Dr. Veron, in his Memoirs, gives an amusing account of the accidents which attended the first production of "Robert." In the third act, a chandelier fell, and the _prima donna_ Dorus had a narrow escape from being hit by the falling glass; after the chorus of demons, a cloud, rising from the cave to hide the stage, reached a certain elevation, and then, giving way, tumbled on the boards, nearly striking Taglioni the dancer, who, as _Elena_, was extended on her tomb, ready for the next scene; and in the last act, Nourrit, the _Robert_ of the evening, in the excitement of the moment, leaped down the trap-door by which Levasseur (the _Bertram_) had just disappeared. This last event received different interpretations. On the stage there was alarm and weeping, because it was then thought Nourrit in his leap had been killed or maimed; by the audience it was supposed that the author intended _Robert_ should share with _Bertram_ the infernal regions; while _under_ the stage Levasseur greeted the tenor with mingled surprise and disgust:--"_Que diable faites vous ici? Est ce qu'on a change le denouement?_" Luckily, Nourrit was unhurt, the curtain was raised again, the singers made their conventional acknowledgments, and the names of the authors were announced amid the wildest enthusiasm. After that night Meyerbeer had to pay no more money to get his operas on the stage. The tables were so completely turned that he thenceforth could command almost any price he chose to ask. To follow his career more minutely, after this period of his emergence into the bright light of fame, would be but to recount a story with which almost every one is familiar.