of which were by no means backward in assistance
to a satirist fighting against wealthy
parvenus; who were presumptuous and
despicable in their eyes. Le Sage wrote out
of a noble spirit, and such patrons applauded
what he wrote out of a mean spirit. But the
man of letters was no servant to their pride.
The Princess de Bouillon appointed a day
for the reading of Turcaret, and condescended
to permit the favoured author to fix the hour
of attendance most convenient to himself. Le
Sage happened by a rare chance to be engaged,
on the appointed day, as advocate in a cause
before the court of parliament. This business
detained him; and, when he did at last reach
the Princess's hotel, he found the aristocratic
circle in a flutter of affront. He related,
with much earnest apology, the cause of the
delay. His apology was haughtily received.
No reason, the Princess said, could justify
the impropriety of keeping such a dignified
assembly so long waiting. " Madame,"
replied Le Sage, " I have been the cause of
your highness's losing an hour. I will now
be the means of your regaining it." With
a profound bow he retired. The Princess
endeavoured to detain him; some of the
company ran after him to bring him back. In
vain: Le Sage never again entered the hotel
of the Princess de Bouillon.

Le Sage's manly feeling was shown about
the same time in another way. A hundred
thousand francs were offered him by the
farmers of revenue for the suppression of his
play. Poor as he was, he scorned the bribe.
The culprits redoubled their intrigues, and it
required an express order from the Dauphin,
before the actors of the Théâtre Français
could be persuaded to put Turcaret upon
the stage; and, on the evening of Valentine's
day seventeen hundred and nine, its first
performance took place; Le Sage being then
a little more than forty years of age. The
success of Turcaret was perfect; yet it at
first enjoyed a run of only seven nights.
The extraordinary cold, which had kept
theatres closed during the previous winter
months, still continued to be excessive in
February. At the same time the efforts of
the party satirised to stop the comedy in its
career, were of course incessant. Its
representation was, however, subsequently resumed;
and it is to this day a stock-piece at French
theatres.

A second play, entitled the Tontine, having
been ill-received by the actors, the author
broke off with them, renounced for a
time all connection with the stage, and
engaged in a task honourable to his
friendship. His friend Petis de la Croix,
then employed upon his translation of the
Thousand and One Nights, needed the assistance
of a more expert pen than his own in
preparation of the work for press; and one or
two of the best years of Le Sage's life were
spent in the revision of this translation. Meantime
a war of rival interests had arisen among
the comedians, which opened the way for the
lucrative exercise of his peculiar talent,
the union of pungent satire with the airy
fun demanded in the lighter productions
of the French stage. Besides the two
great theatres of Paris, certain "minors"
were allowed to be open during two
seasons of the year, in the ancient fairs of
Saint-Germain and Saint-Laurent. Only
marionnettes were, at first, the performers ;
and when, in sixteen hundred and ninety,
an attempt was made to introduce a troop
of children of both sexes, the company of the
Théâtre Français, who had one of two shares
in the exclusive privilege of speaking the
native language upon a dramatic stage,
ordered the usurping show to be pulled down.
The Italian company — which had not long
before been relieved from the general
prohibition to use the French tongue, and enjoyed
the other half share in the monopoly— made in
the year sixteen hundred and ninety-seven an
unfortunate use of their privilege. It
announced a comedy for representation under
the title of The False Prude. The court
discovered in those words a libel upon Madame
de Maintenon, and banished the Italians from
the country. The conductors of the performances
of the fair affected then to step into the
vacant place, assumed the character of the
Italians' successors, and played fragments of
Italian farces. These exhibitions proved
attractive, and the French comedians obtained
an order from the judges, forbidding their
rivals to represent any comedy whatever by
means of dialogue. The innovators thereupon
abstained from comedies, and confined their
performances to single scenes. These likewise
were prohibited. Taking advantage of the
literal sense of the word " dialogue," they had,
next, recourse to scenes in monologue. At
first only one actor spoke, and the rest
expressed themselves by signs. Then came an
improved form of monologue ; the actor who
had spoken retreated behind the scenes,
while the other, who remained, spoke in his
turn, and in turn retreated, in order again to
give place upon the stage to the first.
Sometimes the speaking was all done behind the
scenes ; and sometimes the one actor who
spoke before the public repeated aloud what
the others whispered to him. The ingenuity
of these contrivances to elude the vexatious
pursuit of the law, gave zest to the performances,
and the people thronged to the
spectacles of the fair.

The next step of the dramatic warriors
was to purchase from the directors of the
Royal Academy of Music, to whom it was
understood legally to belong, the privilege of
singing. But, when they attempted to make
use of this privilege, they found their theatre
invaded by a strong body of the police, sent
by order of the judges; and, under the
protection of these authorities the carpenter of
the Théâtre Français and his assistants
proceeded to a second demolition of the building.