first printed in 1882) and Unchiașul Sărăcie ("Old Man Poverty") premiered at the National Theater Bucharest. A sign of government approval, this was followed by Macedonski's appointment to a minor administrative office, as Historical Monuments Inspector. Nevertheless, both plays failed to impose themselves on public perception, and were withdrawn from the program by 1888. Călinescu asserts that, although Macedonski later claimed to have always been facing poverty, his job in the administration, coupled with other sources of revenue, ensured him a comfortable existence. In 1881, Macedonski published a new collection of poetry. Titled Poezii, it carries the year "1882" on its original cover. Again moving away from liberalism, Macedonski sought to make himself accepted by Junimea and Maiorescu. He consequently attended the Junimea sessions, and gave a public reading of Noaptea de noiembrie ("November Night"), the first publicized piece in his lifelong Nights cycle. It reportedly earned him the praise of historian and poet Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu, who, although an anti-Junimist, happened to be in the audience. Despite rumors according to which he had applauded Macedonski, Maiorescu himself was not impressed, and left an unenthusiastic account of the event in his private diary. Against Alecsandri and Eminescu Macedonski's open conflict with Junimea began in 1882, when he engaged in a publicized polemic with Alecsandri. It was ignited when, through Macedonski's articles, Literatorul criticized Alecsandri for accepting Romanian Academy prizes despite being its member, and later involved Sion (whose replies on behalf of the academy were derided by Macedonski). Macedonski also took distance from Alecsandri's style, publishing a "critical analysis" of his poetry in one issue of Literatorul. In turn, Alecsandri humiliated his young rival by portraying him as Zoilus, the prototype of slanderers, and himself as the model poet Horace in the 1883 play Fântâna Blanduziei. The two were eventually reconciled, and Macedonski again spoke of Alecsandri as his ideological and stylistic predecessor. In April 1882, Eminescu had also replied to Macedonski in Timpul journal, referring to an unnamed poet who "barely finishes high-school, comes over to Bucharest selling nick-nacks and makeup [and goes into] literary dealership". Reproaching Macedonski's attacks on Alecsandri, Eminescu makes a nationalist comment about the young poet bearing "the bastard instincts of those foreigners who were Romanianized only yesterday", and attributes him "the physiognomy of a hairdresser". Through the articles of Petru Th. Missir, Convorbiri Literare gave Poezii a negative review, deemed "malevolent" by literary historian