t the Opera Comique, or the Vaudeville. The thing was
managed there not so much by applause as by laughter. There was the
less need for careful management; the less risk of vexing the public
by injudicious approbation. No one could take offence at a man for
laughing immoderately; he was not chargeable with disingenuousness, as
in the case of one applauding to excess. Occasionally cries were
raised of "_A la porte les claqueurs_;" but such a cry as "_A la porte
les rieurs_," had never been heard. At the Opera House, however, there
was no occupation for laughers; in the score of an opera, or in the
plot of a ballet, appeal was never made to a sense of the mirthful.
Then the opera public was of a susceptible, and even irritable nature;
it might be led, but it could scarcely be driven; it could be
influenced by polite and gentle means; it would resent active
interference, and "a scene" might ensue--even something of a
disturbance. But M. Auguste implored his manager to be easy on that
score. Nothing of the kind should happen; he would prove himself
deserving, worthy of his employer's confidence. "Only," said M.
Auguste, "those fools, the paying public, certainly give us a great
deal of trouble!"

The _chef de la claque_ was, of course, supplied with admission
tickets by the management, and these were issued according to an
established scale. If the success of a work, already represented many
times, showed signs of flagging, and needed to be sustained, Auguste
received some forty or fifty pit tickets; but in the case of a work
highly approved by the public, and still attracting good houses,
twenty, or even ten, tickets were held to be sufficient. But on the
first production of an entirely new entertainment, at least a hundred
tickets were handed to Auguste. There was then a meeting of the
_claqueurs_ at some appointed place--usually a wine-shop in the
neighbourhood of the theatre--and the plan of action was arranged, the
army of applauders organised and marshalled. Intelligent lieutenants,
about ten in number, each in command of a detachment of the forces,
were instructed how to deal with opponents, and to keep watchful eyes
upon the proceedings of their chief. In addition to a money payment
and their own entrance tickets, they were accorded other tickets to be
given only to friends upon whose fidelity they could rely. Certain of
the _claqueurs_ accepted outpost duty, as it were, and acted in
isolated positions; others, and