[147] The critic of the _Mercure_ wrote: “What respect can they (men of letters) hope to inspire, when they themselves become the first to denounce their own secret vices, and, to sum up all in one word, when their mind seems to make a jest of calumniating their heart?” [148] For an account of this affair, see the author’s “Queens of the French Stage,” p. 324 _et seq._ [149] La Harpe, _Correspondance littéraire_, iv. 51. [150] The friendship between Beaumarchais and the Comte de Vaudreuil had its origin in the following incident. The latter had had a dispute, at one of the Court theatres, with a M. de Miromesnil, a distinguished amateur actor, as to the manner in which drunkenness should be depicted on the stage. Some of the company jestingly ascribed the count’s remarks to personal experience. “Nay,” answered Vaudreuil, “they are not my own. I borrow the lesson from the great Garrick, who gave it on the Boulevards to Préville, who acted upon it before a few working men, and caused them to take the mimicry for reality.” Miromesnil disputed the authenticity of the anecdote, and, on being assured that it was true, offered to lay a heavy wager that a Boulevard was not the place. Beaumarchais happened to be standing by. “Take the wager,” he whispered to the count; “it is yours.” Vaudreuil did so. Beaumarchais left the theatre, and shortly afterwards returned with a letter, in which Garrick himself stated that the incident occurred on the Boulevards. From that moment, the count evinced a warm interest in the dramatist’s fortunes.--Hawkins, “The French Stage in the Eighteenth Century,” ii. 291. [151] Gabriel Henri Gaillard (1726-1806). His chief works were: _L’Histoire de François Ier, dit le Grand Roi et le Père des Lettres_ (1766-1769); _L’Histoire de la Rivalité de la France et de l’Angleterre_ (1771-1777), which procured him admission to the Academy; and _L’Histoire de la Rivalité de la France et de l’Espagne_ (1800). [152] Loménie, _Beaumarchais et son temps_, iv. [153] _Souvenirs_, i. 100. [154] _Mémoires de Fleury_, ii. 413. [155] _Mémoires de Fleury_, ii. 415 _et seq._ [156] Cited by Gaboriau, _Les Comédiennes adorées_, p. 180.