h
time, six thousand francs were taken at the doors, an equal amount
being received in November, when, for the sixth time, she appeared as
Camille. Paris was now at her feet. In 1839, called upon to play two
or three times per week, she essayed but one new part, Esther, in
Racine's tragedy of that name. The public was quite content that she
should assume again and again the characters in which she had already
triumphed. In 1840 she added to her list of impersonations Laodie and
Pauline in Corneille's "Nicomede" and "Polyeucte," and Marie Stuart in
Lebrun's tragedy. In 1841 she played no new parts. In 1842 she first
appeared as Chimene in "Le Cid," as Ariane, and as Fredegonde in a
wretched tragedy by Le Mercier.

Rachel had saved the Theatre Francais, had given back to the stage the
masterpieces of the French classical drama. It was very well for
Thackeray to write from Paris in 1839 that the actress had "only
galvanized the corpse, not revivified.... Racine will never come to
life again and cause audiences to weep as of yore." He predicted:
"Ancient French tragedy, red-heeled, patched, and beperiwigged, lies
in the grave, and it is only the ghost of it that the fair Jewess has
raised." But it was something more than a galvanized animation that
Rachel had imparted to the old drama of France. During her career of
twenty years, her performances of Racine and Corneille filled the
coffers of the Francais, and it may be traced to her influence and
example that the classic plays still keep their place upon the stage
and stir the ambition of the players. But now the committee of the
Francais had to reckon with their leading actress, and pay the price
of the prosperity she had brought them. They cancelled her engagement
and offered her terms such as seemed to them liberal beyond all
precedent. But the more they offered, so much the more was demanded.
In the first instance, the actress being a minor, negotiations were
carried on with her father, the committee denouncing in the bitterest
terms the avarice and rapacity of M. Felix. But when Rachel became
competent to deal on her own behalf, she proved herself every whit as
exacting as her sire. She became a _societaire_ in 1843, entitled to
one of the twenty-four shares into which the profits of the
institution were divided. She was rewarded, moreover, with a salary of
forty-two thousand francs per annum; and it was estimated that by her
performances during her _conge_ of three o