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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The School for Husbands, by Moliere
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: The School for Husbands
+
+Author: Moliere
+
+Posting Date: April 18, 2013 [EBook #6742]
+Release Date: October, 2004
+First Posted: January 20, 2003
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SCHOOL FOR HUSBANDS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Moynihan, D Garcia, Charles Franks and
+the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+L'ÉCOLE DES MARIS.
+
+COMÉDIE.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+THE SCHOOL FOR HUSBANDS.
+
+A COMEDY IN THREE ACTS.
+
+(_THE ORIGINAL IN VERSE_.)
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.
+
+_The School for Husbands_ was the first play in the title of which
+the word "School" was employed, to imply that, over and above the
+intention of amusing, the author designed to convey a special lesson to
+his hearers. Perhaps Molière wished not only that the general public
+should be prepared to find instructions and warnings for married men,
+but also that they who were wont to regard the theatre as injurious, or
+at best trivial, should know that he professed to educate, as well as to
+entertain. We must count the adoption of similar titles by Sheridan and
+others amongst the tributes, by imitation, to Molière's genius.
+
+This comedy was played for the first time at Paris, on the 24th of June,
+1661, and met with great success. On the 12th of July following it was
+acted at Vaux, the country seat of Fouquet, before the whole court,
+Monsieur, the brother of the King, and the Queen of England; and by them
+also was much approved. Some commentators say that Molière was partly
+inspired by a comedy of Lope de Vega. _La Discreta enamorada_, The
+Cunning Sweetheart; also by a remodelling of the same play by Moreto,
+_No puede ser guardar una muger_, One cannot guard a woman; but
+this has lately been disproved. It appears, however, that he borrowed
+the primary idea of his comedy from the _Adelphi_ of Terence; and
+from a tale, the third of the third day, in the Decameron of Boccaccio,
+where a young woman uses her father-confessor as a go-between for
+herself and her lover. In the _Adelphi_ there are two old men of
+dissimilar character, who give a different education to the children
+they bring up. One of them is a dotard, who, after having for sixty
+years been sullen, grumpy and avaricious, becomes suddenly lively,
+polite, and prodigal; this Molière had too much common sense to imitate.
+
+_The School for Husbands_ marks a distinct departure in the
+dramatist's literary progress. As a critic has well observed, it
+substitutes for situations produced by the mechanism of plot, characters
+which give rise to situations in accordance with the ordinary operations
+of human nature. Molière's method--the simple and only true one, and,
+consequently, the one which incontestably establishes the original
+talent of its employer--is this: At the beginning of a play, he
+introduces his principal personages: sets them talking; suffers them to
+betray their characters, as men and women do in every-day
+life,--expecting from his hearers that same discernment which he has
+himself displayed in detecting their peculiarities: imports the germ of
+a plot in some slight misunderstanding or equivocal act; and leaves all
+the rest to be effected by the action and reaction of the characters
+which he began by bringing out in bold relief. His plots are thus the
+plots of nature; and it is impossible that they should not be both
+interesting and instructive. That his comedies, thus composed, are
+besides amusing, results from the shrewdness with which he has selected
+and combined his characters, and the art with which he arranges the
+situations produced.
+
+The character-comedies of Molière exhibit, more than any others, the
+force of his natural genius, and the comparative weakness of his
+artistic talent. In the exhibition and the evolution of character, he is
+supreme. In the unravelling of his plots and the _dénouement_ of
+his situations, he is driven too willingly to the _deus ex
+machina_.
+
+_The School for Husbands_ was directed against one of the special
+and prominent defects of society in the age and country in which Molière
+lived. Domestic tyranny was not only rife, but it was manifested in one
+of its coarsest forms. Sganarelle, though twenty years younger than
+Ariste, and not quite forty years old, could not govern by moral force;
+he relied solely on bolts and bars. Physical restraint was the safeguard
+in which husbands and parents had the greatest confidence, not
+perceiving that the brain and the heart are always able to prevail
+against it. This truth Molière took upon himself to preach, and herein
+he surpasses all his rivals; in nothing more than in the artistic device
+by which he introduces the contrast of the wise and trustful Ariste,
+_raisonneur_ as he is called in French, rewarded in the end by the
+triumph of his more humane mode of treatment. Molière probably expresses
+his own feelings by the mouth of Ariste: for _The School for
+Husbands_ was performed on the 24th of June, 1661, and about eight
+months later, on the 20th of February, 1662, he married Armande Béjart,
+being then about double her age. As to Sganarelle in this play, he
+ceases to be a mere buffoon, as in some of Molière's farces, and becomes
+the personification of an idea or of a folly which has to be ridiculed.
+
+Molière dedicated _The School for Husbands_ to the Duke of Orleans,
+the King's only brother, in the following words:--
+
+MY LORD,
+
+I here shew France things that are but little consistent. Nothing can be
+so great and superb as the name I place in front of this book; and
+nothing more mean than what it contains. Every one will think this a
+strange mixture; and some, to express its inequality, may say that it is
+like setting a crown of pearls and diamonds on an earthen statue, and
+making magnificent porticos and lofty triumphal arches to a mean
+cottage. But, my Lord, my excuse is, that in this case I had no choice
+to make, and that the honour I have of belonging to your Royal Highness,
+[Footnote: Molière was the chief of the troupe of actors belonging to
+the Duke of Orleans, who had only lately married, and was not yet
+twenty-one years old.] absolutely obliged me to dedicate to you the
+first work that I myself published. [Footnote: _Sganarelle_ had
+been borrowed by Neufvillenaine; _The Pretentious Ladies_ was only
+printed by Molière, because the copy of the play was stolen from him;
+_Don Garcia of Navarre_ was not published till after his death, in
+1682.] It is not a present I make you, it is a duty I discharge; and
+homages are never looked upon by the things they bring. I presumed,
+therefore, to dedicate a trifle to your Royal Highness, because I could
+not help it; but if I omit enlarging upon the glorious truths I might
+tell of you, it is through a just fear that those great ideas would make
+my offering the more inconsiderable. I have imposed silence on myself,
+meaning to wait for an opportunity better suited for introducing such
+fine things; all I intended in this epistle was to justify my action to
+France, and to have the glory of telling you yourself, my Lord, with all
+possible submission, that I am your Royal Highness' very humble, very
+obedient, and very faithful servant,
+
+MOLIÈRE.
