m UC-NRLF SB 313 517 (f) v^ BY LEON H. VINCENT THE BIBLIOTAPH AND OTHER PEOPLE i2mo, $1.50 BRIEF STUDIES IN" FRENCH SOCI- ETY AND LETTERS IN THE XVII. CENTURY h6tel db rambouillet and the PRECIEUSES l8m0, $1.00 THE FRENCH ACADEMY l8mo, $1.00 CORNEILLE i8mo, $1.00 MOLIERE i8mo, 85 cents, net HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK MOfFITT 9- Copyright, ip02, by Leon H. Vincent All rights reserved Published December, iqo2 To FRANCIS WILSON In memory of days and nights in the library of * The Orchard* 5^— I I , „^w CONTENTS Introduction I Youth and Dramatic Beginnings . . 1 1 A Provincial Thespian 39 -+ III h- First Pat isian Triumphs : les Precieuses ridicules, l'Ecole des Maris, and les Facheux 65 L'£cole des Femmes, Tartuffe, and le Misanthrope ....... 95 CONTENTS The Actor and the Man 143 Les Femmes savantes, 1' Avare, le Bour- geois gentilhomme, and le Malade imaginaire . . . . . . . .175 -H VII h- Death, Burial, and Posthumous Fame . 201 Bibliographical Note . . . . . .227 MOLIERE -J^e s^. jLHE play was over and the audi- ence was dispersing. The streets adja- cent to the Petit-Bourbon resounded with laughter, argument, protestation. A passer-by who mingled with the crowd and overheard the talk could hardly have failed to note how va- ried and discordant the opinions were. These people had just witnessed a per- formance, by the ' Comediens de Mon- MOLlkRE sieur frere unique du roi,' of a new and clever little dramatic satire. It was evi- dent from their manner that the piece, though amusing enough, had displayed some unwonted quality, that its humors were not of a superficial kind. A number of spectators confessed to having enjoyed the performance in spite of themselves. Others had been vastly entertained because the wit seemed to be directed at people they knew. A few were downright angry, and hinted at the vengeance it was possible to wreak upon profane satir- ists. Their immediate neighbors, with more reason to be indignant than themselves, laughed and were disposed to take it all in good part. Whatever else was accomplished the play had un- questionably aroused discussion. The 4 * m As m ^ v MOLIERE dramatist had held the mirror up to nature. People looked into the glass and were so astonished that they be- gan at once to protest that the mirror was distorted. Little as they were grati- fied by the spectacle, they seemed in no danger of forgetting what manner of men they were. This fashionable audience was ap- parently less concerned about the au- thorship of the play than about the play itself. Not half of them knew, or cared to know, who wrote it. The bystander might now and then have caught the name of Moliere, coupled with some phrase expressive of admiration for this actor's brilliant performance in the role of Mascarille. But the whole affair was of far less importance to the spec- tators at the Petit-Bourbon than to us, MOLIERE who look back upon that day as epoch- making in the history of dramatic lit- erature. The players, for all that they bore a high-sounding title, were not especially noteworthy. In the opinion of Parisians this was only a little pro- vincial troupe, newly come to town within a year, fortunate in having taken the fancy of the young king, who liked to be amused, and who found the new players able to do and say very laugh- able things. Had the people of quality who assisted at the performance that day been questioned they would have explained that comic actors, though quite diverting, were a much lower or- der of being than the stately kings and queens of tragedy who chanted the great verses of Corneille, for example, at the Hotel de Bourgogne. j m m u m m *. M0L1ERE Among the spectators thronging the hall of the Petit-Bourbon that Novem- ber afternoon of the year 1659 was J ean Chapelain, of the Academie francaise, he who, four years later, was to figure conspicuously among the King's bene- ficiaries as 'the greatest French poet that ever was ' — a characterization which he accepted with unabashed con- tent and no apparent sense of incon- gruity. Gilles Menage was also pre- sent. The two scholars met when the play was over. Menage took Chape- lain by the hand and said to him, 'Monsieur, you and I approved all those follies which have just been criti- cised so ingeniously and with such good sense; but now, as Saint Remi said to Clovis, we shall be obliged to burn what we adored and adore what lH rrtrn KW MOLlkRE we burned/ Menage, who himself re- cords the incident, says that it turned out as he predicted. After that first performance of the Precieuses ridicules there was an end to verbal absurdities and affected style. Menage is suspected of having made his ' prediction ' after the event. In any case it is a question whether the reform was as sudden or radical as he affirms. The revolt from the jargon of the 'ruelles' had begun long before 1659. But up rx/this moment no wit had ridiculed the coteries with such fresh gayety as Moliere displayed. Other satirists had tried, in a dull, heavy fash- ion, to make preciosity ' absurd. The chief result of their efforts was to con- firm the precieuses in their folly and to make the spectators yawn. Moliere H-6-I- MOLIERE almost convinced the precieuses that it was worth their while to join in the laugh at their own expense. The year 1659, of such high impor- tance in Moliere's life, is of no little significance in the life of the Hotel de Rambouillet. It is like a sign-post which points two ways. It is an early date in the history of the great drama- tist, and a late date in the history of the great house. The fact should be kept in mind, inasmuch as one object of this series of brief studies is to show the influence of polite society on litera- ture. The story of the Hotel de Ram- bouillet really comes to an end with the production of les Pr'ecieuses ridicules. The aged Marquise herself is believed to have been present on this occasion and to have joined in the applause at ^ 7 ^ MOLIERE the many palpable hits made in the comedy. She was a woman of wit, and it is wholly unreasonable to suppose that she could not enjoy a satire upon the third and fourth rate salons, the feeble and absurd imitations of the once famous, and justly famous, Blue Room. So far as Moliere is concerned, this play may be accounted an index show- ing the path which the new comedy was to take. All the characteristics of the great Frenchman's art are epitomized in this lively attack upon the affecta- tions of the ruelles. In the Precieuses ridicules Moliere completely emanci- pated himself from the fetters of the traditional comedy of intrigue. He took his subject from the vivid Present. He learned that he had only to study Nature. Above all he became mili- -h 8 -»- MOLIERE tant; and among the many character- istics of Moliere's drama none is more marked than its militant spirit. The man was ever a fighter. It is no inad- equate account of his Ji fe- which cfc - g/M-ihpg \\ pg am imrp mitting war aga inst hypo crisy, rTo forget this would be to forget Moliere's own words : It is my belief that in the work in which I find myself engaged I can do nothing bet- ter than to attack, through mocking portraiture, the vices of my time^/He was militant at the outset of his career as a dramatist, and during the fourteen years of his Parisian life, a period crowded to the full with responsibili- ties and labors of all sorts, he was never anything else. & & fl j» p JL ARIS is so rich in historical and literary shrines that it is able to gratify the pilgrim with the bewildering spec- tacle of two houses in which Moliere was certainly born, and two in which he unquestionably died. In such an embarrassment of riches one can hardly be too conservative. The stu- dent