ent
very little on dress; I was even reproached for neglecting it, for I
wore none but white dresses of muslin or lawn, and never wore
elaborate gowns excepting for my sittings at Versailles. My head-dress
cost me nothing, because I did my hair myself, and most of the time I
wore a muslin cap on my head, as may be seen from my portraits.

One of my favourite distractions was going to the play, and I can vow
that so many talented actors were on the Paris stage that many of them
have had no successors. I remember perfectly having seen the renowned
Lekain act, whose ugliness, monstrous as it was, was not apparent in
all his parts. But when he played the role of Orosmane, in which I
once saw him, I was very near the stage, and his turban made him so
hideous that, although I admired his fine bearing, he frightened me.
Mlle. Dumesnil, although she was short and very ugly, sent her
audiences into transports in her great tragic roles. It sometimes
happened that Mlle. Dumesnil acted through a portion of the play
without producing any impression; then, all of a sudden, she would
change; her gestures, her voice and her features all became so
intensely tragic that she brought down the house. I was assured that
before coming on the stage she was in the habit of drinking a bottle
of wine, and that another was held in reserve for her in the wings.
The most brilliant first appearance I can remember was Mlle.
Raucourt's in the part of Dido, when she was eighteen or twenty at the
most. The beauty of her face, her figure, her voice, her
declamation--everything foreshadowed a perfect actress. To so many
advantages she added an air of remarkable decency and a reputation of
severe morals, which caused her to be sought after by our greatest
ladies. She was presented with jewelry, with theatrical costumes, and
with money for herself and her father, who was always with her. Later
on she changed her habits very much.

[Illustration: MME. VIGEE LEBRUN AND HER DAUGHTER.]

Talma, our last great tragic actor, in my opinion surpassed all the
others. There was genius in his acting. It may also be said that he
revolutionised the art, in the first place through banishing the
bombastic and affected style of delivery by his natural, sincere
elocution, and secondly through bringing about an innovation in dress,
attiring himself like a Greek or a Roman when he played Achilles or
Brutus--for which I was heartily grateful to him. Talma had one of the
fine