CHAPTER VIII

Thermometer of Social Crises--Interview with M. Thiers--His intentions with regard to the Théâtre-Français--Our conventions--_Antony_ comes back to the rue de Richelieu--_The Constitutionnel_--Its leader against Romanticism in general, and against my drama in particular--Morality of the ancient theatre--Parallel between the Théâtre-Français and that of the Porte-Saint-Martin--First suspension of _Antony_

The last chapter ended with these words: "And the suspension of _Antony."_ What suspension? my reader may, perhaps, ask: that ordered by M. Thiers? or the one confirmed by M. Duchâtel? or that which M. de Persigny had just ordered? _Antony_, as M. Lesur aptly put it, is an abnormal being--_un monstre_; it was created in one of those crises of extravagant emotion which ensue after revolutions, when that moral institution called the censorship had not yet had time to be settled and in working order; so that whenever society was being shaken to its foundations, _Antony_ was played; but directly society was settled, and stocks went up and morality triumphed, _Antony_ was suppressed. I had taken advantage of the moment when society was topsy-turvy to get _Antony_ put on the stage, as I was wise; for, if I had not done so, the moral government which was crucified between the Cubières trial and the Praslin assassination would, most certainly, never have allowed the representation.

But _Antony_ had been played thirty times; _Antony_ had acclimatised itself; it had made its mark and done its worst, and there did not seem to be any reason to be anxious, until M. Thiers summoned me one morning to the Home Office. M. Thiers is a delightful man; I have known few more agreeable talkers and few listeners as intelligent. We had seen each other many times, and, furthermore, he and I understood one another, because "he was he and I was I."

"My dear poet," he said to me, "have you noticed something?"

"What, my dear historian?"

"That the Théâtre-Français is going to the devil?"

"Surely that is no news?"

"No, I mention it merely as a misfortune."

"Pooh!..."

"What do you advise in the case of the Théâtre-Français?"

"What one applies to an old structure--a pontoon."

"Good! Do you believe, then, that it can no longer stand against the sea?"

"Oh! certainly, with a new keel, new sails and a different gear."

"Exactly my own opinion: it reminds me of the horse which, in his madness, Roland dragged by the bridle; it had all the attributes of a horse, only, all these attributes were useless on account of one small misfortune: it was dead!"

"Precisely the case."

"Well, Hugo and you have been very successful at the Porte-Saint-Martin; and I want to do at the Théâtre-Français what they have done at the Musée: to open it on Sunday to enable people to come there to see and study the works of dead authors, and to reserve all the rest of the week for living authors and for Hugo and you specially."

"Well, my dear historian, that is the first time I have heard a Home Minister say anything sensible upon a question of art. Let me note the time of day and the date of the month, I must keep it by me ... 15 March 1834, at seven a.m."

"Now, what would you want for a comedy, a tragedy, or a drama of five acts at the Théâtre-Français?"

"I should first of all need actors who can act drama: Madame Dorval, Bocage, Frédérick."

"You cannot have everything at once. I will allow you Madame Dorval; the others must come afterwards."

"All right! that is something at all events ... Then I must have some reparation in respect of _Antony._ Therefore I desire that Madame Dorval shall resume her rôle of Adèle."

"Granted ... what else?"

"That is all."

"Oh, you must give us a fresh piece."

"In three months' time."

"On what terms?"

"Why on the usual terms."

"There I join issue: they will give you five thousand francs down!"

"Ah! five thousand francs!"

"Well, I will approach Jouslin de la Salle ... and you shall approach Madame Dorval: only, tell her to be reasonable."

"Oh! never fear! to act at the Français and to play _Antony_ there, she would make any sacrifices ... Then, it is settled?"

"Yes."

"Let us repeat the terms."

"Very good."

"Hugo and I are to enter the Théâtre-Français by a breach, as did M. de Richelieu's litter."

"Exactly."

"We are each to write two pieces a year...?"

"Agreed."

"Dorval is engaged? Bocage and Frédérick shall be later?"

"Granted."

"And Dorval shall make her début in _Antony?_"

"She shall have that specified in her agreement."

"Excellent!... Here's to the first night of the revival of that immoral play!"

"To-day I will engage my box in order to secure a place."

