NAPOLEON AND THE STAGE.*

IN this delightful little book Mr. Rosen has performed a

double task. He has collected for us out of the first-hand authorities anecdotes and sayings of Napoleon in regard to actors, acting, and dramatic literature, and he shows us how great and how conscious an actor Napoleon was when he him- self took the stage on the theatre of life and played some lead- ing part. All great men, and especially all great Sovereigns, have every now and then to come before the public and show themselves in what is in reality the actor's capacity. When an Emperor is crowned, or takes part in any great ceremonial watched by thousands of human beings, he is virtually putting himself in the actor's place. Most great men, how- ever, always keep the spirit of the amateur, and indeed would hold it below them to throw themselves too much into the part and do their best to delight their audiences. If they are self-possessed and dignified they think they have done enough.

With Napoleon it was different. All his great public appear- ances were carefully studied, and whether he was crowning himself in Notre Dame, visiting the camp-fires of his army, presenting eagles to his regiments, or receiving his Ministers, he took the utmost trouble to impress his audiences by

means of the actor's artifices. His glances, his gestures, his frowns, end his smiles were all calculated. Nor was his acting confined to popular occasions. He would, if need be, act to a house of three or four diplomatists, or to a single King or

statesman, as readily as to a crowd. He made little or no secret of the practice. For example, after an apparent outburst of rage he turned round to one of his own people, one of those whom it was not necessary to impress, and who was in the position of a dresser or scene-shifter, and explained that his fury was not real, and that, in fact, it never reached beyond his neck,—never got to his brain. Perhaps, however, the beet example of his admissions in this respect is to be found in his interview with the Pope at Fontainebleau :—

"Napoleon met an obstinate opponent to some of his pretensions in Pope Pius VII. The Emperor, accordingly, had the Pontiff brought from Rome to Fontainebleau, and in the chateau at that place occurred the interview vivified by the poetic art of Alfred de Vigny. We are told that during that historic meeting Napoleon raged and stormed as he paced the polished floor, while Pius VII. sat in a large eagle-studded chair, attentive and calm. Napoleon made promises, threats, and boasts. Pius VII. simply answered with one word, Commediante !' Napoleon overheard the word and was furious. Comedian ! I, a comedian !' he ex- claimed. 'Ah, I will give you comedies such as will make you all cry like women and children ! Comedian ! Ah, you are mistaken, if you think to get the better of me by insolent coolness ! My theatre is the world ! The part I play is that of manager and author. As comedians I engage all of you—popes, kings, peoples ! The thread by which I move you is—fear ! Comedian ! Ah, it would take a better man than you are to dare to applaud or to hiss me !' Pius VII. moved uneasily in the chair for a moment, and then he checked the soldier's torrent of language with another word- ' Tragediante Napoleon sobered in an instant and continued in more subdued tones. "Tie very true. Tragedian or comedian ! All is acting—all has been costumed with me for a long time, and will be so for ever ! What fatigue, what littleness ! Sitting, always sitting in full face for this party, in profile for that,

according to their notions You see I am open-hearted with you. I have plans for the lives of forty emperors. I form one every morning and another every night. Life is too short to stand " • Napoleon's Opera-Glass: an Histrionic Study. By Lew Rosen. London : Elkin Mathews.

Here is the man's secret. He was an actor, and knew he was an actor, and knew the advantage to be got from acting. As he said on another occasion :—" I love power, but I love it as an artist. I love it as a musician loves his violin. I love it to draw from it sounds, accords, and harmonies." Napoleon did not use the meta- phor of the stage on this occasion, but his meaning is quite

clear. He liked power not a little, because it put him on the great stage and enabled hin to draw forth the passions and emotions of mankind. How far he carried this desire to act and half deceive mankind is shown by his strange con- fession to Decres. Like Sir Thomas Browne, he realised that it was too late to be ambitious,—but for the strangest reason.

