Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 7.djvu/83

 MOLIERE 51 the royal court and of the city of Paris, with those which he found still existing in the provincial towns and among the rural noblesse, were not lost upon the poet by whose satirical power they were destined to be immortalized. On his return to Paris, young Poquelin commenced the study of the law; nay, it appears probable that he was actually admitted an advocate. But the name of Moliere must be added to the long list of those who have become con- spicuous for success in the fine arts, having first adopted the pursuit of them in contradiction to the will of their parents ; and in whom, according to Voltaire, nature has proved stronger than education. Instead of frequenting the courts, Jean-Baptiste Poquelin was an assiduous attendant upon such companies of players as then amused the metropolis, and at length placed himself at the head of a society of young men, who began by act ing plays for amusement, and ended by performing with a view to emolument His parents were greatly distressed by the step he had taken. He had plunged himself into a profession which the law pronounced infamous, and nothing short of rising to the very top of it could restore his estimation in society. Whatever internal confidence of success the young Poquelin might himself feel, his chance of being extricated from the degradation to which he had subjected himself must have seemed very precarious to others ; and we cannot be surprised that his re- lations were mortified and displeased with his conduct. To conciliate their prej- udices as much as possible, he dropped the appellation of Poquelin and assumed that of Moliere, that he might not tarnish the family name. But with what in- difference should we now read the name of Poquelin, had it never been con- joined with that of Moliere, devised to supersede and conceal it ! It appears that the liberal sentiments of the royal court left Moliere in possession of his office, notwithstanding his change of profession. From the year 1646 to 1653, it is only known that Moliere travelled through France as the manager of a company of strolling players. It is said that with the natural turn of young authors, who are more desirous to combine scenes of strong emotion than of comic situation, he attempted to produce a tragedy called " The Thebaid." Its indifferent success disgusted him with the buskin ; and it may be observed, that in proportion as he affects, in other compositions, anything approaching to the tragic, his admirable facility of expression seems to abandon him, and he becomes stiff and flat. In the year 1653 Moliere's brilliant comedy of " L'Etourdi" was performed at Lyons, and gave a noble presage of the talents of its illustrious author. The piece is known to English readers by a translation entitled " Sir Martin Mar- plot," made originally by the celebrated Duke of Newcastle, and adapted to the stage by the pen of Dryden. The piece turns upon the schemes formed by a clever and intriguing valet to facilitate the union betwixt his master and the heroine of the scene, all of which are successively baffled and disconcerted by the bustling interference of the lover himself. The French original has infinitely the superiority ; the character of the luckless lover is drawn with an exquisitely finer pencil. Lelie is an inconsequential, light-headed, gentleman-like coxcomb.