We parted and I ran to Madame Dorval's house to announce this good news. She had not been re-engaged at the Porte-Saint-Martin; she was, therefore, free and could go to the Théâtre-Français without delay. The following day she received a call from Jouslin de la Salle. The terms did not take long to discuss; for, as I had said, to be engaged at the Théâtre-Français, and to play _Antony_ there, Dorval would have engaged herself for nothing. The rehearsals began immediately. I had signed my contract with the manager, and it was specified in this contract that, by order of the government, _Antony_ was revived at the Comédie-Française, and that Dorval was to make her début in that drama. _Antony_ re-appeared on the bills in the rue de Richelieu; and, this time, the odds were a hundred to one that it would be performed, since it was to re-appear under Government commands. The bill announced the piece and Dorval's appearance for 28 April 1834. But we were reckoning without _The Constitutionnel._ That paper had an old grudge against me, concerning which I did not trouble myself much: I thought it could no longer bite. I was the first who had dared,--in this very _Antony_,--to attack its omnipotence.

It will be remembered that, in _Antony_, there is a stout gentleman, who, no matter what was said to him, invariably answered, "Nevertheless, monsieur, _The Constitutionnel .._" without ever giving any other reason. Moëssard acted this stout gentleman. That was not all. A piece called _la Tour de Babel_ had been produced at the Variétés. The scene that was the cause of scandal in that play was the one where subscription to _The Constitutionnel_ is discontinued, which they naturally laid at my door, on account of my well-known dislike of that journal. I had not denied it, and I was, if not the actual father, at least the putative sire.

On the morning of 28 April 1834, as I had just done distributing my tickets for the performance that night, my son, who had just turned ten, came to me with a number of _The Constitutionnel_ in his hands. He had been sent to me by Goubaux, with whom he was at school, and who cried out to me, like Assas, _A vous! c'est l'ennemi!_ "To arms! the enemy is upon you!" I unfolded the estimable paper and read,--in the leading article if you please,--the following words. A literary event was thus considered as important as a political one.

"PARIS, 28 _April_ 1834

"The Théâtre-Français is subsidised by the State Budget to the amount of two hundred thousand francs. It is a considerable sum; but, if we reflect upon the influence which that theatre must exercise, in the interests of society, in the matter of taste and manners, and its influence on good dramatic literature, the grant does not seem too large. The Théâtre-Français, enriched by many _chefs-d'œuvre_ which have contributed to the progress of our civilisation is, like the Musée, a national institution which should neither be neglected nor degraded. It ought not to descend from the height to which the genius of our great authors has lifted it, to those grotesque and immoral exhibitions that are the disgrace of our age, alarming public modesty and spreading deadly poison through society! There is no longer any curb put to the depravity of the stage, on which all morality and all decorum is forgotten; violation, adultery, incest, crime in their most revolting forms, are the elements of the poetry of this wretched dramatic period, which, deserving of all scorn, tries to set at nought the great masters of art, and takes a fiendish pleasure in blasting every noble sentiment, in order to spread corruption among the people, and expose us to the scorn of other nations!"

This is well written, is it not? True, it is written by an Academician. I will proceed--

"Public money is not intended for the encouragement of a pernicious system. The sum of two hundred thousand francs is only granted to the Théâtre-Français on condition that it shall keep itself pure from all defilement, that the artistes connected with that theatre, who are still the best in Europe, shall not debase themselves by lending the support of their talent to those works which are unworthy to be put on the national stage, works the disastrous tendency of which should arouse the anxiety of the Government, for it is responsible for public morality as well as for the carrying out of laws. Well, who would believe it? At this very moment the principal actors of the Porte-Saint-Martin are being transferred to the Théâtre-Français, and silly and dirty melodramas are to be naturalised there, in order to replace the dramatic master-pieces which form an important part of our glorious literature. A plague of blindness appears to have afflicted this unhappy theatre. The production of _Antony_ is officially announced by _The Moniteur_ for to-morrow, Monday: _Antony_, the most brazenly obscene play which has appeared in these obscene times! _Antony_, at the first appearance of which respectable fathers of families exclaimed, 'For a long time we have not been able to take our daughters to the theatre; now, we can no longer take our wives!' So we are going to see at the theatre of Corneille, Racine, Molière and Voltaire, a woman flung into an alcove with her mouth gagged; we are to witness violation itself on the national stage: the day of this representation is fixed. What a school of morality to open to the public; what a spectacle to which to invite the youth of the country; you boast that you are elevating them, but they will soon recognise neither rule nor control! It is not its own fault; but that of superior powers, which take no steps to stem this outbreak of immorality. There is no country in the world, however free, where it is permissible to poison the wells of public morality. In ancient republics, the presentation of a dramatic work was the business of the State; it forbade all that could change the national character, undermine the honour of its laws and outrage public modesty."