+
+
+In the fourth volume of the "Select Comedies of M. de Molière, London,
+1732," the translation of _The School for Husbands_ is dedicated to
+the Right Honourable the Lady Harriot Campbell, in the following
+words:--
+
+MADAM,
+
+A _Comedy_ which came abroad in its Native Language, under the
+Patronage of the _Duke_ of ORLEANS, Brother to the _King_ of
+FRANCE, attempts now to speak English, and begs the Honour of Your
+LADYSHIP'S Favour and Acceptance. That distinguishing good Sense, that
+nice Discernment, that refined Taste of Reading and Politeness for which
+Your LADYSHIP is so deservedly admir'd, must, I'm persuaded, make You
+esteem _Molière_; whose way of expression is easy and elegant, his
+Sentiments just and delicate, and his morals untainted: who constantly
+combats Vice and Folly with strong Reason and well turn'd Ridicule; in
+short, whose _Plays_ are all instructive, and tend to some useful
+Purpose:--An Excellence sufficient to recommend them to your LADYSHIP.
+
+As for this Translation, which endeavours to preserve the Spirit as well
+as Meaning of the Original, I shall only say, that if it can be so happy
+as to please Your LADYSHIP, all the Pains it cost me will be over-paid.
+
+I beg Pardon for this Presumption, and am, with the greatest Respect
+that's possible, _Madam, Your Ladyship's Most Obedient and most Humble
+Servant_,
+
+THE TRANSLATOR.
+
+
+Sir Charles Sedley, well known through a history of a "frolick" which
+Pepys relates in his "Diary," [Footnote: See Pepys' Diary, October 23,
+1668.] wrote _The Mulberry Garden_, of which Langbaine, in his "An
+Account of the Dramatick Poets," states "I dare not say that the
+character of Sir John Everyoung and Sir Samuel Forecast are copies of
+Sganarelle and Ariste in Molière's _l'École des Maris_; but I may
+say, that there is some resemblance, though whoever understands both
+languages will readily and with justice give our English wit the
+preference; and Sir Charles is not to learn to copy Nature from the
+French." This comedy, which was played by his Majesty's servants at the
+Theatre Royal, 1688, is dedicated to the Duchess of Richmond and Lennox,
+a lady who has "'scap'd (prefaces) very well hitherto," but, says Sir
+Charles, "Madam, your time is come, and you must bear it patiently. All
+the favour I can show you is that of a good executioner, which is, not
+to prolong your pain." This play has two girls like Isabella, called
+Althea and Diana, two like Leonor, Victoria and Olivia, and four lovers,
+as well as a rather intricate plot. The Epilogue is amusing, and we give
+the beginning of it:--
+
+  Poets of all men have the hardest game,
+  Their best Endeavours can no Favours claim.
+  The Lawyer if o'erthrown, though by the Laws,
+  He quits himself, and lays it on your Cause.
+  The Soldier is esteem'd a Man of War,
+  And Honour gains, if he but bravely dare.
+  The grave Physician, if his Patient dye,
+  He shakes his head, and blames Mortality.
+  Only poor Poets their own faults must bear;
+  Therefore grave Judges be not too severe.
+
+
+Flecknoe has also imitated several of the scenes of _The School for
+Husbands_ in _The Damoiselles à la Mode_, which is a medley of
+several of Molière's plays (see Introductory Notice to _The
+Pretentious Young Ladies_).
+
+James Miller has likewise followed, in _The Man of Taste_ (Act i.,
+Scene 2). (see Introductory Notice to _The Pretentious Young
+Ladies_), one scene of the first act of Molière's _The School for
+Husbands_.
+
+Murphy, in _The School for Guardians_, has borrowed from three
+plays of Molière. The main plot is taken from _The School for
+Wives_; some incidents of the second act are taken from _The
+Blunderer_ (see Introductory Notice to _The Blunderer_), but the
+scenes in which Oldcastle and Lovibond state their intention of marrying
+their wards, and the way in which one of the wards, Harriet, makes her
+love known to Belford is taken from _The School for Husbands_,
+though Leonor does not betray in the French comedy, as she does in the
+English, the confidence placed in her. The French Isabella acts like
+Harriet, but then she has a foolish and jealous guardian.
+
+Wycherley in _The Country Wife_, probably acted in 1672 or 1673,
+and which is partly an imitation of Molière's _School for Wives_,
+has borrowed from _The School for Husbands_, the letter which
+Isabella writes to Valère (Act ii., Scene 8), and also the scene in
+which Isabella escapes disguised in her sister's clothes: but, of
+course, to give an additional zest to the English play, the author makes
+Pinchwife himself bring his wife to her lover, Horner. The scene hardly
+bears transcribing. He has also partly imitated in _The Gentleman
+Dancing-Master_, first performed in 1673, some scenes of _The
+School for Husbands_.
+
+Otway, in _The Soldier's Fortune_ (see Introductory Notice to
+_Sganarelle, or The Self-Deceived Husband_), has borrowed from
+Molière's _School for Husbands_ that part of his play in which Lady
+Dunse makes her husband the agent for conveying a ring and a letter to
+her lover.
+
+
+
+
+DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.
+
+
+  SGANARELLE, [Footnote: This part was played by Molière himself.
+  In the inventory taken after Molière's death, and given by M. Soulié,
+  we find: "A dress for _The School for Husbands_, consisting of
+  breeches, doublet, cloak, collar, purse and girdle, all of a kind of
+  brown coloured (_couleur de muse_) satin."]
+          }
+          } _brothers_.
+  ARISTE, )
+
+  VALÈRE, _lover to Isabella_.
+
+  ERGASTE, _servant to Valère_.
+
+  A MAGISTRATE.
+
+  [Footnote: The original has _un Commissaire_, who in Molière's
+  time, appears to have been a kind of inferior magistrate under the
+  authority of the _Lieutenant-général de la Police_.
+  The _Commissaires de Police_ were not established till 1699;
+  and _The School for Husbands_ was played for the first time in 1661.]
+
+  A NOTARY.
+
+  ISABELLA, )
+            ) _sisters_.
+  LÉONOR,   }
+
+  LISETTE, _maid to Isabella_.
+
+
+  _Scene_.--A PUBLIC PLACE IN PARIS.
+
+
+
+
+
+THE SCHOOL FOR HUSBANDS.
+
+(_L'ECOLE DES MARIS_).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+ACT I.
+
+SCENE I.--SGANARELLE, ARISTE.
+
+
+SGAN. Pray, brother, let us talk less, and let each of us live as he
+likes. Though you have the advantage of me in years, and are old enough
+to be wise, yet I tell you that I mean to receive none of your reproofs;
+that my fancy is the only counsellor I shall follow, and that I am quite
+satisfied with my way of living.
+
+AR. But every one condemns it.
+
+SGAN. Yes, fools like yourself, brother.
+
+AR. Thank you very much. It is a pleasant compliment.
+
+SGAN. I should like to know, since one ought to hear everything, what
+these fine critics blame in me.
+
+AR. That surly and austere temper which shuns all the charms of society,
+gives a whimsical appearance to all your actions, and makes everything
+peculiar in you, even your dress.