learns at the outset that about half of all he reads and hears is almost of necessity untrue. The tablet of black marble placed -+ ii -i- MOLlkRE on the front of No. 96 Rue Saint- Honore, about a quarter of a century ago, bears an inscription to the effect that it marks the site of the house in which Moliere was born, January 15, 1622. /The admirer will be fairly safe in paying his tribute of sentiment at this place. For if it is difficult to prove that the poet was born here, it is even more difficult to show that he must have been born somewhere else. The house now standing at the cor- ner of Rue Saint-Honore and Rue des Vieilles-Etuves is comparatively mod- ern. The original edifice of Moliere's time was a 'picturesque construction of the sixteenth century,' with gables and projecting stories, and small arched windows of leaded glass. At the corner of the house was a carved -* I2-H- MOLIERE wooden post of the sort not uncom- mon in old Paris. This 'poteau cor- nier' represented the trunk of an orange-tree, up which swarmed a group of young monkeys eager for the fruit, while an old monkey waited below. The house was known as the 4 pavilion des Singes ' from this deco- ration. The eyes of the future poet must often have rested with amused delight upon the quaint figures. It is believed that when Moliere invented a coat of arms for himself and placed for supports on either side the shield a monkey, one holding a mirror and the other a theatrical mask, he had in mind the grotesque and laughable carvings on the old house in Rue Saint- Honore. The family to which Moliere be- ~n 3 ^ M0L1ERE longed came originally from Beauvais. Jean Poquelin, a tradesman of that place, had a son Jean who established himself in Paris as a ' marchand tapis- sier.' He married Agnes Mazuel, a daughter of one of the ' Violons du Roi.' They had ten children, the eld- est of whom, Uean, became the father of the dramatic poet. This Jean Poque- lin was also a 'marchand tapissier.' His wife was the daughter of a ' tapis- sier,' Louis Cresse./They were mar- ried April 22, i62i.|Their first-born, known to all the world as Moliere, was baptized on Saturday, the 15th of January, 1622/IThe entry in the register of the parish of Saint-Eustache calls him 'Jean, son of Jean Pouguelin, upholsterer, and of Marie Crese, his wife.' The name of the mother should -»• 14-1- MOLlkRE have been spelled with a double s. But in those days correct spelling was an undiscovered art. The orthography of names (if orthography be the right word), was altogether in a « fluid and passing ' state. The name borne by Moliere's father is found in the civil records spelled in eight or nine differ- ent ways, among which are Pocque- lin, Poclin, and Pauquelin. * The true name of his family was Poquelin.' Two years later ahothet child of this house was christened Jean, and therefore the elder son received the name of Jean-Baptiste. When he went upon the stage Jean-Baptiste Poquelin took the name of Moliere, for reasons satisfactory to himself and inexplicable to other people. The change could hardly have been made MOLIERE for the purpose of acquiring distinc- tion, since the assumed name was not only rather common but was also borne by a well-known master of bal- let, Louis de Mollier or Moliere, with whom the poet was often confounded. However, these improvements and changes of style are so nearly univer- sal in the theatrical profession, and so frequent in the literary, as to require no special explanation in the case of the great French dramatist. The father of Moliere held the posi- tion of * tapissier valet de chambre ' to the kingJ It was a hereditary charge, and was considered highly profitable if only because of the prestige it car- ried in the minds of people who like a sofa cushion a little better for having been made by royalty's own uphol- —1-16-1— MOLIERE sterer. There were eight of these craftsmen, each of whom bore the title of valet de chambre. The period of their service was three months. They received three hundred livres in wage besides gratuities to the amount of about thirty-seven livres and six sous. { Jean Poquelin was a respectable, well- to-do, and influential member of the middle class., He was thought to be close-fisted at times, but he lived in something like luxury and took no small comfort in the wealth he had acquired. ( The mother of the poet was a woman of taste and distinction. If she had but few books we know that the few included a Bible and a Plu- tarch.) She died at the early age of thirty-one, leaving four children ; little MOLlkRE Jean-Baptiste was in his eleventh year at the time of this his first great be- reavement. After twelve months of widowerhood the father married again. Catherine Fleurette, the second wife, bore her husband two daughters and then died, just three and a half years after her marriage. We are warned by that conserva- tive scholar and sound critic, Louis Moland, not to accept with rash en- thusiasm or reject with disdain the various traditions concerning Moliere's youth and dramatic career. One of these traditions says that the boy's ma- ternal grandfather, Louis Cresse, used to take him to the performances at the Hotel de Bourgogne, and therefore must be held chiefly responsible for having opened Moliere's eyes to the MOLIERE possibility of a career so glorious that the profession of upholsterer to the king seemed commonplace in con- trast. To assume this is, as Moland says, to assume too much. Few boys have not had at some time or other a passion for the stage. Moliere doubt- less enjoyed his first play-going expe- riences in the company of his grand- father, but jit seems more reasonable to trace his deeper interest in theatrical things to the practical experience in dramatics got at the famous Jesuit schooLknown as the College de Cler- mont. I M Moliere was a pupil here from October, 1636, to August, 1641.^ The school was large and fashionable, numbering seventeen hundred day- pupils and three hundred boarders, -i- 19-1- j * m u m ^ MOLIERE Among the names enrolled were to be found representatives of such great families as Conti, Rohan, Montmo- rency, Richelieu, and Crequi. There was a faculty of three hundred mem- bers. The instruction combined the best offered by the traditions of the past with an unusual amount of mod- ern science ; it has been remarked with surprise that the Jesuit fathers taught chemistry, 'or what passed for such/ They paid unusual attention to what Lord Chesterfield in his day called the graces/ In this school, where every recitation was rigorously conducted in Latin, and where Latin was used in the dining-room and even on the play- ground, no little care was bestowed upon the art of dancing. At certain times in the year, notably when the -»-20-»- MOLIERE general distribution of prizes took place, plays and ballets were pro- duced. The reverend fathers wrote many of these little pieces, in which the more gifted pupils displayed their talents both elocutionary and terpsi- chorean. To the influences brought to bear upon him at the Jesuit college Loiseleur attributes Moliere's ' un- happy taste ' for tragedy and his con- summate skill in the composition of ballets. Among his fellow pupils young Poquelin could reckon the Prince de Conti, younger brother of Conde ; also Hesnault, Bernier, and Chapelle. The three last mentioned were his intimate friends. If Moliere met the young prince at all it would be only in the classroom. MOLIERE Chapelle was a natural son of Luil- lier, the * maitre des comptes,' a friend and patron of Gassendi. To Luillier must be given the credit of having made it possible for these four lads, Hesnault, Bernier, Chapelle, and Jean- Baptiste Poquelin, to enjoy lessons