to look at them openly, and suddenly the lady, following the example of her husband, burst into a loud laugh. their mirth making me more uncomfortable, i was leaving the pit, when the husband called out to me, “sir! sir!”
“i could not go away without being guilty of impoliteness, and i went up to their box. then, with a serious countenance and with great affability, he begged my pardon for having laughed so much, and very graciously invited me to come to his house and sup with them that same evening. i thanked him politely, saying that i had a previous engagement. but he renewed his entreaties, and his wife pressing me in the most engaging manner i told them, in order to prove that i was not trying to elude their invitation, that i was expected to sup at silvia’s house.
“in that case i am certain,” said the gentleman, “of obtaining your release if you do not object. allow me to go myself to silvia.”
it would have been uncourteous on my part to resist any longer. he left the box and returned almost immediately with my friend baletti, who told me that his mother was delighted to see me making such excellent acquaintances, and that she would expect to see me at dinner the next day. he whispered to me that my new acquaintance was m. de beauchamp, receiver-general of taxes.
as soon as the performance was over, i offered my hand to madame, and we drove to their mansion in a magnificent carriage. there i found the abundance or rather the profusion which in paris is exhibited by the men of finance; numerous society, high play, good cheer, and open cheerfulness. the supper was not over till one o’clock in the morning. madame’s private carriage drove me to my lodgings. that house offered me a kind welcome during the whole of my stay in paris, and i must add that my new friends proved very useful to me. some persons assert that foreigners find the first fortnight in paris very dull, because a little time is necessary to get introduced, but i was fortunate enough to find myself established on as good a footing as i could desire within twenty-four hours, and the consequence was that i felt delighted with paris, and certain that my stay would prove an agreeable one.
the next morning patu called and made me a present of his prose panegyric on the marechal de saxe. we went out together and took a walk in the tuileries, where he introduced me to madame du boccage, who made a good jest in speaking of the marechal de saxe.
“it is singular,” she said, “that we cannot have a ‘de profundis’ for a man who makes us sing the ‘te deum’ so often.”
as we left the tuileries, patu took me to the house of a celebrated actress of the opera, mademoiselle le fel, the favourite of all paris, and member of the royal academy of music. she had three very young and charming children, who were fluttering around her like butterflies.
“i adore them,” she said to me.
“they deserve adoration for their beauty,” i answered, “although they have all a different cast of countenance.”
“no wonder! the eldest is the son of the duke d’anneci, the second of count d’egmont, and the youngest is the offspring of maison-rouge, who has just married the romainville.”
“ah! pray excuse me, i thought you were the mother of the three.”
“you were not mistaken, i am their mother.”
as she said these words she looked at patu, and both burst into hearty laughter which did not make me blush, but which shewed me my blunder.
i was a, novice in paris, and i had not been accustomed to see women encroach upon the privilege which men alone generally enjoy. yet mademoiselle le fel was not a bold-faced woman; she was even rather ladylike, but she was what is called above prejudices. if i had known the manners of the time better, i should have been aware that such things were every-day occurrences, and that the noblemen who thus sprinkled their progeny everywhere were in the habit of leaving their children in the hands of their mothers, who were well paid. the more fruitful, therefore, these ladies were, the greater was their income.
my want of experience often led me into serious blunders, and mademoiselle le fel would, i have no doubt, have laughed at anyone telling her that i had some wit, after the stupid mistake of which i had been guilty.
another day, being at the house of lani, ballet-master of the opera, i saw five or six young girls of thirteen or fourteen years of age accompanied by their mothers, and all exhibiting that air of modesty which is the characteristic of a good education. i addressed a few gallant words to them, and they answered me with down-cast eyes. one of them having complained of the headache, i offered her my smelling- bottle, and one of her companions said to her,
“very likely you did not sleep well last night.”
“oh! it is not that,” answered the modest-looking agnes, “i think i am in the family-way.”
on receiving this unexpected reply from a girl i had taken for a maiden, i said to her,
“i should never have supposed that you were married, madam.”
she looked at me with evident surprise for a moment, then she turned towards her friend, and both began to laugh immoderately. ashamed, but for them more than myself, i left the house with a firm resolution never again to take virtue for granted in a class of women amongst whom it is so scarce. to look for, even to suppose, modesty, amongst the nymphs of the green room, is, indeed, to be very foolish; they pride themselves upon having none, and laugh at those who are simple enough to suppose them better than they are.
thanks to my friend patu, i made the acquaintance of all the women who enjoyed some reputation in paris. he was fond of the fair sex, but unfortunately for him he had not a constitution like mine, and his love of pleasure killed him very early. if he had lived, he would have gone down to posterity in the wake of voltaire, but he paid the debt of nature at the age of thirty.
i learned from him the secret which several young french literati employ in order to make certain of the perfection of their prose, when they want to write anything requiring as perfect a style as they can obtain, such as panegyrics, funeral orations, eulogies, dedications, etc. it was by surprise that i wrested that secret from patu.
being at his house one morning, i observed on his table several sheets of paper covered with dode-casyllabic blank verse.
i read a dozen of them, and i told him that, although the verses were very fine, the reading caused me more pain than pleasure.