+
+SGAN. I ought then to make myself a slave in fashion, and not to put on
+clothes for my own sake? Would you not, my dear elder brother--for,
+Heaven be thanked, so you are, to tell you plainly, by a matter of
+twenty years; and that is not worth the trouble of mentioning--would you
+not, I say, by your precious nonsense, persuade me to adopt the fashions
+of those young sparks of yours?
+
+[Footnote: The original has _vos jeunes muguets_, literally "your
+young lilies of the valley," because in former times, according to some
+annotators, the courtiers wore natural or artificial lilies of the
+valley in their buttonholes, and perfumed themselves with the essence of
+that flower. I think that _muguet_ is connected with the old French
+word _musguet_, smelling of musk. In Molière's time _muguet_
+had become rather antiquated; hence it was rightly placed in the mouth
+of Sganarelle, who likes to use such words and phrases. Rabelais employs
+it in the eighth chapter of _Gargantua, un tas de muguets_, and it
+has been translated by Sir Thomas Urquhart as "some fond wooers and
+wench-courters." The fashion of calling dandies after the name of
+perfumes is not rare in France. Thus Regnier speaks of them as
+_marjolets_, from _marjolaine_, sweet marjoram; and Agrippa
+d'Aubigné calls them _muscadins_ (a word also connected with the
+old French _musguet_), which name was renewed at the beginning of
+the first French revolution, and bestowed on elegants, because they
+always smelled of musk.]
+
+Oblige me to wear those little hats which provide ventilation for their
+weak brains, and that flaxen hair, the vast curls whereof conceal the
+form of the human face;
+
+[Footnote: The fashion was in Molière's time to wear the hair, or wigs,
+very long, and if possible of a fair colour, which gave to the young
+fashionables, hence called _blondins_, an effeminate air.
+Sganarelle addresses Valère (Act ii. Scene 9), likewise as _Monsieur
+aux blonds cheveux_. In _The School for Wives_ (Act ii. Scene
+6), Arnolphe also tells Agnès not to listen to the nonsense of these
+_beaux blondins_. According to Juvenal (Satire VI.) Messalina put a
+fair wig on to disguise herself. Louis XIV. did not begin to wear a wig
+until 1673.]
+
+those little doublets but just below the arms, and those big collars
+falling down to the navel; those sleeves which one sees at table trying
+all the sauces, and those petticoats called breeches; those tiny shoes,
+covered with ribbons, which make you look like feather-legged pigeons;
+and those large rolls wherein the legs are put every morning, as it were
+into the stocks, and in which we see these gallants straddle about with
+their legs as wide apart, as if they were the beams of a mill?
+
+[Footnote: The original has _marcher écarquillés ainsi que des
+volants_. Early commentators have generally stated that
+_volants_ means here "the beams of a mill," but MM. Moland and E.
+Despois, the last annotators of Molière, maintain that it stands for
+"shuttlecock," because the large rolls (_canons_), tied at the knee
+and wide at the bottom, bore a great resemblance to shuttlecocks turned
+upside down. I cannot see how this can suit the words _marcher
+écarquillés_, for the motion of the _canons_ of gallants,
+walking or straddling about, is very unlike that produced by
+shuttlecocks beaten by battledores; I still think "beams of a mill"
+right, because, though the _canons_ did not look like beams of a
+mill, the legs did, when in motion.]
+
+I should doubtless please you, bedizened in this way; I see that you
+wear the stupid gewgaws which it is the fashion to wear.
+
+AR. We should always agree with the majority, and never cause ourselves
+to be stared at. Extremes shock, and a wise man should do with his
+clothes as with his speech; avoid too much affectation, and without
+being in too great a hurry, follow whatever change custom introduces. I
+do not think that we should act like those people who always exaggerate
+the fashion, and who are annoyed that another should go further than
+themselves in the extremes which they affect; but I maintain that it is
+wrong, for whatever reasons, obstinately to eschew what every one
+observes; that it would be better to be counted among the fools than to
+be the only wise person, in opposition to every one else.
+
+SGAN. That smacks of the old man who, in order to impose upon the world,
+covers his grey hairs with a black wig.
+
+AR. It is strange that you should be so careful always to fling my age
+in my face, and that I should continually find you blaming my dress as
+well as my cheerfulness. One would imagine that old age ought to think
+of nothing but death, since it is condemned to give up all enjoyment;
+and that it is not attended by enough ugliness of its own, but must
+needs be slovenly and crabbed.
+
+SGAN. However that may be, I am resolved to stick to my way of dress. In
+spite of the fashion, I like my cap so that my head may be comfortably
+sheltered beneath it; a good long doublet buttoned close, as it should
+be,
+
+[Footnote: The young dandies in the beginning of the reign of Louis
+XIV., wore slashed doublets, very tight and short.]
+
+which may keep the stomach warm, and promote a healthy digestion; a pair
+of breeches made exactly to fit my thighs; shoes, like those of our wise
+ancestors, in which my feet may not be tortured: and he who does not
+like the look of me may shut his eyes.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE II.--LÉONOR, ISABELLA, LISETTE; ARISTE _and_ SGANARELLE,
+_conversing in an under-tone, unperceived_.
+
+LEO. (_To Isabella_). I take it all on myself, in case you are
+scolded.
+
+LIS. (_To Isabella_). Always in one room, seeing no one?
+
+ISA. Such is his humour.
+
+LEO. I pity you, sister.
+
+LIS. (_To Léonor_). It is well for you, madam, that his brother is
+of quite another disposition; fate was very kind in making you fall into
+the hands of a rational person.
+
+ISA. It is a wonder that he did not lock me up to-day, or take me with
+him.
+
+LIS. I declare I would send him to the devil, with his Spanish ruff,
+and...
+
+[Footnote: The Spanish ruff (_fraise_) was in fashion at the end of
+Henri IV.'s reign; in the reign of Louis XIII., and in the beginning of
+Louis XIV.'s, flat-lying collars, adorned with lace were worn, so that
+those who still stuck to the Spanish ruff in 1661, were considered very
+old-fashioned people.]
+
+SGAN. (_Against whom Lisette stumbles_). Where are you going, if I
+may ask?
+
+LEO. We really do not know; I was urging my sister to talk a walk, and
+enjoy this pleasant and fine weather; but...
+
+SGAN. (_To Léonor_). As for you, you may go wherever you please.
+(_To Lisette_). You can run off; there are two of you together.
+(_To Isabella_). But as for you, I forbid you--excuse me--to go
+out.
+
+AR. Oh, brother! let them go and amuse themselves.
+
+SGAN. I am your servant, brother.
+
+AR. Youth will...
+
+SGAN. Youth is foolish, and old age too, sometimes.
+
+AR. Do you think there is any harm in her being with Léonor?
+
+SGAN. Not so; but with me I think she is still better.
+
+AR. But...
+
+SGAN. But her conduct must be guided by me; in short, I know the
+interest I ought to take in it.
