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a dispute with his comedians regarding the question of his rights as an author, and succeeded in organizing a union of dramatic writers for the defense of their interests. With the consent and support of the French administration he undertook to supply the Americans with arms in their struggle against England. Although he was successful, his claim for services to the United States remained long unsettled.

Following the success of the "Mariage," with its revolutionary tendencies, he passed a few days in prison. But the matter was considered of slight importance, and nothing serious resulted.

In 1786 he had married for a third time. In 1787 appeared his unimportant philosophical opera entitled "Tarare." In 1792 he presented his last play, "La Mère coupable," which indicated his loss of power as a dramatist. From then on his life was rather uneventful.

With the Revolution of 1789 began the decline of Beaumarchais's popularity and success. It won his ardent sympathy, but he failed to become a leader. He conceived the idea of purchasing muskets in Holland for the use of the revolutionists; his reward was imprisonment. Finally he found himself practically destitute: his money was gone; he was suspected of unpatriotic motives; his family was arrested, and his property confiscated.

Despite the fact that he had been the spokesman of the people in expressing their hatred for all forms of established power, it was only with difficulty that Beaumarchais himself escaped the scaffold which his eloquence and intelligence had done so much to raise. Nothing remained for him but to seek safety in flight. He took refuge in Hamburg, where he lived in abject poverty. In 1796, owing to the establishment of the Directory, he felt it safe to return to Paris.

The one happy event of his last years was the revival in the
Luncois of his drama "La Mère coupable."

human interest was incomplete

He sought

the sensibilities of his audience, to touch hearts, to call forth tears. In his endeavor, therefore, to arouse the emotions and consequently (as he thought) the sympathies of the spectator, he created a plot and characters that would wring sobs from a heart of flint. His creations are unconventional, we must admit; and we may even call them human, if we regard only the lachrymose side of life. But they failed to arouse the enthusiasm of the public. It is not surprising then that "Eugénie " lacked the qualities of a great work. It was presented at the Comédie Française in February, 1767, and was followed three years later by a similar tearful and solemn effort of the "decent, domestic" type entitled "Les Deux Amis." Both pieces were failures, and revealed their author as merely a sentimental, serious, and bourgeois dramatist who possessed apparently no great talent or genius.

The real Beaumarchais, keen, spirited, and scintillating with wit, had not yet appeared. He had been toying with theory. His work had not been spontaneous; it lacked the power and the personality of the man himself.

Then came the memorable series of lawsuits against La Blache and Goëzman, in which Beaumarchais suffered overwhelming and ignominious defeat. With his dearest hopes at stake and his fighting blood thoroughly stirred, he took up his pen to Mémoires" in defend his honor. The result was the four

which he appealed to the public for his vindication.

The effect of these memorials was immense. They took Paris by storm. All Europe read them. The most conservative critics were now as lavish in their praises as they had been in their condemnations when "Eugénie" was presented. The praise was merited, for the "Mémoires" are masterpieces of polemic literature. Skillful, audacious, ironical, abounding in wit, and straight to the point, they form a sort of literature of their own. Brilliant, logical, and powerful, they reveal the dramatic

genius of their author. They are veritable comedies in the guise of political pamphlets. Their attack on the injustice of the courts gave them a universal interest. They were eagerly read, and, by their vigorous but veiled denunciation of the Maupeou Parliament and of the corruption in judicial and administrative circles, increased the social discontent that was to culminate in the French Revolution.

"Les Mémoires de Beaumarchais," wrote Voltaire in a letter to Florian (January 3, 1774), "sont ce que j'ai jamais vu de plus singulier, de plus fort, de plus hardi, de plus comique, de plus intéressant.”

Prior to the Goëzman affair Beaumarchais had indulged in a third piece of dramatic composition, a comic opera entitled "Le Barbier de Séville." Since it failed to prove satisfactory in this form, the author transformed it into a five-act comedy. This was accepted by the Comédie Française in 1772. It was to have been presented as a carnival farce at Mardi Gras the following year, but owing to Beaumarchais's legal difficulties the performance was postponed. In 1774 the date was set again. All arrangements had been made and every seat had been sold for six successive evenings beginning with February 12th. At the very last moment, however, the authorities interfered a second time and prohibited the play because of the author's lawsuit then pending before the Parliament.

It was not until February 23, 1775, that the "Barbier" was presented. But the public, with the triumph of the brilliant "Mémoires" fresh in mind, was doomed to disappointment. The play aroused only criticism. In the first place, it was too long; its five acts made it tedious. Furthermore, the public had expected such a riot of laughter and fun that this quiet comedy appeared rather dull. To remedy matters Beaumarchais at once undertook a second revision and reduced the acts to four The result was an immediate and complete success The