Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1873-12-27

references. have air adv e,a,esd ora, a. In.
! wish the Qneen % be acquainted with this
No. .d dou iii y nothing 70 anybody about
Iupted me by remafks, always just, whether OF
praise OF 'Ame. Most frequently he exclaimed
Ins n n bad taste. This man IL continually
eond.- dil' At the monologue of Figaro bat e.
p.cially At the TRADE against State prisons he
roee quickly from his chair, and exclaimed with
never be played; ii would be necessary to pull
down the Bastile to prevent the representation
of this piece from being dangerous. This man
eminent Then 1t will not be played?' said
the Queen. NO, certainly replied the King,
You may rely upon that
would be played, and the friend. of Beaumar-
chais-or rather the admirers of his comedy
determined to put IL on the boards at all haz-
proprietors Of the Theater Francois, the parts
were distributed rehearsals had, the day Of the
performance fixed, and q vast number Of tickets
sold and given; So secretly had the whole bust
ness been conducted, that the king heard moth
ing OF II until few hours previous to the open
ing of the doors. He Immediately signed an
order of prohibition, and the messenger who
carried 1t found the streets leading to the thea
ter crowded with carriages and q large audience
already seated. The dissatisfaction was intense
and clamorous, and then for the first time was
II openly charged that Louis WI. had "attack-
ed public liberty" And so il came to pass that
a comedy written bv matchmaker, The deputy
clerk of the royal kitchens, started movement
which was destined TO pull down the throne and
deuge il in the best blood of France. Ii is no
eNaggeration to say that the Marriage of FL
caro-" sharpened the axe which a few years
later fell upon the neck OF the unfortunate king
who knew not how to be either constitutional
monarch or a fearless tyrant.
When Beaumarchais heard of the suppression
OF his piece, he exclaimed, "Well! gentlemen,
he won't suff, IL TO be played here in this The
alter Francois; now / swear il shall be PLAYED
perhaps in the very choir of Notre Dame!" An
ominous proPhecy,-for that venerable cathe-
dral witnessed afterwards dramas so impious
and horrible, that compared with them, the
fiimsy comedy was the most solemn of sermons.
The events We have narrated occurred in
June, 1873. Later in the same year the King
was informed by NJ. de VANDERBILT, member OF
his court, that Beaumarchais had expunged all
the oojectional passages, and accordingly per-
NAV AT ne countrv bonse of Ss VapSrsu
Those who attended were astonished to find all
these Objectionable passages retained but being
in the position of guests did not feel willing to
expose the trick. Indeed, the King was told
that the alterations made by Beaumarchais had
taken all the life out the comedy, and IL
represented in public it was sure to be sum-
marily damned. Laboring under this delusion.
he at last consented to its presentation at the
theatre. "Never, }" says Grimm, "did piece at
tract such an audience to the Francois. All
the theatre was filed almost at the moment
when the doors were open to the public. Hardly
half those who had beseiged them since in the
uOIuluS COuiu uuu places, Tue greater numDer
forced their way in, throwing their money to
the doorkeeper. 1t is impossible to be by turns
more humble, more bold, more urgent to OBJ
tain favor at court than were our young men
Of rank to secure place at the first representa-
ton of Figaro More than one Duchess deemed
herself TOO happy on that day to find in the bal
cOnies-where decent women are seldom seen
a miserable little seat by the side of ladies of
the mi-m0nde." Three persons were crushed
to death in the rush for places, and the piece,
instead Of being damned, was received with
tremendous applause-fOr ii pds pld ged as OYigi
ndily trritten, and not in accordance with the
expurgated edition.
The King was exceedingly angry at the decep-
ton practiced upon him, but the mi ,chief was
done beyond recall, and the piece ran sixty
eight consecutive nights-drawing as largely at
the last night as at the first. Beaumarchais be-
came involved in Newspaper controversy
about the merits of his comedy, and in his asst
communication made use of an expression which
Monsieur, the Kings brother, construed into a
personal insult to himself. Louis, most unfor-
tuDately, was induced to arrest and imprisOn the
offender in the prison of Saint Lazare, from
which, however, he was shortly afterward re-
leased. But this Imprisonment, together with
the first prohibition Of the public performance,
aroused among the people the bitterest aninos-
ity against the King and the government, and
prepared the way for that earthquake which
swept crown and country into q common ruin
The French revolution could not have been
prevented-it might have been postponed to a
more convenient season, but for Beaumarchis
and his Marriage of Figaro"