temporary of Duchesnois, Rancourt, and Georges, Mars had inherited some of the greatest memories of the French stage, and could form a just appreciation of Rachel's powers. M. de Varenne relates the following incident:—
It was the day of Rachel's début, she was to perform Camille in Les Horaces. I met Mademoiselle Mars at the theatre, who said to me, "You are aware that there is a débutante to-day?" "Ah!" I replied, "it seems there is nothing extraordinary about her." "On the contrary, I have seen her, and I can tell you great things may be expected of her." I accompanied Mademoiselle Mars to her box; we were alone with a young man, who stood behind, and during the whole performance criticised the young actress, in the hope, of course, of gratifying the older one. When Camille appeared on the stage, Mars followed her attentively; then turning to me, she said, with a half nod and a sigh of satisfaction, "She walks the stage well." Those acquainted with theatrical criticism well know what praise was contained in these simple words, especially from the lips of Mars. Sabine addresses a few words to Camille when the latter appears on the stage. Mademoiselle Rachel had not yet opened her lips, when Mars turned to me again, and regarding me with an air of personal triumph, said, "And she listens well." Listening well is the height of art, which few actresses possess—an art as difficult, more difficult, perhaps, than that of speaking well. Mademoiselle Mars was too profoundly, too delicately artistic, not to seize with delight the slightest nuance. Camille spoke in her turn. She had scarcely uttered half a dozen lines, when Mars exclaimed, with an expression of relief I shall never forget, "Ah! I told you she does not declaim, she speaks!" When the famous imprecation came, instead of the classic elevation of the voice, and those noisy outbursts of grief, which carry away the audience and force applause, Mademoiselle Rachel, either through fatigue, calculation, or disdain of received traditions, uttered these words hoarsely, and with concentrated feeling, so that the public, who expected something very different, did not applaud. "Ah!" the young gentleman remarked, "she lacks strength." "But, Sir," Mademoiselle Mars exclaimed, turning sharply to him, as if stung to the quick, "surely you will allow her to recruit her strength. Are you afraid she will not grow old soon enough? She grows taller while performing, this young girl." For my own part, though far from ill-disposed to the young actress, I could not summon up such an amount of admiration, and was struck by Mademoiselle Mars' enthusiasm.