“they express the same ideas as the panegyric of the marechal de saxe, but i confess that your prose pleases me a great deal more.”
“my prose would not have pleased you so much, if it had not been at first composed in blank verse.”
“then you take very great trouble for nothing.”
“no trouble at all, for i have not the slightest difficulty in writing that sort of poetry. i write it as easily as prose.”
“do you think that your prose is better when you compose it from your own poetry?”
“no doubt of it, it is much better, and i also secure the advantage that my prose is not full of half verses which flow from the pen of the writer without his being aware of it.”
“is that a fault?”
“a great one and not to be forgiven. prose intermixed with occasional verses is worse than prosaic poetry.”
“is it true that the verses which, like parasites, steal into a funeral oration, must be sadly out of place?”
“certainly. take the example of tacitus, who begins his history of rome by these words: ‘urbem roman a principio reges habuere’. they form a very poor latin hexameter, which the great historian certainly never made on purpose, and which he never remarked when he revised his work, for there is no doubt that, if he had observed it, he would have altered that sentence. are not such verses considered a blemish in italian prose?”
“decidedly. but i must say that a great many poor writers have purposely inserted such verses into their prose, believing that they would make it more euphonious. hence the tawdriness which is justly alleged against much italian literature. but i suppose you are the only writer who takes so much pains.”
“the only one? certainly not. all the authors who can compose blank verses very easily, as i can, employ them when they intend to make a fair copy of their prose. ask crebillon, the abby de voisenon, la harpe, anyone you like, and they will all tell you the same thing. voltaire was the first to have recourse to that art in the small pieces in which his prose is truly charming. for instance, the epistle to madame du chatelet, which is magnificent. read it, and if you find a single hemistich in it i will confess myself in the wrong.”
i felt some curiosity about the matter, and i asked crebillon about it. he told me that fatu was right, but he added that he had never practised that art himself.
patu wished very much to take me to the opera in order to witness the effect produced upon me by the performance, which must truly astonish an italian. ‘les fetes venitiennes’ was the title of the opera which was in vogue just then — a title full of interest for me. we went for our forty sous to the pit, in which, although the audience was standing, the company was excellent, for the opera was the favourite amusement of the parisians.
after a symphony, very fine in its way and executed by an excellent orchestra, the curtain rises, and i see a beautiful scene representing the small st. mark’s square in venice, taken from the island of st. george, but i am shocked to see the ducal palace on my left, and the tall steeple on my right, that is to say the very reverse of reality. i laugh at this ridiculous mistake, and patu, to whom i say why i am laughing, cannot help joining me. the music, very fine although in the ancient style, at first amused me on account of its novelty, but it soon wearied me. the melopaeia fatigued me by its constant and tedious monotony, and by the shrieks given out of season. that melopaeia, of the french replaces — at least they think so — the greek melapaeia and our recitative which they dislike, but which they would admire if they understood italian.
the action of the opera was limited to a day in the carnival, when the venetians are in the habit of promenading masked in st. mark’s square. the stage was animated by gallants, procuresses, and women amusing themselves with all sorts of intrigues. the costumes were whimsical and erroneous, but the whole was amusing. i laughed very heartily, and it was truly a curious sight for a venetian, when i saw the doge followed by twelve councillors appear on the stage, all dressed in the most ludicrous style, and dancing a ‘pas d’ensemble’. suddenly the whole of the pit burst into loud applause at the appearance of a tall, well-made dancer, wearing a mask and an enormous black wig, the hair of which went half-way down his back, and dressed in a robe open in front and reaching to his heels. patu said, almost reverently, “it is the inimitable dupres.” i had heard of him before, and became attentive. i saw that fine figure coming forward with measured steps, and when the dancer had arrived in front of the stage, he raised slowly his rounded arms, stretched them gracefully backward and forward, moved his feet with precision and lightness, took a few small steps, made some battements and pirouettes, and disappeared like a butterfly. the whole had not lasted half a minute. the applause burst from every part of the house. i was astonished, and asked my friend the cause of all those bravos.
“we applaud the grace of dupres and, the divine harmony of his movements. he is now sixty years of age, and those who saw him forty years ago say that he is always the same.”
