Tribou presented his petition in verse, and afterwards expressed his readiness to sing it. He sang, and no sooner had he finished, than he added--
"If _mon Seigneur_ will permit me, I shall be happy to dance it."
"Dance it?" exclaimed the regent; "by all means!"
When Tribou had concluded his _pas_, the duke confessed that he had never before heard of a petition being either danced or sung, and for the love of novelty, granted the actor his request.
During the regency, wax was substituted for tallow in the candelabra of the Opera. This improvement was due to Law, who gave a large sum of money to the Académie for that special purpose. On the other hand, Mademoiselle Mazé, one of the prettiest dancers at the Opera, was ruined three years afterwards by the failure of this operatic benefactor's financial scheme. The poor girl put on her rouge, her mouches, and her silk stockings, and in her gayest attire, drowned herself publicly in the middle of the day at La Grenouillière.
After the break up of Law's system, the regent, terrified by the murmurs and imprecations of the Parisians, endeavoured to turn the whole current of popular hatred against the minister, by dismissing him from the administration of the finances. When Law presented himself at the Palais Royal, the regent refused to receive him; but the same evening, he admitted him by a private door, apologized to him, and tried to console him. Two days afterwards, he accompanied Law to the Opera; but to preserve him from the fury of the people, he was obliged to have him conducted home by a party of the Swiss guard.
In the fourth act of Lulli's _Alceste_, Charon admits into his bark those shades who are able to pay their passage across the Styx, and sends back those who have no money.
"Give him some bank notes," exclaimed a man in the pit to one of these penniless shades. The audience took up the cry, and the scene between Charon and the shades was, at subsequent representations, the cause of so much tumult, that it was found necessary to withdraw the piece.
The Duke of Orleans appears to have had a sincere love of music, for he composed an opera himself, entitled _Panthée_, of which the words were written by the Marquis de La Fare. _Panthée_ was produced at the Duke's private theatre. After the performance, the musician, Campra, said to the composer,