Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 7.djvu/86

 64 ARTISTS AND AUTHORS une to escape the most dangerous fault of an author writing upon his own com " positions, and to exhibit wit where some people would only have shown vanity and self-conceit" In the evening of the same day which saw his next comedy, " Le Mariage Force" there came out as a part of the royal fete, the three first acts, or rough sketch, of the celebrated satire, entitled " Tartuff e," one of the most powerful of Moliere's compositions. It was applauded, but from the clamor excited against the poet and the performance, as an attack on religion, instead of its impious and insidious adversary, hypocrisy, the representation was for the time inter- dicted ; a fortunate circumstance, perhaps, since in consequence the drama under- went a sedulous revision, given by Moliere to few of his performances. " Le Festin de Pierre " the Feast of the Statue well known to the modern stage under the name of " Don Juan," was the next vehicle of Moliere's satire. The story, borrowed from the Spanish, is well known. In giving the sentiments of the libertine Spaniard, the author of "Tartuffe" could not suppress his resent- ment against the party, by whose interest with the king that piece had been ex- cluded from the stage, or at least its representation suspended. " The profession of a hypocrite," says Don Juan, " has marvellous advantages. The imposture is always respected, and although it may be detected, must never be condemned. Other human vices are exposed to censure and may be attacked boldly. Hypoc- risy alone enjoys a privilege which stops the mouth of the satirist, and enjoys the repose of sovereign impunity." This expression, with some other passages in the piece (the general tenor of which is certainly not very edifying), called down violent clamors upon the imprudent author ; some critics went so far as to invoke the spiritual censure and the doom of the civil magistrate on Moliere as the atheist of his own " Festin de Pierre." He was, however, on this as on other occasions, supported by the decided favor of the king, who then allowed Moliere's company to take the title of " Comdiens du Roi," and bestowed on them a pension of 7,000 livres, thereby showing how little he was influenced by the clamors of the poet's enemies, though attacking his mind on a weak point. In the month of September, 1665, the king having commanded such an entertainment to be prepared, the sketch or impromptu called "L' Amour Me"- decin " was, in the course of five days, composed, got up, as the players call it, and represented. In this sketch, slight as it was, Moliere contrived to declare war against a new and influential body of enemies. This was the medical faculty, which he had slightly attacked in the "Festin de Pierre." Every science has its weak points, and is rather benefited than injured by the satire which, putting pedantry and quackery out of fashion, opens the way to an enlightened pursuit of knowledge. The medical faculty at Paris, in the middle of the seventeenth century, was at a very low ebb. Almost every physician was attached to some particular form of treatment, which he exercised on his patients without dis- tinction, and which probably killed in as many instances as it effected a cure. Their exterior, designed, doubtless, to inspire respect by its peculiar garb and formal manner, was in itself matter of ridicule. They ambled on mules through