[157] And well he deserved his triumph, for surely never had actor been at more pains to secure a perfect resemblance to the character he was to impersonate! “In the first place,” he tells us, in his _Mémoires_, “I sought to imbue myself with the idea that my apartments were in Potsdam, instead of in Paris; and I resolved to retire to rest, to take my meals, to move, and speak, during two whole months, in the full persuasion that I was Frederick the Great. The better to identify myself with the character, I used every morning to dress myself in the military coat, hat, boots, &c., I had ordered for the part. Thus equipped, I would seat myself before my looking-glass, at one side of which hung Ramberg’s picture of the King. Then, with the help of hair pencils and a palette spread with black, white, red, blue, and yellow, I endeavoured to paint my face to the resemblance of the picture.” [158] Gaboriau, _Les Comédiennes adorées_, p. 191. [159] M. Victor du Bled, _Les Comédiens français pendant la Révolution_, _Revue des Deux Mondes_, vol. cxxiv. [160] _Les Comédiennes adorées_, p. 194. [161] See pp. 182 _et seq._, _supra_. [162] M. Victor du Bled, _Les Comédiens français pendant la Révolution_, _Revue des Deux Mondes_, vol. cxxiv. [163] M. Victor du Bled, _Les Comédiens français pendant la Révolution_, _Revue des Deux Mondes_, vol. cxxiv. [164] Many amusing anecdotes are told of Lemercier’s wit. Here is one, which Ernest Legouvé relates in his _Soixante ans de souvenirs_: “One evening, he (Lemercier) was seated on a low stool in the gangway of the first gallery of the Théâtre-Français. Enter a young officer, making a great deal of noise, slamming the door violently behind him, and taking his stand right in front of M. Lemercier. ‘Monsieur,’ says the poet, very gently, ‘you prevent my seeing anything.’ The officer turns round and, staring from his towering height at the little, inoffensive-looking civilian, humbly seated on his low stool, resumes his former position. ‘Monsieur,’ repeats M. Lemercier, more emphatically, ‘I have told you that you prevent me from seeing the stage, and I command you to get out of the way.’ ‘You command!’ retorts his interlocutor, in a tone of contempt; ‘do you know to whom you are speaking? You are speaking to a man who brought back the standards from the army of Italy!’ ‘That is very possible, Monsieur, seeing that it was an ass which carried Christ!’ As a matter of course, there was a duel, and the officer had his arm broken by a bullet.”