from Gassendi. Cyrano de Bergerac also became a member of the circle. Grimarest says that the Gascon forced himself upon the little party of youth- ful philosophers, and that it was a problem how to get rid of him. They solved it by letting him remain. Cy- rano may have used adroit and insinu- ating ways to get admitted, but he had wit enough to make himself agree- able and amusing when once of the number. After finishing his ' humanities ' -I- 22+- MOLIERE and completing such studies under Gassendi as his father's plans allowed,,,, I Moliere went to Orleans to study law.) No small pains have been taken to determine the extent of the poet's legal knowledge. This much at least is clear, that when Moliere uses the phraseology of law he not only uses it exactly, but also with the ease and spontaneity of one who is not parad- ing knowledge got up for the occa- sion. Some emphasis too may be laid upon the fact that Moliere never satir- izes the lawyers as he does the physi- cians. Perhaps, knowing them as he did, he liked and respected them ; per- haps he had some traces of sentiment about a profession with which he was at one time closely allied. It is amusing to find that after MOLlkRE graduating from the College de Cler- mont and taking his law degree at the University of Orleans, Moliere was put to the study of arithmetic and penmanship. This was a special train- ing for a mercantile pursuit, a paral- lel to which could easily be found at the present day. If we may conclude that the study of law was looked upon merely as part of a liberal edu- cation, it is safe to assume that the young man was now at issue with his father on the subject of his career in life. The question was whether or not he should be allowed to give up the honorable profession of hereditary upholsterer to the king for the disrep- utable business of play-acting. The problem is constantly recurring, and has every time to be solved anew on -+ 24-1- MOLlkRE the individual merits of the case. No general principle can be found to gov- ern all instances. It is still possible to find an occasional actor who would have graced the upholstery business. On the other hand, what scholar or critic will presume fully to estimate the loss to the stage and to literature had not Moliere followed his bent with al- most blind recklessness? The testi- mony of friends and enemies alike goes to show that his passion for the theatre in all its forms had become a frenzy. There is no cure for madness of this sort; it must run its course. The young man probably scandalized his father by the ease with which he put aside all the important concerns of life to run after players.) Charles Dickens, it is said, had so profound an MOLlkRE interest in the stage that he would witness the most commonplace act- ing patiently and sympathetically. He derived a certain pleasure from the efforts of these people — a pleasure totally unmixed with cynicism. In much the same spirit only with greater intensity young Moliere, after his re- turn from Orleans, proceeded to slake his thirst for things dramatic. He drank in greedily whatever Paris had to give. " Great comedians and small, Italian and French, tragic and comic, buffoons and jugglers, he followed and saw them all.' Nor was he content to be a mere spectator. The story of Moliere and the two • charlatans ' of the Pont-Neuf is thought to have a foundation in fact, though told upon the authority -»• 26 -I- MOLIERE of the poet's bitterest enemy. It is found in a satiric comedy entitled Elomire hypocondre ou les Medecins venges, by Le Boulanger de Chalussay. The name Elomire is an anagram of Moliere. The author of the play was intimately acquainted with many facts of Moliere's life. He knew so much that it often requires the most delicate criticism to determine the line between truth and fiction. He sneers at the poet for having in those early days so completely devoted himself to what- ever in the remotest way touched upon theatrical affairs. Moliere is ac- cused of having lost his head to the extent of applying for a position of assistant to the sleight-of-hand per- formers of the Pont-Neuf. Moland 2 7 ^ 5 \ / S&te ft ^ MOLlkRE characterizes this story as ' an absurd invention.' There is more ground for believing the tradition that Moliere studied the method of the famous Italian mime known to the public under the name of Scaramouche. Vermeulen's por- trait of Scaramouche has under it a quatrain, one line of which says, — Ilfut le maitre de Moliere. The author of the play of fclomire hy- pocondre elaborates this tradition, and pictures Moliere standing before the Italian comedian with a mirror in his hand in which he studies the varying expressions of his own face as he tries to master the lesson of Scaramouche. Now he personates the unhappy or the deceived husband, jealous, raging at heart. 4 There is no movement, -+28^ MOLIERE posture, or grimace which this great scholar of the greatest of buffoons does not do, over and over again, hundreds of times.' Livet's edition of fclomire hypocondre contains a facsimile of the rare old engraving showing Moliere, looking-glass in hand, taking his les- son in facial expression. A story told in such detail and with such liveliness of manner undoubtedly has some basis in truth. The break with his father and with all the traditions of his family came when in June, 1643, Moliere signed the contract drawn up by ten actors and actresses (including three mem- bers of the famous Bejart family) for the purpose of organizing a new dra- matic company to be known as the 4 Illustre Theatre.' The name of Jean- -+ 29 -»- MOLIERE Baptiste Poquelin comes third on the list; he was then twenty-three years of age. The seventh name is that of 'Magdelaine Bejart/ a clever young actress with whom Moliere was known to be deeply enamoured. Tallemant des Reaux states the common opinion of her merits when he speaks of her as a gifted comedienne, and records the current gossip when he says that 1 a young fellow by the name of Mo- liere left the benches of the Sorbonne to follow her.' Tallemant is in error more than once, as when he speaks of Moliere at the Sorbonne ; enough remains, however, to show that love of Madeleine Be] art as well as love of comedy must be reckoned among the motives which prompted Moliere to embark upon a theatrical career. The MOLIERE company is thought to have been composed at first of amateurs, who, after playing several months for plea- sure, determined to make a profession of what had hitherto been a pastime. 1 The audacity and light-heartedness of youth must partly account for this title of the ' Illustre Theatre.' In a contract made with the dancer, Daniel Mallet, occurs for the first time, so far as we know, the name which was to be- come world-famous through the genius of him who adopted it — the name of Moliere. Young Poquelin was not merely content to assume a more euphonious cognomen than the one borne by his father and grandfather, but he must needs improve upon im- 1 Larroumet : La Comedie de Moliere, Paris, 1887, p. 77. MOLIERE provement by giving that name the prefix de. The new company of play- ers was illustrious, and of its members one, at least, was noble ! All this was innocently done, and perhaps wholly in the spirit of that member of the Petit Cenacle described by Gautier who turned plain Jean into Jehan and got indescribable satisfaction from his Gothic h. Moreover, there are many things one can do at the age of twen- ty-five for which he will have no heart after he is forty. y The elder Poquelin by no means gave over his efforts to persuade the prodigal son to relinquish a foolish undertaking.