It does not appear that Adrienne was really harmed seriously by the odor of the poison, which in the play causes her death. She had always been delicate in health and had suffered from many illnesses which interrupted her work as an actress. In her last year she had also many discouragements, among which were the death of her former teacher and fellow actor, Michel Baron (1653-1729), of the troupe of Molière, the ingratitude of Piron, the intrigues of her rivals of the stage and in love, especially Mlle. Du Clos and the Duchesse de Bouillon, the infidelity of Maurice de Saxe, and the attempted poisoning. Among the plays in which she participated toward the close of her career were _Phèdre_, _Horace_, _Électre_, _Le Malade imaginaire_, and _La Surprise de l’Amour_. She was taken ill while playing in _Le Florentin_ and _Œdipe_, on March 15, and died on the following Monday, March 20, 1730, at eleven o’clock in the morning. Voltaire, d’Argental, and a surgeon were present at her bedside. Christian burial was refused by the clergy, because she had not received the last rites of the church. She had died while the priest for whom she had sent was on the way. She was therefore interred secretly and at night. It was probably near the bank of the Seine that this great actress was buried, though the exact place of her burial is uncertain. Voltaire urged her fellow actors to resist and to denounce such unworthy treatment of her who had been one of the chief glories of the French stage. However, nothing appears to have been done. M. Grandval, who had just been received into the company of the Comédie-Française, pronounced her eulogy, composed by Voltaire. Numerous other persons also wrote very eulogistic and some even passionate appreciations in prose and in verse of her beauty, charm, grace, abilities, and triumphs. A collection of letters entitled _Lettres de Adrienne Le Couvreur, Réunies pour la première fois et publiées avec notes, étude biographique, documents inédits tirés des archives de la Comédie, des minutiers de notaires et des papiers de la Bastille, Portrait et fac-simile, par Georges Monval, Archiviste de la Comédie française_, was published by Plon, Paris, in 1892. Many of these letters are remarkable for their graceful and charming style and give to Mlle. Lecouvreur a high rank as a letter writer. From the many verses written in her honor by her faithful friend, Voltaire, the following are selected: QUATRAIN _Pour le portrait de Mlle. Lecouvreur_ Seule de la Nature elle a su le langage. Elle embellit son art, elle en changea les loix. L’esprit, le sentiment, le goût fut son partage, L’Amour fut dans ses yeux, et parla par sa voix. THE DRAMA ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR