THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES ^v MOLIERE AND HIS MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS. OLIERE AND Ills MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS. GLIMPSES OF THE COURT AND STAGE- THE FACULTIES AND PHYSICIANS OF THE GRAND SIECLE. BY A. M. BROWN M.D. THE COTTON PRESS, 'GRANVILLE HOUSE, ARUNDEL STREET, STRAND, W.G. 1S97. CONTENTS. Table of Contents Preface Introduction . . . vu ... XV ... xix MOLIERE AND HIS MeDICAL AsSOCIATION.S. Preliminary Survey : — Record of the Seventeenth Century — The Position of Medicine — Spirit of Medical Reform — Elements of the Contests — Relations to the Stage — Discovery and Investigation — Influence of the Comedy Co-operation — Obstinacy of Medical Conservative Defence The Philcsopheu and his Pupil : — Moli&re as a Student — His Young Associates — Pierre Gassendi — His Philosophical Position — His Influence on Contem- porary Thouglit — Indebtedness of Molicre and his Fellows to Gassendi's Teaching — Difliculties of Choosing a Career — Finally Adopts the Stage 10 II. The Comedian in the Provinces : — Early Struggles — Strolling Players — Les Medccins Ambulants —Provincial Medical Comedies— Visit to Montpelier — Its iledical School and Ceremonies — Their probable Utility in tlie Composition of his iledical Comedies 16 viii Contents. III. The Influence of Gassendism on Morals and Medicine : — The Young Gassendians — Cyrano de Bergerac, Chapelle, Hes- nault, rran9ois Bernier — The probable Influence of the Epi- curean Form of Gassendi's Teaching — Estimate of Mind and Morals of his Pupils, Moliere included — Bernier's close Asso- ciation with Gassendi — His Influence on the Medical and Philosophic Circles of the Day — Gassendi's Death 25 IV. The Feuds of the Faculty : — Moli6re's Sojourn at Pdze'nas — His Relations with the Prince de Conti — The Contests of the Fronde — The Dissensions of the Faculty — Medical Party War Cries — Antimony and the Circulation — Aper9U of Medical System — Its Leading Repre- sentatives — Patin and Riolin — Benserade's Comedy — Ballet of I'Amour Medecin — Illness of the King — Triumph of Anti- mony 34 V. "Excellent Comic Poet to the King" : — The Comique's Return to Paris — Troupe de Monseigneur — Performance of Le Medecin Amoureux — Royal Favours — Comedy follows on Comedy — Troubles in connection with Tartuife — Persecution and Injustice — Return to theme of Earlier Successes — Les Mddecins Ridici;les 43 YI. Les Grandes Dames and their Medical Proclivities : — MoliSre as Comic Poet and Yalet de Chamljre du Roi— Advantages and Disadvantages of the Position — Its Excel- lence as a Field of Medical Observation — The Medical AYeak- nesses of Ics Oraiulcs Dames — Mademoiselle d'Orleans — Her Princess of Paphlagonia Xouvellette — iledical Elements Indi- cated — Madame de S^vign6 — Her Remarks on Medicine and the Doctors — The Delicacy of the Medical Position as regards the Sex — The Fate of Yautier instanced 51 Contents. ix VII. The Court Physicians and the Royal Case Book : — The Physician's Position in the Service of the Court — The Medical, Official, and Civil Career Contrasted — The First Physicians, Vallot, d'Aquin and Fagon — Particulars respect- ing them — An Historic Trio— The Royal Case Book, or Jour- nal dc la Sanie die iioi— Singularity of that Medical Record 62 VIII. The Couht Physicians and the Royal Patient : — Revelations of the Journal dc la SanL'^The youthful Roj'al Patient's Medical Experience — The Attack of Small-pox — The Maladic de Calais — Antimony tested in the Case — The Measles Attack — Refractory Character of the Patient — The Perj)lexities of his Physicians — The Royal Patient's Tempera- ment contested — The Constitution and Character of the Grand Monarch estimated 71 IX. The Court Physicians and the Medical Comedy Quartette : — M. Raynaud's examination of the Suhject Question — The Court Physicians in Ordinary — Des Fougerais, Esprit and Gu^iaut — Particulars respecting them — The Medical Quar- tette of I'Amour M6decin — Medical Scandals suggestive of that Comedy — The King's Indulgence towards the Comique — The Cardinal Mazarin's Case .. 85 X. 'The Comedy of l'Amour Mkdecin : — The Plot of the Piece— Medical Dramatis Personte— Famous Consultation— The Suhjects of Criticism — Fees, ^.leans of Conveyance, iledical Customs — Forms of the Faculty — — Esprit-dc- Corps — Unrecognised Pi'actitioners— Jledieal Eti- quette — A sage Senior Councillor P3 X Contents. XI. MouAL, Medical, axd Matiiimoxial Perplexities :— Moli^re's Marriage— Misfortunes Involved— His SciuabLle with a Member of the Faculty — Supposed Reasons of the First Regular Attack on the Corps — Real Significance of Incident Explained — The Comique's Domestic Miseries Culminate — Crisis Dramatically Fruitful — The Misanthrope and the Mddecin Malgre Lui 103- XII. Le M£decix Malgiie Lui : — Outline of the Piece— The earlier Sources of the Subject— Its Farce Character and Critical Spirit estimated — Illustrations of both Elements cited— Comments in Medical Connection ... 112 XIII. The Comedy of Moxsieur de Potjrceaugxac : — Successful Period of Moliere's Career— Tartuffe — The Remark- able Placet to its Third Edition — The Comedy of Monsieur de Pourceaugnac — Plot of the Piece — The Character of its Medical Satire— The Famous Consultation — Its Pathological Conceptions — Their Counterpart in the Journal de la Sante du Roi — The Influence of Medical Authority— Divine Right ceases where Medical Right Begins — Professional Infatuation ridiculed 121 XIV. Clas.sic Sourx-ES of Molii^ke's Comedies :^ The Grand Scricux the Poet — A learned Artistic Coterie — His loTB of the Literature relating to his Calling — Classic Predilections — Indebtedness of Moli^re to Plautus — This Classic's Peculiar Qualities — Richness of Plautus's Medical References — Kindred Nature of the two "Writers 13-1 Contents. xi XV. rillLOSOPHIC AND SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATES : — The positive tendency of Molifere's mind — La Mothe le Vayer — Difficulties of placing him Philosophically — The Poet's Letter and Sonnet on tlie Death of Le Vayer Fils — Jacques Rohault — His Traits de Physique — Tendency of his Philosophic Teaching — Its Relations to Medical Science — rran9ois Bernier — His Co-operation with Boileau in the Comedy of L' Arret Burlesque — The interesting Passage quoted — Inferential Summary liO XVL MOLliiKE's FniEXDS OF THE FACULTY : — The ValetiTdinarian Condition of the Poet — His Friends among the liberal-minded of the Faculty — Bernier, Leonard and Alauvillain — Suspected of contributing to the Medical Comedies— Mauvillaiu the Comique's Medical Adviser — • Biographic and Medical Particulars respecting him — His Alleged Collaboration with the Poet estimated 150 