justice; the industry, the enterprize, and the public spirit of Britain, may be gradually transferred to other realms; and these islands may sink, the victim of general corruption, into the slumber of despotism; exhibiting, like Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, and Holland, another proof that corruption destroys MEMOIRS AND REMAINS OF EMINENT PERSONS. ACCOUNT of MADEMOISELLE DE CLAIRON, communicated by HERSELF, in a LETTER to M. MEISTER, and never before published, either in the ORI GINAL or in ENGLISH. * [MADEMOISELLE DE CLAIRON, the celebrated French actress, died in January 1803, at the age of eighty-three. The uncommon noises, which are the subject of this letter, are mentioned in the Memoirs of that actress, a translation of which was published in London a few years since. We have little faith in the marvellous, but the narrative is curious, and, as an interesting trait of human nature, deserves to be preserved. The letter was addressed to M. HENRY MEISTER, a native of Zurich, who resided much at Paris in the character of literary agent to the Empress of Russia and several of the northern potentates. M. Meister printed many works, none of which have been translated into our language, excepting his Letters on England, which in clude an elegant French letter written by the Margravine of Anspach, with whom he was long in correspondence, and from whose husband, the late Margrave, he received a pension.] Paris, 12th January, 1787. MY youth, and the reception I met with on the stage at the Opera. Theatre, and that of the Comedie. Françoise, in the year 1743, procured me inuch attention from a number of young fops and old voluptuaries. I was honored likewise with the notice of some gentlemen of good sense and politeness. Of this number was M. de S, a gentleman, who was greatly struck by my figure and attractions. He was the son of a merchant in Brittany; was about thirty years of age, of a good shape, and handsome person. He composed in verse with great elegance. His air and manner discovered that he had received the most finished education, and had been accustomed to keep the best company. The reserve and timidity of his address were such, that his passion for me was only to be discovered in his • Communicated by the Rev. W. Dupré. eyes and the respectfulness of his beha viour. After he had attended me a considerable time behind the scenes, I admitted of his visits at my own house, and gave him reason to believe he had inspired me with a mutual attachment. Perceiving this, he waited with patience till time produced more tender senti ments in his favor; and who can tell what might have followed had not my prudence and curiosity suggested a number of questions, his candor in replying to which entirely defeated bis hopes. I discovered, that, being ashamed of inhe riting a fortune acquired by trade, he had imprudently sold the estate bequeathed him by his father, in order to purchase one which should intitle him to rank at Paris as a marquis. When a man is ashamed of his own condition in life he has no cause in my opinion to be offended with any one who shall happen to despise him. His temper was melancholic, and he was much given to conceive aversions and hatred. In his own opinion he knew so much of the world that he thought himself obliged to shun and despise all mankind, so that he wished to lead a recluse life, and had hopes that he could prevail on me to see no one but himself. This was a plan of life by no means agreeable to me. I was to be held by a wreath of flowers, but could not submit to be bound in an iron chain. From this time, our interviews, which were daily, became less and less frequent, and were in a little time reduced to visits of ceremony. I saw the necessity, and I broke off our connection and destroyed his hopes. This indifference on my part brought on him a fit of sickness. During his illness I shewed him every mark of attention; but my constant refusal to fall into his scheme of living prevented his recovery. This poor young man had unfortunately given his brother-in-law a general power to act in his affairs, and he had received money for him, which he detained as part of his wife's fortune. This proceeding reduced reduced M. de S to very great dis tress, and he was under the necessity of accepting my offer of the little money I could assist him with to provide the necessary comforts during his illness. When I think of the abject condition he was brought under by this cruel treatment on the part of his sister's husband, I am distressed beyond measure, and you must yourself, my dear Henry, feel the necessity of keeping it a secret from all the world. I revere his memory, and would on no account abandon it to the cruel compassion of mankind. It is the first time I ever revealed this circumstance to any living creature, and it is from the great esteen I bear you that I now do it; at the same time that I beg you to observe the most religious silence on the subject. After some delay, he was put in possession of his just right, but his health was never restored to him. As I supposed my absence might be of benefit and-tend to a recovery, I forebore to visit him; and, from my ceasing to do so, I refused to receive any letter that came from him. Two years and a half had elapsed from the commencement of our acquaintance to the time of his death. In his last moments he had entreated me to see him once more, but my friends persuaded me from it. He died, and had nobody with him when he drew his last breath but his servants, and an elderly lady who had lived with him for some little time before. He had apartments at that time on the Boulevards, near the Chaussée Dantin, in one of the houses then lately built on the spot. whole company sat looking at each other with astonishment. For my part, I fainted away, and it was a