To return to the theatre, I have seen Mlle Mars in the role of Henriette
in the Femmes Savantes of Moliere. Oh! how admirable she is! She realizes
completely the conception of a graceful and elegant Frenchwoman of the
first society. She does not act; she is at home as it were in her own
salon, smiling at the silly pretensions of her sister and at the ridiculous
pedantry of Trissotin; her refusing the kiss because she does not
understand Greek was given with the greatest naivete. In a word Mlle Mars
reigns unrivalled as the first comic actress in Europe.
I have seen too, Les Plaideurs of Racine and Les fourberies de Scapin
of Moliere, both exceedingly well given; particularly the scene in the
latter wherein it is announced to Geronte that his son had fallen into the
hands of a Turkish corsair, and his answer "Que diable allait-il faire dans
la galere?"
I have seen also Andromaque, Iphigenie and Zaire. Mlle Volnais did
the part of Andromaque; but the monotonous plaintiveness of her voice,
which never changes, wearies me. In Iphigenie I was more gratified; for
Mlle Georges did the part of Clytemnestre, and her sister, a young girl of
seventeen, made her debut in the part of Iphigenie with great effect. The
two sisters supported each other wonderfully well, and Lafond did Agamemnon
very respectably.