XVI L Elomike Hypochoxdre, ou les M^decixs Vexgi';s : — Poet attains his Highest Success — Rival Jealousies Excited — Boulanger de Chalussay — His Comedy of Elomire H3'pochondre — The Nature and Spirit of the "Work — Grounds of Libel, Moral and Physical — Pretension of Avenging the Faculty Considered IGl XVIIL The Comedy of the Malade Imaginaire : — Molicre's Career draws to a Close— His final Comedy — Singular Pathological Creation — The Psychological Puzzle it suggests — Intrigues and Incidents of the Piece — Argan's Medical Infatuation — Beralde's Medical Scepticism — His Scheme to Baffle the Doctors — Earlier Sources of the Comedy — Medical Types of the Doctor and Apothecary — Remarks on Truthfulness of Molicre's Medical Portraiture 173 xii Contents. XIX. Thi', Cehemonies of the Malade Imagixaire : — The Faculty in Conclave — The Ceremony or Summing up the Curriculum — Forms and Usages— The Ceremony Burles([ue — The Parties to it — The Malade admitted to the Faculty — The Course of the Examination — Proofs of Candidate's Capacity given — Administering the Oath — Ceremonial Rhetoric — Concluding Reflections 183 XX. The Comedian axd his Malady : — Molicre's Character— Social Kaliits, Ill-health, and Domestic JMiseiies — Boileau's Visit — Devotion to the Duties of his double Vocation as Poet and Comedian — Nature of his JIalady — The Circumstances of his Death— Interesting Incidents attending it 194 XXI. 2.l0Lii;EE's Orixiox Regakdixg Medicixe : — iledicine a Theme that ]\Iolicre Liked — His high Pov.ers shown in dealing with the Subject — The gradual Development of his Jledieal Satire — Tlie iledical Types he preferred — The Jledical Antipathies, their Cause — Stage of Jledical Unljelief — M. Raynaud's Surmises — Malade Imaginaire — B^ralde's Denunciation of Physic and Physicians — Inferences to be drawn from it — Problems Difficult to Solve 203 XXII. Independent Cosiderations on the Sebject : — The Comiqiie Plays upon the Uncertainty of Jledicine — Has the Art serious Claims on our Acceptance ?— What its Past History and Modern Science have to Say— Therapeutic Reforms demanded — The pernicious Practice of Jloliere's Day — The Fiction of Pliysic a Necessity of our Nature — Whether to be wrong with Argan or light with Beralde— .Aioliere's Doctors must be judged of by their Lights 215 Co7itents. xiii XXIII. The Comique's Satihe ox Medical Ethics : — The Severity of Moliere's Burlesque — The Relations of the Faculty to Society — Relations of the Members of the Corps to each other — Medical Etiquette — Consultation of L'Amour Mdiiecin — The role of Filerin — Ethics of his Counsel — How it ought to be Regarded 223 XXIV. COXCLUSIOX : — What Moliere's Medical Contemporaries thought of Ilim — Value of de Chalussay's Attack in Proof — Moliere's Silence on the Subject — Records of the Faculty a blank — Patin's Reference implies nothing— Les Medecins Veng^s without Authority 22" PREFACE. The object in publishing this work is to supply the English lover of Moliere — medical or other — with some special information on that writer and his writings, the need of which must frequently be felt. Though, like Shakespeare, Moliere is read and appreciated in every language, it is surprising that of his studious admirers out of France, none have thought of treating of him from perhaps the only point of view where there is still remaining some- thing to be said — that is, of him in his relations to medicine. Assuredly Moliere's medical antipathies have not escaped notice, his numerous compatriot biographers and critics have not failed to give it prominence when treating of his censures of the doctors of his day. Raynaud, Dufresne-Favconneaut, Chereau, and Magnin, for example, have contributed to the subject, M. Raynaud more particularly. This writer, by his " M^decins au Temps de IMoliere," must render any one his debtor who follows in his wake. The estimate of Moliere and his medical pre- judices as here set forth accords vrith that of the writers mentioned ; and with them it is admitted the poet's judgment of the doctors of the Faculty xvi Preface. is far from flattering. That verdict general opinion has, however, confirmed ; for it is commonly ad- mitted that that which was attacked deserved to be, and it might be added that even had the coiniqiLS erred it would now be too late to put him right. The decisions of genius, it is said, are without appeal. It may be observed that, while no defence of the doctors is here attempted, it is clearly recog- nised that the motives which actuated the poet in his raids upon them are not so evident as might at first appear. Doubtless the medical absurdities of which Moliere was witness sufiiciently explain the manner of his ridicule. As a satirist more than as a comedian, he laughed at their pretensions, but the causes of the persistence and severity of his railleries remain obscure. This enigma, grave and gay, of Moliere's life it is nov.- attempted impartially to elucidate, and it must be admitted that in the investigation the grand comique loses nothing of our esteem : on the contrary, as a man, he wins our sympathy, and we feel that we can never know too much of his personality and inner thought. A. M. B. INTRODUCTION. INTRODUCTION, The literature that France has devoted to her grand comique is voluminous and varied. The study and research bestowed on everything relating to the poet leaves little to be discovered ; to the world, his life and works are a common property, and though we may not be at all times in his confidence, he is none the less our friend and intimate. If some things that might strengthen this acquaintance are contested, there is one, at least, which all are perfectly agreed upon, that is his opinion with regard to medicine. The pretensions of this science Moliere openly denounces, and in this particular offers to his admirers a subject singularly interesting as a special study. The spirit of his critique is unquestionably severe. Can the fallacies of medicine, past or present, justify the prejudice, or must we seek the cause in the nature of Moliere's character and genius ? The mystery is difficult to solve, and opens up a wide field of biographical and critical inquiry. To realise the position of the comic poet and of that profession which he so pointedly assails, let the doctor of our day in fancy place himself in the Paris of 1668. There, in active practice and a member of the hallowed faculty of medicine, he would know the Sieur Guy Patin, an acquaintance which would do him honour, for he was Dean of the Facultv and a. XX Introduction. noted letter writer, at an ej)ocli the most literary- France has ever known. Like Patin, our doctor's grave and learned callino;; niicjlit not admit of visitinof the theatre, nevertheless