was not quite the worst of the
company. If we were not good actors it was not for want of good
instruction and good advice. Talma and Michot came to direct us, and
made us rehearse before them, sometimes altogether and sometimes
separately. How many lessons have I received from Michot whilst walking
in the beautiful park of Malmaison! And may I be excused for saying,
that I now experience pleasure in looking back upon these trifles, which
are matters of importance when one is young, and which contrasted so
singularly with the great theatre on which we did not represent
fictitious characters? We had, to adopt theatrical language, a good
supply of property. Bonaparte presented each of us with a collection of
dramas very well bound; and, as the patron of the company, he provided us
with rich and elegant dresses.

--[While Bourrienne, belonging to the Malmaison company, considered
that the acting at Neuilly was indecent, Lucien, who refused to act at
Malmaison, naturally thought the Malmaison troupe was dull. "Hortense
and Caroline filled the principal parts. They were very commonplace. In
this they followed the unfortunate Marie Antoinette and her companions.
Louis XVI., not naturally polite, when seeing them act, had said that it
was royally badly acted" (see Madame Campan's Life of Marie Antoinette,
tome i. p. 299). "The First Consul said of his troupe that it was
sovereignly badly acted". . . Murat, Lannes, and even Caroline ranted.
Elisa, who, having been educated at Saint Cyr, spoke purely and without
accent, refused to act. Janot acted well the drunken parts, and even the
others he undertook. The rest were decidedly bad. Worse than
bad--ridiculous. (Lucien's, tome ii. p. 256). Rival actors are
not fair critics. Let us hear Madame Junot (tome ii. p. 103). "The
cleverest of our company was M. de Bourrienne. He played the more
dignified characters in real perfection, and his talent was the more
pleasing as it was not the result of study, but of a perfect
comprehension of his part." And she goes on to say that even the best
professional actors might have learnt from him in some parts. The
audience was not a pleasant one to face. It was the First Consul's
habit to invite forty persons to dinner, and a hundred and fifty for the
evening, and consequently to hear, criticise, and banter us without
mercy" (Memoirs of Duchesse d'Abrantes, tome ii. p. 108).]--

Bonaparte took great pleasure in our performances. He liked to see