l manager, and which
at the present day is carried to excess. And all his subordinates and
co-workers were made to share the advantages of the system, because
their slightest doings also reflected glory upon him. An artist filling
at a moment's notice the part of a fellow-artist who had become suddenly
ill, a carpenter saving by his presence of mind the situation at a
critical juncture, had not only his paragraph in next morning's papers,
but a whole column, containing the salient facts of his life and career.
It was the system of Frederick the Great and of the first Napoleon,
acknowledging the daring deeds of their smallest as well as of their
foremost aids--with this difference, that the French captain found it
convenient to suppress them now and then, and that Dr. Veron never
attempted to do so. When the idea of putting down these notes first
entered my mind, I looked over some files of newspapers of that
particular period, and there was scarcely one between 1831 and 1835 that
did not contain a lengthy reference to the Grand Opera and its director.
I was irresistibly reminded of the bulletins the great Napoleon dictated
on the battle-field. I have also seen a collection of posters relating
to the same brilliant reign at the Opera. Of course, compared to the
eloquent effusions and ingenious attempts of the contemporary theatrical
manager to bait the public, Veron's are mere child's play; still we must
remember that the art of puffing was in its infancy, and, as such, some
of them are worth copying. The public was not so _blase_ and it
swallowed the bait eagerly. Here they are.

"To-morrow tenth performance of ..., which henceforth will only be
played at rare intervals.

"To-morrow twentieth performance of ...; positively the last before the
departure of M....

"To-morrow seventeenth performance of ...; reappearance of Madame ...

"To-morrow fifteenth performance of ... by all the principal artists who
'created' the parts.

"To-morrow thirtieth performance of ... The third scene of the second
act will be played as on the first night.

"To-morrow twentieth performance of ..., which can only be played for a
limited number of nights.

"To-morrow sixteenth performance of .... In the Ball-Room Scene a new
pas de Chales will be introduced.

"To-morrow thirtieth performance of .... This successful work must be
momentarily suspended owing to previous arrangements."

Childish as these lines may look to the present ge