MOLINA 



MO LIN OS 



in passages of his more serious pieces. The objec- 

 tion shows a wholly erroneous conception of comedy 

 it-elf, and may Iw said to argue deficiency of 

 humour in one 'direction. But the merely farcical 

 side predominates, as undoubtedly as naturally in 

 the earlier plays, the serious in the later. It is 

 not till L'Kcole des Fcmincs, jperhap- not till Le 

 Mixunthrope, that the full genius of the author 

 appears ; and these two, with Tmiiife, Le Festin tie 

 Pierre, Let Fcmnu* Savaute*, Le Ma:iule Inuif/inaire, 

 and perliaps the admirable /;r./,o/.s Urntillniiiiiiif 

 as an example of the lower kind, may lie said to 

 lx- .Moliere's masterpieces. But from the Dfjiit 

 Ainniireux onward no play of his, not even the 

 slightest, is without touches of his admirable wit. 

 lib astonishing oliservation, liis STTpTCTfie" power over 

 hi- ,p\ui language, hia masterly satire. It can 

 hardly be said that anyclBR of men or any promi- 

 nent trait of mankind is spared by this satire, but 

 undoubtedly three subjects thetanitv and levity 

 nf women,' the frivolity of the nobles, and the. 

 pedantic professionalism of the learned cla. -. 

 eMie.'ia'K of ni"ilii'.il ne'ii. h:oc the l;irge-t share 

 of Molierc'.s lash. He has been accused of taking too 

 In - a \\-\\ of 1 1 urn a u n at in-' 1 , but I hi- again MM -HI- to 

 come from a mistake in appreciating the conditions 

 of his work. He also was and is accused of plagiar- 

 ism : and it is quite true that in his early pieces 

 especially he avails himself of existing canvas for 

 hi- own embroidery freely. The liest defence of the 

 practice is the boldest : that any man who can em- 

 broider like Moliere does only too well to requisition 

 canvas where and to what extent he likes. Of 

 another, a subtler, and a less easily refuted observa- 

 tion that, admirable as bis criticism of humanity 

 in general is, his characters tend too much to 

 t\ |?s, and are lacking in the individuality which 

 Dante and Shakespeare give we have no room to 

 ik fully. Indeed, much more space than can 

 be here afforded would lie insufficient to discuss 

 e\ en most briefly the various aspects of his genius. 

 We must content ourselves with saving that of all 

 Fiench writers he i-. that one whose reputation 

 stands highest by the combined suffrage of his own 

 countrymen and of foreigner-, that at hi- lpe-t he 

 keeps the stage wit-h perfect ease and success after 

 two hundred years, and that he is almost every- 

 where delightful in the study for his wonderful 

 truth to nature and his not less wonderful expert- 

 ness in art. 



\ hinted above, the bibliography of Molidre is very 

 voluminous. The first complete edition of his work was 

 edited in 1682 by his friends and comrades. La Orange 

 and Vinot. The lost, and by far the best, complete as 

 to text, with life, lexicon, bibliography, kt\, is that of 

 Despois and Mcsnard in the series of Lei Mratuii A. n 

 t'rant;aii (13 vols. 1873-96). The bulk of recent 

 work on Moliere ( for ten years there existed a s]>ecial 

 ] Modicml called the Mtiiri*te) has not been fully 

 digested into any Life. That of Taschcreau, though old, 

 Is perhain xtill the licst, hut the completest is the Uerman 

 Life of MahrenholU (Hcilhronn, 1881). M. Loisclcur's 

 Point! (ihnruri tie la Vie tie Slnlitrt has been a great 

 centre of discussion, and an excellent collection of studies 

 will Im found in M. Ijirrouim-t's La I'iniuilic tie Moliere. 

 The Life prefixed to the abovo-nam< d Uranilt fjrriniiun 

 edition may be regarded as a complete digest of the 

 whole subject ; as to which it is improbable that any 

 new facts will now bo found, every source having long 

 since been ransacked. There are excellent editions by 

 Anatnle France in the 'Collection Lemerre' (7 vols. 

 !-;>; '.U I, with note* by O. Monval in the ' IJbrairie des 

 Bibliophiles' 18 vols. 1882). There is a special flibtio- 

 iiniitkie .V<ilif,-riiiHf (1875) ; and there are translations 

 by Van Laun ( 1875 77) and Heron Wall (1870-77). 



Molina, Kris, a celebrated Spanish Jesuit 

 theologian, was Ixirn at Cnenea, in New Castile, 

 in the year l.Wi, and, having entered the Jesuit 

 Society in hU eighteenth year, studied at Coimbra, 



and was appointed professor of Theology at Kvora, 

 where he continued to teaeh for twentv \i-ai-. 

 He died at Madrid, I'Jth Oetolwr 1600. Molina's 

 celebrity is mainly confined to the theological 

 schools. His principal writings are a commentary 

 on the Sinniiin of St Thoina- Aquinas ll."i!i:f); a 

 ininnle and comprehensive t realise, I if Juxtitia 

 <t ,/M/r | 1392) ; and the eelelpiat.-d treatise on the 

 reconciliation of grace and free-will ( 'l.Hn // Arliitui 

 cum Gratice Donit . , . Ci/nrnriHii). which was 

 printed at LislKin in 158N, with an appendix, 

 printed in the following year. Tin- problem which 

 the latter work is meant to resol\e is almost as 

 old as the origin of human thought itself, and had 

 already led, in the 4th century, to the well-known 

 Pelagian controversy i see I'l i..\i:il -s I. In re. -on 

 ciling with the freedom of man's will the pre- 

 dict ination of the elect to happiness, and of the 

 reprobate to punishment, Molina asserts that the 



{predestination is consequent on God's foreknow- 

 edge of the free determination of man's will, and, 

 therefore, that it in no way all'ects the freedom of 

 the particular actions, in requital of which man U 

 predestined whether to punishment or to reward. 

 (!<M|, in Molina's view, gives to all men siitlirient 

 grace whereby to live virtuously, and merit happi- 

 ness. Certain individuals freely co operate with 

 this grace; certain others resi.-t it. liod foresees 

 lioth courses, and this foreknowledge is the foun- 

 dation of one or the other decree. This exposi- 

 tion was at once assailed in the schools on two 

 grounds first as a revival of the Pelagian heresy, 

 inasmuch as it appears to place the ellicacy of grace 

 in the consent of man's will; second, as setting 

 aside altogether what the Scriptures represent as 

 the special election of the predestined. Hence 

 arose the celebrated dispute Ix-tween the Molini-ts 

 and the Thoniists both of whom, however, main- 

 tained that, in all circumstances, the will remains 

 free, although they may fail to explain how this 

 freedom is secured under the action of ellieacious 

 grace. It was first brought under the cognisance 

 of the Inquisitor-general of Spain, by whom it was 

 referred to Pop* Clement V11I. This pontiir, in 

 1598, appointed the celebrated congregation De 

 Auxiliis to consider the entire question; but, not- 

 withstanding many lengthened discussions, no 

 decision was arrived at during the lifetime of 

 Clement; and although the congregation was con- 

 tinued under Paul V., the only result was a di 

 in l(i<>7. permitting both opinions to lie taught by 

 their respective advocates, and prohibiting each, 

 party from accusing the adversaries of lierc-\ . 

 The dispute, in some of its leading features, was 

 revived in the Jansenist (q.v.) controversy. Molin- 

 ism has been commonly taught in the Jesuit schools. 

 See AQUINAS. SI.M:KX. 



Molina, TIRSO DE. See Tii.ii/. 



Molinc. a city of Illinois, on the Mississippi, 

 17(1 miles IPV rail \V. by S. of Chicago, and separ- 

 ated from Hock Island only by a swift and narrow- 

 channel affording great water power, which is 

 utilised by means of a dam. There are nmny busy 

 mills and'factories here. Pop. (19011) 17,24s. 



tlnlinos. MICTKI. UK, was l>oni of noble 

 parentage at Pataoina, near Saragossa, Kecemlier 

 21, 1040. He received holy onhis and was edn- 

 i at Pampelnna, and afterwards at Coimbra. 

 At liome In- MPIPII acquired a high reputation as a 

 director of conscience and a master of the spiritual 

 life. An aseetical treatise which he published, 

 under the title of diiitln Xjiirilimlr, added largely 

 to the popularity which he had acquired in his 

 pmonv relatioiis; but there were not \yanting 

 many who, in the specious but visionary (principles 

 of this work, discovered the seeds of a dangerous 

 and seductive error. Among these the celebrated 



