[37] It was the "orator's" duty to come before the curtain to make announcements or crave the indulgence of the audience in a neat little speech, flowered with compliments and sparkling with witty allusions. It was a very important post and was always filled by an actor of distinction. Thus Bellerose and Floridor were the orators of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, Mondory of the Marais, while Molière was for some years his own bellman. La Grange, however, appears to have excelled them all. "Although," says Chappuzeau, "he is but of middle height, his presence is good, and his air easy and elegant. You are charmed before he opens his lips. As he has a great deal of fire and of the decent boldness an orator should have, it is a pleasure to listen to him when he comes on to speak the compliment. That one with which he regaled his audience at the opening of the theatre of the Troupe du Roi (Hôtel Guénégaud) was in the best imaginable taste. What he had excellently contrived he spoke with marvellous grace." [38] Guichard was convicted of the charge of attempted poisoning, declared "infamous," and sentenced to the _amende honorable_ and to pay a heavy fine, while the printers of the memoir in which he had libelled Armande and others were also punished. He appealed against the sentence, which, in the following year, was quashed, a result undoubtedly due to the fact that he had powerful protectors at Court. [39] An epigram ran:-- "Elle avoit un mari d'esprit, qu'elle aimoit peu, Elle en prend un de chair, qu'elle aime d'avantage." [40] M. Larroumet, _La Comédie de Molière_, p. 174. [41] No. 11 Rue des Pierres. See Arsène Houssaye's interesting account of a visit paid to it, in his beautifully illustrated work, _Molière: sa femme et sa fille_ (Paris: Dentu, 1880), p. 129 _et seq._ [42] Paul Foucher, _Les Coulisses du Passé_. [43] And not of a _marchana des rubans_, of the Pont-au-Change, as so many writers state, so that the epigram of Le Noble:-- "Tu les as mesuré sans doute [tes vers] à l'aune antique Dont jadis ton papa mesurant ses rubans," loses its point. [44] It was performed twenty-one times, and the average receipts were 680 livres. But for twenty-four representations of Molière's comedy, the _Bourgeois gentilhomme_, which was played concurrently with _Tite et Bérénice_, the average takings were 1000 livres. Corneille received 2000 livres for his play, the same amount as Molière had paid him for _Attila_. [45] See p. 108 _infra._ [46] Letter of January 13, 1673. [47] Letter of March 1673. [48] Letter of April 1673. [49] Letter of February 24, 1673. [50] _Les divertissements de Versailles donnez par le roy à toute sa cour, au rétour de la conqueste de la Franche-Comté, en l'anneé 1674_: _Paris_, 1676, folio. A copy of this very rare and valuable work, with its beautiful engravings by La Paute and Chauveau, is in the possession of the British Museum. [51] Hawkins, "Annals of the French Stage," ii. 116.