A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Contat, Louise
CONTAT, LOUISE,
(By marriage, Madame de Pamy, but known on the stage by her maiden name,) was born at Paris, in 1760, made her début as Atahde, in Bajazet, at the Theatre Français, in 1776, but afterwards devoted her brilliant endowments entirely to comedy. She possessed great versatility of talent, and united beauty, grace, ease, and archness, with dignity, tenderness, delicacy, and judgment. She restored to the stage the masterpieces of Moliere, which had long been neglected by the public. After a theatrical career of thirty-two years, most of which were a continual series of triumphs, Madame de Pamy retired from the stage in 1808, and became the centre of a brilliant circle of friends, in which she was remarkable for her powers of conversation. A few weeks before her death, she threw into the fire a large collection of anecdotes and other of her writings, in prose and verse, because they contained some strokes of personal satire. She died in 1813. M. Arnault owed his liberty and life, in 1792, to her interference in his favour, at the risk of her own life.