1 Registre d'Hubert, ed. Sylvie Chevalley, Revue d'Histoire du Théâtre, 1973, nos. 1 and 2.Google Scholar

2 Histories of the French theatre generally contain a section or at most a chapter about spectators on the stage. Only a brief monograph published in the last century is devoted to the subject (Adolphe Jullien, les Spectateurs sur le théâtre [Paris: Detaille, 1875]), and this is largely a reprise of a chapter in a work by Eugène Despois published a year earlier: Le Théâtre français sous Louis XIV (Paris, Hachette, 1874).Google Scholar

3 Léris, Antoine de, Dictionnaire portatif historique et littéraire des théâtre (Paris, 1763; rpt. Geneva: Slatkine, 1970), p. 106Google Scholar. Here and throughout, all translations of French texts are my own.

4 I was fortunate enough to be granted access to the unpublished registres of the Troupe du Roi for 1673–1680, which are stored in the vault of the Archives de la Comédie Française. Additìonal numeric information regarding stage seating exists in the registres of the Comédie Française for 1680–1686, reproduced on microfilm by H. C. Lancaster, and on deposit at the Library of Congress under the call number 01000, MLA Series 523 and 561. My article based on this material, “Les Spectateurs sur la scène: quelques chiffres tirés des registres du XVIIe siècle,” appeared in the Revue d'Histoire du Théâtre (1980), 199–215.Google Scholar

5 Le Mercure de France, L'Année Littéraire and Les Spectacles de Paris all published articles in 1759 or 1760 reporting on this event. In addition, Charles Collé, Voltaire, Diderot and others offer thorough commentary.

6 Roubo, André-Jacob, Traité de la construction des théâtres et des machines théâtrales (Paris: Cellot et Jombert, 1777), pp. 26–27.Google Scholar

7 Descotes, Maurice, Le Public de théâtre et son histoire (Paris: PUF, 1964), p. 92Google Scholar. Tastes followed types: farceurs such as Bruscambille, an early favorite, specialized in monologues with titles such as “Prologue facétieux de l'utilité du derrière,” “Avant-propos sur les tétons,” etc. (Pierre-David Lemazurier, Galérie historique des acteurs du Théâtre français, depuis 1600 jusqu' à nos jours [Paris: Chaumerot, 1810], I, 26–27.)

8 Lancaster, H. Carrington, A History of French Dramatic Literature in the Seventeenth Century (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1929–1942), III, 43.Google Scholar

9 Mongrédien, Georges, Les Grands comédiens au XVIIe siècle (Paris: Le Livre, 1927), p. 46.Google Scholar

10 The Hôtel de Bourgogne was somewhat behind the Marais in attracting high-quality clientele. While the theatre occupied by the Marais troupe in 1635 (on rue Vieille-du-Temple) had 40 loges suitable for gentlemen and their ladies, the Hôtel de Bourgogne had only 12, of which 8 were reserved for the Maîtres de la Confrérie who owned the premises. However, after its remodeling in 1647, the Hôtel de Bourgogne, desirous of competing with the Marais, had some 300 box seats with which to attract upper crust Parisian society. (Wiley, William L., The Hôtel de Bourgogne. Another Look at France's First Public Theatre. Studies in Philology, vol. LXX, No. 5 [Chapel Hill: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1973], pp. 55–57Google Scholar; Deierkauf-Holsboer, S. Wilma, Histoire de la mise en scène dans le Théâtre Français, à Paris, de 1600 à 1673 [Paris, Nizet, 1960], p. 19Google Scholar; and Le Théâtre de l'Hôtel de Boutgogne [Paris: Nizet, 1968–1970], II, 57.)Google Scholar

11 Cited by Lancaster, , History, III, 43.Google Scholar

12 This well known passage from the Historiettes is cited by, among others, Melèse, Pierre in Le Théâtre et le public à Paris sous Louis XIV (1639–1713) (Paris: Droz, 1934), p. 211.Google Scholar

13 A remark in the preface of a 1660 play by Donneau, F., cited by Lough, John in Paris Theatre Audiences in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (London: Oxford Univ. Press, 1957), p. 63.Google Scholar

14 Fâch. I, i; Crit. v; Mis. III, i.

15 Eugène Despois, editor and annotator of the first three volumes of Molière's Oeuvres (Parìs: Hachette, 1873–1923), III, 131. Corneille is described as having been a spectator on the stage of the Hôtel de Bourgogne also, having presumably watched a performance of Bajazet (1672) from that vantage point. (Lough, p. 115).

16 The Registre d'Hubert shows one instance where 36 billets de théâtre were sold, but this seems to have been a special favor to Donneau de Visé, friend of the troupe, and author of the day's play (p. 165, n. 50).

17 This engraving is one of a scries of six by Le Pautre illustrating Brécourt's Noce de village. (Bibliothèque Nationale, Cabinet des Estampes, Ed 42a.).

18 An admirably detailed discussion of the question of the non-paying spectator is presented by Lagrave, Henri, Le Théâtre et le public à Paris de 1715 à 1750 (Paris: Klincksieck, 1972), pp. 175–85.Google Scholar

19 The engraving was discovered and reproduced by Curtis, A. Ross, “A propos d'une gravure de 1662,” Revue d'Histoire du Théâtre, 1967, pp. 97–98.Google Scholar

20 The play, Les Amours de Calotin, by Chevalier, is referred to by Lancaster, History, III, 327.

21 Molière's troupe undertook to “raccomoder toutes les loges et amphithéâtre bancs et balcons.” (Young, Bert Edward and Young, Grace Philputt, Le Registre de La Grange, 1659–1685 [Paris: Droz, 1947], I, 124Google Scholar.)

