Andrew Lang

“ Either Molière was a poor actor outside comedy, or his manner was not sufficiently “stagy,” and, as he says, “demoniac,” for the taste of the day. His opponents were determined that he could not act in tragi-comedy, and he, in turn, burlesqued their pretentious and exaggerated manner in a later piece. In the Précieuses (sc. ix.) Molière had already rallied “les grands comédiens” of the Hôtel Bourgogne. “Les autres,” he makes Mascarille say about his own troupe, “sont des ignorants qui récitent comme l’on parle, ils ne savent pas faire ronfler les vers.” ”

“ That his thoughts were busy with contemporary hypocrisy is proved by certain scenes in one of his greatest pieces, the Festin de Pierre, or Don Juan (Feb. 15, 1665) . The legend of Don Juan was familiar already on the Spanish, Italian and French stages. Molière made it a new thing: terrible and romantic in its portrait of un grand seigneur mauvais homme, modern in its suggested substitution of la humanité for religion, comic, even among his comedies, by the mirthful character of Sganarelle. The piece filled the theatre, but was stopped, probably by authority, after Easter. ”

“ M. Loiseleur’s only other proof is that Marie Hervé gave Armande a respectable dowry, and that, as we do not know whence the money came, it must have come from Madeleine. The tradition in Grimarest, which makes Madeleine behave en femme furieuse, when she heard of the marriage, is based on a juster appreciation of the character of women. It will be admitted, probably, that the reasons for supposing that Molière espoused the daughter of a. woman who had been his mistress (if she had been his mistress) are flimsy and inadequate. ”

“ The satire is never out of date, and finds its modern form in Le Monde où l’on s’ennuie, by M. Pailleron. On the 17th of February Madeleine Béjard died, and was buried at St Paul. She did not go long before her old friend or lover Molière. His Mariage forcé, founded, perhaps, on a famous anecdote of Gramont, was played on the 18th of July. On the 7th of August La Grange notes that Molière was indisposed, and there was no comedy. Molière’s son died on the 11th of October. On the 22nd of November the preparations for the Malade imaginaire were begun. ”

“ The charm of his conversation is attested by the names of his friends, who were all the wits of the age, and the greater their genius the greater their love of Molière. As an actor, friends and enemies agreed in recognizing him as most successful in comedy. ”

“ This piece, perhaps the masterpiece of Molière, was more successful with the critics, with the court, and with posterity than with the public. The rival comedians called it “a new style of comedy,” and so it was. The eternal passions and sentiments of human nature, modified by the influence of the utmost refinement of civilization, were the matter of the piece. ”

“ A conversation between Chapelle and Molière, in which the comedian is made to tell the story of his wrongs, is plainly a mere fiction, and is answered in Grimarest by another dialogue between Molière and Rohault, in which Molière only complains of a jealousy which he knows to be unfounded. It is noticed, too, that the contemporary assailants of Molière counted him among jealous, but not among deceived, husbands. The hideous accusation brought by the actor Montfleury, that Molière had married his own daughter, Louis XIV. answered by becoming the godfather of Molière’s child. ”

“ The troupe was for a short time under the protection of the duc d’Orléans, but his favours were not lucrative. The duc de Guise, according to some verses printed in 1646, made Molière a present of his cast-off wardrobe. But costume was not enough to draw the public to the tennis-court theatre of the Croix Noire, and empty houses at last obliged the Théâtre Illustre to leave Paris at the end of 1646.
“Nul animal vivant n’entra dans nôtre salle,” says the author of the scurrilous play on Molière, Élomire hypochondre. ”

“ The king commanded that the troupe should establish itself in Paris (Preface, ed. 1682) . The theatre assigned to the company was a salle in the Petit Bourbon, in a line with the present Rue du Louvre. Some Italian players already occupied the house on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays; the company of Molière played on the other days. The first piece played in the new house (Nov. 3, 1658) was L’Étourdi. La Grange says the comedy had a great success, producing seventy pistoles for each actor. ”

