Bernard Le Bouyer de Scarron

“ If they saw a pretty woman at the head of my household, they would make my home cheerful. I give you a week to decide."
Marriage of Françoise d'Aubigné.
Françoise returned to the convent bewildered, almost stunned. She was alone in the world, living upon reluctant charity. There was no one to whom she could confidingly look for advice. The future was all dark before her. Scarron, though crippled, was still young, witty, and distinguished as one of the most popular poets of the day. His saloon was the intellectual centre of the capital, where the most distinguished men were wont to meet. ”

“ The company went on speaking of the poet Voiture.
"Monsieur," said Mademoiselle d'Aubigne to Scarron, as if she wished to join in the conversation he was engaged in with Raoul, "do you not admire Monsieur Voiture's friends? Listen how they pull him to pieces even whilst they praise him; one takes away from him all claim to good sense, another robs him of his poetry, a third of his originality, another of his humor, another of his independence of character, a sixth - but, good heavens! ”

“ Not a lucky man in life (except for the possession of a lively wit and an imperturbable temper) , he was never rich, and he suffered long and terribly from disease—one of the main subjects of his legend, but, after all discussions and carpings, looking most like rheumatoid arthritis, one of the most painful and incurable of ailments. But Scarron was, and has been since, by no means unlucky in literature. ”

“ Neuillant, a very remarkable man, Paul Scarron. He was born of a good family, and had traveled extensively. Having run through the disgraceful round of fashionable dissipation, he had become crippled by the paralysis of his lower limbs, and was living a literary life in the enjoyment of a competence. He was still young. Imperturbable gayety, wonderful conversational powers, and celebrity as a poet, caused his saloons to be crowded with distinguished and admiring friends. Some one mentioned to him the situation of Françoise d'Aubigné, and her desire to enter the convent. ”

“ In the mean time her mother came to Paris on a law-suit, and died with grief at its unhappy termination, as it ruined the future prospects of her children. Mademoiselle D'Aubigné was at this time timid, and spoke but little; but being a little more introduced into company, she learnt the manners of the world, and was much admired. At the house of the famous Scarron she was a frequent visitor, and this celebrated wit began to feel a lively interest in her concerns, and loved her without daring to avow it. This extraordinary man was, at the same time, full of gaiety, wit, and infirmities. ”

“ If we add to this, spirits as buoyant as an Irishman's—a mind that not only saw the ridiculous wherever it existed, but could turn the most solemn and awful themes to laughter, a vast deal of good-nature, and not a little assurance—we can understand that the young Scarron was a favourite with both men and women, and among the reckless pleasure-seekers of the day soon became one of the wildest. ”

“ So he was called the queen's invalid, with a pension of fifteen hundred francs.
From that lucky moment Scarron led a happy life, spending both income and principal. One day, however, an emissary of the cardinal's gave him to understand that he was wrong in receiving the coadjutor so often.
"And why?" asked Scarron; "is he not a man of good birth?" ”

“ Madame de Maintenon discovered what hundreds before and since have done—that splendour and greatness cannot confer happiness; and, while trying to amuse a man who, though possessed of sovereign power, has lost all sense of enjoyment, must have reverted, perhaps with a sigh, to the little chamber in which she so long soothed the sick bed of the witty octogenarian, Scarron; who, gay and cheerful to the last, could make her smile by his sprightly and spirituelles sallies, which neither the evils of poverty nor pain could subdue. ”

“ Scarron, however, consoled himself for this kind of disgrace with those select friends who were not inconstant in their visits to him. The Bishop of Mans also, solicited by a friend, gave him a living in his diocese. When Scarron had taken possession of it, he began his Roman Comique, ill translated into English by Comical Romance. He made friends by his dedications. Such resources were indeed necessary, for he not only lived well, but had made his house an asylum for his two sisters, who there found refuge from an unfeeling step-mother. ”

