befriend me.

'There was with him a tall, dark man, of sombre aspect, and a deep
voice, who questioned me long and closely as to my early studies, and
who undertook from that hour to teach me. This was Talma.

'And now a life of glorious labour opened upon me. I worked unceasingly,
with such ardour, indeed, as to affect my health, which at last gave
way, and I was obliged to retire into the country, on the Loire, to
recruit. Riquetti came to see me once there; he was coming up from the
south, and happened to stop at Tours. His visit was scarcely an hour,
but it left me with memories that endured for months. But why should
I weary you with a recital which can only interest when all its daily
chances and changes are duly weighed? I came out at the "Francais" as
Zaire; my success was a triumph! Roxane followed, and was even a greater
success. You do not care to hear by what flatteries I was surrounded,
what temptations assailed me, what wealth laid at my feet, what
protestations of devotion, what offers of splendour met me. We were in a
world that, repudiating all its old traditions, had sworn allegiance to
a new code! Nobility, birth, title, were as nothing; genius alone could
sway men's minds. Eloquence was deemed the grand exponent of intellect;
and next after the splendid oratory of the Constituent came the
declamation of the drama. You must know France in its aspect of generous
youth--in this, its brightest hour of destiny--to understand how much of
influence is wielded by those who once were deemed the mere creatures
of a pampered civilisation. The artist is now a "puissance," as is every
power that can move the passions, influence the motives, and direct the
actions of mankind. The choice of the piece we played at night was in
accordance with the political exigency of the day; and often has it
been my lot to complete by some grand declamation the eloquent appeal by
which Mirabeau had moved the Assembly. Oh, what a glorious life it
was to feel no longer the mere mouthpiece of mock passion, but a real,
actual, living influence on men's hearts; what a triumph was it then to
hear that wild outburst of applause, that seemed to say: "Here are we,
ready at your call; speak but the word and the blade shall flash and the
brand flare; denounce the treason, and leave the traitors to us!" It
was in this life, as in an orgie, I have lived. If you fancy that I
exaggerate this power, or overrate its extent, listen to one fact.