The Preparation of the Memoirs--Aid Rendered by Family and Friends--The Judgment--Beaumarchais _blâme_--Enters the Secret Service of the King--Gudin Relates the Circumstances of the Meeting between the Civilly Degraded Man and Her Who Became His Third Wife--The Père Caron’s Third Marriage 235 CHAPTER XII Beaumarchais Goes to London in Quality of Secret Agent of Louis XV--Theveneau de Morande and His _Gazetier Cuirassé_-- The King Dies--Beaumarchais’s Second Mission Under Louis XVI--Playing _Figaro_ upon the Stage of Life--Visits the Empress of Austria--Is Imprisoned at Vienna--Addresses Memoir to the King--Confers with the Ministers upon the Recall of the Parliaments 248 CHAPTER XIII The Character of Figaro--The First Performance of _Le Barbier de Séville_--Its Success after Failure--Beaumarchais’s Innovation at the Closing of the Theatre--His First Request for an Exact Account from the Actors--_Barbier de Séville_ at the Petit-Trianon 269 CHAPTER XIV Beaumarchais Undertakes to Protect the Rights of Dramatic Authors--Lawsuit with the _Comédie-Française_--Founder of the First Society of Dramatic Authors--Jealousies Among Themselves Retard Success--National Assembly Grants Decree 1791--Final Form Given by Napoleon 286 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FACING PAGE Portrait of Beaumarchais, by Nattier, 1765 Frontispiece Palace of Versailles 32 Louis XV 56 Marie Leczinska, Wife of Louis XV 60 _École Militaire_ 70 Madame de Pompadour 67 Princess de Lamballe 120 _Eugénie_ 152 _Le Jardin du Petit-Trianon_ 162 Madame du Barry 176 Title Page of the Memoirs of M. Caron de Beaumarchais 215 Figaro 236 Louis XVI 256 Marie Antoinette 256 _Le Petit-Trianon_ 283 Charles Philippe--Comte d’Artois 292 HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION