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Moliera. Jesuits' College of Clermont. He there formed an in- 

 ""~'~""' timacy with Chapelle, Bemier, and some other men of 

 promising talent-, and through their friendship was 

 permitted, in their company, to attend the lectures of 

 the celebrated Gassendi. The journey which Louis 

 XIII. made to Narbonne, in 1641, gave a temporary 

 interruption to the course of his studies ; for his father 

 having become infirm, and unable to follow the court, 

 young Poquelin was obliged to go in his place, and to 

 attend to the duties of his father's office ; but on the 

 death of his father, he returned to Paris, and had it in 

 his power once more to pursue the bent of his genius. 

 It luckily took a turn for the theatre. The taste for 

 theatrical entertainments was, at this time, at a great 

 height in France. Cardinal Richlieu himself was at- 

 tached to them, and protected dramatic authors 

 Among the new companies of comedians which began 

 to be formed at Paris, our author entered into one of 

 them, which was called L'lllustre Theatre. It was 

 at first only a private society, established for the sake 

 of amusement ; but by degrees it made its exhibitions 

 public, and fixed itself in the suburbs of St. Germain's. 

 Either from regard to the feelings of his relations, 

 who disapproved of his following this vocation, or 

 after the example of his comrades on the stage, our 

 author dropt his proper family name of Poquehn, and 

 Homed that of Moliere, by which he was destined to 

 be known to posterity. He toon after associated him- 

 elf with a provincial actress, called La Bezart, and 

 they formed a company which set out for Lyons. At 

 that city, in 1653, his comedy " L'Etourdi" was for 

 the first time represented. Being an early essay, this 

 piece (a* we might expect) is not to be ranked among 

 the masterpieces of Moliere. It has more intrigue than 

 interesting delineation of character; and the events 

 do not spring out of each other with that felicity and 

 force of natural succession which he afterwards so well 

 knew how to infuse into his comic plots ; but it ha 

 great vivacity of dialogue, and contains one character, 

 the intriguing valet Mascarille, which is highly amus- 

 ing. If we consider, too, the state of French comedy 

 previous to Moliere, which was nothing better than a 

 compounded imitation of the extravagance of the Spa- 

 nish, and the buffoonery of the Italian drama, the ap- 

 pearance of the " Etourdi" must be regarded as an era 

 in the national literature. This comedy went off at 

 Lyons with great eclat, and Moliere proceeded from 

 thence to Langnedoc, in order to offer his services to 

 the Prince of Conti, who at this time presided over 

 the states that were assembled at Beziers. Here 

 Armand de Bourbon, who had known our author at 

 Paris, and had often been amused with his acting in 

 the " Illustre Theatre," received him with great kind- 

 no*. The " Etaurdt" was reacted at Beziers with the 

 aame success as at Lyons, and was quickly followed 

 by " Le D*pjt Amouretix," and " Les Precieuses 

 Ridicules.' 1 The former of those pieces displays Mo- 

 liere at a poet still relying mainly for comic effect on 

 the intrigue and surprise of incident which prevail in 

 the Spanish school ; though there is a more artful ar- 

 rangement of incidents than in the " Etourdi,' 1 and 

 great pleasantry and ingenuity displayed in the laby- 

 rinth of perplexed situations in which the characters 

 are involved, and from which the denouement dismiss- 

 es them. The latter piece, the " Precinuc* Ridi- 

 c*Ut," is of a higher order of comedy. The author 

 shines here for the first time as a deep and delicate 

 painter of manners and characters. It is an exquisite 

 satire on the affectation of high-flown sentiments and 



witty language, which are said to have then prevailed 

 in France. The piece was acted incessantly for four 

 months, and the confluence of spectators enabled the 

 managers to charge double price for admission to see 

 it. Among the compliments paid to it, one is men- 

 tioned to have been uttered by an old man, who cried 

 out from the gallery, " Courage, Moliere! voila nnc 

 craie tomedte !'' His reputation was now widely es- 

 tablished ; and he had a right to congratulate himself 

 on the profession which he had chosen. But all his 

 success and celebrity could not overcome the repug- 

 nance of his relations to seeing him on the stage, and 

 he was repeatedly besought by them to forsake it. 

 Believing that the master of a boarding-school, with 

 whom he had once lived, might have some influence 

 with him, they sent the grave man to try to persuade 

 him to give up the life of a player; but the result of 

 the embassy was worthy of the history of a comic ac- 

 tor and comic author. Instead of being converted by 

 his friend the schoolmaster, he persuaded the elderly 

 gentleman to become himself a player, and launched 

 him on the boards in the character of a comic doctor, 

 which he thought suited his appearance*. He next 

 visited Grenoble*and Rouen, and from the latter place 

 returned to Paris, tinder the protection of Gaston Duke 

 of Orleans, who introduced him to Louis XIV. and 

 the Queen. He obtained permission to open a theatre 

 in the metropolis ; and the Guard in the old Louvre 

 was first allotted him for that purpose. In 1664, it 

 was changed for that in the Palais Royal, and, in 1665, 

 he was placed in the service of the King, with a pen- 

 sion. He continually fed his reputation with new 

 works, and produced many farces and slight pieces 

 besides his regular comedies. In 15 years he supplied 

 the theatre with thirty productions. Though his fame, 

 however, was on the whole progressive, he was neither 

 exempted from invidious nor just criticism ; nor were 

 all his pieces equally well received. From his comedy 

 " Le COCK Jmaginaire,'' it was supposed that his style 

 improved after his establishment in Paris ; but his 

 " Don Garcia de \ararre" acquired no reputation, 

 and he yielded to the public opinion by forbearing to 

 print it. In his subsequent piece " L'Ecole des Ma- 

 ris," he however indemnified himself for this temporary 

 failure. Among the principal objects of his satire 

 were the coxcomb men of quality of his time, called 

 the petit.-- maitrrs, the pedants, and the affected belles 

 i -jint*, male and female, and the medical faculty. 

 His I, "Amour Medecin was the first piece in which he 

 embarked in a war with the last of these tribes, which 

 continued all his life; for the " Malade Tmaginaire,'' in 

 which he still holds up the faculty to ridicule, was the 

 concluding work of his life. The influence of common 

 sense on modern manners lias, no doubt, stript every 

 description of professional men of any peculiarities 

 which formerly belonged to them, so that Molicre's 

 picture of doctors in the 17th century is likely to ap- 

 pear to us more exaggerated and illiberal than it really 

 was with regard to the originals: nor is it assuming 

 too much to suppose that the very ridicule of Moliere 

 contributed to diminish those traits of charlatanism and 

 pedantry, which it would be, at this day, the lowest 

 resource of caricature and farce to ascribe to the medi- 

 cal character. His comedy of the " Misantrope" is 

 placed by his admirers in French criticism very high 

 in the scale of his works, perhaps it is generally re- 

 garded as inferior only to Tartufi'e. It is sadly defec- 

 tive, however, in interesting action, and has a great 

 deal of prosing discussion in the dialogue, meant to 



We quote thu uecdotc from Lti Amalti Dramatijim, published it Prii in 1810. 