he would naturally feel interested in the intellectual movements of the day ; he would hear a certain Moliere spoken of, a comedian excommunicate like his fellows, a valet -de-chairibre to the king, and a writer of plays, immoral some say — sublime as Boileau thinks. Like Patin, our practi- tioner might also look into one of the poet's comedies, and in a celebrated placet fall upon these lines, apologetic of his art, " I own at times that comedy is corrupt. What is there in this world not subject to abuse ? There is nothing, however innocent in itself, men may not render mischievous : no art, however salutary, they may not misdirect; nothing, however good, they may not turn to evil purpose. For example, medicine is a useful art, and all revere it as one of the most excellent, nevertheless we find it sometimes dangerous, and a means of poisoning others." The passage read, Tartufie is thrown aside with the remark, " The author is a miserable scribbler," and the reader thinks no more of him. Time has changed all this ; the doctor, as a practitioner of the present day, knows the writings of the caustic Dean Guy Patin, as also those of the comedian. Which of the two has left undying fame as a writer, critic, and instructor ? Moliere — such is the progress made in the course of time. But progress had begun even before the younger Poquelin changed his name and lent his genius and artistic talent to its cause. Introduction. xxi When Moliere entered on his mission France was at peace and Mazarin at rest ; the nobles, now submis- sive vassals, surrounded their young and gallant monarch with the exalted love and admiration which distinguished his court. Literature and art, en- couraged by a material prosperity, aided in embellish- ing a reign whose chai'm they principally constitute. While the courtiers flattered royalty, competing for its favours, the high officials of the State enriched themselves ; the magistracy dispensing justice, often sold it ; the grandes dames flirted and made love, con- verting gallantry into a fine art. The age was one of change, equally removed from barbarous crudeness and insipid uniformity. The distinctions between titled rank and bourgeois affluence were disturbed, hereditaiy prudery and simplicity were giving place to modem coquetry, frivolity, and fashion. In every condition of the social scale each strove to rise above the level of his sphere, blaming in others the spirit in which he himself shared ; hence sprang up a crowd of contrasts and dramatic oppositions in eveiy relation of human life, which furnished inexhaustible materials for satire and the comic muse. In the scientific world it was the same. The spirit of inductive philosophy and the experimental method under difierent names were actively at work and struggling for a foothold. The pioneers of modem thought assailed the seats of learning from without, while within the Universities were at feud amono-st themselves. Descartes establishing a basis of certi- tude, enunciates his beautiful demonstration of per- xxii Introduction. sonality, and offers farther problems of a physical and moral order. Gassendi, more practical and positive in his teaching, opposes a salutary counterpoise to the geometric methods and abstractions of his glorious rival ; dominant Aristotelianism is endangered ; Mont- pelier has shaken off its fetters, and the Sorbonne, though not Avithout regret, has ventured into new paths. But the positive as well as the speculative absorbs the attention of the learned ; they occupy themselves with physiology. There is scarcely a work, however limited, emanating from this class, that does not treat the subject together with anatomy, so far as they are known to them. The mysteries of vitality were re- viewed with freedom, for no one entertained the thought of placing between the study of mind and matter that absolute distinction which in many points seems so inseparable to us now. The reigning spiritualism, self-contained, was free from all alarm ; both ends of the chain, as Bossuet expresses it, were so firmly held, none need fear to examine the inter- mediate links. The only danger of thought lay in clashing with antiquity, for its authorities were still supreme, and new investigations touched on many points, the views drawn from them and held as sacred. Of all the liberal arts and sciences medicine had most to apprehend from the general movement and conflict of ideas. In an institution vigorously organ- ised, and where category, form, and substance, with their scholastic settings, were held in reverential Introduction. xxiii honour, this was not surprising. The renowned Faculty of Paris observed with great suspicion the inroads daily made by the new light upon a system hallowed by the course of centuries. Mystic doctrines were on the wane ; the discoveries of Harvey, Aselli, and Picquet were gaining ground ; alchemy was di- vorced from chemistry ; novel and valuable remedies were being added from the old world, as also from the new. A change was taking place in the manners and ideas of the practitioners themselves. An outcry for medical reform was the order of the day, the surgeons were asserting their independence, justly merited and long denied them ; the barbers were also loud in their pretentions, and even the apothecaries showed that they were conscious of unfair disabilities, of griev- ances in common with a thousand others that required the coming revolution to redress. Everywhere the w^ork of renovation arising from the contest between the old school and the new was in active operation. In all this play of party strife, social as well as scientific, Moliere found himself, perhaps unconsciously, powerfully aiding in the general spirit of advance- ment. He marked the traditionary notions and the scientific verbiage which the scholastic pedants per- sisted in maintaining, though elsewhere they were growing obsolete. He exposed in the doctors of philo- sophy their mania for logical discussion, in and out of season, and he ridiculed in those of medicine their inflated reverence for Hippocrates and Galen. The latter, however, were his worthiest antagonists. Their esprit-de- corps, so rancorous and narrow, their maca- xxiv Introduction. ronic jargon, and their method were inviting, though not alone sufficient for the rapier-thrust of the comedian; he went heyond all this, choosing from medicine its representatives ; he made them serve him as models ; he seized on their personalities, he painted them as they lived, embracing the whole order in his raillery. It would almost seem there Avas a prejudice to be satis- fied as well as a comedy to be draA\-n from what he saw in those who learnedly professed to cure disease. From what we know of these t\"pes and