full quarter of an hour before I could be brought to life. the When I recovered my senses, keeper of the Privy Purse, who was fond of me, and rather of a jealous disposition, observed, with a malicious sneer, that, when I made my assignations, I should be careful that my signals were less disinal and alarming. I was nettled by this sarcasm, and I replied, that, ' as I was quite mistress of my own conduct, there was little necessity for signals, and that what he was pleased to style such had little the appearance of being a prelude to those de➡ licious moments which lovers expect on an assignation.' The agitation and tremor I was in after this alarm, my pale looks, some tears which I could not help shedding upon the occasion, and my en treaties to the company to sit up with me some part of the night, were so many proofs that I was ignorant of the cause of that which had so much alarmed them. We discoursed a great deal on the subject of the uncommon noise, and concluded on setting a watch in the street to discover, if possible, from whence it proceeded. In short, the like noise was heard at the same hour for several nights after, seeming to proceed from the air. It was heard not only by my own people but by the neighbours and the officers of the police. As it was nearest my windows I could have no doubt but that the noise was intended for me, and for no one else. I rarely supped from home, but, when I did, my family heard nothing more than common whilst I was abroad. Sometimes, on my return home, whilst I was perhaps making inquiries of my mother or some of the family if any thing had happened, the noise would be heard betwixt me and them. One evening after I had supped with the resident de R, he was pleased to accompany nie home, lest any accident should happen to me by the way. Just as he was taking leave of me at my own door, the noise was heard as if proceed I lived at that time with my mother in the Rue de Bussi, near the Rue de Seine and St. Germatu's Abbey. I was accustomed to give frequent suppers to my friends. My constant visitors were, the Keeper of the Privy Purse, some of the actors, that worthy friend Pipelet, whom you recollect with so much regard, and Rosely, belonging to the same theatre as I did, a young man of good family, very promising, and of an excellent under standing. Forty years ago these little suppers were more gay than the entering betwixt us both. The story of this tainments, magnificient as they are, of the present day. At one of my suppers, just as I had finished singing an air which had given great satisfaction to my guests, and which they expressed with rapturous applause, the clock striking eleven at the same time, we heard the most doleful ery, continued for a length of time, and with so mournful an emphasis, that the uncommon visitation was current throughout Paris, and not unknown to him; but, nevertheless he was put into his carriage, and returned home more dead than alive. Another time I begged my brother actor, Rosely, to accompany me to the Rue St. Honoré, to purchase some articles I wanted, and afterwards to pay a visit to Mademoiselle de St. Phalien, at her indg ings ings near St. Denis-Gate. The subject of our discourse, by the way, was, concerning this apparition, (for so it began now to be styled,) and this young man, who did not want for understanding, having never heard the noise, had little faith in the matter, though he was much struck with the story. He advised me to call upon the apparition at that moment, and promised to have faith, if it answered me. From rashness, or a want of consideration, I did as he desired me, and the cry was repeated three several times in the most frightful manner. This happened just before we got to the door of our friend, Mademoiselle de Phalien's lodgings; and, when we arrived there, we were both, from the fright, in such a state of insensibility, that it was as much as the whole house could do to recover us. After this dreadful alarm, I continued for some months without disturbance from the noise, and had hopes that I should never hear it again; but herein I had greatly deceived myself. On the marriage of the Dauphin, some theatrical performances were commanded at Versailles, at which place we were to remain for three days. A sufficient number of lodgings had been omitted to be provided for the company, and Madame Grandval was without any. I waited with her whilst inquiry was made after one, but no lodging was to be had; and, it being three o'clock in the morning, I made her an offer of one of the two beds in a room, which was engaged for me in the avenue of St. Cloud." This offer she accepted; and accordingly, as soon as she had retired to her bed, I got into my own, and whilst the maid-servant who attended me, was undressing herself, and preparing to lie by my side, I happened to say, we are now in a manner out of the world; it is shocking bad weather, surely the noise will not follow us here. No sooner had I pronounced the words, than it was heard. Madame Grandval exclaimed, that hell itself was certainly broke loose, and she ran about the house in her shift like a woman possessed. We none of us slept a wink the whole night. This was the last time, however, that we ever beard this kind of noise. Seven or eight days afterwards, whilst I was in discourse with my usual society of friends, exactly at the hour of eleven, we heard the report of a musket, fired, as we thought, against one of my windows. All of us heard the report, and saw the flash, yet not a single pane of glass received the smallest damage. We all concluded, that this was an attempt to take away my life, which, for the present being frustrated, it would be prudent to be guarded against for the future. Accordingly, the keeper of the Privy Purse applied to M. de Marville, at that time Lieutenant de Police, and