ent. _Francois le Champi_ was a great
success. In January, 1851, she wrote as follows, after the performance
of _Claudie:_ "A tearful success and a financial one. The house is full
every day; not a ticket given away, and not even a seat for Maurice. The
piece is played admirably; Bocage is magnificent. The public weeps and
blows its nose, as though it were in church. I am told that never in
the memory of man has there been such a first night. I was not present
myself."

There may be a slight exaggeration in the words "never in the memory of
man," but the success was really great. _Claudie_ is still given, and I
remember seeing Paul Mounet interpret the part of Remy admirably at the
Odeon Theatre. As to the _Mariage de Victorine_, it figures every year
on the programme of the Conservatoire competitions. It is the typical
piece for would-be _ingenues._

_Francois le Champi, Claudie_ and the _Mariage de Victorine_ may be
considered as the series representing George Sand's dramatic writings.
These pieces were all her own, and, in her own opinion, that was their
principal merit. The dramatic author is frequently obliged to accept the
collaboration of persons who know nothing of literature.

"Your characters say this," observes the manager; "it is all very well,
but, believe me, it will be better for him to say just the opposite. The
piece will run at least sixty nights longer." There was a manager at
the Gymnase Theatre in those days named Montigny. He was a very clever
manager, and knew exactly what the characters ought to say for making
the piece run. George Sand complained of his mania for changing every
play, and she added: "Every piece that I did not change, such, for
instance, as _Champi_, _Claudie_, _Victorine, Le Demon du foyer_ and _Le
Pressoir_, was a success, whilst all the others were either failures or
they had a very short run."(48)

(48) _Correspondance:_ To Maurice Sand, February 24, 1855.

It was in these pieces that George Sand carried out her own idea of what
was required for the theatre. Her idea was very simple. She gives it in
two or three words: "I like pieces that make me cry." She adds: "I like
drama better than comedy, and, like a woman, I must be infatuated by one
of the characters." This character is the congenial one. The public is
with him always and trembles for him, and the trembling is all the more
agreeable, because the public knows perfectly well that all will
end well for this ch