RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XII, Issue 9, 20 June 1884, Page 5

RECOLLECTIONS OF THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.

The following (says the Nation) is the extract from Mr J P Leonard' 8 forthcoming volume of « Reminiscences of Half a Century i n France to which we referred in our last issue :~ Meagher was only three or four years in his teens when he came to Pans with the deputation in April, 1848. It; was, I believe? hS firat visit to the great city, and we were constantly together during his short stay. There was nothing particularly remarkable in his personal appearance except his. large, blue eyes, beaming with in! tellect and wit He was slightly inclined to embonpoint, but his SS a gg V Wellbm i fc f^ me ' an s? ißel \ stic 8te P' showed that, ho^gh at times he seemed listless and lazy, he had, as he proved fully after great physical activity and endurance when necessary The electric atmosphere of the revolutionary city constantly roused him from that apparent apathy in which he indulged at times. Alive to eS thing m the changing scenes around, his imperfect knowledge of French never prevented him from understanding or guessing at what was said We wandered together about the city, visitin* the churches, the hospitals, the salous of the rich and the hovels of the poor, mixing and conversing with people of all classes and opinions, from the millionaire to the ouvrier. We, of course, went often to the theatre, and our first visit to the celebrated Theatre Franoais I never shall forget. I was on guard as a full private in the National Guard (there were no regular soldiers in the city), and was the sentinel at the door, when my two noble countrymen, William Smith O'Brien and Thomas F. Meaghei^came. A friend relieved me, and I went in with my two friends. We took our places in the orchestra quite close to the stage. I never go to that theatre since without thinking of that memorable night when I sat between two noble patriots, who a few months after were condemned to be hanged and quartered, and saved only for that worse fate, exile, of which the greatest poet living said • "Leprosent estunmort sans tombean "—men possessing then everySSVSdf 8 -^* °^ m t0 + liTO ~ h ealih, fortune, consideration^ £?} 7 ' f nends - The greatest actress of our times, Rachel, play* d Phedre, the part in which she won the highest place in her art, and which sho only consented to play in, after studying it for years. We listened to Racine's nobletragedy with rapt attention and admiration, and never, perhaps, did the unrivalled actress do more justice to the part and excite more enthusiasm and applause. But ther^ was a sequel to the great tragedy, and one that thrilled the whole audience and ly mov * d my two friends - few minutes after the piece was ended the curtain rose and Rachel advanced slowly towards the footlights and began Rouget de Lisle's immortal " Marseillaise." It was neither singing nor declamation, but it was something so real and entrancing that it seemed beyond art and above criticism. Close beside her hung the tncoloured flag. When she reached thoss soulstirring words, 'amour saorS de lapatrie," she seized it, and, raising it ou high, gave the last stanza with such feeling, passion, and emotion that the audience rose, and a burst of thundering applause shook the whole house, Meagher was greatly excited, and must have looked as he did when he led his brave Irish soldiers to the charge, in civil war, alas ! and far from the land he loved and from which he was an exile. For an hour after we spoke only of the Th^oid aiS6 / io l^tm g^edve and the great tragedy Uirely! That wonderful actor, Frederick Lemaitre, was at that time playing " Robert Macaire"— that cynical photography of vice degradation and imposture, that bad such a baneful, effL^on P ubl% m?ral??ffi it was suppressed for some time. Nothing astonished Meagher more than the acting of this great artist, and little escaoed htm in the allusions made to the vices of the great people and the degradation of the lower classfs. Frederic, as he was called, had not yet played the part of the oTivffortur de Paris, in which he wasstill more remarkable^ and apropos ot that well-known piece I shall make a short digression! I was present at the first representation, and in a box next to the one in which Rachel sat, deeply moved by the great actor's wonderful personification of a character that threaten! to become obsolete at present. In a most dramatic passage of the piece Rachel advanced her pale face, beaming with emotion, and, addresing Lepeintre an eminent actor, she said : -Man mii t c'est cc gj faivu te plus bean dam ma ve»-»My friend, that is the fineet thing I evil saw in my life"— words that Lemaitre, when he heard them declared that he prized far beyond the applause of the pubUc Z»l 2 lau ». of * he cntlCi ». The real oJuffouwva did not escape Meagher's notice, however; and one night, on returning from the theatre, we came upon one. He was at the door of one of the great

handanSh,-,";^^ 0016 ,!^ des Italien8 > with bis lantern in one chet » extmJ« n f ' ° r l T ket Oa his back « and was wit * b « "crowhich E^£ SB-*?*S 8 -*?* V ¥ ap of rubbißh all «»*> of strange things, fish fowl Kw, 13 of bread, bones, remains of Eugene S.^^^^getoWes-the ingredients, in fact, of that dish which 2?" TW>™ ;j*y sterießOi: Paris," calls "leplatdn chourrU so endour S tr re .° ld "f* ° ld ?hoeß'? hoeB ' and various "^ants of past watched Ptff S? ?T* Ot . to u ra lace and soiled ribbons « Meagher shell ofa^w fe r lloW Wl l h great a^eation and curiosity. The «Sure°v»sSdi ''^ r€me^ ber ', P arti ° nl arly attracted his notice, rest H^f fi \ + u heWont teke that " but U P ifc w ent with the lean wh PrP wwep c i tha6 ?? follow the old veteran to another 5'f n l ere we saw, with some variety in the contents, the same atffiE £ ce P eat , ed - lobster shell always surpised Meagher, and I saS somSfn T!° *?k? k tbe cU ff™™ wbat he would d?with it. the exnZ^n "'^ e °\ n ° ,anßWe, anBWer ' He Baid g ruffl J» and J modify, «wl ?Z f! Ti ?* saeris An !fla™fourent le t£s dam tout?' I saiS JffJ'J *»0to»} we are Ivlandais." "Hollandais 7 " said the Srunka^^^^^ " Tons ivrogne," "all DhUoScJf d he 3 2 Sged , off aQ y thine but ßober him Belf • Masher deied Sf 'or an hour after ou tbe old night prowler, and wonstreet Tr tthl S ™*.*°™& industrious people in Ireland. In the found iw ! P lub t' ln J the Chan »ber of Deputies-everywhere-he mSi^J?f? forshrewd remarks, and of ten comic and witty com. 1 hW on B P eakers and actors, and comparisons with people at w% ? one subject he was always serious— on everything touch-dPfrtn--CoUn^d P frtn-- CoUn^ for which was going to sacrifice all tfiat were Sow 8 maaaer changed suddenly when Ireland was men«Slfi^V- remember on alluding to the famine of the previous year that his voice trembled with emotion and passion. « You were H? 7 ' "S v to me< " not t0 bave witnessed those harrowing sights : they would have maddened you as they have maddened us all." nj;*> w . k leave of him at the Noithern station I did not say adieu but "au revoir," & nd in Ireland; I little thought we should never meet again From his prison cell he wrote me two letters, one SJITSJ conßlder ifc m y d «ty to publish to-day. It will throw some light on the past and a further halo over the memory of one Sl* I °* * 5? for a crave but flome undefined place under the dark current of the Mississippi, will be remembered when the pompous tombs raised over some of the enemies of his race and country will bave mouldered into dust.