first statement is that although Samson trained and taught many others, he only produced one Rachel; the best answer to the second statement is Rachel's own letters, some of which we will give presently, showing how she depended on his help and advice. A few years after Rachel's death, Samson puplished a pamphlet, refuting Janin's statements with regard to him and his pupil, contradicting at the same time the account the critic gave of what he was pleased to call his "discovery of Rachel." The indignant professor demands:—
You discovered Rachel? When, Sir? When she first appeared at the Gymnase? But I beg to say that long before, she had been discovered by M. Saint Aulaire, who made her act in his little theatre in the Rue Saint Martin; the public of that part of Paris had discovered her, since they applauded and crowded to see her. And shortly after she was discovered by the professors of the Conservatoire, who fully recognised her powers. My opinion, written in the register of that school, is thus expressed: "Delicate and insignificant appearance, but an admirable dramatiæ gift." M. Poirson, manager of the Gymnase, discovered and engaged her, and you had the honour in turn of discovering her in the Vendéene; but, believe me, you were not the only person who appreciated her talent. My wife, who was present at her first appearance, said to me, "There is great promise in that child; but the stage of the Gymnase is too narrow for her." M. Poirson himself soon saw this, and recognised that she was more suited to the Théâtre Français. It was then she sought my help. I became her teacher, and let Védel, then manager of the theatre, hear her; he, seeing the child's rare gifts, engaged her, and left it to me to decide when she was to appear. Six months later the company of the Français heard her recite, and pronounced her a talent of the first order; for her success, so to speak, was a theatrical one, her colleagues and the habitués of the stage being almost the only spectators. Christopher Columbus had his predecessors, therefore, you see, Sir.
I have more than two hundred letters written by Mademoiselle Rachel to my wife, to my daughters and to me. I will give you some extracts from them, by which you will perceive that, far from expressing regret at having accepted me as guide at the beginning of her dramatic career, she ever showed, during the course