+
+AR. Have I less in her sister's?
+
+SGAN. By Heaven! each one argues and does as he likes. They are without
+relatives, and their father, our friend, entrusted them to us in his
+last hour, charging us both either to marry them, or, if we declined, to
+dispose of them hereafter. He gave us, in writing, the full authority of
+a father and a husband over them, from their infancy. You undertook to
+bring up that one; I charged myself with the care of this one. You
+govern yours at your pleasure. Leave me, I pray, to manage the other as
+I think best.
+
+AR. It seems to me...
+
+SGAN. It seems to me, and I say it openly, that is the right way to
+speak on such a subject. You let your ward go about gaily and stylishly;
+I am content. You let her have footmen and a maid; I agree. You let her
+gad about, love idleness, be freely courted by dandies; I am quite
+satisfied. But I intend that mine shall live according to my fancy, and
+not according to her own; that she shall be dressed in honest serge, and
+wear only black on holidays; that, shut up in the house, prudent in
+bearing, she shall apply herself entirely to domestic concerns, mend my
+linen in her leisure hours, or else knit stockings for amusement; that
+she shall close her ears to the talk of young sparks, and never go out
+without some one to watch her. In short, flesh is weak; I know what
+stories are going about. I have no mind to wear horns, if I can help it;
+and as her lot requires her to marry me, I mean to be as certain of her
+as I am of myself.
+
+ISA. I believe you have no grounds for....
+
+SGAN. Hold your tongue, I shall teach you to go out without us!
+
+LEO. What, sir....
+
+SGAN. Good Heavens, madam! without wasting any more words, I am not
+speaking to you, for you are too clever.
+
+LEO. Do you regret to see Isabella with us?
+
+SGAN. Yes, since I must speak plainly; you spoil her for me. Your visits
+here only displease me, and you will oblige me by honouring us no more.
+
+LEO. Do you wish that I shall likewise speak my thoughts plainly to you?
+I know not how she regards all this; but I know what effect mistrust
+would have on me. Though we are of the same father and mother, she is
+not much of my sister if your daily conduct produces any love in her.
+
+LIS. Indeed, all these precautions are disgraceful. Are we in Turkey,
+that women must be shut up? There, they say, they are kept like slaves;
+this is why the Turks are accursed by God. Our honour, sir, is very weak
+indeed, if it must be perpetually watched. Do you think, after all, that
+these precautions are any bar to our designs? that when we take anything
+into our heads, the cleverest man would not be but a donkey to us? All
+that vigilance of yours is but a fool's notion; the best way of all, I
+assure you, is to trust us. He who torments us puts himself in extreme
+peril, for our honour must ever be its own protector. To take so much
+trouble in preventing us is almost to give us a desire to sin. If I were
+suspected by my husband, I should have a very good mind to justify his
+fears.
+
+SGAN. (_to Ariste_). This, my fine teacher, is your training. And
+you endure it without being troubled?
+
+AR. Brother, her words should only make you smile. There is some reason
+in what she says. Their sex loves to enjoy a little freedom; they are
+but ill-checked by so much austerity. Suspicious precautions, bolts and
+bars, make neither wives nor maids virtuous. It is honour which must
+hold them to their duty, not the severity which we display towards them.
+To tell you candidly, a woman who is discreet by compulsion only is not
+often to be met with. We pretend in vain to govern all her actions; I
+find that it is the heart we must win. For my part, whatever care might
+be taken, I would scarcely trust my honour in the hands of one who, in
+the desires which might assail her, required nothing but an opportunity
+of falling.
+
+SGAN. That is all nonsense.
+
+AR. Have it so; but still I maintain that we should instruct youth
+pleasantly, chide their faults with great tenderness, and not make them
+afraid of the name of virtue. Léonor's education has been based on these
+maxims. I have not made crimes of the smallest acts of liberty, I have
+always assented to her youthful wishes, and, thank Heaven, I never
+repented of it. I have allowed her to see good company, to go to
+amusements, balls, plays. These are things which, for my part I think
+are calculated to form the minds of the young; the world is a school
+which, in my opinion, teaches them better how to live than any book.
+Does she like to spend money on clothes, linen, ribands--what then? I
+endeavour to gratify her wishes; these are pleasures which, when we are
+well-off, we may permit to the girls of our family. Her father's command
+requires her to marry me; but it is not my intention to tyrannize over
+her. I am quite aware that our years hardly suit, and I leave her
+complete liberty of choice.
+
+[Footnote: _The School for Husbands_ was played for the first time,
+on the 24th of June, 1661, and Molière married Armande Béjart (see
+Prefatory Memoir), on the 20th of February, 1662, when he was forty, and
+she about twenty years old. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose
+that the words he places in the mouth of Ariste are an expression of his
+own feelings.]
+
+If a safe income of four thousand crowns a-year, great affection and
+consideration for her, may, in her opinion, counterbalance in marriage
+the inequality of our age, she may take me for her husband; if not she
+may choose elsewhere. If she can be happier without me, I do not object;
+I prefer to see her with another husband rather than that her hand
+should be given to me against her will.
+
+SGAN. Oh, how sweet he is! All sugar and honey!
+
+AR. At all events, that is my disposition; and I thank Heaven for it. I
+would never lay down these strict rules which make children wish their
+parents dead.
+
+SGAN. But the liberty acquired in youth is not so easily withdrawn later
+on; all those feelings will please you but little when you have to
+change her mode of life.
+
+AR. And why change it?
+
+SGAN. Why?
+
+AR. Yes.
+
+SGAN. I do not know.
+
+AR. Is there anything in it that offends honour?
+
+SGAN. Why, if you marry her, she may demand the same freedom which she
+enjoyed as a girl?
+
+AR. Why not?
+
+SGAN. And you so far agree with her as to let her have patches and
+ribbons?
+
+AR. Doubtless.
+
+SGAN. To let her gad about madly at every ball and public assembly?
+
+AR. Yes, certainly.
+
+SGAN. And the beaux will visit at your house?
+
+AR. What then?
+
+SGAN. Who will junket and give entertainments?
+
+AR. With all my heart.
+
+SGAN. And your wife is to listen to their fine speeches?
+
+AR. Exactly.
+
+SGAN. And you will look on at these gallant visitors with a show of
+indifference?
+
+AR. Of course.
+
+SGAN. Go on, you old idiot. (_To Isabella_). Get indoors, and hear
+no more of this shameful doctrine.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE III.--ARISTE, SGANARELLE, LÉONOR, LISETTE.
+
+
+AR. I mean to trust to the faithfulness of my wife, and intend always to
+live as I have lived.
+
+SGAN. How pleased I shall be to see him victimized!
+
+AR. I cannot say what fate has in store for me; but as for you, I know
+that if you fail to be so, it is no fault of yours, for you are doing
+everything to bring it about.
