[195] On December 6, which was an off-day at the Opera, Madame Saint-Huberty attended a performance of the _Fausse Lord_, music by Piccini, words by Piccini _fils_, at the Comédie-Italienne. At the conclusion of the piece, when she was leaving her box, the whole audience rose, and burst into a tumult of applause, shouting: “_Vive la reine de Carthage!_” If, remarks Grimm, the public had been aware that, on that very day, by the exercise of rare delicacy and tact, the artiste had succeeded in reconciling Piccini and Sacchini, who had long been at variance, their enthusiasm would have been, if it were possible, even greater. [196] _Notice sur la vie et les ouvrages de Nicolas Piccini._ [197] _Les Comédiennes adorées_, p. 217. [198] Grimm, _Correspondance littéraire_, xii. 10. [199] Grimm, _Correspondance littéraire_, xii. 10. [200] Adolphe Jullien, _L’Opéra secret au XVIIIe siècle: Madame Saint-Huberty_. M. Jullien says “in less than five months.” He forgets that _Didon_, although not seen at the Opera until December 1 1783, had been performed at Fontainebleau in the previous October. [201] Adolphe Jullien, _L’Opéra secret au XVIIIe siècle: Madame Saint-Huberty_. [202] See p. 128 note, _supra_. [203] _Mémoires secrets_, December 20, 1786. [204] Cited by Campardon, _Académie royal de Musique au XVIIIe siècle_: Article, “Saint-Huberty.” [205] Cited by Edmond de Goncourt, _Madame Saint-Huberty_, p. 190. [206] The superintendent of the wardrobe of the Opera. [207] Cited by Edmond de Goncourt, _Madame Saint-Huberty_, p. 171. [208] It is true that Métra writes, under date March 24, 1783, as follows: “Mlle. Laguerre had been for a long time the mistress of the Duc de Bouillon. Madame Saint-Huberti has replaced her in the heart of this prince and in her rights on his fortune. He has just purchased her favours, so many times cheaply disposed of, by a contract of one hundred thousand écus.” But Edmond de Goncourt is inclined to think that Métra is here drawing upon his very vivid imagination with more than his usual freedom. [209] Cited by Edmond de Goncourt, _Madame Saint-Huberty_, p. 186. [210] Cabanis was the Comte d’Antraigues’s physician in Paris. Shortly before this letter was written, Madame Saint-Huberty had placed herself under his care and presumably he was still prescribing for her. [211] All sorts of legends have gathered round the Comte d’Antraigues, who is depicted as a kind of Royalist Marat, ready to demand, on the return of the Bourbons, “his four hundred thousand heads.” One story is to the effect that, when in Venice, he had been heard to boast that he had caused several agents of the French Republic to be poisoned.