“The _Mariage de Figaro_” says Loménie, “was presented sixty-eight times consecutively, something unheard of in that day. The receipts for the first presentation amounted to 6,511 livres, that of the sixty-eighth was 5,483. During eight months, from the 27th of April, 1784, to the 10th of January, 1785, the piece had brought to the Comédie Française (not counting the fiftieth presentation which at Beaumarchais’s request had been given for the benefit of the poor) a gross sum of 347,197 livres, which left when all expenses were deducted, a net profit to the Comedians of 293,755 livres, except the part of the author which was valued at 41,499 livres.... “This sum the author of the _Mariage de Figaro_, as if to sanctify the piece, consecrated to works of charity. “‘I propose,’ he wrote in the _Journal de Paris_, the 12th of August, 1784, ‘_un institut de bienfaisance_, to which any woman recognized as needy and inscribed in her parish, can come, her infant in her arms and with her certificate from the parish priest, say to us, “I am a mother and a wet nurse, I gain twenty sous a day, my infant makes me lose twelve.” Let us give her nine livres a month in charity.... So if the comedians have gained two hundred thousand francs from my Figaro, my nursing mothers will have twenty-eight thousand which with the thirty thousand of my friends, will produce a whole regiment of _marmots_ stuffed with maternal milk.’” “This institute,” continues Loménie, “of _les pauvres mères nourrices_, encountered obstacles at Paris which prevented its establishment in that city; but since the idea was good it did not remain fruitless. The Archbishop of Lyon, M. de Montazet, adopted it. He accepted the help and money of Beaumarchais, and the _Institut de bienfaisance maternelle_, if I am not mistaken still in existence in Lyon, was the outcome of the _Mariage de Figaro_. Beaumarchais was one of its most constant protectors and in 1790 he sent six thousand francs to it and received in return the following letter signed by three of the most respectable and important inhabitants of Lyon: “‘Lyon, the 11th of April, 1790. “‘Monsieur: “‘To speak to you of the success of _l’Institut de bienfaisance maternelle_, is to entertain you in regard to your own work. The idea of it is yours, therefore the plan of the work belongs to you. You have aided it with your generous gifts and more than two hundred children saved to the country, already owe their lives to you. We consider ourselves happy to have contributed to it and our gratitude will always equal the respectful sentiments with which we are Monsieur, etc., _Les administrateurs de l’Institut de bienfaisance maternelle_. “‘Palerne de Sacy, Chapp et Tabareau.’” It was jealousy, Gudin tells us, that prevented the establishment of the institute at Paris. A storm of protest arose from his enemies on every hand.