An Englishman In Paris Part 4

Dumas often said, "will not fail to point out that I was 'a panier perce,'[9] neglecting, as a matter of course, to mention that, as a rule, it was not I who made the holes."

[Footnote 9: Literally, a basket with holes in it; figuratively, the term applied to irreclaimable spendthrifts.--EDITOR.]

The biographers have not been quite so unjust as that. Unfortunately, few of them knew Dumas intimately, and they were so intent upon sketching the playwright and the novelist that they neglected the man.

They could have had the stories of Alexandra Dumas' improvidence with regard to himself and his generosity to others for the asking from his familiars. On the other hand, the latter have only told these stories in a fragmentary way; a complete collection of them would be impossible, for no one, not even Dumas himself, knew half the people whom he befriended. In that very apartment of the Rue d'Amsterdam which I mentioned just now, the board was free to any and every one who chose to come in. Not once, but a score of times, have I heard Dumas ask, after this or that man had left the table, "Who is he? what's his name?"

Whosoever came with, or at the tail, not of a friend, but of a simple acquaintance, especially if the acquaintance happened to wear skirts, was immediately invited to breakfast or dinner as the case might be.

Count de Cherville once told me that Dumas, having taken a house at Varenne-Saint-Hilaire, his second month's bill for meat alone amounted to eleven hundred francs. Let it be remembered that his household consisted of himself, two secretaries, and three servants, and that money went a great deal further than it does at present, especially in provincial France, in some parts of which living is still very cheap. In consequence of one of those financial crises, which were absolutely periodical with Alexandre Dumas, M. de Cherville had prevailed upon him to leave Paris for a while, and to take up his quarters with him. All went comparatively well as long as he was M. de Cherville's guest; but, having taken a liking to the neighbourhood, he rented a house of his own, and furnished it from garret to cellar in the most expensive way, as if he were going to spend the remainder of his life in it. Exclusive of the furniture, he spent between fifteen thousand and eighteen thousand francs on hangings, painting, and repairs. The parasites and harpies which M. de Cherville had kept at bay came down upon him like a swarm of locusts. "And how long, think you, did Dumas stay in his new domicile? Three months, not a day more nor less. As a matter of course, the furniture did not fetch a quarter of its cost; the repairs, the decorating, etc., were so much sheer waste: for the incoming tenant refused to refund a cent for it, and Dumas, having made up his mind to go to Italy, would not wait for a more liberal or conscientious one, lest he should have the rent of the empty house on his shoulders also.

Luckily, I took care that he should pocket the proceeds of the sale of the furniture."

This last sentence wants explaining. As a rule, when a man sells his sticks, he pockets the money. But the instance just mentioned was the only one in which Dumas had the disposal of his household goods. The presiding divinity invariably carried them away with her when she had to make room for a successor, and these successions generally occurred once, sometimes twice, a year. "La reine est morte, vive la reine." The new sovereign, for the first few days of her reign, had to be content with bare walls and very few material comforts; then the nest was upholstered afresh, and "il n'y avait rien de change en la demeure, sauf le nom de la maitresse."

Consequently, though for forty years Alexandre Dumas could not have earned less than eight thousand pounds per annum; though he neither smoked, drank, nor gambled; though, in spite of his mania for cooking, he himself was the most frugal eater--the beef from the soup of the previous day, grilled, was his favourite dish,--it rained writs and summonses around him, while he himself was frequently without a penny.

M. du Chaffault one day told me of a scene _a propos_ of this which is worth reproducing. He was chatting to Dumas in his study, when a visitor was shown in. He turned out to be an Italian man of letters and refugee, on the verge of starvation. M. du Chaffault could not well make out what was said, because they were talking Italian, but all at once Dumas got up and took from the wall behind him a magnificent pistol, one of a pair. The visitor walked off with it, to M. du Chaffault's surprise.

When he was gone, Dumas turned to his friend and explained: "He was utterly penniless, and so am I; so I gave him the pistol."

"Great Heavens, you surely did not recommend him to go and make an end of himself!" interrupted du Chaffault.

Dumas burst out laughing. "Of course not. I merely told him to go and sell or p.a.w.n it, and leave me the fellow one, in case some other poor wretch should want a.s.sistance while I am so terribly hard up."

