Liberty, to poison our growing institutions in the bud; it is, at the same time, the most justifiable and deadly reproach that can be made against a government...." Poor _Antony_! it only needed now to be accused of having violated the Charter of 1830! "And we are here stating the whole truth: it is not Republican pamphlets which have lent their support to this odious system of demoralisation; whatever else we may blame them for, we must admit that they have repulsed this Satanic literature and immoral drama with indignation, and have remained faithful to the creed of national honour. It is the journals of the Restoration, it is the despicable management of the Beaux-Arts, which, under the eyes of the Ministry, causes such great scandal to the civilised world: the scandal of contributing to the publicity and success of these monstrous productions, which take us back to barbarous times and which will end, if they are not stopped, in making us blush that we are Frenchmen ..." Can you imagine the author of _Joconde_ blushing for being a Frenchman because M. Hugo wrote _Marion Delorme_, and M. Dumas, _Antony_, and compelled to look at _la Colonne_ to restore his pride in his own nationality? "But why put a premium upon depravity? Why encumber the state budget with the sum of 200,000 francs for the encouragement of bad taste and immorality? Why not, at least, divide the sum between the Théâtre-Français and the Porte-Saint-Martin? There would be some justice in that, for their rights are equal; very soon, even the former of these theatres will be but a branch of the other, and this last will indeed deserve all the sympathies of the directors of the _Beaux-Arts._ It would, then, be shocking negligence on their part to leave it out in the cold." You are right this time, Monsieur l'Académicien. A subsidy ought to be granted to the theatre which produces literary works which are remembered in following years and remain in the repertory. Now, let us see what pieces were running at the Théâtre Français concurrently with those of the Porte-Saint-Martin, and then tell me which were the pieces during this period of four years which you remember and which remain on its repertory? THÉÂTRE-FRANÇAIS _Charlotte Corday--Camille Desmoulins, le Clerc et le Théologien--Pierre III.--Le Prince et la Grisette--Le Sophiste--Guido Reni--Le Presbytère--Caïus Gracchus, ou le Sénat et le Peuple--La Conspiration de Cellamare--La Mort de Figaro--Le Marquis de Rieux--Les Dernières Scènes de la Fronde--Mademoiselle de Montmorency._ THÉÂTRE DE LA PORTE-SAINT-MARTIN _Antony--Marion Delorme--Richard Darlington--La Tour de Nesle--Perrinet Leclerc--Lucrèce Borgia--Angèle--Marie Tudor--Catherine Howard._