Racine has several passages in his tragedies which perhaps have rather too much _naiveté_ for the dignity of the cothurnus; for instance in the answer of Agamemnon to Achille in the tragedy of _Iphigénie_: Puisque vous le savez, pourquoi le demander? A poet of to-day would be quizzed for a line like the above, but who dare venture to point out any defect in an author of whom Voltaire has said and with justice too, that the only criticism to be made of him (Racine) would be to write under every page: "Admirable, harmonieux, sublime!" The costume and the decorations at the _Théâtre français_ are so strictly classical and appropriate in every respect, that it is to me a source of high delight to witness the representation of the favourite pieces of Racine, Corneille, Molière and Voltaire, which I have so often read with so much pleasure in the closet and no small quantity of which I have by heart. The next piece I saw was the _Cinnna_ of Corneille; and here it was that I beheld Talma for the second time. I was of course highly pleased, tho' I was rather far off to hear very distinctly; this was, however, no very great loss, as I was perfectly well acquainted with the tragedy. Talma's gestures, his pause's, his natural mode of acting gave a great relief to the long declamation with which this tragedy abounds. When this tragedy was given it was during the time that poor Labédoyère's trial was going on, and the allusions to Augustus' clemency were eagerly seized and applauded. It was hoped that Louis XVIII would imitate Augustus. Vain hope!