And yet, in this very Rue d'Amsterdam, whether Dumas was terribly impecunious or not, the dejeuner, which generally began at about half-past eleven, was rarely finished before half-past four, because during the whole of that time fresh contingents arrived to be fed, and communication was kept up between the apartment and the butcher for corresponding fresh supplies of beefsteaks and cutlets.

Is it a wonder, then, that it rained summonses, and writs, and other law doc.u.ments? But no one took much notice of these, not even one of the four secretaries, who was specially appointed to look after these things. If I remember aright, his name was Hirschler. The names of the other three secretaries were Rusconi, Viellot, and Fontaine.

Unfortunately, Hirschler was as dilatory as his master, and, until the process-server claimed a personal interview, as indifferent. These "limbs of the law" were marvellously polite. I was present one day at an interview between one of these and Hirschler, for Dumas' dwelling was absolutely and literally the gla.s.s house of the ancient philosopher--with this difference, that no one threw any stones _from_ it. There was no secret, no skeleton in the cupboard; the impecuniosity and the recurrent periods of plenty were both as open as the day.

The "man of law" and Hirschler began by shaking hands, for they were old acquaintances; it would have been difficult to find a process-server in Paris who was not an old acquaintance of Dumas. After which the visitor informed Hirschler that he had come to distrain.

"To distrain? I did not know we had got as far as that," said Hirschler.

"Wait a moment. I must go and see." It meant that Hirschler repaired to the kitchen, where stood a large oaken sideboard, in a capacious drawer of which all the law doc.u.ments, no matter by whom received, were indiscriminately thrown, to be fished out when the "mauvais quart d'heure" came, and not until then.

"You are right," said Hirschler, but not in the least worried or excited, "I really did not know we had got as far as that. I must ask you to wait another minute. I suppose a third or a fourth of the total amount will do for the present?"

"Well, I do not know," said the process-server with most exquisite politeness. "Try what you can do. I fancy that with a third I may manage to stop proceedings for a while."

The third or fourth part of the debt was rarely in the house; messengers had to be despatched for it to Cadot, the publisher, or to the cashier of the _Moniteur_, _Const.i.tutionnel_, or _Siecle_. Meanwhile the process-server was feasted in a sumptuous way, and when the messenger returned with the sum in question, Hirschler and the process-server shook hands once more, with the most cordial _au revoir_ possible.

As a matter of course, the same process-server reappeared upon the scene in a few months. The comedy had often as many as a dozen representations, so that it may safely be said that a great number of Dumas' debts were paid six or seven times over. Even sixpence a line of sixty letters did not suffice to keep pace with such terrible improvidence, though the remuneration was much more frequently fourpence or fivepence. It rarely rose to sevenpence halfpenny, but in all cases a third went to Dumas' collaborateurs, another third to his creditors, and the rest to himself.

I have allowed my pen to run away with me. One more story, and then I leave Alexandre Dumas for the present. It is simply to show that he would have squandered the fortune of all the Rothschilds combined: I repeat, not on himself; he would have given it away, or allowed it to be taken. He had no notion of the value of money. About a year after I had made his acquaintance, he was ill at Saint-Germain, and I went to see him. His dog had bitten him severely in the right hand; he was in bed, and obliged to dictate. His son had just left him, and he told me, adding, "C'est un coeur d'or, cet Alexandre." Seeing that I did not ask what had elicited the praise, he began telling me.

"This morning I received six hundred and fifty francs. Just now Alexandre was going up to Paris, and he says, 'I'll take fifty francs.'

"I did not pay attention, or must have misunderstood; at any rate I replied, 'Don't take as much as that; leave me a hundred francs.'

"'What do you mean, father?' he asked. 'I am telling you that I am going to take fifty francs.'

"'I beg your pardon,' I said. 'I understood you were going to take six hundred.'"

He would have considered it the most natural thing in the world for his son to take six hundred and leave him fifty; just as he considered it the most natural thing to bare his arm and to have a dozen leeches put on it, because his son, when a boy of eight, having met with an accident, would not consent to blood-letting of that kind. In vain did the father tell him that the leeches did not hurt. "Well, put some on yourself, and then I will." And the giant turned up his sleeves, and did as he was told.

CHAPTER IV.

