Page:Memoirs of Hyppolite Clairon (Volume 1).djvu/52

 riosity. The public had never seen me out of the theatre: they wished to behold me divested of a crown, and unsupported by the characters of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire, reduced to the simple rank of a Bourgeoise.—I flattered myself the alteration would not appear to my prejudice, as I still retained the same sentiments and habits; but you know I am rather hort, and that I was supposed by those who had never seen me off the stage to be six feet high. At home I appeared in my natural form: I never had recourse to art except at the theatre. I was fearful that when surveyed off the stage the public would diminih twice as much from my stature as it had been accustomed to add to it. I was sen-