With intuitive tact, Madame de Pompadour very quickly perceived, that in order to amuse a king who took neither interest nor pleasure in arts and letters, other and more material enjoyments were necessary.  She commenced, then, by transforming herself into an actress.  The king was there like a wearied spectator of life; she felt, that in order to interest and enliven him, it was necessary to diversify frequently her character, and the spirit of her character.  Twenty times a day would she change her dress, her appearance, and even her manner of walking and speaking; passing from gayety to gravity, from songs and smiles to love and sentiment.  With syren-like voice, and a heart as light as the bird of the air, she would invent a thousand graceful blandishments for the amusement of her royal lover.  Her beauty, which was marvelous, served her well in all these metamorphoses.  She dressed, too, with exquisite art.  Among the many costumes which she has invented, we may cite one which made quite a furore in its day, and this was the neglige a la Pompadour; a robe in the form of a Turkish vest, which designed with peculiar grace the contour of the figure.  She would frequently pass entire mornings at her toilet in company with Louis XV., who would stand by giving his opinion and advice respecting the different costumes she adopted.  The king, however, grew tired at length of having but one comedian.  In vain would she disguise herself sometimes as a farm-girl, sometimes as a shepherdess; at one time as a peasant-girl, at another as a nun, in order to surprise him, or rather, to allow herself to be surprised by him in some one or other of the many turnings and windings of the park of Versailles.  The king had at first been charmed by the novelty of the amusement, but by degrees he discovered that it was always one and the same woman under a thousand different disguises.

Perceiving that the king began to grow tired of this species of comedy, she had a theater constructed in the medal-room of the palace, she herself nominating the actors and actresses whom she considered worthy of performing with her on a stage which was to have but the king and a few favorite courtiers for audience.  The Duc de Valliere was appointed stage-manager and director; for prompter they took an abbe, most probably the Abbe de Bernis; the company consisted of the Duc d’Orleans, the Duc d’Agen, the Duc de Nivernais, the Duc de Duras, the Comte de Maillebois, the Duc de Coigny, the Marquis d’Entraigues, the Duchesse de Brancas, the Comtesse d’Estrade, and Madame d’Angevilliers.  The theater opened with a piece de circonstance, by Dufresny the poet, entitled Le Mariage fait et rompu, in allusion to the marriage of Madame de Pompadour with M. d’Etioles.  The little troupe commenced with comedy, but soon descended to opera and ballet.  In song and dance, as well as in the representation of the passions, Madame de Pompadour was the only actress of real talent.  In the characters of peasant-girls she was unsurpassed; but her chef d’oeuvre was the part of Collette in Rousseau’s Devin de Village, which she played with a naivete and tenderness that won all hearts.