Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 7.djvu/85

 MOLIERE 53 less effectual than that which Ben Jonson, by his satire called " Cynthia's Revels,". inflicted on the kindred folly of euphuism, or as the author of " The Baviad and Maeviad " dealt to similar affectations of our own day. But Moliere made a body of formidable enemies among the powerful and learned, whose false pre- tensions to wit and elegance he had so rudely exposed. Two things were remarkable as attending the representation of this excellent satire : first, that an old man, starting up in the parterre, exclaimed, " Courage, Moliere, this is real comedy !" and, secondly, that the author himself, perceiving from the general applause that he had touched the true vein of composition, de- clared his purpose henceforward to read his lessons from the human bosom, in- stead of studying the pages of Terence and Plautus. . After an unsuccessful effort at a serious piece (" Don Garcie de Navarre, ou Le Prince Jaloux "), Moliere resumed his natural bent ; and in " L'Ecole des Maris " presented one of his best compositions, and at once obliterated all recol- lection of his failure. It was acted at Paris with unanimous applause, and again represented at the magnificent entertainment given by the superintendent of finances, Fouquet, to Louis XIV. and his splendid court. " L'Ecole des Femmes " was Moliere's next work of importance. It is a comedy of the highest order. An old gentleman, who had been an intriguer in his youth and knew (as he flattered himself) all the wiles of womankind, en- deavors to avoid what he considers as the usual fate of husbands, by marrying his ward, a beautiful girl, simple almost to silliness, but to whom nature has given as much of old mother Eve's talent for persuasion and imposition as enables hei to baffle all the schemes of her aged admirer and unite herself to a young gallant more suited to her age. The " Country Wife " of Wycherly is an imitation of this piece, with the demerit on the part of the English author of having rendered licentious a plot which, in Moliere's hands, is only gay. Although this piece was well received and highly applauded, it was at the same time severely criticised by those who had swallowed without digesting the ridicule which the author had heaped on the Hotel de Rambouillet in the " Pr6- cieuses Ridicules," and on the various conceits and follies of the court in " Les Facheux." Such critics having shown themselves too wise to express the pain which they felt on their own account, now set up as guardians of the purity of the national morals and language. A naive expression used by Agnes was repre- sented as depraving the one ; a low and somewhat vulgar phrase was insisted upon as calculated to ruin the other. This affected severity in morals and gram- mar did not impose on the public, who were quite aware of the motives of critics who endeavored to ground such formidable charges on foundations so limited. The celebrated Boileau drew his pen in defence of his friend, in whose most bur- lesque expression there truly lurked a learned and useful moral : " Let the envi- ous exclaim against thee," he said, " because thy scenes are agreeable to all the vulgar ; if thou wert less acquainted with the art of pleasing, thou wouldst be enabled to please even thy censors." Moiiere himself wrote a defence of " L'Ecole des Femmes," "in which," says M. Taschereau, " he had the good fort-