22 First cited by Despois, , Le Théâtre français, p. 118, no. 3.Google Scholar

23 This remark from the Mercure of May 23, 1759, is cited by Despois, p. 129.

24 An analysis of the data in these registres and a discussion of balcons can be found in my article on chiffres de registre referred to in note 4.

25 Information in this paragraph is based on my article, “Cinq documents portant sur l'enceinte de la balustrade de l'Ancienne Comédie,” to appear in the Revue d'Histoire du Théâtre.

26 Bonnassies, Jules, La Comédie Française. Histoire administrative, 1658–1757 (Paris: Didier, 1874), p. 125.Google Scholar

27 From unpublished minutes (feuille d'assemblée) dated January 20, 1698, in the Archives de la Comédie Française. The document is transcribed in its entirety in my article on the enceinte de la balustrade.

28 Excerpt of a royal ordinance issued on April 10, 1720 (Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, N. F. 35 380, t. 117, no. 65.) I have found about 20 ordinances of this type dating from 1716 to 1757. See my article “Keeping Order on the Stage in Paris in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries,” Theatre Research International, 5, No. 2 (1980), pp. 99–107.Google Scholar

29 The citation, as well as most of the information in this paragraph, are from Blondel, Jacques-François, Architecture françoise (Paris: C. A. Jombert, 1752–1756), II, 33Google Scholar. The figure of 140 seats on the stage was calculated by Lagrave, p. 80. Circé, an elaborate machine play, was not given for the last time until 1706, while the last performance of La Devineresse, a simpler production, but one requiring machinery nonetheless, took place in 1739.

30 Barbier, Edmond-Jean-François, Chronique de la Régence et du règne de Louis XV (1718–1763)Google Scholar, or Journal de Barbier (Paris: Charpentier, 1857), VII, 161–62.

31 To the 140 places of the permanent benches, I have added 28 places for the extra benches (Lagrave calculates that the bench just inside the balustrade held 14 spectators [p. 80], so I have assumed the same for the bench just outside the balustrade), and 50 standees, for a total of 218. When one adds the 108 seats in the stage boxes, as calculated by Lagrave, one arrives at a possible total of some 326 spectators behind the curtain of the Comédie Française!

32 According to Frédéric Deloffre in his introduction to Marivaux' Petit-maître corrigé, the term came into use about 1683 to designate a little band of young nobles dedicated to leading life in as outrageous and shocking a manner possible (Geneva: Droz, 1955, pp. 19–23).

33 Riccoboni's Réflexions historiques, 1738, cited by Lough, p. 229.

34 The relevant passage of de Villier's 1712 vene is cited by Melèse, p. 212. Figures published by Lancaster, in The Comédie Française, 1680–1701. Plays, Actors, Spectators, Finances (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1941)Google Scholarconfirm that Judith was indeed very well attended during its early performances in March, 1695.

35 First cited by Despois, p. 119. It should be noted that Lesage's account did not appear until 1740 (in La Valise trouvée), nearly a half-century after the fact. While there were frequently 200 spectators on the stage in 1740, this was not necessarily so in 1695.

36 August, 1721, p. 102.

37 du Tralage, Jean Nicolas, Mélanges sur la comédie et l'opéra. Excerpts from a collection of Du Tralage manuscripts are published in Notes et Documents sur l'histoire des théâtres de Paris, ed. Jacob, (Paris: Librairie des bibliophiles, 1880). The passage cited appears on pp. 85–86.Google Scholar

38 Ibid.

39 First cited by Despois, pp. 121–22.

40 Du Tralage, p. 87.

41 The ordinance is dated April 19 and is cited by Lagrave, p. 84, n. 37.

42 Réflexions historiques et critiques sur les différents théâtres de l'Europe (Paris: J. Guérin; 1738), p. 140.Google Scholar

43 II, 33.

44 pp. 61–62.

45 First cited by Despois, pp. 120–21.

46 May 18, 1716; Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, 138 450 t. 22, no. 46.

47 While it is possible that these balustrades were first installed in 1716, it is more likely that they dated from the 1690's, about the time the Comédie Française had installed theirs. Their existence in 1716 is confirmed by visual evidence in the form of a sketch made by a visiting Englishman, Sir James Thornhill. A photograph of this sketch appears in an anide by Barlow, Graham, “The Hôtel Bourgogne According to Sir James Thornhill,” Theatre Research International, I, no. 2 (1975), pp. 86–98.Google Scholar

48 Clément, Jean-Marie-Bernard and La Porte, Abbé Jean-Barthélemy de, Anécdotes dramatiques (Paris: Vve Duchesne, 1775), I, 1–2Google Scholar. The play in question was Abdilly, Roi de Grenade, by M. de l'Isle and Mlle. Riccoboni.

49 Many of these ordinances can be read in Nicolas de Lamare, Moeurs, 1893 (Bibliothèque Nationale, Salle des Manuscrits, Fonds de la Mare, ff 21625).

50 Clément, Anéc. dram., I, 4–5.

51 L'Année Littéraire, April, 1759, p. 315.

52 Peter Shaffer, Equus (London: Samuel French, 1973), Description of “The Set.”