Philosophical Dictionary (Vol. 2)

"edict of the council rendered by which it is permitted for a man of status to sing at the opera, and to receive wages from it without degrading himself The term "déroger" refers to the loss of noble status through manual labor or trade.. This edict was registered with the parliament of Paris."

There never was such a declaration registered with the parliament of Paris. What is true is that Lulli obtained in 1672, long before the opera of Isis, letters containing permission to establish his opera, and had inserted in these letters that "gentlemen and gentlewomen could sing on this stage without degrading themselves." But there was no declaration registered (1).

I read in the Philosophical and Political History of the Commerce in the Two Indies original: "Histoire philosophique et politique du commerce dans les deux Indes", volume IV, page 66, that one is justified in believing that "Louis XIV had ships only to fix admiration upon himself, to punish Genoa and Algiers." This is writing, this is judging at random; this is contradicting the truth out of ignorance; this is insulting Louis XIV without reason: this monarch had one hundred warships and sixty thousand sailors as early as the year 1678; and the bombardment of Genoa was in 1684.

Of all the ana A collection of sayings, anecdotes, or gossip attributed to a specific person., the one that best deserves to be ranked among printed lies, and especially insipid lies, is the Segraisiana. It was compiled by a copyist of Ségrais, his servant, and printed long after the death of the master.

The Ménagiana, revised by La Monnoye, is the only one in which one finds instructive things.

(1) See OPERA.