fully, the youngest as well as the oldest.
He seemed to take pleasure in inventing torture. At times he would place
us on a short round stick, from which we fell head over heels if we made
the least movement. But that which made us tremble with fear was to
see him knock down a pupil and beat him; for then we were sure he would
treat some others in the same manner, one victim being insufficient to
gratify his ferocity. To maltreat his pupils was a sort of mania with
him; and he seemed to feel that his duty was performed in proportion to
the cries and sobs which he drew forth."

In 1759 Gretry went to Rome, where he studied counterpoint for five
years. Some of his works were received favorably by the Roman public,
and he was made a member of the Philharmonic Society of Bologna. Pressed
by pecuniary necessity, Gretry determined to go to Paris; but he stopped
at Geneva on the route to earn money by singing-lessons. Here he met
Voltaire at Ferney. "You are a musician and have genius," said the great
man; "it is a very rare thing, and I take much interest in you." In
spite of this, however, Voltaire would not write him the text for an
opera. The philosopher of Ferney feared to trust his reputation with an
unknown musician. When Gretry arrived in Paris he still found the same
difficulty, as no distinguished poet was disposed to give him a libretto
till he had made his powers recognized. After two years of starving and
waiting, Marmontel gave him the text of "The Huron," which was brought
out in 1769 and well received. Other successful works followed in rapid
succession.

At this time Parisian frivolity thought it good taste to admire the
rustic and naive. The idyls of Gessner and the pastorals of Florian
were the favorite reading, and Watteau the popular painter. Gentlefolks,
steeped in artifice, vice, and intrigue, masked their empty lives under
the as sumption of Arcadian simplicity, and minced and ambled in the
costumes of shepherds and shepherdesses. Marie Antoinette transformed
her chalet of Petit Trianon into a farm, where she and her courtiers
played at pastoral life--the farce preceding the tragedy of the
Revolution. It was the effort of dazed society seeking change. Gretry
followed the fashionable bent by composing pastoral comedies, and
mounted on the wave of success.

In 1774 "Fausse Magie" was produced with the greatest applause. Rousseau
was present, and the composer waited on him in his box, meeting a most
cor