The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-07 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Memoirs of Rachel. By Madame de B--. 2
vole Hurst and Blackett.
No sooner has the grave closed over one emi-
nent in any public career, whether sovereign,
statesman, author, artist, or actor, than his life
and character become the acknowledged inheritance
of the biographer and the critic. We have before
expressed an opinion that this system is open to
grave objections—that it trenches too much on the
sacredness of private life—that it exposes the pe-
culiaritles of the departed to an analysis which can
scarcely fail to be painful to their surviving friends,
and subjects them to a scrutiny which has not
the individual accuracy of a contemporary, nor
the calm judgment of a subsequent time. We must
acknowledge that the book before us is, in some de-
gree, exempt from many of these objections. The
private life of Madlle. Rachel, excepting her busi-
ness connections with her immediate family, is left
almost untouched, the authoress announcing in
the preface her conviction that to enter into per-
sonal details would be au unwarrantable intrusion.
" Whatever could convey an idea of her character,
temper, or inclinations, all that had connection
with her dramatic talent, we were bound to re-
cord ; further, we bad nothing to add from the
garrulous chronique scandaleuse of the day." The
ready appreciation which the great tragedienne
always met with in this country, the cordial recep-
tion and crowded houses that attended her,
even when the stately French classic tragedy
was the only entertainment, prove how high her
reputation in the highest line of dramatic art ranked
amongst us Those who have seen her waking the
stone to life, by her impassioned personation of the
heroines of Corneille and Racine, giving animation
to the long speeches to the confidante; and variety
to the self same scene, will feel some curiosity to
trace the early career of the gifted actress, to know
how her abilities first attracted attention, and what
encouragement or impediment encountered the de-
velopment of her powers. This earlier portion of
her career the authoress has given at length, tell-
ing us not only of her original poverty and the ob-
stacles she met with, but of the difficulties that she
had to surmount after her gaining some reputation
on the stage, of her natural deficiences, and of the
harsh criticisms and severe judgments that some-
times fell to her lot. Madame B— says, with
truth, that no young aspirant to dramatic fame
need despair when they read of Rachel's early
struggles. She was the child of very poor parents,
and one of a large family. After many years' wan-
dering they established themselves in Lyons, where
the father gave lessons in German and the mother
opened an old clothes shop, while Sarah, the
eldest child, who had a fine voice, went about
to the different eaf•Ss singing, with her younger
sister Rachel, who collected the halfpence,
often trundling on a barrow the youngest little one.
Having accidentally made a fortunate acquaintance,
the children obtained an introduction to M. St.
Aulaire, the manager of the Salle Genard, where
pupils were received gratuitously. Her appear-
ance was mean, and her voice harsh and gruff, but
her inetructors recognised the existence of native
power. All, however, were not discerning enough
to do so. Among these were M. Provost.
"On the following Saturday Provost heard her re-
peat her part, and, according to custom, was exceedingly
harsh and violent with her. This was, in fact, his mer—
rier with all his pupils. He entered so completely into
the spirit of the part, that he did not pause to consider
that all were not imbued with his conception of it, and
in consequence of this arbitrary view any deviation was
visited with merciless severity. Rachel was snubbed,
scolded and brow-beaten like the rest, with the addi-
tional comment that she had the voice of a coster-
monger. 'Go child, go se:l bouquets ; that's all you
will ever be fit for,' was the cumin-Ling finale of the
professor's lecture.
" Some mouths after this stormy lesson, the derided
pupil had an opportunity to remind the false prophet of
his disheartening predictions. She had played, Her-
miens' to an enteusiaetic public and been greeted with
a shower of bouquets. When the curtain fell, gather
ing her trophies in the skirt of her Grecian tunic, she
approched Provost, who was behind the scenes, and
kneeling with mock humility, said
" Sir, you once advised me to sell bouqucti ; will you
now be my first customer.'
" Provost gracefully adrnitled his error, adding that
none could rejoice more sincerely than himself iu the
falseness of his prophecy."
In answer to those critics who assert that Rachel
was but an echo of her professors, and that the
merit of her success was theirs, the authoress ob-
serves, with truth, that were this the case she
would not stand alone on the height to which she
has risen, for many have been instructed by the
same masters, but we have witnessed but one
Rachel. While recounting the varying successes
of her different debuts, the authote,s gives us copi-
ous extracts from the rival cri.ics of the day. The
work would have been far better as a biography if
all such extraneous matters had been omitted, and
the book condensed into ono volume. There is a
great deal that is quite superfluous, such as a
lengthy analysis of characters, in which she never
attained celebrity, the plots of indifferent plays,
the memoirs of rival artistes, repetitions and
descriptions that are quite unnecessary.