} He sent Georges Pinel, who had been Moliere's writing-mas- ter, to argue with the young man and if possible bring him to hear reason. MOLIERE Pinel undertook the mission with en- thusiasm and presented his patron's cause with eloquence. Moliere's elo- quence, however, was the greater. He not only was not persuaded, but he actually induced Pinel to leave his pupils and join the new dramatic com- pany. The susceptible writing-master was flattered by being told that his stock of Latin would perfectly fit him to play the role of ' docteur,' and that he would find acting a far more agree- able mode of life than keeping a boarding school. Pinel's name ap- pears in the agreement for organizing the « Illustre Theatre.' The fortunes of the new company were almost wholly disastrous. The comedians, no doubt, played their parts with vivacity and skill ; the pub- MOLIERE lie, however, was not greatly moved. Auditors came, but not in sufficient numbers, and salaries cannot be paid in appreciation. The 'Illustre Thea- tre ' tried various quarters of Paris only to meet with the same rebuff, in each new locality. They were like a well-known character in a certain book of humor in that they were en- dowed with the very genius of ill-luck.' Their first performances were given in the jeu de paume (tennis-court) known as 'Metayers/ from Nich- olas and Louis Metayer, its first pro- prietors. Six months later they moved to jeu de paume ' de la Croix-Noire P near Port Saint-Paul. It was thought that they might thrive among the wits and amateurs of literature who fre- quented this quarter. Disappointed MOLIERE here, they moved again, this time to 6 Croix-Blanche ' in the Faubourg Saint-Germain; 'and for the third time they found only the desert.' For Moliere himself the next four years constituted a period of personal disappointment and mortification in addition to the misery he shared with his fellow-players. Paraphrasing a fa- mous epigram : To make a failure is at any time a sin ; but to make a fail- ure in the presence of unsympathetic neighbors and critical relatives is worse — it is a blunder. A young man who proposes to play the fool should go away from home to do it. Nothing illustrates better the tenacity of Mo liere's purpose than the history of his connection with the ' Illustre Theatre.' He made intimate acquaintance with MOLIERE the seamy side of Seventeenth Cen- tury theatrical life. He knew the money-lenders and usurers, the pawn- brokers and the sheriffs. At one time he was imprisoned in the Chatelet for a debt of a hundred and forty- three livres owed to Antoine Fausser, dealer in candles. There were yet other debts for which he might have suffered detention had not a friend, Leonard Aubry, * paveur des batiments du roi,' come to his help. Moliere's father has been roundly abused for not showing himself active and conspicu- ous in backing up his son in these theatrical ventures. Such abuse is both superfluous and uncritical. The doctrine may be old-fashioned, but not necessarily unsound, that fathers should be allowed some independ- -t.36.H- MOLIERE ence of judgment and action even when they happen to be the fathers of distinguished men. Twelve years were yet to elapse before Moliere should have fully justified his choice of a profession. Jean Poquelin, the upholsterer, lived to see his eldest son almost at the height of his contem- porary fame. Yet it were gratuitous to assume that the old man cared to or could fully appreciate the nature of the son's triumph. For the sake of sturdy human nature and to the end that examples of the ' man of char- acter' may exist in all ages and in every country, it is to be hoped that Jean Poquelin died unreconciled to is son's course. There being no immediate future for the * Illustre Theatre ' in Paris, j s \ z e ste d / s ^ MOLl&RE save a future made up of poverty and failure, they determined to go into the provincial towns. Where dramatic entertainments were fewer than in the metropolis they might at least get a hearing. The precise moment of de- parture is unknown ; it probably oc- curred some time ' during the last months of 1645 or the beginning of 1646/ Nor is it certain what members of the original company united with Madeleine Bejart and Moliere in this new venture. For the next twelve years the poet led the nomadic life of a provincial Thespian. With all its hardships and deprivations, its vulgar- ity and ennui, this section of Moliere's history is to be accounted of highest importance in his intellectual and ar- tistic development. ^38- II T JlHE most superficial acquaint- ance with the methods of biographers makes clear how absolutely essential it is that the lives of great men should ' fall into periods/ Imagine the blow to the orthodox conception of bio- graphical criticism if we were not al- lowed to picture a great dramatic poet repeating the syllables in each line of verse to ascertain if they developed the style of metre it was his duty to posterity to be using at that special -*39-*- MOLIERE period of his life.' In other words, the critics must have periods,' if they have to invent them. It is a relief to find that now and then these divisions actually occur in the life of a man of letters quite of their own accord. The mere change of locale makes the years of Moliere's provincial wanderings stand out in marked contrast to all that goes before and all that follows. /(There fell to his share certain re- sponsibilities of which he had hitherto known but little. He became the di- rector of the troupe, if not at once, certainly very soon after the beginning of the provincial tour. He rose to this position by his gift for leadership. He was a born drill-master.! It rarely happens that men with the faculty for -»-40-»- MOLIERE control do not find something upon which to exercise their powers; and if they have the ability to control in a great way the opportunity is sure to arise. The doctrine of mute inglori- ous Miltons ' and ' village Hampdens ' is a very pretty one, but it is as absurd as it is poetical ; your real Hampden does not find the 4 village tyrant ' a foeman of sufficient importance. f Moliere was not only an actor and a manager, but he became a writer./ This might have happened in Paris quite as well as in the provinces, but I believe the pressure of necessity helped to awaken his inventive pow- ers. \ In the city he could have pro- cured plays ; in the country it was not an easy matter, and he must make them. Aside from that always power- -+41 +- 0k * & * / ^K, MOLlkRE ful motive, mere gratification of the instinct for authorship, [such an addi- tional incentive as the positive need to have a new play at a given time was an immense stimulusj We can hardly overestimate its force. J The provinces, too, were an excel- lent field for the observer of human na- ture. Society was immobile. Strange characters abounded. Men lived, died, and were buried in the towns where they were born. He who travelled a hundred miles was something of an adventurer, and was held in becoming reverence when he got home. Men who had been to Paris took marked precedence over their fellow-citizens and had argument, not for a week but for the rest of their natural days. Strangers coming to these lesser towns -H42 4- k m & m < %. MOLIERE and villages were as great a curiosity to the inhabitants as the inhabitants were to them. Even to a youth who had been brought up in the shadow of the Parisian markets ' where wit had flourished from time immemorial,' who knew the varied life of the Col- lege de Clermont and the halls of the University of Orleans, and who had endured the buffets which Fortune bestows upon most dramatic tyros, — even to such a youth the provinces must have seemed rich in material for the study of human nature. The most marked contrast of all would