[99] Mlle. Clairon subsequently wrote to Larive: “Mlle. Raucourt has made her _début_ with the greatest success. All Paris dotes on her, and, although Brizard may be her only recognised master, people name, at each verse which they hear her utter, the person of whom she has taken lessons. She is only sixteen and a half; she is beautiful as an angel, sensible, noble. She will be, I hope, a charming subject, and I dare believe that Madame Vestris will gnaw her fingers, more than once, at having disobliged me.... This woman is the first person whom I have really hated. Mlle. Raucourt is worthy of all the pains that I am taking to form her, but I confess that I find it very sweet, while serving her, to avenge myself for all the ingratitude and insolence of the other.” Cited by Edmond de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 285. [100] Brizard played the part of _fidus_ Achates in _Didon_. [101] _Correspondance littéraire_, Supplementary volume, p. 352. [102] _Mercure de France_, January 1773. [103] _Mémoires secrets_, vi. 288. [104] Gaboriau, _Les Comédiennes adorées_, p. 73. Manne, _Galerie historique de la troupe de Voltaire_. [105] Grimm writes: “The Princesse de Beauvau, the Princesse de Guéménée, and the Duchesse de la Vallière have also made her presents of superb dresses. The greater part of those which the ladies of the Court had had made for the Dauphin’s marriage will go to enrich the theatrical wardrobe of Mlle. Raucourt, which will soon be of considerable size.” [106] The name is frequently written Saint-Val. [107] _Mémoires secrets_, vi. p. 297. [108] _Correspondance littéraire_, Supplementary volume, p. 356. [109] _Mémoires secrets._ [110] He was the author of a highly successful comedy, called _Le Séducteur_, produced at the Comédie-Française, November 8, 1783. [111] For further information concerning this unpleasant subject, into which we naturally do not care to enter, see Edmond de Goncourt’s _Maison d’un artiste_, ii. 60, and the same writer’s _Sophie Arnould_, p. 86. A similar charge was brought against Sophie Arnould, though, apparently, with less reason. [112] _Correspondance littéraire_, ii. 282. [113] The expelled actress may have derived some little consolation from perusing the following criticism of her successor in the _Nouvelles à la main_: “July 9.--Mlle. Sainval the younger made her first appearance yesterday, in _Zaïre_, on her return to the Comédie. She is ugly, and particularly hideous when she weeps, ungraceful, flat-breasted, and has a doleful and monotonous voice.” [114] Campardon, _Les Comédiens du Roi de la Troupe française_, p. 251. [115] _Ibid._ p. 255. [116] La Harpe, _Correspondance littéraire_, ii. 415. [117] Hawkins, “The French Stage in the Eighteenth Century,” ii. 250 _et seq._ [118] La Harpe, _Correspondance littéraire_, iii. 3 _et seq._ [119] _Mémoires secrets_, xiv. 214 _et seq._ [120] _Mémoires secrets_, xix. 103.