that the contents of the goblet were real, and the viands not made of
cardboard. "They are like badly made cannons, these soldiers," said some
one else: "they are crammed up to the muzzle, and they do not go off."
In short, the more sensible of the Paris population began to conclude
that a little less intoning of patriotic strophes and a good deal more
of juxtaposition with the German troops was becoming advisable. The
reports of the few preliminary skirmishes that had taken place were no
doubt favourable to the French; at the same time, there was no denying
the fact that they had taken place on French and not on German
territory, which was not quite in accordance with the spirit of the
oft-repeated cry of "A Berlin!" In accordance with the programme of
which that cry was the initial quotation, the French ought, by this
time, to have been already half on their way to the Prussian capital.
That is what sensible, nay, clever people expressed openly.
Nevertheless, the cry continued, nor was there any escape from the
"Marseillaise," either by day or night. Every now and then a more than
usually dense group might be seen at a street corner. The centre of the
group was composed of a woman, with a baby in her arms; the little one
could scarcely speak, but its tiny voice reproduced more or less
accurately the air of the "Marseillaise:" a deep silence prevailed
during the performance in order to give the infant a fair chance;
deafening applause greeted the termination of the solo, and a shower of
coppers fell into the real or pseudo mother's lap. On the 18th of July,
the day of the official declaration of war in Paris, the
Comedie-Francaise performed "Le Lion Amoureux" of Ponsard.[78] At the
end of the second act, the public clamoured for the "Marseillaise."
There was not a single member of the company capable of complying with
the request, "so the stage manager for the week" had to come forward and
ask for a two-days' adjournment, during which some one might study it.
Of course, _the honour_ of singing the revolutionary hymn was to devolve
upon a woman, according to the precedent established in '48, when Rachel
had intoned it. From what I learnt a few days afterwards, the candidates
for the _distinguished task_ were not many, in spite of the tacit
consent of the Government. The ladies of the company, most of whom, like
their fellow-actors, had been always very cordially treated by the
Emperor on the occasion of their professional