st some of the
most renowned advocates of the day, and gained great applause for the
talent he had exhibited in his pleadings. He crossed over to England,
where he made acquaintance with Wilkes and the agents of some of the
North American colonies, and became a volunteer agent for them himself
at the beginning of the American war, expending, according to his own
statement, 150,000 francs in the purchase of arms and stores, which he
sent out, when the President of Congress contented himself with thanking
him for his liberality, but refused to pay his bill. He resolved to try
his skill as a dramatist. His earlier plays were not particularly
successful, but in 1781 he produced "The Marriage of Figaro," a sort of
sequel to one of its predecessors, "The Barber of Seville." During the
progress of its composition he had shown some of the scenes to his
critical friends, who had pronounced it witty, and prophesied its
success. But it had also become known that it contained sarcasms on some
of the exclusive privileges of the nobles, and the officer who had
charge of such matters in consequence refused to license it for
performance, as a dangerous satire on the institutions of the country.
He had by this time made friends enough to form a party to remonstrate
against the hardship of the Censor's decision; till the King determined
to judge for himself, and caused Mme. Campau to read it to himself and
the Queen, when he fully agreed with the Censor, and expressed a
positive determination not to permit its performance. Unluckily he was
never firm in his resolutions; and Beaumarchais having secured the
patronage of Louis's brother, the Comte d'Artois, and Mme. de Polignac,
felt confident of carrying his point at last. His royal and noble
patrons arranged parties for private readings of the play. He then
declared, untruly, that he had altered all the passages which had been
deemed offensive, and Louis was weak enough to believe him without
further examination, and to sanction a private performance of it at the
country house of the Comte de Vandreuel. After this it was impossible to
exclude it from the theatre in Paris; and in April, 1784, it was acted
before an audience whom the long-continued contest had brought in
unprecedented numbers to hear it. If it had not been for the opposition
which had been made to it, it probably would never have attracted any
particular attention; for, though it was lively, and what managers call
a fair "ac