The Gymnase asked
for time, was very meek, prayed, supplicated. It would have
succumbed, however, but for the intervention of the Duchess of
Berry. Scribe composed for the apartments of the Tuileries a
vaudeville, called La Rosiere, in which he invoked the Princess as
protectress, as a beneficent fairy. She turned aside the
fulminations of M. de Corbiere. The minister was obstinate; he
wished the last word; but the Princess finally carried the day.
The day after he had addressed to the director of the Gymnase a
warning letter, he was amazed to hear the Duchess of Berry say: "I
hope, Monsieur, that you will not torment the Gymnase any longer,
for, henceforth, it will bear my name."
The minister yielded. The Gymnase was saved. It kept its company,
its repertory; it gained the right to give new pieces. From the
first days of September, 1824, it took the name of Madame the
Duchess of Berry. After the death of Louis XVIII., the 16th of
that month, the Duchess of Angouleme having replaced her title of
Madame by that of Dauphiness, and the Duchess of Berry taking the
former, the Gymnase was called the Theatre de Madame.
The programme of the Gymnase was constantly being renewed. Scribe,
whose verve was inexhaustible, wrote for this theatre alone nearly
one hundred and fifty pieces. It is true that he had
collaborators,--Germain Delavigne, Dupin, Melesville, Brazier,
Varner, Carmouche, Bayard, etc.
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