If he had been born in a less sceptical age he might have pre- tended to be half divine,—have played the part of the god- descended hero :— " ' I come too late,' he said regretfully to Decrs. • There is no longer anything great to accomplish. I admit that my career is brilliant, that I have made my way successfully. But what a difference in comparison with antiquity ! Take Alexander ! After having conquered Asia, and proclaimed himself to the people as the son of Jupiter, with the exception of Olympias, who knew what all this meant, and Aristotle, and a few Athenian pedants, the entire Orient believed him People nowadays know too much. Nothing is left to do.' " That this was not a piece of mere blague we know from

Napoleon's doings in Egypt. He there deliberately tried to induce the people to regard him as a kind of second prophet,—a person deserving worship as well as honour. He had not, how- ever, realised the true spirit of the East, and the attempt, as we know from the Arab chronicler, was a dismal failure. Perhaps it was this that made Napoleon hate the Eastern peoples so heartily. " I am especially disgusted with Rous- neau,' said he to Roederer, since I've seen the Orient. Man in the wild state is a dog."

. We must not forget to say something in regard to Napoleon's personal intercourse with actors. He was very fond of talking to Talma, and would often give the great tragedian hints as to his impersonations. We do not say " hints " in irony, -for Napoleon was a very astute critic when such questions as the proper bearing of Kings, great soldiers, and statesmen

were involved. On one occasion, while talking to Madame de Remusat, he not only gave a very able piece of dramatic

criticism, but let the world into the secrets of his own black heart

"As for French poets, I understand none of them except ;Corneille. That man understood politics, and, if he had been trained to public affairs, he would have been a statesman. I think I appreciate him more truly than anyone else does, because I exclude all the dramatic sentiments from my view of him. For example, it is only lately I have come to understand the denouement of Cinna.' At first I regarded it as merely a con- trivance for a pathetic fifth act; for really, clemency, properly speaking, is such a poor little virtue, when it is not founded on policy, that to turn Augustus suddenly into a kind-hearted prince appeared to me an unworthy climax. However, I saw Monvel act in the tragedy one night, and the mystery of the great conception .was revealed to me. He pronounced the Soyons amis, Cinna,' in so cunning and subtle a tone that I saw at once the action was only a feint of the tyrant, and I approved as a calculation what -had appeared to me silly as'a sentiment. The line should always be so delivered that, of all those who hear it, only Cinna is deceived ! "

-Again and again he dwelt upon the fact that Corneille was the poet who understood the great world. Cardinal Maury once tried to argue the matter with him, and asked bow it was possible that Corneille could know the great world since he saw no one. Napoleon pounced on this old fallacy in an instant, and with his usual rudeness:- " The Emperor cast a contemptuous look at the Cardinal, as if he now measured him for the first time. That is precisely why I maintain that Corneille is a great man. At a distance from courts, from intrigues and from business, he guessed, as it were, the true situation of empires, sovereigns, and people. The great Condi, on seeing some piece of Corneille's represented —I believe it was " Sertorius "—exclaimed, "Where did Corneille learn the art of war ?' " And I say,' added the Emperor, ' that for Corneille's fine tragedies to be justly appreciated, the audience should be composed of. kings, ministers, and great functionaries."

We have said enough to show what a number of delightful things are contained in Mr. Rosen's little book. Of its one hundred, and twelve pages, not one is without its good thing. Before we leave the work before us we will quote one of the most curious things recorded about Napoleon. It has nothing to do with the stage, but that does not matter. Napoleon once thought of creating a travelling library, and

proposed to have several hundred selected books printed in a small size. This is what he said on the matter :—

" An insatiate reader while on his travels, Napoleon complained, when at Warsaw, in 1807, and when at Bayonne, in 1808, that his librarian at Paris did not keep him well supplied with books.

The Emperor,' wrote the secretary to Barbier, wants a portable library of a thousand volumes in 12mo., printed in good type with- out margin, and composed as nearly as possible of forty volumes on religion, forty of epics, forty of plays, sixty of poetry, a hundred of novels, sixty of history, the remainder, to make up the thousand, of historical memoirs. The religious works are to be the Old and New Testament,the Koran,a selection of the works of the Fathers of the Church, works respecting the Aryans, Calvinists, of Mythology, &c. The epics are to be Homer, Lucan, Tasso, Telemachus, The Henriade, &c.' Machiavelli, Fielding, Richardson, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Corneille Racine, and Rousseau were also among the authors mentioned."

If we remember rightly, the correspondence which took place about these travelling books contains what is practically a full list of authors as well as directions as to the binding. The scheme was never carried out, because of the expense; but why should not some enterprising publisher now issue the series in shilling volumes under the title of "Napoleon's Library " ? It ought to have a ready sale. Little books in green cloth covered with bees—the Imperial emblem—would be sure to be popular.