Nicolas Isouard's first known opera, "Casaciello perseguitato da un mago," was performed here in 1792, and Isouard became director of this theatre in 1798, after the French captured Malta, and continued to premiere other operas there. Several of Isouard's own works, including "Avviso ai Maritati" and "Artaserse", were performed at the Manoel during this time. French rule over Malta was short-lived and within two years the islands passed into the hands of Great Britain. An English gentleman who accompanied Abercrombie’s expedition to Egypt in 1801, wrote that: