y erroneous opinions upon the
subject. Rumours, too, were artfully circulated to the effect that the
performer in question had received liberal offers from England or
Prussia; that his or her merits had roused the attention of rival
_impresarios_; the Parisian manager was cautioned at all costs to
retain in his theatre ability and promise so remarkable. But with the
signing of a new engagement, at an advance of salary, came
disenchantment. M. Auguste's services were now withdrawn, for the
performer's object was attained; and the management for some time to
come was saddled with mediocrity, purchased at a high price.

But little difficulties and deceptions of this kind notwithstanding,
Dr. Veron approved the _claque_ system, and constituted himself the
friend and defender of Auguste. It was not only that Auguste was
himself a very worthy person--an excellent father of a family, leading
a steady and creditable kind of life, putting by, for the benefit of
his children, a considerable portion of his large annual earnings as
_chef de la claque_--but the advantages of artificial applause and
simulated success seemed to Dr. Veron to be quite beyond question,
while wholly justifiable by their results. The manager detected the
_claque_ system as a pervading element in almost all conditions of
life. To influence large bodies or assemblies, dexterity and
stratagem, he declared, were indispensably necessary. The applause
exacted by Nero, when he recited his verses or played upon the lute,
or Tiberius, posing himself as an orator before the senate, was the
work of a _claque_, moved thereto rather by terror, however, than by
pecuniary considerations. Parliamentary applause he found also to be
of an artificial kind, produced by the spirit of friendship or the
ties of party; and he relates how, when the _Constitutionnel_
newspaper was under his direction, certain leading members attended at
the printing-office to correct the proofs of their speeches, and never
failed to enliven them at intervals by the addition of such terms as
"Cheers," "Loud cheers," "Great cheering," "Sensation," "Excitement,"
&c. These factitious plaudits, tricks, and manoeuvres of players,
singers, dancers, and orators, in truth, deceive no one, he
maintained; while they make very happy, nevertheless, all those who
have recourse to them.

As a manager, therefore, Dr. Veron invariably opposed the efforts made
to suppress the _claqueurs_ in the pay of the theatre.