their prac- tice, perhaps it would be rash to assert that Moliere either in art or feeling is betrayed into exaggeration. But we who are removed by centuries from the contest may safely do justice now to the worthy ancestry in question. WHiile willingly saluting the representatives of progress and the future, even in the Faculty itself, which personifies the spirit of conservatism, we meet ■with efforts sincere thoujjh blind, faithful though isolated, in passing onward to a change that was in- evitable. As obstinate partisans of resistance, we find its members conscientious in their systematic immo- bility, honest notwithstanding all their faults and failings, and we are naturally indulgent as we regard them as struggling to retain hold of a system that is slipping from their grasp ; their manners and opinions are no longer ours, their stereotj-ped ideas astonish us, their petty jealousies and rivalries we cannot enter into, yet they are so simple and respectable withal, that they excite a kindly feeling in the mind ; although we laugh to see them in the comedy, their society Introduction. xxv possesses something that is pleasing. In fact, we wish to meet with them again. While Moliere himself excites these sentiments and sympathies, it must be owned that he was far from sharing them. The art and its professors are the sub- jects of his evident hostility. As has been happily remarked, he gave them battle in five regular engat'e- ments, besides countless skirmishes, and closing his career in the Malade Imaginaire he fell, fighting in the breach. Curiosity is naturally awakened by these facts. What reason moved him to assume this atti- tude ? The explanation must be sought, it would appear, in the mental and physical condition of the man himself. The feelings, amounting: to convic- tion, must have had some surer bases than those of pleasantry or profit. The enmity, it has been alleged,, arose from the circumstance of prolonged ill-health; lie could find no remedy nor solace for his sufferings, A critic, deeply read in his character and genius, goes so far as to affirm that precisely because he felt himself condemned to suffer, we find him in revolt against the claims of medicine, and with a bravado of incredulity preferring to lead the feeble remnant of existence according to his tastes and passions. This view may be somewhat extreme, but a careful study of his life and writings shows there is much to substantiate it. In treating of the poet's medical antipathies, it may be observed that his vein of satire was not sudden in its evolution, indeed this applies to the spirit of hia genius generally. Though Moliere's first essays had their docteurs ridlcides, his finest regular comedies were xx%i Introduction. written before the anti-medical dramas appeared. In the interval the precieux, facheux and bourgeois liad in turn been summoned to the footlights, although in no satiric spirit. The treatment of the Courtier-class is rather amusing than severe, the raarquis he perhaps allows to pass too gently; still, to his honour be it said, though moving in the Courtier-circle, and a favourite with the Monarch, he was ro vrorshipper of class distinctions, nor could he be considered demo- cratic, as that was foreign to his nature. He was the bourgeois -frondeur type of character, independent, and little sympathetic with the feudal feeling still existing — a feeling often as mean as p-reat. He might have been the French Cervantes, had the services of a Don Quixote been required; but in humbling the nobles and establishing royal supremacy Richelieu had rendered this unnecessary ; real or fictitious, little of the chivalric remained. The marquis and aspirants, therefore, offered small material for his powers, and consequently suffer lightly. His efforts were reserved, as we have seen, for a past existing in the present of another kind; the Faculty of Medicine, its spirit, forms, and usages, which had outlived their age, formed a subject much more worthy of his craft, and truly he allowed the theme to test his ingenuity. He first burlesqued, then ridiculed them, and carrying his assaults further, he attacked their art and science. And here his method of attack altogether changed, the spirit of the satire thence becomes direct and un- relenting, a cherished antipathy seems to take posses- sion of him, he revels in the mockery and jest with Introduction. xxvii ■which he dekiges the subject, creating scenes unneces- sary to his plots, and superfluous unless to amuse and excite the laughter of his audiences. But Moliere is not always consistent with himself, and this feature may be regarded in another light. He appears at times far from convinced of what he so forcibly advances. ]More than once, we shall see him abandoning himself submissively to medical treatment and regimen, both formal and severe. He likewise numbered among his friends members of the Faculty itself, who shared his confidence and furnished him with the technical material he so happily made use of. Facts such as these, strictly biographic and reliable, form an important element in the inquiry, and if properly applied, may be found to modify the grave- ness of the charges raised, where those he takes to task in tmn become the critics. Let us now proceed with the medical examination of his life and genius. Considered thus, Moliere forms a study of the greatest pathological as well as psycho- logical value, and should for a full appreciation of his works be carefully studied from this point of view. In the choice and treatment of his subject it is generally admitted his physical and mental qualities disclose themselves. This is most observable in the comedies, where medicine and its votaries are brought upon the scene, and for the present these alone con- cern us. MOLIERE AND nis MEDICAL ASSOCIATIONS. Preliminary Survey. Before proceeding with our subject, it may be asked what really was the condition of science, as represented by the doctors that Moliere attacked. If we turn to the record of the seventeenth century, a glance at the domain of medicine will clearly show us. The spirit of investigation which was to create the world anew had not yet acquired a name; but none the less was it actively awakening doubts in doctrine. It began now to be understood that antiquity had not bequeathed to us in everything a perfectly complete ideal, that after Aristotle and Hippocrates had done their best, something still I'emained to be achieved. A movement, speculative and confused, was rapidly invading all the Schools in Europe, and though with no immediate profit, tending to overthrow the system that had outlived its time. In France Montpellier was the first to yield; Paris, more difficult to win, and refusing all concession to