LES ANGLAISES POUR RIRE


An order had been given to the managers of all the theatres in Paris
to admit a certain number of soldiers of the army of occupation, free
of expense. It happened that a party of the Guards, composed of a sergeant
and a few men, went to the Theatre des Varietes on the Boulevards, where
one of the pieces, entitled Les Anglaises pour Rire, was admirably acted
by Potier and Brunet. In this piece Englishwomen were represented in
a very ridiculous light by those accomplished performers. This gave
great offence to our soldiers, and the sergeant and his men determined
to put a stop to the acting; accordingly they stormed the stage, and
laid violent hands upon the actors, eventually driving them off. The
police were called in, and foolishly wanted to take our men to prison;
but they soon found to their cost that they had to deal with unmanageable
opponents, for the whole posse of gendarmes were charged and driven
out of the theatre. A crowd assembled on the Boulevards; which, however,
soon dispersed when it became known that English soldiers were determined,
coute qu'il coute, to prevent their countrywomen from being ridiculed.
It must be remembered that the only revenge which the Parisians were
able to take upon the conquerors was to ridicule them; and the English
generally took it in good humour, and laughed at the extravagant drollery
of the burlesque.

The English soldiers generally walked about Paris in parties of a dozen,
and were quiet and well-behaved. They usually gathered every day on
the Boulevard du Temple, where they were amused with the mountebanks
and jugglers there assembled.