Before I began the work I took time to consider of my plan.In a heroic ballet I proposed three different subjects, in three acts, detached from each other, set to music of a different character, taking for each subject the amours of a poet.I entitled this opera Les Muses Galantes.My first act, in music strongly characterized, was Tasso; the second in tender harmony, Ovid; and the third, entitled Anacreon, was to partake of the gayety of the dithyrambus.I tried my skill on the first act, and applied to it with an ardor which, for the first time, made me feel the delightful sensation produced by the creative power of composition.One evening, as I entered the opera, feeling myself strongly incited and overpowered by my ideas, I put my money again into my pocket, returned to my apartment, locked the door, and, having close drawn all the curtains, that every ray of light might be excluded, I went to bed, abandoning myself entirely to this musical and poetical aestrum, and in seven or eight hours rapidly composed the greatest part of an act.I can truly say my love for the Princess of Ferrara (for I was Tasso for the moment)and my noble and lofty sentiment with respect to her unjust brother, procured me a night a hundred times more delicious than one passed in the arms of the princess would have been.In the morning but a very little of what I had done remained in my head, but this little, almost effaced by sleep and lassitude, still sufficiently evinced the energy of the pieces of which it was the scattered remains.
I this time did not proceed far with my undertaking, being interrupted by other affairs.Whilst I attached myself to the family of Dupin, Madam de Beuzenval and Madam de Broglie, whom I continued to visit, had not forgotten me.The Count de Montaigu, captain in the guards, had just been appointed ambassador to Venice.He was an ambassador made by Barjac, to whom he assiduously paid his court.
His brother, the Chevalier de Montaigu, gentilhomme de la manche to the dauphin, was acquainted with these ladies, and with the Abbe Alary of the French academy, whom I sometimes visited.Madam de Broglie, having heard the ambassador was seeking a secretary, proposed me to him.A conference was opened between us.I asked a salary of fifty guineas, a trifle for an employment which required me to make some appearance.The ambassador was unwilling to give more than a thousand livres, leaving me to make the journey at my own expense.The proposal was ridiculous.We could not agree, and M.de Francueil, who used all his efforts to prevent my departure, prevailed.
I stayed, and M.de Montaigu set out on his journey, taking with him another secretary, one M.Follau, who had been recommended to him by the office for foreign affairs.They no sooner arrived at Venice than they quarreled.Follau perceiving he had to do with a madman, left him there, and M.de Montaigu having nobody with him, except a young abbe of the name of Binis, who wrote under the secretary, and was unfit to succeed him, had recourse to me.The chevalier, his brother, a man of wit, by giving me to understand there were advantages annexed to the place of secretary, prevailed upon me to accept the thousand livres.I was paid twenty louis in advance for my journey, and immediately departed.
At Lyons I would most willing have taken the route by Mount Cenis, to see my poor mamma.But I went down the Rhone, and embarked at Toulon, as well on account of the war, and from a motive of economy, as to obtain a passport from M.de Mirepoix, who then commanded in Provence, and to whom I was recommended.M.de Montaigu not being able to do without me, wrote letter after letter, desiring I would hasten my journey; this, however, an accident considerably prolonged.
It was at the time of the plague at Messina, and the English fleet had anchored there, and visited the felucca, on board of which Iwas, and this circumstance subjected us, on our arrival at Genoa, after a long and difficult voyage, to a quarantine of one-and-twenty days.
The passengers had the choice of performing it on board or in the Lazaretto, which we were told was not yet furnished.They all chose the felucca.The insupportable heat, the closeness of the vessel, the impossibility of walking in it, and the vermin with which it swarmed, made me at all risks prefer the Lazaretto.I was therefore conducted to a large building of two stories, quite empty, in which I found neither window, bed, table, nor chair, not so much as even a joint-stool or bundle of straw.My night sack and my two trunks being brought me, I was shut in by great doors with huge locks, and remained at full liberty to walk at my ease from chamber to chamber and story to story, everywhere finding the same solitude and nakedness.