the spirit of the age, thought to stem the current and survive in peace and honour. The resistance of its Faculty excites a lively interest even now, and not without good reason. Fortified as it was by immemorial rights and privileges, and furnished with all the means of defence and atiaclc, 4 Prelhiiinary Survey. it miglit seem that there was little to be apprehended from adversaries, single-handed or combined — but this was a vain illusion. The time had come when the attitude could no longer be maintained; the method and the nature of the enemy alike were changed. Progress was a spirit, and ridicule an arm, which nothing could withstand, and both were now workhig in active co-operation. The first, long the dream of individual thinkers, was at this stage rapidly assuming more tangible form, whilst the second, taking higher aim, promised powerful aid in bringing about the change that was inevitable. Among the various elements with which antiquity enriched the contest, comedy had not till now been thought of. It had done good service in satirizing the fallacies of physic when Rome was a Republic, but looked at through a past of fifteen centuries it was not in this direction that the lessons which it taught were prized. It was perhaps the last of all the sources whence danger was to be expected. The lurking spirit of antagonism that survived the classics, passing from age to age into the mediaeval burlesques and tirades of the medecins amhulants of later date, was as far beneath the notice of the Faculty as the Passion-Play profanities wei-e unworthy the attention of the Holy See. As the drama itself felt the awaken- ing influence of the new impulses, like everything else, its earlier efibrts of revival were already past, and now the playful wit of Plautus and Terence were again about to be applied in the direction of the healing art to hasten the process of transition. Preliminary Survey. 5 It was to the grand comique the classic mask should pass, and who could be more worthy of the favour ? Our poet, as we shall see, from the philo- sophic nature of his studies and the artistic mission in which he enrolled himself, was admirably adapted to do battle with the world of medical delusion and its learned professors. At the historic stage at which comedy came to the front as an assailant of the Facult}', the science and ability of the veteran corps was on all hands being challenged as an arrogant monopoly. Internal dissension and desertion made alarming progress, which circumstance greatly favoured the designs of our comic poet, and goes far to explain the marvellous success of his medical pieces, especially with popular audiences, which always delight in the droll impersonation of a privileged class whose manners are pompous and full of assumption. Even the more enlightened, with their growing scepticism in matters both of theology and morals, could not resist the charms of this attack. To have in view the large and complex field to which our poet's admirable critique applies, it will be well to note the chief points of agitation and professional strife then prevalent. First in importance came the scientific theories, which, though in their infancy, were creating the wildest expectations. Chemistry, escaping from the realms of mystery, was becoming something positive and securing its position, thouQ-h not without resistance. Its foreign and visionary antecedents awakened the susj)icions of the purists of the school of Paris. The extravagancy of 6 Preliminary Survey. its advocates, coupled with their avowed contempt for antiquity, stirred as with a trumpet note minds educated in profound respect for all that these new comers wished to reform in the official system or to cut away from it. In a word, it was the question, ever old and ever new, as to what place the accessory sciences should be allowed to hold in medicine, a question not even in our day definitively^ settled. The attempt was, however, seriously began, and with some promise of success, for it is only just to note that the singular medley of philosophy and physic worthy of the Middle Ages, which Paracelsus and Yan Helmont threw together, even when qualified by the prevailing Cartesianism, had found but little acceptance in France. From the first there was a marked distinction made between fantastic reveries and chemistry, properly so called. While the Cabala of Belgium and beyond the Rhine passed quickly to become the heritage of charlatans and mountebanks, for its trifling positive residuum a more brilliant future was reserved — though the advance was slow, it was none the less assured. The results obtained were material and palpable, and offered advantages which the alchemic theorists would scarcely be prepared to look for, namely, getting rid of the mystery in which chemistry was enveloped, and the application of it to practice as any other useful science might be. The process, however, was not free from difficulty and danger. The powers of mineral agents were now proved to be most potent by startling everyday evidence, but the train of reasoning on the principle Preliminary Sui'vey. 7 involved was simple enough. If the effects were sometimes poisonous, why should they not also some- times cure ? Experience could alone decide, and this was being actively pursued. Alas ! with as much of mischief as of equivocal success. During the period embraced by our study, the cause may be summed up in the antimonial controversy, which forms one of the most curious polemical episodes in the history of therapeutics. For many years the skill and erudition of the medical world was passion- ately engaged in vaunting or condemning the marvel- lous virtues of the mineral, which Bazile Valentin had long before given to the world as a universal panacea ; so ardent was the ao-itation that the errand discoveries and speculative truths involved, received but very secondary attention. The Harveian discovery of the circulation and the more recently discovered role of the chyliferous vessels, however, quickly found their places. Recovering from the first shock they occa- sioned, our worthy doctors found here additional fuel to feed the controversial fires, too hot to last much longer : and which even their generation lived to see -extinguished — a happy consummation this, in which comedy largely shares the merit. The manner in which the stage attacks were now directed is not the least interesting of the popular elements aidinor the event, as will be seen whilst we follow Moliere through the various relations, artistic, social, and scientific, of his stage career. Still, it must be remembei'ed that while the reforming movement w^as powerfully strengthened by its dramatic con- g2 8 Preliminary Sui^ey. tincfent, it had itself made