Witness the _Lysistrata_ of Aristophanes, of which we wish to say a few words to our readers, taking care, however, to translate into Latin those parts which cannot be reproduced in French.

"Le latin dans les mots brave l'honnêteté!"

It will be seen I quote Boileau when he serves my purpose. Poor Boileau! What a shame for him to be forced to come to the rescue of the author of _Henri III._ and _Antony!_

We are at Athens. The Athenians are at war with the Lacedæmonians; the women are complaining of that interminable Peloponnesian War, which keeps their husbands away from them and prevents them from fulfilling their conjugal duties. The loudest in her complaints is Lysistrata, wife of one of the principal citizens of Athens; so she calls together all the matrons not only of Athens, but also from Lacedæmon, Anagyrus and Corinth. She has a suggestion to make to them. We will let her speak. She is addressing one of the wives convoked by her, who has come to the place of meeting.[1]

"LISISTRATA.--Salut, Lampito! Lacédémonienne chérie, que tu es belle! Ma douce amie, quel teint frais! quel air de santé! Tu étranglerais un taureau!

"LAMPITO.--Par Castor et Pollux, je le crois bien: je m'exerce au gymnase, et je me frappe du talon dans le derrière."

The dance to which Lampito alludes, with a _naïveté_ in keeping with the Doric dialect natural to her, was called _Cibasis._ Let us proceed:

"LISISTRATA, _lui prenant la gorge._--Que tu as une belle gorge!

"LAMPITO.--Vous me tâtez comme une victime.

"LISISTRATA.--Et cette autre jeune fille, de quel pays est-elle?

"LAMPITO.--C'est une Béotienne des plus nobles qui nous arrive.

"LISISTRATA.--Ah! oui, c'est une Béotienne?.. Elle a un joli jardin!"

That reminds me, I forgot to say--and it was the word _jardin_ which reminded me of that omission--that Lampito and Kalonike, the Bœotian, play their parts in the costume Eve wore in the earthly paradise before she sinned.

"CALONICE.--Et parfaitement soigné! on eu a arraché le pouliot."

Here the learned translator informs us that the _pouliot_ was a plant which grew in abundance in Bœotia. Then he adds: _Sed intelligit hortum muliebrem undè pilos educere aut evellere solebant._ Lysistrata continues, and lays before the meeting her reason for convening it.

"LISISTRATA.--Ne regrettez-vous pas que les pères de vos enfants soient retenus loin de vous par la guerre? Car je sais que nous avons toutes nos maris absents.

"CALONICE.--Le mien est en Thrace depuis cinq mois.

"LISISTRATA.--Le mien est depuis sept mois à Pylos.

"LAMPITO.--Le mien revient à peine de l'armée, qu'il reprend son bouclier, et repart.

"LISISTRATA.--_Sed nec mœchi relicta est scintilla! ex quo enim nos prodiderunt Milesi ne olisbum quidem vidi octo digitos longum, qui nobis esset conâceum auxilium._"

Poor Lysistrata! One can well understand how a wife in such trouble would put herself at the head of a conspiracy. Now, the conspiracy which Lysistrata proposed to her companions was as follows:

"LISISTRATA.--Il faut nous abstenir des hommes!... Pourquoi détournez-vous les yeux? où allez-vous?... Pourquoi vous mordre les lèvres, et secouer la tête? Le ferez-vous ou ne le ferez-vous pas?... Que décidez-vous?

"MIRRHINE.--Je ne le ferai pas! Que la guerre continue.

"LAMPITO.--Ni moi non plus! Que la guerre continue.

"LISISTRATA.--O sexe dissolu! Je ne m'étonne plus que nous fournissions des sujets de tragédie: nous ne sommes bonnes qu'à une seule chose!... O ma chère Lacédémonienne,--car tu peux encore tout sauver en t'unissant à moi,--je tien prie, seconde mes projets!

"LAMPITO.--C'est qu'il est bien difficile pour des femmes de dormir _sine mentula!_ Il faut cependant s'y résoudre, car la paix doit passer avant tout.

"LISISTRATA.--La paix, assurément! Si nous nous tenions chez nous bien fardées, et sans autre vêtement qu'une tunique fine et transparente, _incenderemus glabro cunno, arrigerent viri, et coïre cuperent!_"

The wives consent. They decide to bind themselves by an oath. This is the oath:

"LISISTRATA.--Mettez toutes la main sur la coupe, et qu'une seuls répète, en votre nom à toutes, ce que je vais vous dire: Aucun amant ni aucun époux....

"MIRRHINE.--Aucun amant ni aucun époux....

"LISISTRATA.--Ne pourra m'approcher _rigente nervo!_--Répète."

