I received a hundred louis
from the king; fifty from Madam de Pompadour, for the performance at
Bellevue, where she herself played the part of Colin; fifty from the
opera; and five hundred livres from Pissot, for the engraving: so that
this interlude, which cost me no more than five or six weeks'
application, produced, notwithstanding the ill treatment I received
from the managers and my stupidity at court, almost as much money as
my Emilius, which had cost me twenty years' meditation, and three
years' labor. But I paid dearly for the pecuniary ease I received from
the piece, by the infinite vexations it brought upon me. It was the
germ of the secret jealousies which did not appear until a long time
afterwards. After its success I did not remark, either in Grimm,
Diderot, or any of the men of letters, with whom I was acquainted, the
same cordiality and frankness, nor that pleasure in seeing me, I had
previously experienced. The moment I appeared at the baron's, the
conversation was no longer general; the company divided into small
parties; whispered into each other's ears; and I remained alone,
without knowing to whom to address myself. I endured for a long time
this mortifying neglect; and, perceiving that Madam d'Holbach, who was
mild and amiable, still received me well, I bore with the vulgarity of
her husband as long as it was possible. But he one day attacked me
without reason or pretense, and with such brutality, in presence of
Diderot, who said not a word, and Margency, who since that time has
often told me how much he admired the moderation and mildness of my
answers, that, at length driven from his house, by this unworthy
treatment, I took leave with a resolution never to enter it again.
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