immense advances. The tendency was general and widespread. With the exception of the leading teachers, who took up arms to oppose the invasion, the chemists and the circu- lators, as they were called, rapidly got their views to be accepted. The leaders of the school so long wedded to immobility were not disposed to forget their glorious- past, and they violently continued to exclude the enemy — faithful to the principle of Galenism, with Riolin and Guy Patin at their head, they refused all alliance with the innovators. For upwards of three- quarters of a century the strictest exclusion was maintained. It was not until their hand was forced by Parliament, and by the order of Louis XIV., a chair was created for the propagation of the new discoveries, that those staunch Conservatives sur- rendered, and threw their doors open to their young reforming rivals. Riolin, the worthiest of Harvey's antagonists, did not live to witness this defeat. How Guy Patin managed to survive it, is difficult to imagine — fine type of medical polemic as he was, so bilious, so irascible. Such was the fact, however. Resolute defender of the faith in physic maintained by that school whose oracles were Hippocrates and Galen, how gallinor must it have been for him to see the good old cause decline and be driven thus from its sanctuary. But we must not imagine that this athlete was capable of yielding one iota ; he would combat to the last, and to the last he performed some startling feats upon the enemy's territorj^ But Preliminary Survey. 9 his followers had not the obstinacy of their leader, and the cause was lost; when Patin finally succumbed, our comique kept him company, for both died in the same year, and when it sti'ictly might be said their differ- ences were effectually decided and had become a part of history. 10 Tlie Philosoiiher I. Born in 1G22, Moliere's childhood was passed amid home surroundings the opposite of intellectual. In this respect, however, the author of The Misanthrope was like veiy many others who have attained celebrity in literature and art. The influence of his practical and honest bourgeois parents, with their dread of the helles lettres, could neither be of a nature to awaken latent genius nor encourage it if manifest. It might be safely held that the younger Poquelin made his way in spite of them. But his childhood we shall ]ea\'e to his biographers. When at college, on the students' benches, it may be presumed his life was more in accordance with his tastes and inclinations, for there it was that he had the good fortime to be thrown into the company of young and kindred spirits, who, like himself, were destined to make a name in the world. To prepare young Poquelin for the part he had to play in that fantastic movement, which we have endeavoured to describe, something more was required than what the Clermont Fathers could impart, and this was not neglected. When in about his nineteenth year, though the exact date remains uncertain, we find Moliere's name associated with those of Chapelle, de Bergerac, Bernier, Hesnault, and others, as receivincj the instructions of Gassendi — that contemporary sage and his Pu])il. 11 ■who of all others might be called the father of our positive philosophy. Ardent and full of promise were the minds Gassendi had to mould. As he was a lover of the poets and genial in his scientific scepticism, to pupils such as Chapelle, Cyi'ano de Bergerac, or Hesnault, the charm of his instruction shed a roseate hue upon philosophy itself. But like Bernier, the younger Poquelin saw f uiiher and was more earnest in his work. The transla- tion of Lucretius, which he in part accomplished, was a reminiscence of the period, and shows the deep impression philosophic studies made upon his mind. As the speculative tendency of Gassendi and his classic model Epicurus have scarcely lost their terrors even in these latter days, it will be well to note the affinities which linked them tosfether throuo-hout an interval of two thousand years. Gassendi, vindicating the neglected theories of a philosopher so universally condemned, took a hazardous step for one in holy orders and the provost of a sacred college. But the materialism which recog-nises chance for deity, and pleasure as the highest moral aim, was as foreign to his system as to that of his model so much misunder- stood. His spiritualism, thovigh never questioned by superior authority, was such as to permit revolts against the prevalent scholasticism, to break alliance with existing methods, and fearlessly to confront philosophy with facts drawn from observation and reality. To overthrow the system of Aristotle, which science and religion alike had consecrated, demonstra- 12 The Philosopher tion and deductive reasoning had far too little credit to hope for success ; but Gassendi was not without a means of lessening the difficulty. Conciliatory and respectful towards high authority, he nevertheless, in the name of Epicurus, undertook the task. Besides the community of thought and sympathy of character which this model sage presented, the ^^a'itings of Lucretius, his eloquent Latin exponent, must have much influenced Gassendi in his design; nor need this surprise us. The poem Be Eeram Natura is as sublime as the universe which forms its theme, and leaves nothing to be desired, unless it be the con- ventional conception of a first cause. It is trvie that Epicurus was a heathen — so Avas Aristotle — but faith- fully observant of the doctrinal limits of the two-fold truth as held by mother church, Gassendi read him through the creeds, and knowing that what was theo- logically false might still be philosophically true, he drew from this source his ideas with a courage start- ling to us in an ecclesiastic of the seventeenth century. As might be naturally supposed, in much that Gassendi advanced he was perfectly in harmony with what was taught, but he professed the physical theory of Epicurus, and therein lay his philosophic heresy in the eyes of his contemporaries. Though the time had not arrived for such views to be accepted, his teaching opened the way for those who were to follow, and it is to the honour of the man that he advanced so far as to anticipate the principles of modern science in its highest achievements, the atomic theory as applied to chemistry, structural evolution, organic and inor- and his Pv/pil. 13 ganic in the play of molecular forces. This can scarcely be denied. It was but natural that a method so unpretentious, .and so acceptable to liberal minds should have made Gasstndi a central spirit, around which were grouped ■& number of enlightened scholars and physicians ; amonof the most familiar of these were Eernier, and Guy Patin, the celebrated representative of the doctors of the Faculty. Patin, we may add, was Gassendi's own medical attendant. That Moliere's association with this master mind had imbued him with a juster method of thought and •observation than fall to the lot of most there can be but Jittle doubt. The simple and experimental s^'stem of the great professor was precisely such as he v^'as likely to appreciate and apply. But guided also by example, his favourite author was Lucretius, and v.'