The relations of his pupils were aroused. It was scandalous
that a teacher of youths should write plays. All the arguments that
superstition could suggest were used against him. He must relinquish his
charge; he must refund the pension which he had received from the mistaken
mother. But Danchet saw no reason why he should conform to their demands,
and refused to relinquish his charge. They urged him still more
vehemently, but met with the same response. They at length refused to pay
him the pension, and withdrew his pupils from his care. A troublesome law-
suit followed, but at length the poet emerged triumphant from the troubles
in which his love of the drama had involved him. He produced also the
tragedies of _Cyrus, Tyndarides, Heraclides_, and _Nitetis_, but these did
not meet with the success of his earlier work. He was a devoted son to his
mother, depriving himself of even the necessaries of life in order to
support her. He showed himself a kind and generous friend to all, and
always took a keen interest in young men. One of these brought him an
elegy written to his mistress and bewailing her misfortunes. The verses
began with _Maison qui renfermes l'objet de mon amour_. "Is not that word
_maison_ rather feeble?" observed Danchet; "would not _palais, beau
lieu_ ... be better?" "Yes," replied the poet, "but it is a _maison de
force_, a prison!" A complete edition of his works was published after his
death in 1751.
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