During three or four years they wandered about from town to town, always patronised by the Prince de Conti, who never forgot his early connexion with Molière, and having brought out "La Thébaide," a crude tragedy by the young dramatist, at Bourdeaux, they at length settled for a while at Lyons. Here, at length, his genius shone forth; "l'Etourdi" was produced in the year 1653, and a complete revolution effected in the manners and customs of the French stage. The public were so completely taken by surprise with this comedy, that the whole company of a rival house waited in a body on Molière, and begged that he would allow them to join their fortunes to his. Among these deserters were several, who afterwards proved the brightest ornaments of their profession, such as La Grange, Du Croisy, Duparc, Mdlle. Duparc, Mdlle. de Brie, and others. The Prince de Conti now endeavoured to prevail on the comedian to accept the office of his private secretary, but Molière had got an innate love for his calling, and went to Paris in 1658, where he was shortly dignified with the post of Director of the Troupe de Monsieur, afterwards the Regent Philippe d'Orleans. Their theatre was at first established in the Salles des Gardes in the old Louvre, where "Nicomède" and "Le Docteur Amoureux" were brought out with great success; a removal soon took place to the Petit Bourbon, which being demolished in 1660, to make way for the new colonnade of the Louvre, the company were finally located at the Palais Royal. Their name was changed to that of Troupe du Roi in 1666, and after Molière's death, the actors of the Hotel de Bourgogne and the Marais having joined, the whole body combined to found the present Theatre Français. To Molière, therefore, may be ascribed the first rise of comedy as it exists at present in France, both as to composition and acting. Before his time the one had nothing remarkable either in character or dialogue, it was crude and without symmetry; the other was conducted without any unity or system, very little better than the sottises and moralités of the middle ages. The reason why many of Molière's plays produced such an impression on the public mind of that period, was the same which gave celebrity to the ancient comic authors, Aristophanes, Plautus, Terence, and others. They were written. to scourge the absurdities and vices of the time, and to ridicule peculiarities in the manners of society. The occa sions of their production were, in some instances, admirably chosen, and calculated to give ten-fold effect to the hidden satire of their scenes. An instance of this is found in the "Précieuses Ridicules," which was brought out in December, 1659, and having been played once on the first day, the public desire to see its performance became so enthusiastic, that the actors were obliged to resume their parts twice in the next twenty-four hours. Its subject was taken from the Côterie of the Hotel de Rambouillet, the female members of which indulged in the most ridiculous absurdities of speech and action. Their names were changed to those of ancient heroines and shepherdesses; they went to bed of a morning to receive their visitors, who were introduced by gentlemen, appointed directors of the "ruelles," (by which were designated the passages at each side of the couch); the most nonsensical formalities were gone through by the aspirants to the privileges of the society, and highflown semi-Bucolic phraseology made use of during these petits lèvées. Les Precieuses, as these ladies styled themselves, were so successfully satirized, that they were obliged to renounce their nonsense; their coterie was broken up. Ménage, one of their followers, said on this occasion to his friend Chapelain-"we must, from henceforward, like Clovis, despise what we adored, and adore what we despised." "Sganarelle" was produced in 1660, to ridicule one of the most prevalent customs of the age; that of paying extravagant attentions to married ladies, and the unpleasant positions into which the husbands were sometimes brought by that absurd practice. It is said that a rich bourgeois of Paris, who had married a handsome young wife, and had some reason to think that he had not been treated properly by her, conceived that he was specially pointed at by this comedy. He ran through the entire circle of his acquaintances complaining of the allusion, and even attempted to get the piece suppressed. Molière was remarkable for his want of facility in finishing off his productions. Several of the very best lay by him for some years before he could bring himself to complete them, although at the dictation of the court he sometimes made an extraordinary effort, and brought out entire pieces in a few days. These, however, proved afterwards. Qu'était Béjart l'autre jour? This fête, given by the unfortunate Fouquet led to his downfall, as is very well told by Madame Blaz de Bury in the following passage: "Louise de la Vaillière had been named maid of honour to Madame, the sister-in-law of the king, and from her modesty, gentleness, and shy demeanour, remained obscure and unknown in the midst of Louis's brilliant court. These very qualities perhaps, so uncommon in the ladies of these days, and her graceful elegance, found favor for Mdlle. de la Vaillière in the eyes of the Superintendent Fouquet. The extreme coldness with which she received his advances astonished as well as annoyed him, and with true financial taste and breeding, he commissioned Madame du Plessis Bellievre to offer to the youthful fair one a couple of hundred thousand francs as the price of her honour. A second and still more disdainful refusal having met this infamous proposition, the superintendent suspected a cause of which he was not long in discovering the positive existence. The mutual affection of