-e may easily ■conceive his young imagination charmed Vv^ith the grand and ardent spirit which that singular writer breathes. That he should readily accept a doctrine, .at times fantastic, but ahvays presented under a form •of poetic fascination, is quite natural ; still the fact •can scarcely be denied that as he advanced in years he rested content witli the positive in all that concerns knowledge; in life and art a naturalist — a very realist, in fact — his free and independent mind would have been unfaithful to itself had he done otherwise. The "transcendental, whether material or spiritual, seems to have been less a necessity of his nature than is the •case with poets generally; indeed, we cannot fail to mark in him, as with so many of his age, a mind tried l-i The Philosopher by uncertainty and doubt which perhaps he felt too deeply. Be this as it may be, he saw in the words and ways of the exalted savants, philosophic or devout, an element of comedy as fertile as that which social life presented, and where assuredly his powers of obser- vation needed no direction. What Moliere imbibed directly from Gassendi was especially that sentiment which the practical phases of his later life matured, a. contempt for everything proceeding from the school in the shape of useless classification and ready-made formula) — a horror for the erudition that usurped the place of common sense — subtleties that confused and mystified under pretence of explaining, and above all a profound aversion for pedants and talkers — thfr Tartuffes of science who discoursed most loudly of" what they knew the least. When his studies were finished, the classics and. philosophy were laid aside ; the time had now arrived that should decide his future career, but as with genius generally, the course was difficult to choose. Neither commerce nor the bar, to which about this time he had been called, appear to have presented prospects suited to his tastes or inclination, actuated by a predilection for the drama, and perhaps some spirit of adventure,, or it may be, a love for la Bejart, which is not im- probable, he abandoned the Palais de Justice where he had never pleaded, for the comic stage, which he was never again to quit. At the age of twenty-two he joined the Illustre Theatre at the fosse's of the Porte de Kesle, and struck into the rugged path that, leads to fame. and his Pupil. 13- The circumstance was fortunate. The stage was in its infancy. Corneille in France, like Shakespeare in England, had given a powerful impulse to the drama,, raising it from barbarism ; but an artist and a greater poet was still required to give it form, and Moliere marvellously possessed the double gift in rarest com- bination, it v,^as only a few years earlier that a com- pany of performers had been permanently established in the capital, a measure due to the Cardinal de Richelieu. That powerful minister, himself a culti- vator of the muse, wrote verses with the aid of Collet and Boisrobert, though it must be admitted he was less, successful with the muse than in politics, a province in which to this hour he is conceived to hold a masterdom. While producing nothing that was worthy of his name, he showed himself critically severe to others, if we are to believe, as has often, been alleged, that the vanquisher of Rochelle was. jealous of the author of the Cid himself. If we admit this, his influence will be none the less propitious, his passion for the theatre advanced the national comedy,, encouraged a purer taste, and made private theatricals become a favourite pastime with the educated classes.. It was this sphere in which the younger Poquelin's. talents first displayed themselves. 16 TIlc Coinedmn II. How curious would be the record of Moliere's early- professional career ; how rich the store of scenes, vicissitudes and anecdote which its pages would afford. While leading in the south an itinerant and nomad life for years, we find him wandering from town to town catering for provincial audiences ; sometimes full of hope, but always active in the interests of his troupe, and bravely doing battle with the penurious exigencies of the strolling plaA'er's life. A child of circumstance, genius and adventure, we can -conceive his rapid mastery of the national farce and the pieces of Italian type that formed a stroller's repertoire. We can fancy his occasional fits of Bohemian glee, as success inspired him to throw off some ephemeral composition of his OAvn ; works, perhaps, at the first of no great intrinsic value. Left to mere conjecture this is likely enough, though amongst them there would occur a few of those unpolished gems which at a later period so thickly •shone forth in his comedies. Assuredly, but oh ! how long a struggle had to be endured before that culmination was attained. Tender of heart and fortune-flouted, with a company to support, who of our contemporaries would willingly exchange the situation for the name, or hope to nm'se a genius in its trials ? It is to be feared an empty treasuiy or emptier stalls would quickly end the struggle ; still the poor comedian faced it rather than relinquish the pursuit. in tJie Provinces. IT If his raid against the doctors was fraught with "blessing to humanity, of which there can scarcely be a question, this season of probation need not greatly be regretted. This season of his life was, if not. profitable, busy. Returning to the capital well stored with stage-material beyond the requirements of an ordinaiy company, he had no lack of subjects ; as. M. de la Martiniere informs us, " he had a mass of sketchy pieces and trifling farces imiumerable, which he had produced in the provinces." Of this number were, Les Trois Docteurs Amoureux, Les Trois Docteurs Riveux, Le Medccin Volant, Lc Fagoteux,. Le M^decm par Force, Le Grand Benit de Fils, and others unconnected with our subject, which we need not mention. So fair a list, with medicine for their theme, is, to say the least, significant, and shows that from the first the subject had for him a certain attrac- tion that should be borne in mind. Hov^^ever, in it& treatment Moliere has as yet no other motive than attachment to the traditional spirit of the provincial stage. He seems to have a love for the older types of the popular farce ; before abandoning himself to an inspiration all his