“ He died in poverty at Madrid on the 10th of July 1635. Some of his works were translated into English and French, and Scarron’s Hypocrites is based on La Ingeniosa Elena; he deserved the vogue which he enjoyed till late in the 17th century, for his satirical humour, versatile invention and pointed style are an effective combination. ”

“ Scarron, poet, dramatist and novelist, lived twenty years in a state of miserable deformity and pain. His head and body were twisted; his legs useless. He bore his sufferings with invincible courage. Scarron was a prominent figure in the literary and fashionable society of his day. His work, however, is very unequal. That the “Roman Burlesque” is a novel of real merit, no competent critic can deny. ”

“ Mme. Scarron seeks esteem, not love. To please while remaining virtuous, to endure, if need be, privations and even poverty, but to win the reputation of a strong character, to deserve the sympathy and approbation of honest persons--such is the direction of all her efforts. Well dressed, though very simply; discreet and modest, intelligent and distingué, with that patrician elegance which luxury cannot create, but which is inborn and comes by nature only; pious, with a sincere and gentle piety; less occupied with herself than with others ”

“ Scarron turned his head away, and muttered to himself:
"Poor fellow! He has been deceived. Why will men trust woman? She was false, as they all are."
Although Tempest recognized his betrothed, and his heart naturally wished for her recovery, he dare not stay.
She had swooned, and nature would work her recovery.
He would not neglect his duty, and there was much to be done, or the rich prize would be taken from them.
He returned to the Lively Bee, and after converse with the captain it was resolved to run back to the nearest port and take in the Caroline. ”

“ Paul Scarron was one of the most remarkable literary figures of the century in respect of originality and eccentric talent, though few single works of his possess formal completeness. He was of a family of Piedmontese origin and very well connected, his father, of the same name, being a member of the Parliament of Paris, and of sufficiently independent humour to oppose Richelieu. ”

“ Of old, when Scarron, etc. Paul Scarron (1610–60) , the author inter alia of the Roman Comique, 1651–7, upon a translation of which Goldsmith was occupied during the last months of his life. It was published by Griffin in 1776.
Each guest brought his dish. ‘Chez Scarron,’—says his editor, M. Charles Baumet, when speaking of the poet’s entertainments,—‘venait d’ailleurs l’élite des dames, des courtisans & des hommes de lettres. On y dinait joyeusement. Chacun apportait son plat.’ (Œuvres de Scarron, 1877, i. viii.) Scarron’s company must have been as brilliant as Goldsmith’s. ”

“ It was about this time that the beautiful and accomplished Mademoiselle d'Aubigné, afterwards so well known by the name of Madame de Maintenon, she who was to be one day the mistress, if not the queen of France, formed with Scarron the most romantic connexion. She united herself in marriage with one whom she well knew could only be a lover. ”

“ Her beauty, but especially her wit (for she was never reckoned a perfect beauty) and unblemished reputation, distinguished her to great advantage, and her conversation was eagerly sought by the best company in Paris; but Scarron dying in 1660, she was reduced to the same indigent condition she was in before marriage. Her friends, however, endeavoured all they could to get the pension continued to her which had been allowed her husband. Petitions were, in consequence, frequently presented, beginning always with "the widow Scarron most humbly prays your majesty, &c." ”

“ And sometimes with a strange perversity of purpose, we see men wasting their opportunities in a mischievous ridicule of useful pursuits which they might have advanced and illustrated to the benefit of themselves and mankind. Thus the seventeenth century, deeply imbued as it was with the spirit of classical inquiry and the love of ancient literature, gave birth to a Scarron and a Cotton, of whom the latter particularly was fitted for higher pursuits, and the former perhaps worthy of a better fate. ”

“ The Roman Comique is still well known, and if we come to it in vacant moments, will serve its end in amusing us; the story and characters have no great interest, but they are natural; yet, without the least disparagement to the vivacity of Scarron, it is still true that he has been left at an immense distance in observation of mankind, in humorous character, and in ludicrous effect by the novelists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is said that Scarron’s romance is written in a pure style ”