+
+SGAN. Laugh on, giggler! Oh, what a joke it is to see a railer of nearly
+sixty!
+
+LEO. I promise to preserve him against the fate you speak of, if he is
+to receive my vows at the altar. He may rest secure; but I can tell you
+I would pass my word for nothing if I were your wife.
+
+LIS. We have a conscience for those who rely on us; but it is
+delightful, really, to cheat such folks as you.
+
+SGAN. Hush, you cursed ill-bred tongue!
+
+AR. Brother, you drew these silly words on yourself. Good bye. Alter
+your temper, and be warned that to shut up a wife is a bad plan. Your
+servant.
+
+SGAN. I am not yours.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE IV.--SGANARELLE, _alone_.
+
+
+Oh, they are all well suited to one another! What an admirable family. A
+foolish old man with a worn-out body who plays the fop; a girl-mistress
+and a thorough coquette; impudent servants;--no, wisdom itself could not
+succeed, but would exhaust sense and reason, trying to amend a household
+like this. By such associations, Isabella might lose those principles of
+honour which she learned amongst us; to prevent it, I shall presently
+send her back again to my cabbages and turkeys.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE V.--VALÈRE, SGANARELLE, ERGASTE.
+
+
+VAL. (_Behind_). Ergaste, that is he, the Argus whom I hate, the
+stern guardian of her whom I adore.
+
+SGAN. (_Thinking himself alone_). In short, is there not something
+wonderful in the corruption of manners now-a-days?
+
+VAL. I should like to address him, if I can get a chance, and try to
+strike up an acquaintance with him.
+
+SGAN. (_Thinking himself alone_). Instead of seeing that severity
+prevail which so admirably formed virtue in other days, uncontrolled and
+imperious youth here-about assumes... (_Valère bows to Sganarelle from
+a distance_).
+
+VAL. He does not see that we bow to him.
+
+ERG. Perhaps his blind eye is on this side. Let us cross to the right.
+
+SGAN. I must go away from this place. Life in town only produces in
+me...
+
+VAL. (_Gradually approaching_). I must try to get an introduction.
+
+SGAN. (_Hearing a noise_). Ha! I thought some one spoke...
+(_Thinking himself alone_). In the country, thank Heaven, the
+fashionable follies do not offend my eyes.
+
+ERG. (_To Valère_). Speak to him.
+
+SGAN. What is it?... my ears tingle... There, all the recreations of our
+girls are but... (_He perceives Valère bowing to him_). Do you bow
+to me?
+
+ERG. (_To Valère_). Go up to him.
+
+SGAN. (_Not attending to Valère_). Thither no coxcomb comes.
+(_Valère again bows to him_). What the deuce!... (_He turns and
+sees Ergaste bowing on the other side_). Another? What a great many
+bows!
+
+VAL. Sir, my accosting you disturbs you, I fear?
+
+SGAN. That may be.
+
+VAL. But yet the honour of your acquaintance is so great a happiness, so
+exquisite a pleasure, that I had a great desire to pay my respects to
+you.
+
+SGAN. Well.
+
+VAL. And to come and assure you, without any deceit, that I am wholly at
+your service.
+
+SGAN. I believe it.
+
+VAL. I have the advantage of being one of your neighbours, for which I
+thank my lucky fate.
+
+SGAN. That is all right.
+
+VAL. But, sir. do you know the news going the round at Court, and
+thought to be reliable?
+
+SGAN. What does it matter to me?
+
+VAL. True; but we may sometimes be anxious to hear it? Shall you go and
+see the magnificent preparations for the birth of our Dauphin, sir?
+
+[Footnote: The Dauphin, the son of Louis XIV. was born at Fontainebleau,
+on the 1st of November, 1661; _The School for Husbands_ was first
+acted on the 24th of June of the same year; hence Molière ventures to
+prophesy about the Dauphin's birth.]
+
+SGAN. If I feel inclined.
+
+VAL. Confess that Paris affords us a hundred delightful pleasures which
+are not to be found elsewhere. The provinces are a desert in comparison.
+How do you pass your time?
+
+SGAN. On my own business.
+
+VAL. The mind demands relaxation, and occasionally gives way, by too
+close attention to serious occupations. What do you do in the evening
+before going to bed?
+
+SGAN. What I please.
+
+VAL. Doubtless no one could speak better. The answer is just, and it
+seems to be common sense to resolve never to do what does not please us.
+If I did not think you were too much occupied, I would drop in on you
+sometimes after supper.
+
+SGAN. Your servant.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE VI.--VALÈRE, ERGASTE.
+
+
+VAL. What do you think of that eccentric fool?
+
+ERG. His answers are abrupt and his reception is churlish.
+
+VAL. Ah! I am in a rage.
+
+ERG. What for?
+
+VAL. Why am I in a rage? To see her I love in the power of a savage, a
+watchful dragon, whose severity will not permit her to enjoy a single
+moment of liberty.
+
+ERG. That is just what is in your favour. Your love ought to expect a
+great deal from these circumstances. Know, for your encouragement, that
+a woman watched is half-won, and that the gloomy ill-temper of husbands
+and fathers has always promoted the affairs of the gallant. I intrigue
+very little; for that is not one of my accomplishments. I do not pretend
+to be a gallant; but I have served a score of such sportsmen, who often
+used to tell me that it was their greatest delight to meet with churlish
+husbands, who never come home without scolding,--downright brutes, who,
+without rhyme or reason, criticise the conduct of their wives in
+everything, and, proudly assuming the authority of a husband, quarrel
+with them before the eyes of their admirers. "One knows," they would
+say, "how to take advantage of this. The lady's indignation at this kind
+of outrage, on the one hand, and the considerate compassion of the
+lover, on the other, afford an opportunity for pushing matters far
+enough." In a word, the surliness of Isabella's guardian is a
+circumstance sufficiently favourable for you.
+
+VAL. But I could never find one moment to speak to her in the four
+months that I have ardently loved her.
+
+ERG. Love quickens people's wits, though it has little effect on yours.
+If I had been...
+
+VAL. Why, what could you have done? For one never sees her without that
+brute; in the house there are neither maids nor men-servants whom I
+might influence to assist me by the alluring temptation of some reward.
+
+ERG. Then she does not yet know that you love her?
+
+VAL. It is a point on which I am not informed. Wherever the churl took
+this fair one, she always saw me like a shadow behind her; my looks
+daily tried to explain to her the violence of my love. My eyes have
+spoken much; but who can tell whether, after all, their language could
+be understood?
+
+ERG. It is true that this language may sometimes prove obscure, if it
+have not writing or speech for its interpreter.
+
+VAL. What am I to do to rid myself of this vast difficulty, and to learn
+whether the fair one has perceived that I love her? Tell me some means
+or other.
+
+ERG. That is what we have to discover. Let us go in for a while--the
+better to think over it.