own, he worked upon subjects that had a lingering possession of the stage. This explains the origin of his earlier triumphs, these sketchy plots and characters he recast, when his genius grew mature, subduing buffoonery, and superadding as a new element those grand ideas at once philosophical and moral which underlie the whole of his creations. But this was at a later stage of his career, when the general practitioners had become his associates. At 18 The Comedian the period we treat of, it is the medical practitioners of the strolling stage who seem to share his confidence, ■and for some time to be his masters and only models — a kind of natural school, whose character and influ- ence it may be well to examine. It is a well-known feature of the poet's life — one, perhaps, exaggerated — that an instinctive liking early led him to a close connection with itinerant companies. It was even said he received instructions from the first performer, Scaramouche. This is not improbable. His was a theatre of the Taharin, Gautier-Guarguille and Turlupin type, with its inexhaustible repertory ■of liveliest comicalities, not without a certain merit of their own, and where the popular Jodclst and Jocrisse, together with the docteur ridicule, vrere naturally favourite Q^oles. Then, was there not the famous -Guillot Gorju ? That singular actor stood unrivalled -on the stage which was at war with all the faculties, especially that of medicine, the licentiates of which it lashed severely. His was the stage of the medecins amhulants, proper, caterers for practice, who had in them more of professional jealousy than of Greek or Latin, and who found in their performances a means, like any other, of competing with the legitimate fraternity. Vendors of specifics, plasters, and pomades, they sought their patients in the crowd, which was at all times credulous and ready to applaud them in their farcical tirades. In this humble sphere of art, with all its eccen- tricities, there was no doubt much which our comique "would relish and appropriate, and the veiy little that in the Provinc?,8. 19 lie owed to it he was seldom permitted to forget. Long after he was independent of all invention but his own, liis enemies were ready to remind him of his earlier alliance and affinities, and his fame remains indelibly associated with two at least of its celebrities. One was the renowned Italian Hieronimo Ferrati, the inventor of the well-known nostrum, Orvietan ; the other, the still more famous Bam, the most dis- tinguished virtuoso in the world : "The sphinx of the profession, the paragon of medicine, the successor of Hippocrates, the cbserv^er of nature, the vanquisher of maladies, and the scourge of all the faculties." In fine, a veritable hero in the Israel of quakery, a pro- lific race, and seemingly as far as ever from extinction. In registering the names of these contemporary and artistic empirics, history has conferred a lasting favour, as we shall have occasion to point out in referring to them hereafter. But this does not exhaust the sources of Moliere's provincial medical prototypes. May it not be believed that he also drew some inspiration from a sphere certainly more legitimate, but quite as much a remnant of the past as the bufiboneries of the medecin mnhulant ? That he did so at this epoch is scarcely to be doubled. The itinerary of his professional wan- derings, alas ! far from perfect, show him active with liis company in the vicinity of Montpellier. So near the celebrated city, with its faculty of medicine, which also claimed like that of Paris the exclusive privilege of ^•ranting the licence to practise hie et ubique terrarum,it would be singular had he overlooked a spot so famous. 20 Tlie Comedian and supplying so much that came within the scope of his province. The pilgrimage to that grand old seat of learning was a duty due to science. Long the most frequented of the medical resorts of the West, how glorious was its past. Early in the middle ages, thanks. to its communal institutions, it was the noted centre of an intellectual and studious life, and long before its university was founded, it prided itself in its schools^ especially that of medicine, whose claims to high antiquity were lost in legend and tradition. If Pari.s linked her medical institutions with the rise of the Capetian monarchy, Montpellier's pretensions rose to Clovis, and had Charlemagne among her patrons. If Paris had seen emperors seated on its benches, and popes passing from its portals to fill the chair of St. Peter, Montpellier had had the honour of supplying almost all the first physicians to the kings of France, and of capping the list with Francois Rabelais. The philosophic jester, as all the world knows, took his degree of doctor at Montpellier, and his farcical Rondibilis, v.dio was no other than his master, from the chancellor Rondilct. Though leaving no memento of his term of study, unless it was the rite of iisticufiing that greeted the fresh alumnus, this worthy's name was still held in veneration. Unfaithful to the lancet, it was when he wore the robe ecclesiastic we must seek for a reminiscence, should we wish to find it. The rhapsodies of this audacious humourist, since grown classic in the world of letters, found naturally in our comique an ardent lover, and oftener than once he draws from that source an aromment the in the Fro-vinces. 21 more, if sucli were needed, in favour of his visit to the spot. But if any doubt has hitherto existed with refer- ence to this circumstance in M. Germain's mind, nothing is more certain for the future, for he furnishes even the occasion and the date. It was duriner the sojourn at P^zenas, with the Prince de Conti, that Moliere happily turned his opportunity to good account in storing up material for the Ceremonie of the Malade Imaginaire. As will be seen, he had certainly no need to go so far to seek his models. But yet the pro- vincial form had certain merits not to be neglected, as various scenic details prove. The musical accompani- ments of the reunion cortege, and the reception ritual with its multiplicity of sounding gerunds were well- known features of that school, and are points Moliere has thought it advisable to utilise. But whether the formalities of Paris or Montpellier are in view, the trifling variations own a common origin, and date from the thirteenth century with its love of symbolism, to which the renaissance had lent a classic pagan character in long harangues of academic cast. Of the two great schools the formalities of Montpellier no doubt were the older, and had the greater celebrity. Our metaphysician, Locke, who while on his con- tinental tour, allowed himself to be attracted by the old scholastic exhibition of the conferring of the