Molière

“ L'amour si chèrement m'a vendu son lien Qu'il me coûte déjà la moitié de mon bien, Et quand tu vois ce beau carrosse, Où tant d'or se relève en bosse, Qu'il étonne tout le pays, Et fait pompeusement triompher ma Laïs, Ne dis plus qu'il est amarante, Dis plutôt qu'il est de ma rente. ”

“ TRI. Moreover, he does wonders in prose as well as in verse, and he could, if he chose, show you something.
VAD. The fault of authors is to burden conversation with their productions; to be at the Palais, in the walks, in the drawing-rooms, or at table, the indefatigable readers of their tedious verses. As for me, I think nothing more ridiculous than an author who goes about begging for praise, who, preying on the ears of the first comers, often makes them the martyrs of his night watches. ”

“ ARM. We shall by our laws be the judges of all works; by our laws, prose and verse will both alike be submitted to us. No one will have wit except us or our friends. We shall try to find fault with everything, and esteem no one capable of writing but ourselves. ”

“ I like to take life easy, and it is too much trouble to be intellectual. Such ambition does not trouble my head, and I am perfectly satisfied, mother, with being stupid. I prefer to have only a common way of talking, and not to torment myself to produce fine words. ”

“ TRI. Your verses have beauties unequalled by any others.
VAD. Venus and the Graces reign in all yours. TRI. You have an easy style, and a fine choice of words.
VAD. In all your writings one finds ithos and pathos.
TRI. We have seen some eclogues of your composition which surpass in sweetness those of Theocritus and Virgil.
VAD. Your odes have a noble, gallant, and tender manner, which leaves Horace far behind. ”

“ Through a just or natural antipathy, we have each of us taken a mortal hatred to certain words, both verbs and nouns, and these we mutually abandon to each other. We are preparing sentences of death against them, we shall open our learned meetings by the proscription of the diverse words of which we mean to purge both prose and verse. ”

“ PHI. And our sex does you justice in this respect: but we will show to certain minds who treat us with proud contempt that women also have knowledge; that, like men, they can hold learned meetings--regulated, too, by better rules; that they wish to unite what elsewhere is kept apart, join noble language to deep learning, reveal nature's laws by a thousand experiments ”

“ ARM. What a charming turn it has!
PHI. He alone possesses the talent of making easy verses.
ARM. We must yield to prudence fast in sleep's repose is plunged.
BEL. A lodging for the most cruel of your foes is full of charms for me. ”

“ TRI. Then the sonnet seems to you....
PHI. Admirable, new; and never did any one make anything more beautiful.
BEL. (to HENRIETTE) . What! my niece, you listen to what has been read without emotion! You play there but a sorry part!
HEN. We each of us play the best part we can, my aunt, and to be a wit does not depend on our will.
TRI. My verses, perhaps, are tedious to you.
HEN. No. I do not listen.
PHI. Ah! let us hear the epigram.
TRI. ON A CARRIAGE OF THE COLOUR OF AMARANTH GIVEN TO ONE OF HIS LADY FRIENDS. [2]
PHI. His titles have always something rare in them. ”

“ The sonnet is not of Molière's invention, but is to be found in Les Oeuvres galantes en prose et en vers de M. Cotin, Paris, 1663. It is called, Sonnet à Mademoiselle de Longueville, à présent Duchesse de Nemours, sur sa fièvre quarte. As, of necessity, the translation given above is not very literal, I append the original.
"Votre prudence est endormie, De traiter magnifiquement, Et de loger superbement, Votre plus cruelle ennemie; Faites-la sortir quoi qu'on die, De votre riche appartement, Où cette ingrate insolemment Attaque votre belle vie! ”

“ I have never been guilty of such foolish conceit, and I am in that respect of the opinion of a Greek, who by an express law forbade all his wise men any unbecoming anxiety to read their works.--Here are some little verses for young lovers upon which I should like to have your opinion. ”

“ VAD. I have the satisfaction of having been honourably treated by him; he gives me a passing thrust, and includes me among several authors well known at the Palais; but he never leaves you in peace, and in all his verses you are exposed to his attacks.
TRI: By that we see the honourable rank I hold. He leaves you in the crowd, and esteems one blow enough to crush you. He has never done you the honour of repeating his attacks, whereas he assails me separately, as a noble adversary against whom all his efforts are necessary ”

“ Quoi! sans respecter votre rang, Elle se prend à votre sang, Et nuit et jour vous fait outrage! Si vous la conduisez aux bains, Sans la marchander davantage, Noyez-la de vos propres mains." The die of quoi qu'on die was the regular form in Molière's time, and had nothing archaic about it. ”

“ BEL. (interrupting TRISSOTIN each time he is about to read) . I feel, beforehand, my heart beating for joy. I love poetry to distraction, particularly when the verses are gallantly turned.
PHI. If we go on speaking he will never be able to read.
TRI. SONN....
BEL. (to HENRIETTE) . Be silent, my niece.
ARM. Ah! let him read, I beg.
TRI. SONNET TO THE PRINCESS URANIA ON HER FEVER. [1]
Your prudence fast in sleep's repose Is plunged ”