Myrrine repeats.

"LISISTRATA.--Et, s'il emploie la violence....

"MIRRHINE.--Oui, s'il emploie la violence....

"LISISTRATA._--Motus non addam!_"

One can imagine the result of such an oath, which is scrupulously kept.

My readers will remember M. de Pourceaugnac's flight followed by the apothecaries? Well, that will give you some idea of the _mise en scène_ of the rest of the piece. The wives play the rôle of M. de Pourceaugnac, and the husbands that of the apothecaries. And that is one of the plays which, according to the author of _Joconde_, gave such a high tone to ancient society! It is very extraordinary that people know Aristophanes so little when they are so well acquainted with Conaxa!

"In the ancient republics," our censor continues with assurance, "spectacular games were intended to excite noble passions, not to excite the vicious leanings of human nature; their object was to correct vice by ridicule, and, by recalling glorious memories, energetically to rouse souls to the emulation of virtue, enthusiasm for liberty and love of their country! Well, we, proud of our equivocal civilisation, have no such exalted thoughts; all we demand is to have at least one single theatre to which we can take our children and wives without their imaginations being contaminated, a theatre which shall be really a school of good taste and manners."

Was it at this theatre that _Joconde_ was to be played?

"We do not look for it in the direction of the Beaux-Arts; a romantic coterie, the sworn enemy of our great literature, reigns supreme in that quarter; a coterie which only recognises its own specialists and flatterers and only bestows its favours upon them; an undesigning artiste is forgotten by it. It wants to carry out its own absurd theories: it hunts up from the boulevards its director, its manager, its actors and its plays, which are a disgrace to the French stage: that is its chief object; and those are the methods it employs. We are addressing these remarks to M. Thiers, Minister for Home Affairs, a distinguished man of letters and admirer of those sublime geniuses which are the glory of our country; it is to him, the guardian of a power which should watch over the safety of this noble inheritance, that we appeal to prevent it falling into hostile hands, and to oppose that outburst of evil morals which is invading the theatre, perverting the youth in our colleges, throwing it out upon the world eager for precocious pleasures, impatient of any kind of restraint, and making it soon tired of life. This disgust with life almost at the beginning of it, this terrible phenomenon hitherto unprecedented, is largely owing to the baneful influence of those dangerous spectacles where the most unbridled passions are exhibited in all their nakedness, and to that new school of literature where everything worthy of respect is scoffed at. To permit this corruption of youth, or rather to foster its corruption, is to prepare a stormy and a troubled future; it is to compromise the cause of Liberty, to poison our growing institutions in the bud; it is, at the same time, the most justifiable and deadly reproach that can be made against a government...."

Poor _Antony_! it only needed now to be accused of having violated the Charter of 1830!

"And we are here stating the whole truth: it is not Republican pamphlets which have lent their support to this odious system of demoralisation; whatever else we may blame them for, we must admit that they have repulsed this Satanic literature and immoral drama with indignation, and have remained faithful to the creed of national honour. It is the journals of the Restoration, it is the despicable management of the Beaux-Arts, which, under the eyes of the Ministry, causes such great scandal to the civilised world: the scandal of contributing to the publicity and success of these monstrous productions, which take us back to barbarous times and which will end, if they are not stopped, in making us blush that we are Frenchmen ..."

Can you imagine the author of _Joconde_ blushing for being a Frenchman because M. Hugo wrote _Marion Delorme_, and M. Dumas, _Antony_, and compelled to look at _la Colonne_ to restore his pride in his own nationality?

"But why put a premium upon depravity? Why encumber the state budget with the sum of 200,000 francs for the encouragement of bad taste and immorality? Why not, at least, divide the sum between the Théâtre-Français and the Porte-Saint-Martin? There would be some justice in that, for their rights are equal; very soon, even the former of these theatres will be but a branch of the other, and this last will indeed deserve all the sympathies of the directors of the _Beaux-Arts._ It would, then, be shocking negligence on their part to leave it out in the cold."

You are right this time, Monsieur l'Académicien. A subsidy ought to be granted to the theatre which produces literary works which are remembered in following years and remain in the repertory. Now, let us see what pieces were running at the Théâtre Français concurrently with those of the Porte-Saint-Martin, and then tell me which were the pieces during this period of four years which you remember and which remain on its repertory?

