Later Queens of the French StageWilliams, H. Noel (Hugh Noel)
History
Later Queens of the French Stage
Williams, H. Noel (Hugh Noel)
Actresses -- France -- Biography
[28] _Arnoldiana._ According to another account, Choiseul came to
Sophie’s dressing-room, on the conclusion of the performance, to
compliment her and assure her of the great pleasure she had afforded
the King. “Ah well!” she replied, “tell his Majesty that, if he is
satisfied with Iphise, he should restore to her Dardanus!”
[29] _Correspondance littéraire_, v. 431.
[30] _Correspondance littéraire_, vi. 145. Mlle. Heinel seems also
to have made a very favourable impression upon Horace Walpole, who
mentions her several times in his letters, and always in terms of
admiration. After seeing her for the first time, on the occasion of
his visit to Paris, in 1771, he writes to the Earl of Strafford:
“There is a finer dancer [than Mlle. Guimard], whom M. Hobart is to
transplant to London; a Mademoiselle Heinel, or Ingle, a Fleming. She
is tall, perfectly made, very handsome, and has a set of attitudes
copied from the classics. She moves as gracefully slow as Pygmalion’s
statue when it was coming to life, and moves her leg round as
imperceptibly as if she was dancing in the Zodiac. But she is not
Virgo.” The lady came to London that same winter, and danced for some
months at Covent Garden, where she created as much enthusiasm as in
Paris. On April 21, 1772, Walpole writes again: “I am just going to
the Opera to hear Milice sing. I do not believe he will draw such
audiences as Mlle. Heinel has done. The town has an idle notion
that she made so much impression upon a very high heart, that it is
thought prudent to keep it out of her way. She is the most graceful
figure in the world, with charming eyes, beautiful mouth, and lovely
countenance; yet I do not think we shall see a Dame du Barri on this
side the Channel.”
The staid Dr. Burney was another of Mlle. Heinel’s admirers, and
informs us that, besides the six hundred pounds salary she received
from the management of Covent Garden, she was “complimented with a
_regallo_ of six hundred more from the Macaroni Club.”
[31] This prince is said to have had sixty acknowledged mistresses,
besides occasional and “imperceptible” ones.
[32] In her _Mémoires_, Sophie writes: “The prince had, for a moment,
the idea of devoting himself to me. But he wished me to be entirely
his own, without any distraction or reserve. I never had any taste for
exaggerated grandeurs, and am of the opinion of that philosopher who
said that happiness is only to be found in moderation.”
[33] E. and J. de Concourt, _Sophie Arnould_, p. 70. According to the
_Chronique scandaleuse_, Sophie had a daughter by the Prince de Condé,
who afterwards married the Comte de R***.
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