be found in the opening up of vast tracts of unfilled time. The busy hum of men may be heard in market- towns as well as in towered cities, but it is never so unremitting in the one as MOLIERE in the other. ' What do you do with your time ? ' inquires the cockney of the villager, and the latter cannot give a really satisfactory answer. Busy as he was and exacting as were his re- sponsibilities, Moliere must have had, now and then, the sense of a larger leisure than he had hitherto known. And it was in part due to this, I firmly believe, that he became 'so deep contemplative.' The early history of Moliere's pro- vincial campaigns is quite obscure. When Taschereau published, in 1828, the second edition of his Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de Moliere, he was compelled to acknowledge that 'all the circumstances of Moliere's life from the beginning of 1646 up to 1653 were a ^ most entirely unknown.' MOLIERE By a careful study of the civil regis- ters in various parts of the south and east of France, many blanks in our information have been supplied ; though it is not yet possible to trace the wanderings of the company step by step. However, as a biographer has happily expressed it, while we may not know at a given instant just where Moliere and his people are, we may be sure that they will not be long out of sight. The two sorts of documents which furnish indisputable proof of the pre- sence of the company in a given place are the registers in which were in- scribed the permission of the munici- pal authorities to give a performance in the town, and the 4 actes de Petat civil' which contain records of the moli£re baptism of such children as were born into the theatrical profession. If we may believe the records these domes- tic events were not few. 1 ' * The child was baptized where it was born and the members of the company were godparents or witnesses.' There is an ancient tradition to the effect that when Scarron wrote his Ro- man comique he had Moliere's troupe in mind. The very place and the ex- act time of the meeting between the great dramatist and the famous satirist have been indicated. The tradition enjoyed a long life, but has no stand- ing at the present day. Scarron hardly needed a particular group of models 1 Les comediennes de la troupe etaient d'une singuliere fecondite. — Moland. -+46-1- MOLIERE from which to paint his realistic can- vas ; nor was Moliere's the only com- pany of itinerant players to be met with in the Seventeenth Century. It is thought that when Scarron was about composing his study of provin- cial Bohemia the troupe in which our interest centres was not fully organ- ized, or at least that it had not ac- quired reputation sufficient to make it the object of satire. Moreover Scar- ron's picture is too broad. The man- ners of the time were easy, theatrical manners included. Le Breton says that the arrival in a town of a band of strolling players was a signal to the inhabitants to look out for their poultry-yards. None the less it is an unjustifiable exaggeration when one proposes to identify Moliere and his -+47-«- MOLIERE companies with a vagabond troupe such as Scarron has described. Even if Moliere was not always — as Mo- land insists that he was — allied with la haute societe of his time, he was as far as possible removed from the other extreme. The pupil of Gassendi may- be imagined arriving in a town of South France • with one foot shod and the other bare ' and accompanied by a troupe only a little better clad than FalstafPs regiment; but this picture can only be evoked by the aid of an unbridled imagination. After turning over an infinite num- ber of dry parchments, and after weigh- ing obscure references with a care only equalled by that of a goldsmith in handling precious metals, the scholars have determined with reasonable accu- -1-48 -*- MOLIERE racy the course taken by Moliere and his people. In 1647 ne * s believed to have visited Toulouse, Albi, and Carcas- sonne. In April of the following year he was certainly at Nantes, for his name, disguised as 'Morlierre,' is found on the register of the Hotel de Ville. He is described as ' one of the comedians of the troupe of St. Du- fresne.' In 1649 ne a gain visited Toulouse, going thence to Montpellier and Narbonne. In February, 1650, he was at Agen and in December at Pezenas during the session of the Es- tates. In 1651 his troupe gave per- formances at Vienne, and in 1652 at Carcassonne. Beginning with the year 1652 Lyon was the headquarters of the company. ^49+- MOLlkRE Moliere and his people would make excursions to the surrounding towns and villages. These trips were some- times of long duration, lasting perhaps a half year. For example, in 1653 Moliere went from Lyon to Pezenas and remained during the entire session of the Estates, that is, from March 17 to June 1. In the latter part of the same year he was at la Grange-des- Pres. He returned to Montpellier in December, 1654. After a long stay in Lyon he went to Avignon and then back to Pezenas. From Pezenas he went to Narbonne and thence to Beziers. In 1657 ne was at Lyon, Dijon, Pezenas, and Avignon. From Avignon he went to Grenoble for the Carnival, thence to Rouen. On the 24th of October, 1658, they reached MOLIERE Paris, coming directly from Rouen. This in brief is the itinerary of one of the most interesting organizations with which dramatic history has to do. The troupe had two distinguished patrons. From 1646 to 1652 they were known as the 4 comediens de M. le due d'Epernon.' The Due d'Eper- non was the governor of Guyenne. From a personal interest in Madeleine Bejart this nobleman was led to take her companions under his powerful protection. In September or October, 1653, Moliere offered his services to the Prince de Conti. The Prince was making merry like a young Sardana- palus, filling the cup of life to the brim during those days of bachelor- hood which were left him. His resi- MOLIERE dence was the Chateau de la Grange- des-Pres near Pezenas. Hither came Moliere and his troupe. When the Prince presided, as representative of the King, at the Estates of Languedoc, this company of players was sum- moned to furnish entertainment. The documents show how increasingly im- portant Moliere's position was becom- ing. Larroumet has brought out very clearly in his admirable chapter on Madeleine Bejart the division of re- sponsibilities between the three most important members of the company. Dufresne, 'an old stager,' who had conducted a theatrical troupe in the provinces before now, was the nomi- nal head. \ Moliere was the inspiring and directing force in all that apper- — »- 52 -*— MOLIERE tained to the actual production of the plays. ) Mademoiselle Bejart had an eye to the stage settings and cos- tumes, and kept a firm hand on the department of finance. That Moliere was a man of affairs admits of no doubt ; but Madeleine Bejart, who was so skilful an actress that she could play with equal success the part of soubrette or of a princess of tragedy, was a ' man ' of affairs too. Larroumet calls her the steward and ' intendant ' of the association. There are many proofs of the ' vigilance and strength ' with which her administration was conducted. With the little city of Pezenas Moliere's name is intimately associ- ated. He passed an entire winter here, making excursions from time to MOLlkRE time in the surrounding country. It was rough-and-tumble work, veritable barn-storming. The towns were very small, from one to three thousand in- habitants ; and how slender the ac- commodations must have been either for uncommercial traveller or player may be readily conceived by any one who has tried their hospitality in the broad light of the present civilization. In 