It was in 1680 that Louis XIV. formed a company of players, undertaking to pay them 12,000 livres a year, and placing them under the control of the First Gentlemen of the Chamber--the origin of the Théâtre Française, more popularly designated the Comédie Française. The company consisted of a sufficient number of members--twenty-seven--“to do justice to a tragedy or comedy in the Maisons Royales, when his Majesty wished to be so diverted.” However much the King’s name was maligned in death, in this outburst of feeling the stage had little or no share, for the players could not forget that the late King had been a lover of the drama from his boyhood, and had raised their art to the dignity of a State institution, and had treated them at Court as on a level with distinguished men of letters, painters, and savants.[145] Louis XV., on the other hand, showed an apathetic indifference towards the stage, and in the words of Matthieu Marais he cared for neither the drama nor music, and it is said that “the sight of his dull and immovable face never failed to depress the players’ spirits.” [Illustration: LOUIS XIV.] Plays of an irreligious or seditious tendency found no sympathy with Louis XVI., and he interdicted the production of “The Mariage de Figaro” by Beaumarchais, remarking that the author of it “scoffs at everything that ought to be respected in government,” but his Majesty was eventually induced to withdraw his veto. Marie Antoinette took a keen interest in all kinds of theatricals, and private representations were performed in her apartments. According to Montjoie,[146] she condescended to take characters not always of the most dignified description; she also played in comic operas. This sort of amusement, he adds, was imitated, and all classes of society imbibed a taste for theatrical representations; “there was not a man of rank, a financier, nor even a citizen in easy circumstances, who would be without his theatre. Formerly a private gentleman would have been disgraced if suspected of metamorphosing himself into an actor, even in a private house. The Queen, however, by her example having put an end to this prejudice, the head of the magistrates, unmindful of the dignity of his position, performed the lowest comic parts.”[147] Indeed, the theatre was a constant topic of conversation at Court, and when the Queen had not been present she never omitted asking, “Was it well attended?” It was in 1774 that the King addressed Marie Antoinette thus: “You are fond of flowers. Well, I have a bouquet to offer you: it is the Little Trianon”;--a fatal present, as it turned out, for this “Little Trianon” became “the imputed cause of ruinous extravagance, and the fancied scene of improper indulgences.” During her residence here the favourite amusement was private theatricals, at which the King regularly attended.