“ Of his other pieces, apart from their intrinsic merit, an international interest attaches to No hay padre siendo rey, which was borrowed by Rotrou for his Venceslas; to Donde hay agravios no hay zelos and the Amo criado, which were imitated by Scarron in his Jodelet Souffleté and Maître Valet; to Entre Bobos anda el juego, the source of Thomas Corneille's Don Bertrand de Cigarral, as well as of Scarron's Don Japhet d'Armenie; to Obligados y ofendidos, from which are derived Les Généreux Ennemis by Boisrobert, Les Illustres Ennemis by Thomas Corneille, and Scarron's Écolier de Salamanque ”

“ Scarpa, Antonio, Italian anatomist, professor at Pavia (1747-1832) .
Scarron, Paul, a French humourist, writer of the burlesque, born, of good parentage, in Paris; entered the Church, and was for some years somewhat lax-living abbé of Mans, but stricken with incurable disease settled in Paris, and supported himself by writing; is chiefly remembered for his "Virgile Travesti" and "Le Roman Comique," which "gave the impulse out of which sprang the masterpieces of Le Sage, Defoe, Fielding, and Smollett" ”

“ There is nothing to wonder at in her dying like a young person. In the other world, where all are equal and there is no difference in rank, it will be decided whether she stays with the king or the paralytic Scarron; but if the king knows then all that was hidden from him in this world, there is no doubt he will return her very willingly to Scarron. ”

“ She smiled, granted the title, and, what was better, added a small pension, which losing, by lampooning the minister [Pg 426] Mazarin, Fouquet generously granted him a more considerable one.
The termination of the miseries of this facetious genius was now approaching. To one of his friends, who was taking leave of him for some time, Scarron said, "I shall soon die; the only regret I have in dying is not to be enabled to leave some property to my wife, who is possessed of infinite merit, and whom I have every reason imaginable to admire and to praise." ”

“ The conversation was decidedly light; often, indeed, obscene, in spite of the presence of ladies; but always witty. The hostility of Scarron to the reigning cardinal was a great recommendation, and when all else flagged, or the cripple had an unusually sharp attack, he had but to start with a line of his 'Mazarinade,' and out came a fresh lampoon, a new caricature, [246] or fresh rounds of wit fired off at the Italian, from the well-filled cartridge-boxes of the guests, many of whom kept their mots ready made up for discharge. ”

“ It is in this daring to be quotidian and contemporary that his claim to a position in the history of the novel mainly consists. Some might add a third audacity, that of being "middle-class." Scarron had dealt with barn-mummers and innkeepers and some mere riff-raff; but he had included not a few nobles, and had indulged in fighting and other "noble" subjects. There is no fighting in Furetière, and his chief "noble" figure—the [Pg 293] rascal who robbed Lucrèce of her virtue and her keys—is the sole figure of his class, except Pancrace and the précieuse Angélique. ”

“ Scarron, by the grace of God, the unworthy Sick-Man of the Queen; a man without a house, though a moving hospital of disorders; walking only with other people's legs, with great sufferings, but little sleep ”

“ A large house was purchased in the country, not far from Vaugirard, and Madame Scarron, now enjoying a certain degree of opulence, established herself there, and gave all her time to the task of education. She was lost to the world, and her friends deeply lamented her disappearance. But she was sowing the seed of her future greatness. The king, who had a great love for his children, often saw her when he visited them ”

“ The burning of Sinope, the distant vessel, the street-fighting that follows, are what may be called "cartoonish"—large washes of pale colour. The talk, such as there is, is stage-talk of the pseudo-grand style. It is curious that Scarron himself speaks of the Cyrus as being the most "furnitured" romance, le roman le plus meublé, that he knows. To a modern eye the interiors are anything but distinct, despite the elaborate ecphrases, some of which have been quoted. ”

“ Scarron was more sickly and more deformed than Leopardi, yet he was none the less a gay, all too gay, fellow. As for not being understood, or at least, not being received at one's proper value,—there is nothing in that to make a healthy mind pessimistic. ”