1655 the inns were unspeakably wretched. Nor was the pay much better than the fare. It is evident that a village of a few hundred families would not be able to contribute any great sum of money. The company must often have given a performance with the feeling that the sacrifices to be made for art are limitless. Loise- leur adduces as direct proof of the MOLIERE slenderness of the receipts the fact that the cost of travel was often levied upon the townspeople; they were compelled to furnish horses and wag- ons to convey the actors and their luggage from one town to the next. We often hear of soldiers being quartered upon a community; it is something new to hear of a theatrical troupe being billeted on its audiences. A requisition of this kind would need to be made at the instance of some powerful nobleman like the Prince de Conti; for the Prince was famed for his 'cheerful prodigality with other people's money/ The theatrical accommodations were of the most primitive sort, and varied in poorness with the character and size of the individual towns. A j m a to m m, MOLIERE play-house especially constructed and equipped with theatrical appliances was almost unknown. Even in Paris, the ' Illustre Theatre ' had played in a tennis-court; to be sure, these courts were supplied with a stage in cases where the owner could depend upon a tolerably regular demand for such a thing. Happy were the wandering tragedians of the provinces if they could find a 'jeu de paume' or a rid- ing-school which might readily be im- provised into a theatre. In the smaller places they had to be content with a barn lighted with lanterns. In such a theatre the hero of tragedy might at any moment find his periods punc- tuated by « the braying of an ass or the bellowing of a bull.'/ 56 MOLIERE Rigal * has shown what and how many were the tribulations of wander- ing theatrical companies in the early Seventeenth Century. His chapter re- fers to a time just before the classic period. Not all the sources of dis- comfort had been removed when Mo- liere was touring the south of France. Sometimes the Church set herself against the strollers who made their appearance at an inopportune time; the priests went so far as to threaten to discontinue Lenten services unless the players took their departure. The death of a distinguished man would keep the public from a performance. Not infrequently the authorities re- fused a license, pleading ' hard times ' 1 Eugene Rigal : Le Theatre Fran$ais y pp. 8-26. MOLlRRE and urging the necessity of protecting the people from temptation. Or the license was granted provided the com- pany would agree to play its best piece for the benefit of the local hos- pital. But the worst misfortune of all, says Rigal, was the meeting of two theatrical troupes in the same town. This occasionally happened in spite of their precautions. At Pezenas was situated the shop of the barber Gely, whose name is often linked with Moliere's. A bar- ber-shop filled a more important func- tion in the Seventeenth Century than in the Twentieth. It was a centre for news, for political discussion, for gos- sip. It was a sort of club, open to all, a place where one might pleasantly beguile many a moment on the plea MOLIERE of waiting one's turn. The barber himself was a privileged person, often- times clever, at all events sure to be filled with modern instances if not with wise saws. Moliere, during his long stay in Pezenas, used to go with great regularity to Gely's shop and watch the queer characters who con- gregated there, hear their talk, take mental note of their absurdities and whims. Like ' Democritus junior ' he made himself for the moment ' a mere spectator of other men's fortunes and adventures, and how they act their parts.' The ancient armchair in which he used to sit is still in existence. Its authenticity seems to be unusually well established. Whatever form of scepticism may seize Pezenas, in com- mon with the rest of the world, the -+5< j k\ e state ^^. MOLIRRE inhabitants at least never lose their faith in the genuineness of the • fau- teuil de Moliere.' In 1655 (some biographers put the date two years earlier) Moliere made his beginning as a dramatic author with rJELtourdi, a comedy of intrigue in the Italian style, an imitation in part of the Innavertito of Barbieri. It has the merit of originality, not be- cause of the ingenious construction but because of the beauty of the style. Victor Hugo, always magnificent in denunciation or in praise, declared that Vfitourdi was the best written of all Moliere's comedies. Not every critic is prepared to go to this extreme of eulogy. Few will dissent from the opinion that these earlier comedies of Moliere, such as VfLtourdi, represent MOLIERE perfectly the genius of the French language. Moliere's second comedy, le D'epit amoureux, was given at Beziers in 1656. The troupe had been sum- moned there at a meeting of the Es- tates, and this play was one of the novelties with which that honorable body was entertained. Like its pre- decessor, the D'epit amoureux is taken from the Italian. The Interresse of Secchi furnished many of the motives. Mesnard believes that the piece was composed rapidly, and perhaps with- out other intention at first than to give a French rendering of an Italian play. But the design grew under Moliere's hands, and the result was a play too original to admit of being classed as a mere transcription. It will be remem- -+6n- MOLIERE bered perhaps that when the Comedie- Fran9aise celebrated Moliere's birth- day during the siege of Paris in 1871, the director selected the D'epit amou- reux as one of two plays to be per- formed on that occasion. An im- mense audience gathered to do honor to the national poet. The sparkle and gaiety of the piece were rendered more striking by the grim accompani- ments of war. Cannon muttered and roared in the distance, and shells were bursting in the streets. Vktourdi and the D'epit amoureux were certainly written and for the first time produced during the latter part of Moliere's provincial wander- ings. It is even possible that a more brilliant work than either of these should be referred to the same period. -»- 62 -»- MOLIERE If, as Grimarest affirms, the Precieuses ridicules was also produced in the provinces long before its famous de- but at Paris, the fact is one of high interest. Nothing would be more rea- sonable than to suppose that Moliere found a motive for his lively satire in the ridiculous antics of the country precieuses. The disease of preciosity had excited Chapelle's mirth. 'Mo- liere was quite as capable as Chapelle of making observations upon the strange malady.' 6 3 ^ in OLIERE'S thoughts must often have turned towards his native place during these years of work and travel. After all, he was a Parisian; and what true Parisian looks upon time spent in the provinces as other than time wasted ? He may grant, perhaps, that it is good for him to undergo the discipline of an enforced absence from the beloved city; it sharpens the power of appreciation as fasting whets the appetite. None MOLIERE the less will he insist that it cannot be called living. Such day-dreaming as Moliere may- have indulged in was probably not of the sentimental type. The busy life of an actor-manager afforded but a minimum of time for idle reverie or nostalgia. He thought of Paris, but he thought of it as a general planning a campaign thinks of some point of strategical importance. 