When his pupils went to his house, they often found him with people to whom he had given a rendezvous which he had forgotten, and the class was adjourned, or he would chat with his pupils until come appointment took him elsewhere and he was obliged to hurry away. But when he did give his lessons, what delightful and profitable hours for his young audience! I see and hear him now. Destitute of all means of illusion, without theatrical costume, a chair between his legs, and an opera-glass in his hand, he was as tragic as on the stage, and made us shudder as he declaimed the verses of Andromaque or Phèdre. In Phèdre's declaration of love to Hippolytus, I hear him uttering these passion-fraught words, "Mais fidèle, mais fier, et même un peu farouche." The way also in which he said, "Cette noble pudeur colorait son visage," made the full meaning of the lines, and invested them with inimitable grace. "No straining for effect; let no effort be apparent," he said to a Phèdre in his class, who did not seem to understand him. "Remember that Phèdre, consumed by her passion, has passed three days without food and three nights without sleep. Does not Ænone say to her,
'Les ombres par trois fois ont obscuri les cieux,
Depuis que le sommeil est entré dans vos yeux,
Et le jour a trois fois chassé la nuit obscure,
Depuis que votre corps languit sans nourriture.'
Phèdre lives on the fire that burns her and the dream that pursues her; she does not inhabit the earth; she is in the clouds." And the great master's voice was deep and low, and his eyes had a far-off look, as he repeated the words of Theseus' wife. I remember the impression, also, he made on us when he taught the last scene of the first act of Polyeucte. Nearchus hesitates, paralysed by a feeling of terror, which he endeavours to communicate to his friend, when going to overthrow the idols in the temple. "Mais dans le Temple enfin la mort est assurée." Polyeucte answers, "Mais dans le ciel déjà le palais est préparée." Talma seemed to see the sign of martyrdom; ho raised his eyes and hands to Heaven, and there was in the sound of his voice something so pathetic and resigned that our young hearts beat with excitement, and a trembling awe crept over us.
What memories, what traditions of priceless value these were to transmit to the young actress! and what pride Samson took in the manner in which she profitted by them! We have already given the old master's account of Rachel's lessons at the Conservatoire and
