One of the provisions of Napoleon's decree of 8 June 1806, as has been noted, was that no new theatre might be opened in the capital unless specifically authorized by the sovereign, who would grant permission only if the applicant was known to be able to meet all likely financial contingencies. So rigorously was this clause enforced that throughout the Emperor's reign, no such applications were granted; quite possibly none were even submitted. But in the more benign atmosphere of the Restoration it became possible once more to think of reviving defunct theatres and even launching new dramatic enterprises: the first of Louis XVIII's ministers of the Interior, the Abbé de Montesquiou, sanctioned the reopening of the Théâtre de la Porte-Saint-Martin on 26 December 1814, and on 1 February 1820 a new theatre, known as the Gymnase-Dramatique, received official authorization and opened its doors for the first time on 23 December that year; it was to have a long and on the whole prosperous existence over the rest of the century and beyond.

Successive regimes over the next fifty years continued to pursue this slightly more relaxed policy, though always cautiously; and they retained the condition imposed by Napoleon, that a licence would only be granted to an individual who could ‘prove to the minister of the Interior that he has sufficient means to meet his obligations’ (clause 2 of the decree of 8 June 1806).