We must also differ from the writer on another
point-. She has pourtra yed the great
actress in very unplt asiog colours. She may,
however, be justified in so doing, but where a story
is manifestly to the disadvantage of her subject, and
she cannot vouch for its accuracy, it should be sup-
pressed. However piquant or amusing the anec-
dote, it is not fair to give it at length, leaving on
the reader's mind an injurious impression which
may be without foundation. Those who can-
not defend themselves have the right to the
benefit of the doubt. The various fluctuations of
Mdde. Rachel's theatrical career, the countries she
visited and her receptions, the criticism, and cen-
sures of the learned, the constant disputes and
bickerine into which her love of gold led her, are
all chronicled at length. We are also shown her
more aimiable attributes, such as her filial rever-
ence, her readiness to assist her family, and her
love for her sister Rebecca. The following passage
explains the scope of the work itself, and pleads
the cause of the actress
" Three-fearthe of the following pages were written
during the life of the celebrated woman whose career
constitutes their subject. As the work drew to a close
the tomb opened to receive her, who for eighteen years,
bad been the pride of the French stage. But the event
that has cast so deep a
gloom over the prospects of
classic art, depriving it of its sole support, ran make ro
difference in a work in which neither posthumous flat-
tery nor detraetiun find a place. Even the truth due to
the dead should bespoken within certain limits. When the
faults and errors of one who attained so high a rank as an
artist-, are tiumpeted by the tongue of malice, or
hinted at by the censcienteus biographer, the reader
must bear in mind the sphere in which she was born and
passed her early youth, the intoxicating influence of
unexpected ferns and opulence, the bewil lering effect of
the sudden transition from the society of the low, the
ignorant and the vulgar, to that of the most high-bred,
educated, and aristocratic of the land, the satiety and
' weariness that the prompt fulfil-nent of every wish soon
brought with it, the nervously irritable and constitution-
ally frail organisation of the being who was constantly
called upon to personify the most violent and wearying
passions; let us not then wonder that her aspirations
towards the good and beautiful were often followed by
no resu:ts, that the creature SO richly endowed by pro-
digal nature, so powerfully sustained by fortune, should
not have been uniformly great,
and that blemishes should
have darkened her finest traits.
"Yet with all Ler impeifectione, it will be long ere
the world shall see another Rachel, the stage another
tragedienne uniting her genius, her intuitive conception
of the sublime and the beautiful, her extraordinary
power of expressing whatiehe no perfectly conceived, her
grand Pagan qualities, her Greek statue-like figure, her
majesty of brow and attitude, her
quiet dignity of man
ner. -
The lovers of art have sustained an irreparable
loss and mournfully exclaim :
, g There's a great spirit gone
" We have followed Rachel more especially in her
professional career, without, however,
omitting the
more arduous task of speaking of her, as the woman
in her social sphere---adelicate
subject at all t Ines,
eines it necessitates the invasion of the sanctuary of
private life, revealing its mysteries to a prying public—
but more especially so in the present case.
" We have endeavoured to fulfil this task so far as it
was consistent with the duty of biography to record the
words and actions of its subject. tut there are grounds
it is not our province to touch upon--.grounds that are
beyond the limits of even the morbid curiosity that
eagerly seeks in every great work that issues from the
Divine Hand the 43
ontamina ng touch of the spirit of
,
evil—grounds where the truth is too obsure to be die-
tinguished from
fiction, and where, even if known, it
would afford no bet'er clue to character, would convey
no lesson, prevent ro fall.
Though the mere title. of the book. will be sufficient to
circulation,
ensure it a ready would have
it 'seen
far more agreeable to the
i reader as well as more
creditable to the writer had there been more con-
ciseness, more point ive. It would have
given it an animati,n
end a spirit, which it needs.
That life Inuit indeed be s.ngivaily r.tf tl wlinse
public records `Tee
deep fill two nueli volumes.
deep interest felt in the life of so great a dra-
teatic genius, and the regret generally felt for one
whose career was closed so early, will, without
doubt, secure for these volumes a large and culti-
vated circle of readers.