his friend. Search was made the same night in the houses opposite to mine, and a watch placed; even iny own house was diligently examined, and a number of spies placed in the street. Notwithstanding all these precautions, the same noise continued for three months, as if it were a musket discharged at my window, yet no one could discover from whence it proceeded. The reality of what I have been narrating is recorded in the registers of the police. I was now becoma accustomed to the evening gun, and thought it very civil in the apparition to amuse me thus with tricks of legerdemain. One night, during warm weather, the keeper of the privy purse and I, not thinking of the hour, or the apparition, had opened the window, and were leaning over the balcony, when the clock struck eleven. At that moment we heard the usual report of the musket, which drove us into the middle of the room, where we lay as if struck dead. As soon as we were recovered of our fright, and had found that we had received no hurt, we compared notes, and found that each of us had received a violent cuff; he on the left side of his head, and I on the right. Recovered from our fright, we laughed most immoderately, like two fools as we were. The next night nothing particular happened, but the night after, being invited by Mademoiselle Dumenil, to make one at a party given at her house, I got into a hackney-coach to go thither about eleven o'clock, accompanied by my waiting-maid. It happened to be a clear moon-light night, and, as the coach passed along the Boulevards, which was then nearly built over, and whilst I was taking notice of the houses that had been erected, my attendant asked me if it was not here that M. de S- died? To this question I replied, that, according to what I had been told, it must be in one of those two houses, pointing at the same time with my finger. Immediately the report of a gun was heard, as before at my house, seemingly issuing from one of the two I had pointed ar. The couchman, supposing we were attacked by rob. bers, whipped his horses to mend their pace, and we arrived at Mademoiselle Dumenil's, Dumenil's, in a state of mind more easily to be conceived than described. For my own part, I did not recover from the fright for a considerable time. But, after this night, the same noise was never heard more; another, like that of clapping hands, succeeded it. This was continued, and appeared to be regulated according to time, or measure. As the indulgence of the public had accustomed me to hear sounds of that sort very frequently, I was inattentive to these until some of my friends remarked to me, their having taken particular notice that this noise was repeated constantly at my door at the hour of eleven. "We hear it very distinctly, (said they,) and yet we see nobody; this must certainly be something of the same kind with those noises you have heard before." As there appeared nothing so very frightful in this noise, as in the others before heard, I have lost the recollection of the length of its continuance. As little did I attend to certain melodious sounds which I heard some time after wards. It seemed as if some fine voice was preluding or humming over an air, preparatory to the execution of it. The sounds seemed to begin at some little distance from my door, and to cease when arrived at it: and, as in the cases already related, they were followed, were distinctly heard, yet nothing was ever discovered that could occasion them. At the end of about two years and a balf, nothing extraordinary was ever heard by me, or any one of my family. About that time, I found the house I occupied, from its neighbourhood to the market, and the number of persons inhabiting under the same roof, to be disagreeable. I wished for a more quiet situation, not only on account of the necessity of it, in order that I might pursue my studies without interruption, but because my health, which was declining, required it. Besides, I was somewhat more easy in point of circumstances, and I wished to improve them still more. I was told of a house in the Rue du Marais, which went at the rent of twelve hundred livres. They informed me that it had been occupied for forty years by Racine; that it was in this very house that he composed his immortal works, and that he died in it: that, after his death, it had been inhabited by the pathetic Lecouvreur, and that she likewise had died in it. The very walls of such a mansion, (thought I) will inspire me with the sub. limity of the author, and the pathos of the actress: this shall be my dwelling. place; therein will! I live, and therein will I die! Accordingly, I agreed to take it, and I affixed a bill upon the apartments I was about to quit. Amongst the numbers who were in search of a house to reside in, there were many who came out of mere curiosity to look at me. As I was rarely to be seen off the stage, some people were desirous to view me when at home, and without the disguise of the theatre. They wished to hear what I should say, when I had no speech put into my mouth from the works of Racine, Corneille, or Voltaire. I am inclined to hope, that I have not less morality off the stage than on it; and that my conduct and sentiments are de cently consistent: but you know that my stature is diminutive, and you must undoubtedly have heard it asserted, that I was near six feet high. Now, as at home, I employed none of those artifices which I practised in the theatre, I was there wholly myself; and I feared lest people, finding me shorter than they expected, might report me to be shorter than I am. I had learned, that whoever expects to benefit by an intercourse with men, must endeavour to deceive them; fortunately for me, my countrymen were at that time little given to make reflections on things, and I had reason to think they believed that I grew