Letter to the Countess of T. on a Second French Theater in Paris

In the last century, a century forever memorable for the Sciences, Talents, and Arts, there was a quantity of public spectacles that no longer exist today (I do not speak here of the various fairground games of St. Germain, which was then so flourishing, but has totally fallen, even in terms of commerce). I cast my view only upon the major spectacles, such as the Petit Bourbon Theatre; that of the Palais Royal; that of the Marais; that of the Hôtel de Bourgogne; the rue Guénégaud; the former Italian Theatre; and the Opéra Comique, which has taken so many different forms since its establishment. (I reserve speaking to you of these at the end.) Thus, there were seven theatres existing in Paris all at once; the public could choose. The taste for spectacles was not then as strong as it is at present. Nobles and commoners did not yet think of performing plays. If the Lords of the Court, I dare say it loudly, had taken to the stage in 1643, as they have since, we would not have had the party of the Importants a political faction during the regency of Anne of Austria, nor the FRONDE a series of civil wars in France between 1648 and 1653. Let us return to our object, and say that the different spectacles

• See the History of France. It was only in 1651 that Louis XIV danced for the first time with his courtiers, at the Palais Cardinal, in the Ballet of Cassandra original: "Ballet de Cassandre".