[181] Lekain had made his _début_ at the Comédie-Française on September 14, 1750, as Titus in the _Brutus_ of Voltaire. His admission into the company was bitterly opposed by Mlle. Clairon, who gave no other reason for her hostility than that his personal appearance--he was a remarkably plain man, short and thick-set, with a harsh voice and rough manners--was displeasing to her. Lekain retaliated by giving publicity to certain episodes in the lady's private life which did not redound to her credit. To which Mlle. Clairon rejoined by addressing him before the assembled company as follows: "I was well aware, Monsieur, that you were a man of repulsive appearance, but I did not know that you possessed a soul a thousand times more hideous than your person." Lekain left the theatre in a towering passion, and, with the assistance of another enemy of Mlle. Clairon, the Chevalier de la Morlière, composed a letter, "the most insulting, the most atrocious, that it was possible to conceive," which he sent to the actress. For this he was expelled from the Comédie, but subsequently, on writing another letter, this time of apology, reinstated. Soon after this affair, which was common knowledge, Lekain happened to be playing Æneas to the Dido of Mlle. Clairon, in Le Franc de Pompignan's tragedy. In one of the most touching passages of the play, the ill-fated queen, addressing her faithless lover, exclaims:-- "Je devrais te haïr, ingrat! Et je t'adore." No sooner were the words out of her mouth, than the whole pit burst into such peals of merriment that it was fully five minutes before the performance could be continued. [182] See p. 294 _supra._ [183] Grimm says that Voltaire surrendered to the players his share of the profits, in order to help them to defray the expense of the costumes. [184] _Journal et Mémoires_, ii. 33. [185] Grimm, _Correspondance littéraire_, cited by Edmond de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, 131 _et seq._ [186] "Report of Meunier to the Lieutenant of Police;" Ravaisson, _Archives de la Bastille_, xii. 367. [187] Grimm, _Correspondance littéraire_, i. 377. [188] Report of Meunier to Berryer, Lieutenant of Police, _Archives de la Bastille_, xii. [189] Edmond de Goncourt, _Mademoiselle Clairon_, p. 170. [190] We read in Mlle. Clairon's _Mémoires_: "'The walls alone of this house,' I said to myself, 'ought to make me feel the sublimity of the poet, and enable me to attain the talent of the actress. It is in this sanctuary that I ought to live and die.'" We fear that the sanctuary was, on occasion, somewhat profaned, since the lady was in the habit of entertaining here not only dames of high degree, but some of the most dissolute members of Paris society.