daily taller and taller. But you will say, why this digression? Your story is already spun out to too great a length. A truce with your remarks, and finish your narrative. I confess your reprehension is very just; but you asked me for this history; I know not what you mean to do with it, yet I think I ought to omit no circumstance relating to it; there is not a single word that I trace with my pen but brings to my recollection how near you are to my heart. Is it my fault if my feeling heart continues to deceive me in spite of years, sickness, and misfortune? It is to you I write; I am inclined to believe that you attend to my little narrative, and will overlook the tedious dulness of it, with all that good humor which renders you so dear to your friends, and gains you so much esteem in all the societies of which you make a part. Alas! it is with regret that I quit these pleasing ideas to pursue the sequel of my story. One day I was informed that an el derly lady wished to see my apartments, and, as it is a rule with me to pay the utmost utmost possible respect to age, I waited upon her immediately. A certain emotiou, for which I was not able to account, caused me to examine her person from head to foot, and my emotion was further increased, when I observed her doing the same with me. I pressed her to take a seat, which she did, and indeed we had both of us need enough of being seated. We continued silent for some time, but the eyes of both of us discovered a desire of speaking. She knew of course who I was, but I had no knowledge of her person; she therefore considered it as incumbent upon her to break this silence; accordingly she begau nearly in the following manner. "It is a long time, Mademoiselle, since I have had a most earnest desire of ranking myself amongst the number of your acquaintance; as I am no frequenter of the theatre, and as I have no know ledge of any person who has the happi. ness to visit you, and being moreover unwilling to address you by letter, lest any explanation in that way might leave room for suspicions, and thus defeat my purposes, I have therefore taken advan⚫ tage of the bill you have affixed for letting your apartment, to introduce myself, and enjoy the satisfaction I have so long sought after. You will be good enough to excuse the liberty I have taken; it is not to hire your lodgings that I am come hither, they are, indeed, above my simple means; but I beg, however, you will permit ine to see them; any place which you have made your residence must be interesting to my curiosity; your talents have obtained you such a degree of faine as can leave no doubt of your under standing, and I see now that I have not been deceived in the account I have re ceived of your person; I wish to know only if the description I have had of your apartments are equally exact, that I may follow my unhappy friend step by step through all his hopes and disquietudes." To this I hastily replied, You cannot but see, Madam, that I am already much surprised, and even alarmed, at your discourse; and every word that proceeds from your lips does but increase my astonishment more and more. I must therefore insist that you explain yourself as to your errand hither, of whom it is you speak, and who you are yourself. I am not one who can submit to be tri fled with. You must, Madam, either explain yourself to my satisfaction, or I must beg you to leave my house. "You are to know, Mademoiselle," MONTHLY MAG, No. 232. continued she, "that I was the most intimate friend of the deceased M. de S, and the only one he perinitted visits from during the last year of his life. We have passed whole days together in talking solely of you; one while speaking of you as a divinity, another time, denouncing you to be a fury; I at the same time conjuring him to think of you no more, and he declaring that his love of you should accompany him beyond the grave. But I perceive that your eyes are swimming in tears; you will just allow me to intrude only so far as to ask what could induce you to make his life so miserable; and why you refused, one who entertained so violent an affection for you, the consolation of seeing you once more." The heart is not to be controled, replied I, M. de S was a deserving man, and had many good qualities, but his temper was vindictive, melancholy, and absolute, so that I dreaded his love, as much as I disliked his company. To have satisfied him I must have renounced all human society, and must have given up my profession; I was as proud as I was poor; it was ever my maxim, and I hope it will continue to be so, to be under obligations to no one, and to depend for support upon my own industry. I had a partiality for him, and therefore I strove what I could to make him entertain principles more consistent with propriety and justice; but it was all in vain, I could not prevail with him; so that, finding his infatuation to proceed rather from violence of temper than the force of his passion for me, I came to the determination, which I resolutely kept, of breaking off all connexion with him. The reason why I refused to visit him in his last moments, was, because the sight would have overpowered my feelings, and because, had I after that persisted in my former resolution, I should but have appeared the more cruel and inexorable; and, had I complica with his wishes, I should have made my self the most miserable of women. You have now, madam, heard the motives of my conduct, which I flatter myself is not altogether so blameworthy. "I am far from blaming it," rejoined the old lady, "I should think myself guilty of great injustice if I did; we owe no sacrifice of ourselves but to our vows, to our parents, or our benefactors; and, in this last respect, I know well it is not you who were under obligations, for I have heard him express how greatly he Hh was |