down by the State with one fist, and then
dragged up with the other.

Many directors of the Paris theatres swell
their receipts by balls or concerts. Of these
no account has been taken in the
preceding estimates; but it will presently be
seen that, without some devices of this kind,
it would not be easy for an average manager
in Paris to obtain for himself a decent living.
We left the theatres just now with a gross
balance in their favour of about sixteen
thousand pounds. We have not, however,
yet finished the account of their expenditure.
They, of course, have to pay authors for the
pieces they perform.

There are in Paris eight or nine hundred
authors or composers who have had one or
more of their works presented on the stage;
but the number of authors or composers of the
new pieces represented in Paris in a single year
is about two hundred and fifty. Paris is much
more prolific of new pieces than London, and
the payments made by the stage of Paris on
account of authorship form a considerable
item in the year's expenses. The year 1851
may be taken as a fair sample of the rest. In
that year the two hundred and fifty authors
owned two hundred and seventy-three new
pieces, of which number one hundred and
eighty-six were vaudevilles, and thirty-two
were pieces produced by the theatres enjoying
part in the subvention. The method in which
French authors are to receive payment for
dramatic works has been practically subject
to much fluctuation, and great discussion has
been held upon its theory. The rights of
authors, in the case of the Opéra, the Comédie
Française, and the Opéra Comique, are now
established upon a system fixed by authority.
For other theatres, a scale has been fixed by
the Association of Dramatic Authors, and
generally accepted by the managers. The
following are now the author's dues upon
each night's performance of his piece. We
express the larger sums of money in round
numbers, by addition or subtraction in each
case of a few odd shillings.

At the Opéra. For an opera in five acts:
for each of the first forty representations,
twenty guineas; for every subsequent
representation, eight guineas. For an opera in
three acts, the two rates of payment are
fourteen pounds and seven pounds. A ballet
in three acts, seven pounds, and then two
pounds. A ballet in one act, four guineas,
and then one pound five:

At the Comédie Française. A twelfth of
the gross receipts (after deducting the Right
of the Indigent) for pieces in five and four
acts; an eighteenth for pieces in three acts.
A twenty-fourth for pieces in two acts or one
act:

At the Opéra Comique. After deducting
the tax for the poor, an eighth-and-a-half, that
is to say, two-seventeenths of the receipts, for
pieces in three acts:

At the Odéon, Vaudeville, Variétés,
Gymnase, and Palais Royal, twelve per cent. on
the gross receipts. At the Gaîté, Ambigu,
and Porte Saint Martin, ten per cent.:

At the Théâtre National, one pound thirteen
shillings and fourpence nightly for a long
piece, and one pound ten shillings for pieces
in three acts, during the first twenty-five
representations, and one pound for each
subsequent performance. Fifteen shillings a
night for pieces in two acts; ten shillings and
tenpence for pieces in one act.

At the instigation of Beaumarchais, the
dramatic authors had combined before 1791
to exact their dues of the players. A society
was formed in 1794, afterwards reconstituted,
and, finally, in 1829, there was formed the
existing Association of Dramatic Authors and
Composers. The Association protects its
members, collects through special agents—
charging moderate commission—authors' dues,
and sets aside a charitable fund, for aid of
decayed members, or of widows and orphans
of those who are deceased. The whole
amount received by authors from the stage of
Paris is about twenty-eight thousand pounds
a year. The whole stage in the provinces
yields to them about seven thousand more.
In addition to this they have, of course,
the copyright of their manuscripts, certain
fees called primes de lecture, and the right of
signing—every night when their plays are
acted—a fixed number of free admissions,
which are sold at a price lower than that
of the tickets issued by the theatre, and
produce an additional fund of profit to the
authors, which is not by any means to be
despised. It adds to their aggregate of
payments no less a sum than sixteen or seventeen
thousand pounds a year.

To the credit of the actors we should not
omit to say, that they have established among
themselves a most prosperous benefit society,
in the shape of an Association of Dramatic
Artists, to which even the poorest actor of the
provinces endeavours to contribute. By means
of this Association, the French actors snatch
their poorer brethren out of debt and
difficulty, extricate their clothes and property
from pawn, assist the weak, pension the aged,
and do all that can be done by the most
earnest exertion to alleviate the burdens
incident to a profession that is in few cases well
paid, and liable in all cases to much
uncertainty. Of this Association there were, in
May 1851, two thousand five hundred
members. It has now an income of five thousand
a year, derived partly from subscriptions,
partly from gifts, a ball, participation in a
lottery, a small Government allocation, and
such other ideas as an active committee can
suggest. The members of the committee—
who are at the head of their profession
—do not grudge time or labour, but meet
as often as seventy or eighty times in the
year.

There is no idleness in all this. There is
abundance of good feeling, abundance of hard