Louis XIV. and Mdlle. de la Vaillière was soon revealed by his spies to the watchful Fouquet ; and one day meeting the maid of honour in the anti-chamber of her royal mistress, he could not resist the desire of telling her he could account now for the refusal of his offers, as he was aware of the object of her attachment. Twelve hours had not elapsed ere the king was acquainted with the whole history, and the ruin of Fouquet was resolved. So great was his jealous rage, that he could scarcely be persuaded to dissemble a short time with a man, whose wealth and power had secured to him unnumbered adherents. Louis was full of his vengeful projects when the superintendent solicited from him the honour of receiving him and the court at Vaux. The king accepted, and the splendor of the very reception he met with only served to exasperate him still more. But one circumstance above all had nearly made him forget the part he had imposed on himself; in the private cabinet of the superintendent the first object that met his view was a portrait of Louise de la Vaillière! Enraged beyond all bearing, the first impulse of the king was to have Fouquet instantaneously arrested. • What !' exclaimed the queen-mother, Anne of Austria, in the midst of an entertainment you have accepted from him?' These words brought Louis to his senses, and he consented to defer his vengeance; but Fouquet was apprised of his danger in the midst of the fête by a note from Madame du Plessis Bellievre, and it was with the certainty of his approaching fate before his eyes that he led the way to the theatre, and smilingly listened to Pellisson's prologue, which represents Louis as 'Young, generous, wise, victorious, brave, august, Louis XIV. however, notwithstanding his anger, retained sufficient empire over himself not only to listen to Molière's piece but to say to him after it was finished, There goes an original,' pointing out M. de Soyecourt, the grand veneur, whom you have omitted to copy. This hint was enough for the poet : in four and twenty hours the famous scene of the chasseur was complete, and the king, says Ménage, who recounts this anecdote, had the satisfaction, at the first representation of this comedy at Fontainebleau, on the 27th of the same month, of seeing added to it the scene his majesty had had the goodness to suggest.' To the Facheux there succeeded in 1662 "l'Ecole des Femmes," which was criticized rather severely by Boursault in his Portrait du Peintre. Molière took his revenge in l'Impromptu de Versailles, when Montfleury, the actor of the theatre of the Hotel de Bourgogne, fell foul of him, but was stopped by the bully Cyrano de Bergeyrac, who said that actor was too large to be well thrashed all in one day. Racine wrote for Molière the drama, "les Frères Ennemis," and gave it shortly after to the Hotel de Bourgogne. Moliére, however, was at this time gratified by the court with a pension of 1000 francs. The comic poet's penchant for the female sex was of rather a heterogeneous description. He began with Mdlle Béjart, the elder, one of the company in which he originally engaged. He afterwards transferred his affections to Mdlle. Duparc, who had deserted him at Lyons, but on account of her pride and disdain, notwithstanding his persevering attentions, he confided his misfortune to Mdlle. du Brie, who consoled him with these words, "Be of good cheer, these wounds will not hurt you, they have been more fatal to myself than to you." She was kind and gentle towards him, and such a favorite with the public that at the age of sixty when she gave up a part to a younger beauty, more suitable for the role, the audience called her out, and insisted on her acting. Molière at length settled down with Mdlle. Armande Béjart, whom he married in 1662. She is described as having been a coquette, guilty of the greatest absurdities, intriguing with the Abbé de Richelieu, the Comte de Guiche, and Lauzun. The comedian wrote her picture in the "Bourgeois Gentilhomme," act iii., sc. 9, and satirized her again in "Le Mariage Forcé," and "La Princesse d'Elide," in 1664. Montfleury wrote a scurrilous pamphlet against her and her husband, but Louis XIV., to shew his estimation of the poet's character, stood himself as sponsor for Molière's first child. She had a great antipathy to Baron, the best actor of the company, and finally compelled him to fly from Paris. The unsuited pair were at length separated for a period of three years, when the comedian returned again to his constant friend, Mdlle. Du Brie. It would be tedious to go through the different circumstances which attended the bringing out of many of the finest of this author's comedies, "Don Juan" and l'Amour Medecin," in 1665; "Le Misanthrope" and "Le Medecin Malgré lui," in 1666; "Tartuffe" in 1667; "Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme" in 1670; and "Les Fourberies de Scapin" in 1671. The first and the fifth were at first interdicted, as too strong for the age. Molière himself acted in the "Misanthrope." M. de Montansier, who had been told that he was pointed at in the "Tartuffe," went in a rage to the theatre, but at the end of the performance came forth in a transport of joy and admiration, saying that he hoped he was designated by the "Tartuffe," as it would send him down to posterity along with the name of the poet. At this time the company of the Palais Royal received the title of Comédiens du Roi, and Molière obtained a pension of 7000 livres. A privilege of A privilege of a very peculiar nature was granted to certain regiments of the guards and others, the entry into the pit of the theatre gratis. This was resisted by the porter, on the first evening, very vigorously, but he paid for his temerity, for he fell pierced by the sword thrusts of four or five officers. Further |