THÉÂTRE-FRANÇAIS

_Charlotte Corday--Camille Desmoulins, le Clerc et le Théologien--Pierre III.--Le Prince et la Grisette--Le Sophiste--Guido Reni--Le Presbytère--Caïus Gracchus, ou le Sénat et le Peuple--La Conspiration de Cellamare--La Mort de Figaro--Le Marquis de Rieux--Les Dernières Scènes de la Fronde--Mademoiselle de Montmorency._

THÉÂTRE DE LA PORTE-SAINT-MARTIN

_Antony--Marion Delorme--Richard Darlington--La Tour de Nesle--Perrinet Leclerc--Lucrèce Borgia--Angèle--Marie Tudor--Catherine Howard._

True, we find, without reckoning _les Enfants d'Édouard_ and _Louis XI._ by Casimir Delavigne, _Bertrand et Raton_ and _la Passion secrète_ by Scribe, who had just protested against that harvest of unknown, forgotten and buried works, flung into the common grave without epitaph to mark their resting-places,--it is true, I say, that we find four or five pieces more at the Théâtre-Français than at the Porte-Saint-Martin; but that does not prove that they played those pieces at the Théâtre-Français for a longer period than those of the Porte-Saint-Martin, especially when we carefully reflect that the Théâtre-Français only plays its new pieces for two nights at a time, and gives each year a hundred and fifty representations of its old standing repertory! You are therefore perfectly correct, _Monsieur l'acadèmicien_: it was to the Porte-Saint-Martin and not to the Théâtre-Français that the subsidy ought to have been granted, seeing that, with the exception of two or three works, it was at the Porte-Saint-Martin that genuine literature was produced. We will proceed, or, rather, the author of _Joconde_ shall proceed:

"If the Chamber of Deputies is not so eager to vote for laws dealing with financial matters, we must hope, that in so serious a matter as this one, so intimately connected with good order and the existence of civilisation, some courageous voice will be raised to protest against such an abusive use of public funds, and to recall the Minister to the duties with which he is charged. The deputy who would thus speak would be sure of a favourable hearing from an assembly, whose members every day testify against the unprecedented license of the theatres, destructive of all morality, and who are perfectly cognisant of all the dangers attached thereto."

But you were a member of the Chamber, illustrious author of _Joconde!_ Why did you not take up the matter yourself? Were you afraid, perchance, that they might think you still held, under the sway of the younger branch of the Bourbon family, the position of dramatic critic which you exercised so agreeably under Napoléon?

"We shall return to this subject," continues the ex-dramatic censor, "which seems to us of the highest importance for the peace of mind of private families and of society in general. We have on our side every man of taste, all true friends of our national institutions and, in fact, all respectable persons in all classes of society!"

"Well! That is a polite thing, indeed, to say to the spectators who followed the one hundred and thirty performances of _Antony_, the eighty representations of _Marion Delorme_, the ninety of _Richard Darlington_, the six hundred of _la Tour de Nesle_, the ninety productions of _Perrinet-Leclerc_, the one hundred and twenty of _Lucrèce Borgia_, one hundred of _Angèle_, seventy of _Marie Tudor_ and fifty of _Catherine Howard!_ What were these people, if your particular specimens are "men of taste," the "true friends of our national institutions," and "respectable persons"? They must be blackguards, subverters of government, thieves and gallows-birds? The deuce! Take care! For I warn you that the great majority of these people were not only from Paris, but from the provinces. This is how the moralist of the _Constitutionnel_ ends:

"We are convinced that even the artistes of the Théâtre-Français, who see with satisfaction the enlightened portion of the public rallying to their side, will decide in favour of the successful efforts of our protests. It will depend on the Chamber and on the Home Minister. Political preoccupations, as is well known, turned his attention from the false and ignoble influences at work at the Théâtre-Français; there is no longer any excuse for him, now that he knows the truth."

ÉTIENNE ["A. JAY"][2]

Perhaps you thought, when you began to read this denunciation, that it was anonymous or signed only with an initial or by a masonic sign, or by two, three or four asterisks? No indeed! It was signed by the name of a man, of a deputy, of a dramatic author, or, thereabouts, of an académicien, M. Étienne! [M. Jay]. Now, the same day that this article appeared, about two in the afternoon, M. Jouslin de Lasalle, director of the Théâtre-Français, received this little note, short but clear.

"The Théâtre-Français is forbidden to play _Antony_ to-night.

"THIERS"

I took a cab and gave orders to the driver to take me to the Home Minister.

[1] We have borrowed the following quotations from M. Arland's excellent translation. If we had translated it ourselves, in the first place the translation would be bad, then people might have accused us of straining the Greek to say more than it meant.

[2] TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.--The Brussels edition gives Étienne; the current Paris edition, A. Jay.