Dr. Louis Veron -- The real man as distinguished from that of his own "Memoirs" -- He takes the management of the Paris Opera -- How it was governed before his advent -- Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable" _underlined_ -- Meyerbeer and his doubts upon the merits of his work -- Meyerbeer's generosity -- Meyerbeer and the beggars of the Rue Le Peletier -- Dr. Veron, the inventor of the modern newspaper puff -- Some specimens of advertis.e.m.e.nts in their infancy -- Dr. Veron takes a leaf from the book of Moliere -- Dr. Veron's love of money -- His superst.i.tions -- His objections to travelling in railways -- He quotes the Queen of England as an example -- When Queen Victoria overcomes her objection, Veron holds out -- "Queen Victoria has got a successor: the Veron dynasty begins and ends with me" -- Thirteen at table -- I make the acquaintance of Taglioni -- The woman and the ballerina -- Her adventure at Perth -- An improvised performance of "Nathalie, la Laitiere Suisse" -- Another adventure in Russia -- A modern Claude Du-Val -- My last meeting with Taglioni -- A dinner-party at De Morny's -- A comedy scene between husband and wife -- Flotow, the composer of "Martha" -- His family -- His father's objection to the composer's profession -- The latter's interview with M. de Saint-Georges, the author of the libretto of Balfe's "Bohemian Girl" -- M. de Saint-Georges prevails upon the father to let his son study in Paris for five years, and to provide for him during that time -- The supplies are stopped on the last day of the fifth year -- Flotow, at the advice of M. de Saint-Georges, stays on and lives by giving piano-lessons -- His earthly possessions at his first success -- "Rob Roy" at the Hotel Castellane -- Lord Granville's opinion of the music -- The Hotel Castellane and some Paris salons during Louis-Philippe's reign -- The Princesse de Lieven's, M. Thiers', etc. -- What Madame de Girardin's was like -- Victor Hugo's -- Perpetual adoration; very artistic, but nothing to eat or to drink -- The salon of the amba.s.sador of the Two Sicilies -- Lord and Lady Granville at the English Emba.s.sy -- The salon of Count Apponyi -- A story connected with it -- Furniture and entertainments -- Cakes, ices, and tea; no champagne as during the Second Empire -- The Hotel Castellane and its amateur theatricals -- Rival companies -- No under-studies -- Lord Brougham at the Hotel Castellane -- His bad French and his would-be Don Juanism -- A French rendering of Shakespeare's "There is but one step between the sublime and the ridiculous,"

as applied to Lord Brougham -- He nearly accepts a part in a farce where his bad French is likely to produce a comic effect -- His successor as a murderer of the language -- M. de Saint-Georges -- Like Moliere, he reads his plays to his housekeeper -- When the latter is not satisfied, the dinner is spoilt, however great the success of the play in public estimation -- Great men and their housekeepers -- Turner, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Eugene Delacroix.

Next to Dumas, the man who is uppermost in my recollections of that period is Dr. Louis Veron, the founder of the _Revue de Paris_, which was the precursor of the _Revue des Deux Mondes_; Dr Veron, under whose management the Paris Opera rose to a degree of perfection it has never attained since; Dr. Veron, who, as some one said, was as much part and parcel of the history of Paris during the first half of the nineteenth century as was Napoleon I. of the history of France; Dr. Veron, than whom there has been no more original figure in any civilized community before or since, with the exception, perhaps, of Phineas Barnum, to whom, however, he was infinitely superior in education, tact, and manners.

Dr. Veron has written his own "Memoirs" in six bulky volumes, to which he added a seventh a few years later. They are full of interesting facts from beginning to end, especially to those who did not know intimately the author or the times of which he treats. Those who did are tempted to repeat the mot of Diderot when they gave him the portrait of his father.

"This is my Sunday father; I want my everyday father." The painter, in fact, had represented the worthy cutler of Langres in his best coat and wig, etc.; not as his son had been in the habit of seeing him. The Dr.

Veron of the "Memoirs" is not the Dr. Veron of the Cafe de Paris, nor the Dr. Veron of the _avant-scene_ in his own theatre, snoring a duet with Auber, and "keeping better time than the great composer himself;"

he is not the Dr. Veron full of fads and superst.i.tions and uniformly kind, "because kindness is as a rule a capital investment;" he is not the cheerful pessimist we knew; he is a grumbling optimist, as the journalists of his time have painted him; in short, in his book he is a quasi-philanthropic illusion, while in reality he was a hard-hearted, shrewd business man who did good by stealth now and then, but never blushed to find it fame.