4 Here,' he says to himself, the question at issue will be decided/ Every month of work in the provinces fitted this troupe of stroll- ers a little better for the test to which they were presently to be put. It could not be otherwise with a man like Moliere at the head. Moliere had a conscience in respect to his art. He knew that the duty lay upon him and MOLIERE his players of giving the best that was in their power, whether the audience was large or small, distinguished or common. Impelled by such a motive and guided by such a leader, this band of comedians steadily grew in force and skill amid conditions which others might have accounted hard or even antagonistic. In the summer of 1658 Moliere made several visits to Paris. His ob- ject was to secure that high patronage without which launching an unknown dramatic company upon the sea of Parisian life were a useless and heart- breaking venture./ Through his old protector, the Prince de Conti, he was recommended to Monsieur, the King's brother, and by him presented to the King. On the 24th of October the -+ 67-1- MOLIERE troupe made its first appearance be- fore the royal family in the 4 salle des gardes ' of the old Louvre, which had been fitted up as a theatre for this oc- casion. The play was Corneille's tra- gedy of Nicomede.\\At its close Mo- Here came forward. Apologizing in the name of his company for their rashness in attempting to entertain the distinguished audience with a type of performance in which the King's own players so greatly excelled, — an allu- sion to the comedians of the Hotel de Bourgogne who were present, — he begged that they might be allowed to offer • one of those little divertise- ments ' through which they had given some pleasure and acquired some repute in the provinces.! Permission being granted, the lively farce of the -+68+- ' MOLIERE Docteur amoureux was at once played. It is said that shouts of laughter were raised by Moliere's irresistible imper- sonation of the chief character. J Having proved itself worthy of the charge the company received the cov- eted title of ' Troupe de Monsieur, frere unique du roi.' Besides the honor shared in common with his fel- lows, each player was granted a pen- sion of three hundred livres. The re- ward was less splendid than it seemed. A pension in the Seventeenth Cen- tury was a peculiar thing, as the Abbe Fabre has so amusingly shown. It was granted with a smile, paid in part and that grudgingly, too often not paid at all. Those were the days when an indigent man of letters could say to an almost equally indigent actor: — »- 69 h— M0L1&RE 4 What, have you a pension ? I, too, have one. Let us condole with each other/ The new dramatic favorites were installed in the Salle du Petit-Bour- bon,' where they played every other day, alternating with the Italian come- dians. The head of the latter troupe was the famous Scaramouche. Mo- Here's company included at this time the following men : Joseph and Louis Bejart, Duparc, Dufresne, and DeBrie. The actresses were the Demoiselles Madeleine Bejart, Duparc, DeBrie, and Herve (Genevieve Bejart). Three of these women were noted for their beauty; all were more or less human in a willingness to find occasion for professional and personal jealousy. In November and December of this -H- 70+- MOLIERE same year Moliere produced the two comedies which had been so warmly- received in Lyon and Montpellier, namely VfLtourdi and the Depit amou- reux ; their success at the Petit-Bour- bon was no less complete than it had been in the provincial towns. Moliere was now on the eve of a tri- umph much greater than could be hoped for through the inadequate resources of the Italian comedy of intrigue. He was to begin that incom- parable series of studies in contempo- rary manners, that brilliant and flash- ing group of satires on contemporary foibles, upon which his fame chiefly rests. The Moliere of the Depit amou- reux or of VEtourdi was merely a skilful craftsman in a type of work no longer new, and which could be lifted -+ 71 +- MOLI&RE to no higher level than that upon which it had been placed long before his time. ( The Moliere of the Pre- cieuses ridicules was original, a creator, j This sparkling comedy was first played on the 18th of November, 1659. The to&c alone was sufficient to attract >the universal attention of play-goers. Everybody knew what a precieuse was, and many a man had already fitted Moliere's adjective to some individual precieuse whom he . liked least. It was for Moliere him- self with his gaiety, his daring, his flashing dialogue, his overflowing good humor, to make the word * precieuse ? and the word • ridicule * so insepa- rable that it has taken years of study and many hundred pages of critical writing to convince the world that a -i- 72-1- MOLlkRE precieuse would be anything but ab- surd. That Moliere intended to satirize the Hotel de Rambouillet and its famous mistress is altogether unlikely. A lovable and gracious lady now past sixty years of age, a woman of irre- proachable character and noblest an- cestry, a loyal wife and a devoted mother, a generous hostess whose draw- ing-rooms had been for thirty-five years the centre of the most refined society of the age — such a woman now in her widowhood and burdened by many other sorrows neither is nor can be made an object of raillery and satire. To suppose Moliere capable of such lack of taste and brutality as would be evinced by his singling out the Mar- quise and holding her up to public MOLlkRE laughter is to do him injustice. In depicting Madelon and Cathos di- viding their time between washes and cosmetics, madrigals and the 'Carte de Teridre,' and ignorant of the world to the point of not knowing the dif- ference between a valet and a gentle- man so long as the valet was disguised in the master's clothes, Moliere was manifestly laughing at the foolish wo- men in the outermost rim of polite society whose only hope of distinction lay in aping the manners and talk of great ladies. Such women had not even the merit of being first-hand imitations. They were the copies of copies, the distorted reflections of other reflections. The great days of the Hotel de Rambouillet began about 1630, when 0k m to m H k MOLIERE Moliere was a lad of eight. This pe- riod of social splendor and pre-emi- nence continued at the outside about twenty years ; some scholars make it a little less, putting the close at the time of Voiture's death, 1648. When Corneille, the most popular dramatic poet of the hour, famous for his tra- gedies of the Cid, Horace, and Cinna, was introduced to the mistress of the Hotel de Rambouillet, about the year 1640, Moliere, eighteen years of age, had finished his « humanities ' and was taking lessons in philosophy in com- pany with Chapelle. When the boy- preacher, Bossuet, was presented to the Marquise in 1643 and improvised his famous midnight sermon, Moliere, a youth of twenty-one* had had a va- riety of experiences. He had been for MOLlkRE some months at Narbonne in attend- ance upon the king, Louis XIII, in the capacity of presumptive tapissier valet-de-chambre ; he had pursued his law-studies at Orleans, and he was on the eve of founding the « Illustre Theatre/ After the failure of his first dramatic venture he went to the pro- vinces, and for twelve years saw little of Parisian life save in brief and hur- ried visits made at long intervals. Therefore he could know nothing of the Hotel de Rambouillet from first- hand report during the period when the influence of that great house was most potent, and potent chiefly for good. In the provincial towns, how- ever, Moliere must have seen many a coquette whose affected manners and whose speech tricked out with the — «- 76 -•— MOLIERE foolish phrases of third-rate salons and ruelles would serve as a model for Madelon or Cathos of the Precieuses ridicules. On the day when this famous com- edy was first given 'all Hotel de Rambouillet was present,' and ap- plauded with an enthusiasm rather difficult to