THEATRE AT PARIS. 



was fo taken up in avoiding the hilling fquibs and fer- 

 pents, that the ladies were left to take care of them- 

 felves. 



The 20th. — I was fo fortunate this evening as tor 

 get a place in the Ambigu comique. The name of the 

 piece was, Le Baron de Trenck, ou le prifonnier 

 Prufnen, the fame I had lately miffed of feeing. He it 

 von Trenck, muft himfelf have laughed even in the 

 dreadful dungeon at Magdeburg, if any one could have 

 prophetically defcribed to him before hand the contents 

 of this french performance. The fcene is laid in that 

 very prifon, and the tombRone, with the name en- 

 graved upon it, and the death's head, are not forgotten., 

 A long monologue, in which le malheureux Trenck 

 defcribes to himfelf the calamities which a lache cour- 

 tifan, who had poffeffed the, great heart of his king 

 againfc him, had brought on Lis devoted head, and in 

 which he fpeaks repeatedly of amour and of a tendre feu 

 for an arnante adoree, formed the, opening to the piece, 

 which is compofed in rhyme. Trenck's part was per- 

 formed by a little blackpated, fnub-nofed Gafcon (if 

 one may judge from his accent), who, with his long 

 pantaloons, open breaft, and bare head, had the ap- 

 pearance of a raw ill-bred country lout, and who, not- 

 withstanding, forced me feveral times to laugh at my 

 own emotions. There is fuch a fund of intereft in the 

 hiftory of this lingular man, that it muft have its effect- 

 even under the moft ludicrous difguife. 



While the monologue is pronouncing, ^enters 

 Trenck's friend the foldier (whofe german name I 

 have forgot as well as his french one) who had pro- 

 cured him implements for unri vetting his chains, and 



for 



