The Sun.
London, England, 1846-09-08 00:00:00

THE LATE M. HAREL,

The vicissitudes of a player's life were proverbial,
even before Gold. mith's chaiming narrative of the '
strolling comedian, with which, we presume, no Eng-
lish reader is nnacquainted. Far more interesting, how-
ev• r, would he the details of the hopes and struggles of
the eventful lire, jrnt caee f, of the highly-gifted, but
untortunete, pettier-nen named above. We hope some
pen worthy of the task may, before long, give his me-
moirs to the world; but, in the meantime, the reader
will not be displeased to read the following biographical
sketch of the deceased, which we borrow from a con—
temporary, and which, from his long connexion with
the drama, is not inappropriately placed here:—" M.
Harel, who died about a fertnight ago, was born in
Normandy, in 1790. He was of a- good family , and
was, when very young, made Sub Prefect of Soissons.
On the return of Napoleon fvom Elba, M. Hard,
who was then only twenty-three years of age, was made
Prefect of the department of the Landes, but on the
Restoration he was exiled, and was not permitted to
return to France until the year 1821. M. Harel wrote
successively for the ?Vain Janne, the Mineeve, the Cour-
rier Francais, and the Constitutionnel up to 1827, when
he contracted a heivon with Mlle. Georges, and took an
interest in theatrical affair's. In 1828 he obtained the
privilege for the Odd m Theatre, and in 1832 purchased
the Porte St. Martin Theatre of M. Crosuier. , In this
speculation, notwithstanding occasional successes, he
was a great loser; and at length, all his pecuniary re-
sources being exhausted, he was overwhelmed with debt,
and judgment was obtained against him by 150 creditors.
In order to preseve his personal liberty, without which
he could not carry on the business of his theatre.
he took care never to go out until after sunset,
but the remedy was ineffectual, for the recors
(Anglice, Sheriff's officers), accompanied by the com-
missary of police, frequently found their way into the
theatre during the rehearsals. The danger having
become imminent, M. Hare! had a trap made, near the
prompter's place, and it was so contrived, that by press-
sing a spring with his foot, it would lower, and carry
him with it into the regions below. As soon, therefore,
as one of the myrmidons of the law made his appear-
, ance, M. Hare! pressed the spring, and disappeared. In
vain would he have been searched for in the place to
which he descended: But, in order to prevent any officer
from venturing upon the stage in pursuit of him, he got
a paragraph inserted in the newspapers, stating that
there were traps all over the stage, unknown except
to the performers, and that an unfortunate recors, whilst
pursuing M. Hare!, had fallen through one of them, and
had broken his leg. This was quite sufficient to pre-
vent any attempt being made in that way. In order
that M. Hard might be apprised when any new judg-
ment had been obtained against him, nearly half
the clerks of the huissiers were in his interest, for he
gave them free admissions to his theatre. His per-
sonal liberty being secured, it was next necessary to
prevent a seizure being made at the theatre, for this
would have prevented his bringing out his pieces,
and he was constantly going on, in hopes of a succes.
lie had an ingenious mechanism made, by which all the
dresses, properties, &c., could in an instant be re-
moved from one flight to another. Thus, when an officer
came to effect a seizure, he was shown into an
empty space. On his leaving that to
.proceed to
another part, everything contained in it was
whisked off to the place that he had quitted, and so
on, until the . officer, finding nothing worth seizing,
went away The receipts of the theatre being almost
nominal, M. Hard was about to strike his flag, when
he heard of the arrival of Van Amburg and his lions
at Havre. M. Hard engaged him, and for a time there
was at the Porte St. Martin what the French call a
succes fon. But as the novelty wore off the receipts di-
minished, and some new gay—to use a theatrical term—
was to be tried. It was announced in one of the journals
that a superb lion had been landed at Havre, of such a
ferocious nature, that even Van Amburg would not dare
to undertake the taming of him. Two days afterwards
the same journal stated that Van •Amhurg's pride had
been roused, and that he had set off for Havre to under-
take the task. A third article announced that he had
succeeded, and would appear the following evening, at
the Porte St. Martin, with the new lion. The theatre
was crowded to the ceiling. A fine black lion appeared,
and obeyed all the orders of his master. The shouts
of the audience were tremendous. The lion was only
one of his former menagerie, which had been dyed
black for the purpose. The trick was never found out,
and M. Hare! had a few more good houses on its strength.
It is related of M. Harel, that ong day, when completely
destitute of funds, he went to the Minister of the Inte-
rior, to implore M. Thiers to advance him 10,000 f. M.
Thiers sent out word that he was too busy to receive
him. M. Harel, who was in the cabinet of the Secre-
tary, wrote—" lam a desperate man—l have a brace of
pistols with me, and if you refuse to receive me, I will
blow out my brains here." M. Thiers was alarmed, re-
ceived the applicant, and gave him the 10,000 f. At
length all the expedients of this extraordinary man were
exhausted. He was compelled to give up the theatre,
and went On a strolling expecition into the country with
Mlle. Georges, and a wretched company of tragedians.
lie had, iudeed, previously shown a' desire to
live a more tranquil life, and had written an 'Eulogy
on Voltaire,' for which he obtained the chief prize at
the French Academy, and some theatrical pieces, which
were rather successful. His strolling expedition was a
miserable failure; he returned broken in health and
stricken in spirit, and the curtain finally fell upon his
'strange eventful history' in an asylum for the insane,
when he died at Chatillen, near Paris, in his fifty-sixth
year. Many witty things and clever savings are attri-
buted to M. Harel, and there are many, the credit of
which has been taken by other men, but which were
really his—as, for instance, the remark so long attri-
buted to Talley-rand, that La parole a de' donne a l'homme
pour diguiser sa pensee."
DEER STALKING AND GROUSE