This last scene as told by Jules Janin is very affecting: "Molière était perdu : il le sentait. Il était devenu vieux avant l'heure; il succombait sous sa triple tâche de comédien, de poëte et de directeur de théâtre. Il avait craché le sang le matin même, et ses amis demandaient un relâche...Il voulut tenir sa parole. Il paraît donc : à son aspect, sans se douter de ses tortures, cet affreux parterre se met à rire. On bat des mains, on applaudit; on trouve que le comédien n'a jamais mieux joué. En effet, regardez comme il est pâle. Le feu de la fièvre est dans ses yeux! Ses mains tremblent et se crispent! Ses jambes refusent tout service! A le voir, ainsi plié en deux, la tête enveloppée d'un bonnet et affaissé dans ses coussins, ne diriez-vous pas d'un malade véritable? N'est-ce pas que cette agonie est amusante à voir? Ris donc, parterre, et ris bien, c'est le cas ou jamais, car au milieu de tes grands éclats de rire cet homme se meurt. Heureuse foule! pour ton demi petit écu, tu vas voir expirer, devant toi, le plus grand poëte du monde. Jamais les empereurs romains, dans toute leur féroce puissance, n'ont assisté à une pareille hécatombe. "15 Janvier 1622—21 Février 1673!.. qui dira jamais le travail, le génie et les douleurs contenus dans cet étroit espace? Il lutta jusqu'à la fin, passant d'une torture à l'autre, et quand enfin, dans la mascarade finale, il s'écria: 'Juro!' sa poitrine se déchira tout à fait. On l'emporta du théâtre. Il mourut à dix heures du soir. Le curé de Saint-Eustache, sa paroisse, refusa à cet excommunié la sépulture ecclésiastique, et l'archevêque de Paris ne permit qu'au bout de trois jours qu'il fût enterré sans prières, sans cérémonies, et sans honneurs." Molière had two subjects of satire which he shared with every comedian and every buffoon, namely, the stock subjects of the aspiring citizen and the quack physician; and he had two others which he made peculiarly his own, which were his own creation, the hypocrites who sham piety, and the pedants who set themselves up for judges of good taste. Content at first to imitate the Spanish school of intrigue, in which all the dramatis personæ are cast in uniform moulds, and delineation of character is entirely out of the question, it was not till late in his dramatic life that he found his real field and attacked the follies and foibles of the day. His Avare, • his Dépit Amoureux, and even his École des. Maris belong to no time and all time; while the Précieuses Ridicules, the earliest of his satiric comedies properly so called, was yet a sketch, and had to wait for six years before it found a true successor in the Tartuffe, the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and the Femmes Savantes, all of which belong to the last five years of Molière's life. His muse was to be a tree whose best fruit comes late, and in too small quantity. The Bourgeois Gentilhomme has been put upon every stage; the rich citizen aping the manners of the great has been ridiculed in every literature; but never has this character assumed such fresh and bright colours as when handled by Molière. Exception has been taken to the last two acts of this play. "I allow" (says La Harpe) "that, in order to ridicule in M. Jourdain that pretension so common among wealthy plebeians, to appear on a par with the nobility, it was not necessary to make him so silly as to give his daughter in marriage to the son of the 'Grand-Turk,' and to turn 'Mamamouchi.' This grotesque exhibition was evidently intended to fill up the time usually taken up by the performance of two plays and to afford amusement for the crowd; but the first three Acts bear the stamp of good comedy." No character in Molière's plays is more ludicrous than that of M. Jourdain : every one about him sets him off, his wife, his servant Nicole, the several masters whom he has engaged, the nobleman (his confidential friend and at the same time his debtor), the lady of rank with whom he is in love, the young man who loves his daughter and cannot obtain her hand on account of his not being a gentleman, all combine to set off the folly of the aspiring citizen, who has almost persuaded himself that he is of noble extraction, or at least believes that he has succeeded in making people forget his birth. The blunt and peevish humour of Madame Jourdain, the unreserved drollery of the servant Nicole, the quarrel of the masters about the superiority of their professions; the precepts of moderation delivered by the philosopher, who the next moment flies into a passion, and fights for the honour and glory of philosophy; the lesson given to M. Jourdain, who discovers that for forty years he has been speaking prose without being conscious of it; the entertainment given by M. Jourdain to Dorimène in the name of the courtier Dorante; the silly gallantry of the parvenu citizen; all these contribute to make Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme a perfect comedy. When it was performed before Louis XIV, his court did not relish it, probably on account of the masquerade in the last two acts; the king however, whose judicious mind had appreciated the excellence of the first three, said to Molière, who felt rather dejected; "You never made me laugh so much before." La scène est à Paris, dans la maison de M. Jourdain. ARGUMENT TO THE FIRST ACT. Act i. introduces us to M. Jourdain in the company of his musicmaster and dancing-master. In the first Scene these two professionals appear, with a train of musicians and dancers, and converse about a concert and ballet which M. Jourdain has ordered them to prepare for the entertainment of distinguished guests in the evening, and they rejoice over their good fortune in having an opportunity of turning their respective talents to good account. The Bourgeois then appears in morning déshabillé, displays his dressing-gown which he deems a chef-d'œuvre of aristocratic refinement, and asks to hear the musical composition that has been prepared for him; he, however, does not appreciate the æsthetic style of the performance and expresses his preference for a vulgar song which he had learnt years gone by and which he sings to the great amusement of his masters. The Act concludes with a Dialogue, in music, between a female singer and two musicians; after which four dancers execute different steps under the direction of the dancing-master. 5 ΙΟ 15 ACTE PREMIER. L'ouverture se fait par un grand assemblage d'instruments; et, dans le milieu du théâtre, on voit un élève du maître de musique, qui compose sur une table un air que le bourgeois a demandé pour une sérénade. SCÈNE I. UN MAÎTRE DE MUSIQUE, UN MAÎTRE À DANSER, TROIS MUSICIENS, DEUX VIOLONS, QUATRE DANSEURS. LE MAÎTRE DE MUSIQUE, aux musiciens. Venez, entrez dans cette salle, et vous reposez là, en attendant qu'il vienne. LE MAÎTRE À DANSER, aux danseurs. Et vous aussi, de ce côté. LE M. DE MUSIQUE, à son élève. Est-ce fait ? L'ÉLÈVE. Oui. LE M. DE MUSIQUE. Voyons...Voilà qui est bien. Est-ce quelque chose de nouveau? LE M. DE MUSIQUE. Oui, c'est un air pour une sérénade composer ici, en attendant que notre que je lui ai fait 20 homme fût éveillé. LE M. À DANSER. Peut-on voir ce que c'est ? LE M. DE MUSIQUE. Vous l'allez entendre avec le dialogue, quand il viendra. Il ne tardera guère. LE M. À DANSER. Nos occupations, à vous et à moi, 25 ne sont pas petites maintenant. LE M. DE MUSIQUE. Il est vrai. Nous avons trouvé ici un homme comme il nous le faut à tous deux. Ce nous est une douce rente que ce monsieur Jourdain, avec les visions de noblesse et de galanterie qu'il est allé se 30 mettre en tête; et votre danse et ma musique auraient à souhaiter que tout le monde lui ressemblât. 35 LE M. À DANSER. Non pas entièrement; et je voudrais, pour lui, qu'il se connût mieux qu'il ne fait aux choses que nous lui donnons. LE M. DE MUSIQUE. Il est vrai qu'il les connaît mal, mais il les paye bien; et c'est de quoi maintenant nos arts ont plus besoin que de toute autre chose. |