INTRODUCTION

Like many another French dramatist, Victorien Sardou ( 1 831-1908) found his true calling only after several attempts along other lines. At the Collège Henri IV, in Paris, he prepared for the Ecole de Médecine, where he studied some eighteen months, at the same time giving private lessons in divers subjects. Lack of money forced him to devote himself wholly to earning a living, and he at once turned to playwriting, which had interested him from childhood.

It must be said that his efforts at first gave doubtful results. He wrote several plays which were not performed, but in 1854 gained encouragement from the performance at the Odéon of his La Taverne des Etudiants. This was played only a few times, and was hardly a success ; but, as it was not an absolute failure, the author was sufficiently encouraged to persevere. In 1857 he was nursed through an attack of t3rphoid fever by a neighbor. Mile, de Brécourt, whom he married the next year. Through her Sardou met the great actress. Mile. Déjazet, who was at that moment starting a theatre of her own, and the interest of this old actress helped to bring the struggling writer into prominence. .

The first real success came with Les Pattes de Mouche^ which was performed at the Gymnase-Dramatique in i860. From then on plays without number were brought forth in rapid succession, many of them too hastily composed, while from time to time there came one which influenced the development of the French drama. Among Sardou's best plays since i860 a conservative statement might include: Nos Intimes^ 1861, La Famille Bencîton^ 1864, ^^^ Bons Villageois^ 1865, Patrie^ 1869,