|
| ||
| Cahors, | July | 26th, 27th. |
| Aurillac, | „ | 29th, 30th. |
| Clermont, | August | 1st, 2nd. |
| Moulins, | „ | 3rd, 4th. |
| Nevers, | „ | 5th. |
| Bourges, | „ | 6th. |
| Blois, | „ | 8th, 9th. |
| Le Mans, | „ | 10th, 11th. |
| Laval, | „ | 12th. |
| Rennes, | „ | 13th, 14th. |
| St. Malo, | „ | 15th. |
| Jersey, | „ | 17th, 19th, 21st. |
| Caen, | „ | 18th, 20th. |
| Guernsey, | „ | 25th, 26th, 28th, 29th, 31st. |
To the above list may be added performances given in Bordeaux and one or two other places, for which she had not signed the agreement when it was written. Altogether they number eighty-five in ninety successive days.
In those days a provincial tour was much more lucrative than now. Few of the inhabitants of country towns were able to afford a journey to the capital, and only knew by hearsay of the genius of a Talma or a Rachel, until the thought occurred to enterprising country managers to induce, by payment of large sums, those theatrical stars to visit the various towns of the departments. Mars and Talma could not endure these journeys far from their beloved Paris. "I am only a rustic Célimène in the provinces," the former used to declare; whilst Talma averred, "I feel like a contraband hero; my royal robes are but a farmer's coat, my sceptre but a black-thorn stick, my imperial crown adorns my bent and unimpassioned head, like an old grey hat fit to scare the birds at fruit-time."
The spirit of wandering was, however, born in Rachel. She never felt the depressing effects of an