+
+
+
+
+ACT II.
+
+SCENE I.--ISABELLA, SGANARELLE.
+
+
+SGAN. That will do; I know the house, and the person, simply from the
+description you have given me.
+
+ISA. (_Aside_). Heaven, be propitious, and favour to-day the artful
+contrivance of an innocent love!
+
+SGAN. Do you say they have told you that his name is Valère?
+
+ISA. Yes.
+
+SGAN. That will do; do not make yourself uneasy about it. Go inside, and
+leave me to act. I am going at once to talk to this young madcap.
+
+ISA. (_As she goes in_). For a girl, I am planning a pretty bold
+scheme. But the unreasonable severity with which I am treated will be my
+excuse to every right mind.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE II.--SGANARELLE, _alone_.
+
+
+(_Knocks at the door of Valère's house_). Let us lose no time; here
+it is. Who's there? Why, I am dreaming! Hulloa, I say! hulloa somebody!
+hulloa! I do not wonder, after this information, that he came up to me
+just now so meekly. But I must make haste, and teach this foolish
+aspirant...
+
+
+
+
+SCENE III.--VALÈRE, SGANARELLE, ERGASTE.
+
+
+SGAN. (_To Ergaste, who has come out hastily_). A plague on the
+lubberly ox! Do you mean to knock me down--coming and sticking yourself
+in front of me like a post?
+
+VAL. Sir, I regret...
+
+SGAN. Ah! you are the man I want.
+
+VAL. I, sir?
+
+SGAN. You. Your name is Valère, is it not?
+
+VAL. Yes.
+
+SGAN. I am come to speak to you if you will allow me.
+
+VAL. Can I have the happiness of rendering you any service?
+
+SGAN. No; but I propose to do you a good turn. That is what brings me to
+your house.
+
+VAL. To my house, sir!
+
+SGAN. To your house. Need you be so much astonished?
+
+VAL. I have good reason for it; I am delighted with the honour...
+
+SGAN. Do not mention the honour, I beseech you.
+
+VAL. Will you not come in?
+
+SGAN. There is no need.
+
+VAL. I pray you, enter.
+
+SGAN. No, I will go no further.
+
+VAL. As long as you stay there I cannot listen to you.
+
+SGAN. I will not budge.
+
+VAL. Well, I must yield. Quick, since this gentleman is resolved upon
+it, bring a chair.
+
+SGAN. I am going to talk standing.
+
+VAL. As if I could permit such a thing!
+
+SGAN. What an intolerable delay!
+
+VAL. Such incivility would be quite unpardonable.
+
+SGAN. Nothing can be so rude as not to listen to people who wish to
+speak to us.
+
+VAL. I obey you, then.
+
+SGAN. You cannot do better. (_They make many compliments about putting
+on their hats_). So much ceremony is hardly necessary. Will you
+listen to me?
+
+VAL. Undoubtedly, and most willingly.
+
+SGAN. Tell me: do you know that I am guardian to a tolerably young and
+passably handsome girl who lives in this neighbourhood, and whose name
+is Isabella?
+
+VAL. Yes.
+
+SGAN. As you know it, I need not tell it to you. But do you know,
+likewise, that as I find her charming, I care for her otherwise than as
+a guardian, and that she is destined for the honour of being my wife?
+
+VAL. No!
+
+SGAN. I tell it you, then; and also that it is as well that your
+passion, if you please, should leave her in peace.
+
+VAL. Who?--I, sir?
+
+SGAN. Yes, you. Let us have no dissembling.
+
+VAL. Who has told you that my heart is smitten by her?
+
+SGAN. Those who are worthy of belief.
+
+VAL. Be more explicit.
+
+SGAN. She herself.
+
+VAL. She!
+
+SGAN. She. Is not that enough? Like a virtuous young girl, who has loved
+me from childhood, she told me all just now; moreover, she charged me to
+tell you, that, since she has everywhere been followed by you, her
+heart, which your pursuit greatly offends, has only too well understood
+the language of your eyes; that your secret desires are well known to
+her; and that to try more fully to explain a passion which is contrary
+to the affection she entertains for me, is to give yourself needless
+trouble.
+
+VAL. She, you say, of her own accord, makes you...
+
+SGAN. Yes, makes me come to you and give you this frank and plain
+message; also, that, having observed the violent love wherewith your
+soul is smitten, she would earlier have let you know what she thinks
+about you if, perplexed as she was, she could have found anyone to send
+this message by; but that at length she was painfully compelled to make
+use of me, in order to assure you, as I have told you, that her
+affection is denied to all save me; that you have been ogling her long
+enough; and that, if you have ever so little brains, you will carry your
+passion somewhere else. Farewell, till our next meeting. That is what I
+had to tell you.
+
+VAL. (_Aside_). Ergaste, what say you to such an adventure?
+
+SGAN. (_Aside, retiring_). See how he is taken aback!
+
+ERG. (_In a low tone to Valère_). For my part, I think that there
+is nothing in it to displease you; that a rather subtle mystery is
+concealed under it; in short, that this message is not sent by one who
+desires to see the love end which she inspires in you.
+
+SGAN. (_Aside_). He takes it as he ought.
+
+VAL. (_In a low tone to Ergaste_). You think it a mystery...
+
+ERG. Yes.... But he is looking at us; let us get out of his sight.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE IV.--SGANARELLE, _alone_.
+
+
+How his face showed his confusion! Doubtless he did not expect this
+message. Let me call Isabella; she is showing the fruits which education
+produces on the mind. Virtue is all she cares for; and her heart is so
+deeply steeped in it, that she is offended if a man merely looks at her.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE V.--ISABELLA, SGANARELLE.
+
+
+ISA. (_Aside, as she enters_). I fear that my lover, full of his
+passion, has not understood my message rightly! Since I am so strictly
+guarded, I must risk one which shall make my meaning clearer.
+
+SGAN. Here I am, returned again.
+
+ISA. Well?
+
+SGAN. Your words wrought their full purpose; I have done his business.
+He wanted to deny that his heart was touched; but when I told him I came
+from you, he stood immediately dumbfounded and confused; I do not
+believe he will come here any more.
+
+ISA. Ah, what do you tell me? I much fear the contrary, and that he will
+still give us more trouble.
+
+SGAN. And why do you fear this?
+
+ISA. You had hardly left the house when, going to the window to take a
+breath of air, I saw a young man at yonder turning, who first came, most
+unexpectedly, to wish me good morning, on the part of this impertinent
+man, and then threw right into my chamber a box, enclosing a letter,
+sealed like a love-letter.
+
+[Footnote: The original has _un poulet_, literally "a chicken,"
+because love-letters were folded so as to represent a fowl, with two
+wings; this shape is now called _cocotte_, from _coq_, and,
+though no longer used to designate a billet-doux, is often employed in
+familiar phraseology, in speaking of a girl who does not lead a moral
+life.]