The event which proved the starting-point of Dr. Veron's celebrity was neither of his own making nor of his own seeking. Though it happened when I was a mere lad, I have heard it discussed in after-years sufficiently often and by very good authorities to be confident of my facts. In June, 1831, Dr. Veron took the management of the Paris Opera, which up till then had been governed on the style of the old regime, namely, by three gentlemen of the king's household with a working director under them. The royal privy purse was virtually responsible for its liabilities. Louis-Philippe shifted the burden of that responsibility on the State, and limited its extent. The three gentlemen of the king's household were replaced by a royal commissioner, and the yearly subsidy fixed at 32,500; still a pretty round sum, which has been reduced since by 500 only.

At Dr. Veron's advent, Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable" was, what they call in theatrical parlance, "underlined," or, if not underlined, at least definitely accepted. Only one work of his had at that time been heard in Paris, "Il Crociato in Egitto."

It is difficult to determine, after so many years, whether Dr. Veron, notwithstanding his artistic instincts, was greatly smitten with the German composer's masterpiece. It has often been argued that he was not, because he insisted upon an indemnity of forty thousand francs from the Government towards the cost of its production. In the case of a man like Veron, this proves nothing at all. He may have been thoroughly convinced of the merits of "Robert le Diable," and as thoroughly confident of its success with the public, though no manager, not even the most experienced, can be; it would not have prevented him from squeezing the forty thousand francs from the minister on the plea that the performance of the work was imposed upon him by a treaty of his predecessor. To Dr.

Veron's credit be it said that he might have saved himself the hard tussle he had with the minister by simply applying for the money to Meyerbeer himself, who would have given it without a moment's hesitation, rather than see the success of "Robert le Diable"

jeopardized by inefficient mounting, although up to the last Meyerbeer could never make up his mind whether magnificent scenery and gorgeous dresses were an implied compliment or the reverse to the musical value of his compositions. _a propos_ of this there is a very characteristic story. At one of the final dress-rehearsals of "Robert le Diable,"

Meyerbeer felt much upset. At the sight of that beautiful set of the cloister of Sainte-Rosalie, where the nuns rise from their tombs, at the effect produced by the weird procession, Meyerbeer came up to Veron.

"My dear director," he said, "I perceive well enough that you do not depend upon the opera itself; you are, in fact, running after a spectacular success."

"Wait till the fourth act," replied Veron, who was above all logical.

The curtain rose upon the fourth act, and what did Meyerbeer behold?

Instead of the vast, grandiose apartment he had conceived for Isabella, Princess of Sicily, he found a mean, shabby set, which would have been deemed scarcely good enough for a minor theatre.

"Decidedly, my dear director," said Meyerbeer, with a bitter twinge in his features and voice, "I perceive well enough that you have no faith in my score; you did not even dare go to the expense of a new set. I would willingly have paid for it myself."

And he would willingly have paid for it, because Meyerbeer was not only very rich, but very generous.

"It is a very funny thing," said Lord ----, as he came into the Cafe de Paris one morning, many years afterwards; "there are certain days in the week when the Rue Le Peletier seems to be swarming with beggars, and, what is funnier still, they don't take any notice of me. I pa.s.s absolutely scot-free."

"I'll bet," remarked Roger de Beauvoir, "that they are playing 'Robert le Diable' or 'Les Huguenots' to-night, and I can a.s.sure you that I have not seen the bills."

"Now that you speak of it, they are playing 'Les Huguenots' to-night,"

replied Lord ----; "but what has that to do with it? I am not aware that the Paris beggars manifest a particular predilection for Meyerbeer's operas, and that they are booking their places on the days they are performed."

"It's simply this," explained De Beauvoir: "both Rossini and Meyerbeer never fail to come of a morning to look at the bills, and when the latter finds his name on them, he is so overjoyed that he absolutely empties his pockets of all the cash they contain. Notwithstanding his many years of success, he is still afraid that the public's liking for his music is merely a pa.s.sing fancy, and as every additional performance decreases this apprehension, he thinks he cannot be sufficiently thankful to Providence. His grat.i.tude shows itself in almsgiving."

I made it my business subsequently to verify what I considered De Beauvoir's fantastical statement, and I found it substantially correct.

To return to Dr. Veron, who, there is no doubt, did the best he could for "Robert le Diable," to which and to the talent of Taglioni he owed his fortune. At the same time, it would be robbing him of part of his glory did we not state that the success of that great work might have been less signal but for him; both his predecessors and successors had and have still equally good chances without having availed themselves of them, either in the interest of lyrical art or in that of the public.