“what! has he never danced in a different style?”
“he could not have danced in a better one, for his style is perfect, and what can you want above perfection?”
“nothing, unless it be a relative perfection.”
“but here it is absolute. dupres always does the same thing, and everyday we fancy we see it for the first time. such is the power of the good and beautiful, of the true and sublime, which speak to the soul. his dance is true harmony, the real dance, of which you have no idea in italy.”
at the end of the second act, dupres appeared again, still with a mask, and danced to a different tune, but in my opinion doing exactly the same as before. he advanced to the very footlights, and stopped one instant in a graceful attitude. patu wanted to force my admiration, and i gave way. suddenly everyone round me exclaimed —
“look! look! he is developing himself!”
and in reality he was like an elastic body which, in developing itself, would get larger. i made patu very happy by telling him that dupres was truly very graceful in all his movements. immediately after him we had a female dancer, who jumped about like a fury, cutting to right and left, but heavily, yet she was applauded ‘con furore’.
“this is,” said patu, “the famous camargo. i congratulate you, my friend, upon having arrived in paris in time to see her, for she has accomplished her twelfth lustre.”
i confessed that she was a wonderful dancer.
“she is the first artist,” continued my friend, “who has dared to spring and jump on a french stage. none ventured upon doing it before her, and, what is more extraordinary, she does not wear any drawers.”
“i beg your pardon, but i saw. . . . ”
“what? nothing but her skin which, to speak the truth, is not made of lilies and roses.”
“the camargo,” i said, with an air of repentance, “does not please me. i like dupres much better.”
an elderly admirer of camargo, seated on my left, told me that in her youth she could perform the ‘saut de basque’ and even the ‘gargouillade’, and that nobody had ever seen her thighs, although she always danced without drawers.
“but if you never saw her thighs, how do you know that she does not wear silk tights?”
“oh! that is one of those things which can easily be ascertained. i see you are a foreigner, sir.”
“you are right.”
but i was delighted at the french opera, with the rapidity of the scenic changes which are done like lightning, at the signal of a whistle — a thing entirely unknown in italy. i likewise admired the start given to the orchestra by the baton of the leader, but he disgusted me with the movements of his sceptre right and left, as if he thought that he could give life to all the instruments by the mere motion of his arm. i admired also the silence of the audience, a thing truly wonderful to an italian, for it is with great reason that people complain of the noise made in italy while the artists are singing, and ridicule the silence which prevails through the house as soon as the dancers make their appearance on the stage. one would imagine that all the intelligence of the italians is in their eyes. at the same time i must observe that there is not one country in the world in which extravagance and whimsicalness cannot be found, because the foreigner can make comparisons with what he has seen elsewhere, whilst the natives are not conscious of their errors. altogether the opera pleased me, but the french comedy captivated me. there the french are truly in their element; they perform splendidly, in a masterly manner, and other nations cannot refuse them the palm which good taste and justice must award to their superiority. i was in the habit of going there every day, and although sometimes the audience was not composed of two hundred persons, the actors were perfect. i have seen ‘le misanthrope’, ‘l’avare’, ‘tartufe’, ‘le joueur’, ‘le glorieux’, and many other comedies; and, no matter how often i saw them. i always fancied it was the first time. i arrived in paris to admire sarrazin, la dangeville, la dumesnil, la gaussin, la clairon, preville, and several actresses who, having retired from the stage, were living upon their pension, and delighting their circle of friends. i made, amongst others, the acquaintance of the celebrated le vasseur. i visited them all with pleasure, and they related to me several very curious anecdotes. they were generally most kindly disposed in every way.
one evening, being in the box of le vasseur, the performance was composed of a tragedy in which a very handsome actress had the part of a dumb priestess.
“how pretty she is!” i said.
“yes, charming,” answered le vasseur, “she is the daughter of the actor who plays the confidant. she is very pleasant in company, and is an actress of good promise.”
“i should be very happy to make her acquaintance.”
“oh! well; that is not difficult. her father and mother are very worthy people, and they will be delighted if you ask them to invite you to supper. they will not disturb you; they will go to bed early, and will let you talk with their daughter as long as you please. you are in france, sir; here we know the value of life, and try to make the best of it. we love pleasure, and esteem ourselves fortunate when we can find the opportunity of enjoying life.”
“that is truly charming, madam; but how could i be so bold as to invite myself to supper with worthy persons whom i do not know, and who have not the slightest knowledge of me?”
“oh, dear me! what are you saying? we know everybody. you see how i treat you myself. after the performance, i shall be happy to introduce you, and the acquaintance will be made at once.”
“i certainly must ask you to do me that honour, but another time.”
“whenever you like.”