+
+I meant at once to throw it after him; but he had already reached the
+end of the street. I feel very much annoyed at it.
+
+SGAN. Just see his trickery and rascality!
+
+ISA. It is my duty quickly to have this box and letter sent back to this
+detestable lover; for that purpose I need some one; for I dare not
+venture to ask yourself...
+
+SGAN. On the contrary, darling, it shows me all the more your love and
+faithfulness; my heart joyfully accepts this task. You oblige me in this
+more than I can tell you.
+
+ISA. Take it then.
+
+SGAN. Well, let us see what he has dared to say to you.
+
+ISA. Heavens! Take care not to open it!
+
+SGAN. Why so?
+
+ISA. Will you make him believe that it is I? A respectable girl ought
+always to refuse to read the letters a man sends her. The curiosity
+which she thus betrays shows a secret pleasure in listening to
+gallantries. I think it right that this letter should be peremptorily
+returned to Valère unopened, that he may the better learn this day the
+great contempt which my heart feels for him; so that his passion may
+from this time lose all hope, and never more attempt such a
+transgression.
+
+SGAN. Of a truth she is right in this! Well, your virtue charms me, as
+well as your discretion. I see that my lessons have borne fruit in your
+mind; you show yourself worthy of being my wife.
+
+ISA. Still I do not like to stand in the way of your wishes. The letter
+is in your hands, and you can open it.
+
+SGAN. No, far from it. Your reasons are too good; I go to acquit myself
+of the task you impose upon me; I have likewise to say a few words quite
+near, and will then return hither to set you at rest.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE VI.--SGANARELLE, _alone_.
+
+
+How delighted I am to find her such a discreet girl! I have in my house
+a treasure of honour. To consider a loving look treason, to receive a
+love-letter as a supreme insult, and to have it carried back to the
+gallant by myself! I should like to know, seeing all this, if my
+brother's ward would have acted thus, on a similar occasion. Upon my
+word, girls are what you make them... Hulloa! (_Knocks at Valère's
+door_).
+
+
+
+
+SCENE VII.--SGANARELLE, ERGASTE.
+
+
+ERG. Who is there?
+
+SGAN. Take this; and tell your master not to presume so far as to write
+letters again, and send them in gold boxes; say also that Isabella is
+mightily offended at it. See, it has not even been opened. He will
+perceive what regard she has for his passion, and what success he can
+expect in it.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE VIII.--VALÈRE, ERGASTE.
+
+
+VAL. What has that surly brute just given you?
+
+ERG. This letter, sir, as well as this box, which he pretends that
+Isabella has received from you, and about which, he says, she is in a
+great rage. She returns it to you unopened. Read it quickly, and let us
+see if I am mistaken.
+
+VAL. (_Reads_). "_This letter will no doubt surprise you; both
+the resolution to write to you and the means of conveying it to your
+hands may be thought very bold in me; but I am in such a condition, that
+I can no longer restrain myself. Well-founded repugnance to a marriage
+with which I am threatened in six days, makes me risk everything; and in
+the determination to free myself from it by whatever means, I thought I
+had rather choose you than despair. Yet do not think that you owe all to
+my evil fate; it is not the constraint in which I find myself that has
+given rise to the sentiments I entertain for you; but it hastens the
+avowal of them, and makes me transgress the decorum which the
+proprieties of my sex require. It depends on you alone to make me
+shortly your own; I wait only until you have declared your intentions to
+me before acquainting you with the resolution I have taken; but, above
+all remember that time presses, and that two hearts, which love each
+other, ought to understand even the slightest hint._"
+
+ERG. Well, sir, is not this contrivance original? For a young girl she
+is not so very ignorant. Would one have thought her capable of these
+love stratagems?
+
+VAL. Ah, I consider her altogether adorable. This evidence of her wit
+and tenderness doubles my love for her, and strengthens the feelings
+with which her beauty inspires me....
+
+ERG. Here comes the dupe; think what you will say to him.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE IX.-—SGANARELLE, VALÈRE, ERGASTE.
+
+
+SGAN. (_Thinking himself alone_). Oh, thrice and four times blessed
+be the law which forbids extravagance in dress!
+
+[Footnote: It is remarkable that Louis XIV., who was so extravagant
+himself in his buildings, dress, and general expenses published sixteen
+laws against luxury; the law Sganarelle speaks of was promulgated
+November 27th, 1660, against the use of _guipures, cannetilles,
+paillettes_, etc., on men's dresses.]
+
+No longer will the troubles of husbands be so great! women will now be
+checked in their demands. Oh, how delighted I am with the King for this
+proclamation!
+
+[Footnote: The original has _décri_ a proclamation which forbade
+the manufacturing, sale or wearing, of certain fabrics.]
+
+How I wish, for the peace of the same husbands, that he would forbid
+coquetry, as well as lace, and gold or silver embroidery. I have bought
+the law on purpose, so that Isabella may read it aloud; and, by and by,
+when she is at leisure, it shall be our entertainment after supper.
+(_Perceiving Valère_). Well, Mr. Sandy-hair, would you like to send
+again love-letters in boxes of gold? You doubtless thought you had found
+some young flirt, eager for an intrigue, and melting before pretty
+speeches. You see how your presents are received! Believe me, you waste
+your powder and shot. Isabella is a discreet girl, she loves me and your
+love insults her. Aim at some one else, and be off!
+
+VAL. Yes, yes; your merits, to which everyone yields, are too great an
+obstacle, sir. Though my passion be sincere, it is folly to contend with
+you for the love of Isabella.
+
+SGAN. It is really folly.
+
+VAL. Be sure I should not have yielded to the fascination of her charms,
+could I have foreseen that this wretched heart would find a rival so
+formidable as yourself.
+
+SGAN. I believe it.
+
+VAL. Now I know better than to hope; I yield to you, sir, and that too
+without a murmur.
+
+SGAN. You do well.
+
+VAL. Reason will have it so; for you shine with so many virtues, that I
+should be wrong to regard with an angry eye the tender sentiments which
+Isabella entertains for you.
+
+SGAN. Of course.
+
+VAL. Yes, yes, I yield to you; but at least I pray you,--and it is the
+only favour, sir, begged by a wretched lover, of whose pangs this day
+you are the sole cause,--I pray you, I say, to assure Isabella that, if
+my heart has been burning with love for her these three months, that
+passion is spotless, and has never fostered a thought at which her
+honour could be offended.
+
+SGAN. Ay.
+
+VAL. That, relying solely on my heart's choice, my only design was to
+obtain her for my wife, if destiny had not opposed an obstacle to this
+pure flame in you, who captivated her heart.
+
+SGAN. Very good.
