In spite of the holy laws of propriety, more respected, one knows, among dramatic authors than in any other class of society, Adolphe one day allowed himself the liberty of using this couplet and had the audacity to put it in one of his plays, without troubling to change it one single iota. There is quite a long story about this: Adolphe, threatened with a lawsuit by Dumanoir, was only able to settle matters by offering a chorus for dancers in exchange for the drinking chorus. This is de Leuven's chorus: it will be seen that if Dumanoir did not gain much through this, he did not lose much by it:-- "A la danse, A la danse, Allons, amis, que l'on séance! Entendez-vous du bal Les gais accords, le doux signal?..." Dumanoir faithfully adhered to the agreement, but only used the chorus once; then he returned it to Adolphe, who, on regaining possession, continued to use his chorus, to the great satisfaction of the audience. All these choruses, however, pale before that of _Jean de Calais_. This was by Émile Vanderburch, one of the authors of the _Gamin de Paris_, and it concluded the play. It runs thus:-- "Chantons les hauts faits De Jean de Calais! On dira, dans l'histoire, Qu'il a mérité Sa gloire Et sa félicité!..." Indeed, a great revolution was taking place at this time in comic opera; and this revolution was brought about by a man who has since proscribed others as revolutionists. We refer to Scribe, who, in the literary revolution of 1820 to 1828, played pretty nearly the rôle the Girondists played in the political revolution of 1792 and 1793. Before Scribe, comic operas (with the exception of the delightful sketches of Désaugiers) were hardly more than bare skeletons, left for the actors to clothe as they liked. Nowadays the great thing is to create rôles for M. Arnal, M. Bouffé, or Mademoiselle Rose Chéri, but at that time no one thought of creating a rôle for M. Potier, M. Brunet or M. Perrin. M. Perrin, M. Brunet or M. Potier found their rôles outlined for them at the first rehearsal, and made them what they were at the first representation.