The next day Jelyotte
wrote me a note, in which he stated the success of my piece, and the
pleasure it had afforded the king. "All day long," said he, "his
majesty sings, with the worst voice in his kingdom: J'ai perdu mon
serviteur: j'ai perdu tout mon bonheur." He likewise added, that in
a fortnight the Devin was to be performed a second time; which
confirmed in the eyes of the public the complete success of the first.
Two days afterwards, about nine o'clock in the evening, as I was
going to sup with Madam d'Epinay, I perceived a hackney-coach pass
by the door. Somebody within made a sign to me to approach. I did
so, and got into it, and found the person to be Diderot. He spoke of
the pension with more warmth than, upon such a subject, I should
have expected from a philosopher. He did not blame me for having
been unwilling to be presented to the king, but severely reproached me
with my indifference about the pension. He observed that although on
my own account I might be disinterested, I ought not to be so on
that of Madam Vasseur and her daughter; that it was my duty to seize
every means of providing for their subsistence; and that as, after
all, it could not be said I had refused the pension, he maintained I
ought, since the king seemed disposed to grant it to me, to solicit
and obtain it by one means or another. Although I was obliged to him
for his good wishes, I could not relish his maxims, which produced a
warm dispute, the first I ever had with him.
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