All the pieces performed at Pantin were not nearly so unobjectionable in character as Collé’s charming comedy; indeed the dialogue, songs, and dances of the majority of them were exceedingly free, and in some cases disgracefully licentious[77]; while the farewell address pronounced from the stage, at the temporary closing of the theatre in September 1770, was one of the most outrageous pieces of _double entendre_ ever uttered in public.[78] Mlle. Guimard’s house at Pantin has long since disappeared; even its site is a matter for conjecture, and no contemporary description of it unfortunately exists. Some of its contents, however, have come, from time to time, into the market, from which we know that it must have been one of the most charmingly-appointed houses of the time, with its painted wainscots, its marble floors, its fluted pilasters, and its exquisitely decorated panels; a house worthy for a queen to inhabit instead of a _danseuse_. The generosity of the Prince de Soubise and the devoted La Borde, lavish though it was, failed to suffice Mlle. Guimard, who, to meet her ever-increasing expenditure, found herself reluctantly compelled to associate with them a third lover.[79] This time she turned in the direction of the Church; M. de Jarente, Bishop of Orléans, was the happy man! It was a prudent choice; M. de Jarente held the “_feuille des bénéfices_” which meant that he controlled the greater part of the ecclesiastical patronage of the realm. How he had discharged that important trust previous to his _liaison_ with the notorious ballerina we are unable to say. How he discharged it after he had succumbed to her charms is but too well known: the _feuille des bénéfices_ became “the fief of the Opera”; the ante-chamber of Mlle. Guimard was crowded with ecclesiastics soliciting the honour of an audience, and abbeys, priories, and chapels were knocked down to the highest bidder. And the _danseuse_, reclining gracefully on her _chaise longue_, was heard to inquire ironically of a friend about to present to her a young abbé who had come to ask for a benefice: “Is this man of good moral character?” * * * * *