Resuming operatic composition, Gounod finished "Polyeucte", on which he had been working in London, and during 1876 composed "Cinq-Mars", a four-act historical drama set in the time of Cardinal Richelieu. The latter was staged first at the Opéra-Comique in April 1877, and had a mediocre run of 56 performances. "Polyeucte", a religious subject close to the composer's heart, did worse when it was given at the Opéra the following year. In the words of Gounod's biographer James Harding, "After Polyeucte had been martyred on twenty-nine occasions the box-office ruled that enough was enough. He was never resuscitated."