comprehend if it regarded the satire as directly applicable to it- self. There was no spectator of taste and judgment to whom the winsome little piece was not a revelation of new resources in dramatic art. The air of reality given to the whole performance made people feel as if they were be- holding an actual scene from con- temporary life. Here was something fresh, spontaneous, irresistible. Gri- marest relates that one day at a per- MOLlkRE formance of the Precieuses ridicules, an old man in the parterre cried out, 1 Courage, courage, Moliere, voila la bonne comedie ! ' Destructive criti- cism has set aside most of the pictur- esque stories collected by Moliere's first biographer. But this one might easily be true. The incident is not out of reason, and the old man's com- mendation neither extravagant nor extravagantly expressed. Here was indeed the true type of comedy for which the public had been waiting so long. An attempt on the part of some outraged 'alcoviste' to interdict the play only served to inflame public curiosity. When it was presented again after its brief suspension the in- terest was so great that the price of MOLlRRE admission was doubled; this rarely happened at the Petit-Bourbon. LNot unnaturally Moliere was arged with plagiarism ; /the world often finds it difficult or impossible to believe that the man most likely to have written a certain thing was the man who really wrote it. He was accused of having robbed the Abbe de Pure. The intellectual riches of the Abbe de Pure were not so abundant that he could be robbed without serious inconvenience to him- self, a fact less apparent then than now. And so the tale was gravely told of how the Precieuses ridicules was taken from a piece of de Pure's, written in Italian and played in 1656. Mo- liere himself seems not to have thought the ridiculous charge worth the trouble MOLI&RE of a denial. The true answer to such an accusation consists in writing yet another play, as good or better, and another after that. It was easy to say that Moliere stole the idea of the Pre- cieuses ridicules, but what was to be done about VEcole des Maris, the F&- cheux, and / '£c ole des Femmes ? The most gifted robber, if he be really a robber, must be caught at last. It was thought a backward step when Moliere, after marking out a new path for himself, returned to the Italian comedy of intrigue and wrote Sganarelle, ou le Cocu imaginaire ( 1 660). Taschereau criticises the chief personage of this play as too unreal to interest, and too often a buffoon to admit of his being strictly a comic character. The freshness and gaiety -h8o+- MOLIERE of the piece attracted a crowd of spec- tators day after day for more than forty days. Even if Moliere lost ground with the finer judges of dra- matic literature, he at least held his own with the play-going public. They were thoroughly amused, and in no mood to welcome Don Garcie de Na- varre, ou le Prince jaloux, a comedie heroi'que, which was produced at the Palais-Royal in February, 1661. \Don Garcie is classed among the few failures of this great dramatist The play has been abused beyond reason. Moliere later incorporated some of its best passages in the Mi- santhrope, 'not from a motive of economy, but because he knew they were worthy of being preserved.' He did not yield to the popular verdict MOLlkRE without a struggle. Don Garcie was played before the King in 1662, and a year afterwards before the Prince de Conde, then again before the King. Hoping the public would revise its opinion after it had time to reflect upon the matter, the author once more put the piece upon the boards at the Palais-Royal. This time the verdict was unmistakable, so unmis- takable that the play was not even printed until after Moliere's death. Histoire de la Littera- 227 MOLlkRE ture franfaise. Paris, Firmin-Didot. I7 e edition. Vol. iii, pp. 84-128. 2. Godefroy (Frederic), Histoire de la Litter ature franfaise : XVII siecle, Poetes. Paris, Gaume et O, 1879. 2* edition, pp. 177-206. 3. Pergameni (Hermann), Histoire ge- nerale de la Litterature franfaise. Paris, Alcan, 1889, pp. 284-294. 4. Faguet (£mile), Histoire de la Lit- terature franfaise. Paris, Plon, 1900. Vol. ii, pp. 122-122. 5. Lanson (Gustave), Histoire de la Lit- terature franfaise. Paris, Hachette, 1898. 5e edition, pp. 502-528. 6. Brunetiere (Ferdinand), Manuel de l y Histoire de la Litterature franfaise. Paris, Delagrave, 1898, pp. 1 69-1 81. 7. Saintsbury (George), A Short His- tory of French Literature. Oxford, Claren- -K2284- MOLlkRE don Press, 1897. 5th edition, pp. 281- 287. Second : Biographies and critical es- says. 1. Taschereau (Jules), Histoire de la Vie et des Ouvrages de Moliere. Paris, Hetzel, 1844. 3 e edition. 2. Moland (Louis), Vie de J.-B. P. Moliere, Histoire de son Theatre et de sa Troupe. Paris, Gamier freres, 1892. Con- sult also Moliere et la Comedie italienne, by the same author. 3. Loiseleur (Jules), Les Points obscurs de la Vie de Moliere. Paris, Liseaux, 1877. 4. Baluffe (Auguste), Moliere inconnu. Paris, Perrin et O, 1886. 5. Chardon (Henri), M. de Modernises deux femmes et Madeleine Bejart. Paris, -h229-»- MOLlkRE Picard, 1886. Also la Troupe du Roman Comique d'evoilee, by the same author. 6. Larroumet (Gustave), La Com'edie de Moliere, Yauteur et le milieu. Paris, Hachette, 1887. 7. Lang (Andrew), Article, ' Moliere,' in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th edition. 8. Brunetiere (F«)> Etudes critiques sur FHistoire de la Litter ature fran$aise. Paris, Hachette, 1896. In the first series will be found the notable essay entitled ' les dernieres recherches sur la vie de Moliere ; ' in ' the fourth series a study entitled < la philosophic de Moliere.' 9. Petit de Julleville (L.), Histoire de la Langue et de la Litt'erature francaise. Paris, Colin, 1898. Vol. v, chapter 1. The seventy-two pages devoted chiefly to Moliere are by Andre Le Breton. The student who follows these slight bibliographical indications will have no diffi- MOLIERE culty in getting track of what he wants. He would do well to have always at hand le Theatre francais sous Louis XIV, by Despois, and le Theatre francais avant la p'eriode classique, by Rigal. There are in- numerable essays on special points, such as Reynaud's les Medecins au temps de Mo- liere, and Nivelet's Moliere et Gui Patin. Third : Direct sources. i. Moliere (J. B. P.), (Euvres com- pletes, edited by Louis Moland. Paris, Gamier freres, 1863, in seven volumes. Consult also the monumental edition, by Despois and Mesnard, in the series of 1 Grands £crivains de la France.' 2. Lagrange (Charles Varlet), Registre (1658-1685), c publie par les soins de la Comedie-francaise, Janvier 1876.' Paris, J. Claye. The 4 notice biographique ' is by Ed. Thierry. MOLlkRE 3. Beffara (L.-F.), Dissertation sur J.-B. Poquelin Moliere. Paris, Vente, 1821. 4. Bazin (A.), iV s ste ft ^ k MOLIERE Here's friend and pupil, the actor Baron. It has been the fashion for many years to abuse the book. A tempered defence will be found in the appendix of Larroumet's Comedie de Molie're. Of the many defamatory pamphlets written against Moliere and his wife, two at least must be accounted in a way 1 sources/ One is the Alomire hypocondre, and the other is la Fameuse comedienne ; both can be easily found in modern reprints with notes and critical estimates. 233 Electrotyped and printed by H. O. Houghton & Co. Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A . THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY OVERDUE. AUG 1 1934 NOV 19 1935 9 ; 9Jun52SS JUL 31 1936 :..L-.._.. •n* ' ■_.. OCT ism PEC U1940M U8RARYUSE JM 4 1Q43 MAR 281 96 2 JAN iM 1 91 3 : WM R**«E m 8 iste RE(f D LD &i*i 4Pcc^.\;.>rt\tt YB 50045 / Jf> / ''*ft£> UliiOW