“ The affair of the dowry is insisted on by M. Livet (La Fameuse comédienne, reprint of 1877, p. 143) . But M. Livet explains the dowry by the hypothesis that Armande was the daughter of Madeleine and the comte de Modène, which exactly contradicts the theory of M. Loiseleur, and is itself contradicted by dates, at least as understood by M. Loiseleur. Such are the conjectures by which the foul calumnies of Molière’s enemies are supported in the essays of modern French critics. ”

“ The nominal director of the Théâtre Illustre in the provinces was Du Fresne; the most noted actors were Molière, the Béjards, and Du Parc, called Gros René. It is extremely difficult to follow exactly the line of march of the company. They played at Bordeaux, for example, but the date of this performance, when Molière (according to Montesquieu) failed in tragedy and was pelted, is variously given as 1644–1645 (Trallage) , 1647 (Loiseleur) , 1648–1658 (Lacroix) . ”

“ The sport of the little piece is to introduce opposite characters, dancing and singing together. Silence dances with six women, Truth with four courtiers, Money with a poet, and so forth. Whether the ballet, or any parts of it, are by Molière, is still disputed (La Jeunesse de Molière, suivie du ballet des incompatibles, P. L. Jacob, Paris, 1858) . In April 1655 it is certain that the troupe was at Lyons, where they met and hospitably entertained a profligate buffoon, Charles d’Assoucy, who informs the ages that Molière kept open house, and “une table bien garnie. ”

“ When the king travelled the valet tapissier accompanied him to arrange the furniture of the royal quarters. There is very good reason to believe (Loiseleur, Points obscurs, p. 94) that Molière accompanied Louis XIII. as his valet tapissier to Provence in 1642. It is even not impossible that Molière was the young valet de chambre who concealed Cinq Mars just before his arrest at Narbonne, on the 13th of June 1642. But this is part of the romance rather than of the history of Molière. Our next glimpse of the comedian we get in a document of 6th January 1643. ”

“ One of the ficelles of the comedy is borrowed from a story as old, at least, as Boccaccio, and still amusing in a novel by Charles de Bernard. It is significant of Molière’s talent that the grotesque and baffled paternal wooer, Sganarelle, like several other butts in Molière’s comedy, does to a certain extent win our sympathy and pity as well as our laughter. The next new piece was Les Fascheux, a comédie-ballet, the Comedy of Bores, played before the king at Fouquet’s house at Vaux le Vicomte (Aug. 15–20, 1661) . ”

“ Molière’s next piece was Le Mariage forcé (Feb. 15, 1664) , a farce with a ballet. The comic character of the reluctant bridegroom excites contemptuous pity, as well as laughter. From the end of April till the 22nd of May the troupe was at Versailles, acting among the picturesque pleasures of that great festival of the king’s. The Princesse d’Élide was acted for the first time, and the three first acts of Tartuffe were given. Molière’s natural hatred of hypocrisy had not been diminished by the charges of blasphemy which were showered on him after the École des femmes. ”

“ His college education over, Molière studied law, and there is even evidence—that of tradition in Grimarest, and of Le Boulanger de Chalussay, the libellous author of a play called Élomire hypochondre—to prove that he was actually called to the bar. More trustworthy is the passing remark in La Grange’s short biography (1682) , “au sortir des écoles de droit, il choisit la profession de comédien.” Before joining a troop of half-amateur comedians, however, Molière had some experience in his father’s business. ”

“ It is pronounced dull, vulgar, farcical, obscene and (what chiefly vexed Molière, who knew the danger of the accusation) impious. Perhaps the only biographical matter we gain from Boursault’s play is the interesting fact that Molière was a tennis-player. On the 4th November 1663, Molière replied with L’Impromptu de Versailles, a witty and merciless attack on his critics, in which Boursault was mentioned by name. The actors of the Hôtel de Bourgogne were parodied on the stage, and their art was ridiculed. ”

“ But at that time some dozen travelling companies found means to exist in the provinces, and Molière determined to play among the rural towns. The career of a strolling player is much the same at all times and in all countries. ”

“ The lights were candles stuck in tin sconces at the back and sides, but luxury sometimes went so far that a chandelier of four candles was suspended from the roof. At intervals the candles were let down by a rope and pulley, and any one within easy reach snuffed them with his fingers. ”