+
+VAL. That, whatever happens, she must not think that her charms can ever
+be forgotten; that to whatever decrees of Heaven I must submit, my fate
+is to love her to my last breath; and that, if anything checks my
+pursuit, it is the just respect I have for your merits.
+
+[Footnote: We are of course to read between the lines: "If there is
+anything which could strengthen my resolution to save her, it is the
+natural detestation which I feel for you."]
+
+SGAN. That is wisely spoken; I shall go at once to repeat these words,
+which will not be disagreeable to her. But, if you will listen to me,
+try to act so as to drive this passion from your mind. Farewell.
+
+ERG. (_To Valeère_). The excellent dupe!
+
+
+
+
+SCENE X.--SGANARELLE, _alone_.
+
+
+I feel a great pity for this poor wretch, so full of affection. But it
+is unfortunate for him to have taken it into his head to try to storm a
+fortress which I have captured.
+
+(_Sganarelle knocks at his door_.)
+
+
+
+SCENE XI.--SGANARELLE, ISABELLA.
+
+
+SGAN. Never did lover display so much grief for a love-letter returned
+unopened! At last he loses all hope, and retires. But he earnestly
+entreated me to tell you, that, at least, in loving you, he never
+fostered a thought at which your honour could be offended, and that,
+relying solely on his heart's choice, his only desire was to obtain you
+for a wife, if destiny had not opposed an obstacle to his pure flame,
+through me, who captivated your heart; that, whatever happens, you must
+not think that your charms can ever be forgotten by him; that, to
+whatever decrees of Heaven he must submit, his fate is to love you to
+his last breath; and that if anything checks his pursuit, it is the just
+respect he has for my merits. These are his very words; and, far from
+blaming him, I think him a gentleman, and I pity him for loving you.
+
+ISA. (_Aside_). His passion does not contradict my secret belief,
+and his looks have always assured me of its innocence.
+
+SGAN. What do you say?
+
+ISA. That it is hard that you should so greatly pity a man whom I hate
+like death; and that, if you loved me as much as you say, you would feel
+how he insults me by his addresses.
+
+SGAN. But he did not know your inclinations; and, from the uprightness
+of his intentions, his love does not deserve...
+
+ISA. Is it good intentions, I ask, to try and carry people off? Is it
+like a man of honour to form designs for marrying me by force, and
+taking me out of your hands? As if I were a girl to live after such a
+disgrace!
+
+SGAN. How?
+
+ISA. Yes, yes, I have been informed that this base lover speaks of
+carrying me off by force; for my part, I cannot tell by what secret
+means he has learned so early that you intend to marry me in eight days
+
+[Footnote: In the letter which Isabella writes to Valère (see page 279),
+she speaks of a marriage with which she is threatened in six days. This
+is, I suppose, a pious fraud, to urge Valère to make haste, for here she
+mentions "eight days."]
+
+at the latest, since it was only yesterday you told me so. But they say
+that he intends to be beforehand with you, and not let me unite my lot
+to yours.
+
+SGAN. That is a bad case.
+
+ISA. Oh, pardon me! He is eminently a gentleman, who only feels towards
+me...
+
+SGAN. He is wrong; and this is past joking.
+
+ISA. Yes, your good nature encourages his folly. If you had spoken
+sharply to him just now, he would have feared your rage and my
+resentment; for even since his letter was rejected, he mentioned this
+design which has shocked me. As I have been told, his love retains the
+belief that it is well received by me; that I dread to marry you,
+whatever people may think, and should be rejoiced to see myself away
+from you.
+
+SGAN. He is mad!
+
+ISA. Before you, he knows how to disguise; and his plan is to amuse you.
+Be sure the wretch makes sport of you by these fair speeches. I must
+confess that I am very unhappy. After all my pains to live honourably,
+and to repel the addresses of a vile seducer, I must be exposed to his
+vexatious and infamous designs against me!
+
+SGAN. There, fear nothing.
+
+ISA. For my part I tell you that if you do not strongly reprove such an
+impudent attempt, and do not find quickly means of ridding me of such
+bold persecutions, I will abandon all, and not suffer any longer the
+insults which I receive from him.
+
+SGAN. Do not be so troubled, my little wife. There, I am going to find
+him, to give him a good blowing up.
+
+ISA. Tell him at least plainly, so that it may be in vain for him to
+gainsay it, that I have been told of his intentions upon good authority;
+that, after this message, whatever he may undertake, I defy him to
+surprise me; and, lastly, that, without wasting any more sighs or time,
+he must know what are my feelings for you; that, if he wishes not to be
+the cause of some mischief, he should not require to have the same thing
+told twice over.
+
+SGAN. I will tell him what is right.
+
+ISA. But all this in such a way as to show him that I really speak
+seriously.
+
+SGAN. There, I will forget nothing, I assure you.
+
+ISA. I await your return impatiently. Pray, make as much haste as you
+can. I pine when I am a moment without seeing you.
+
+SGAN. There, ducky, my heart's delight, I will return immediately.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE XII.--SGANARELLE, _alone_.
+
+
+Was there ever a girl more discreet and better behaved? Oh, how happy I
+am! and what a pleasure it is to find a woman just after my own heart!
+Yes, that is how our women ought to be, and not, like some I know,
+downright flirts, who allow themselves to be courted, and make their
+simple husbands to be pointed at all over Paris. (_Knocks at Valère's
+door_). Hulloa, my enterprising, fine gallant!
+
+
+
+
+SCENE XIII.--VALÈRE, SGANARELLE, ERGASTE.
+
+
+VAL. Sir, what brings you here again?
+
+SGAN. Your follies.
+
+VAL. How?
+
+SGAN. You know well enough what I wish to speak to you about. To tell
+you plainly, I thought you had more sense. You have been making fun of
+me with your fine speeches, and secretly nourish silly expectations.
+Look you, I wished to treat you gently; but you will end by making me
+very angry. Are you not ashamed, considering who you are, to form, such
+designs as you do? to intend to carry off a respectable girl, and
+interrupt a marriage on which her whole happiness depends?
+
+VAL. Who told you this strange piece of news, sir?
+
+SGAN. Do not let us dissimulate; I have it from Isabella, who sends you
+word by me, for the last time, that she has plainly enough shown you
+what her choice is; that her heart, entirely mine, is insulted by such a
+plan; that she would rather die than suffer such an outrage; and that
+you will cause a terrible uproar, unless you put an end to all this
+confusion.
+
+VAL. If she really said what I have just heard, I confess that my
+passion has nothing more to expect. These expressions are plain enough
+to let me see that all is ended; I must respect the judgment she has
+passed.
+
+SGAN. If... You doubt it then, and fancy all the complaints that I have
+made to you on her behalf are mere pretences! Do you wish that she
+herself should tell you her feelings? To set you right, I willingly
+consent to it. Follow me; you shall hear if I have added anything, and
+if her young heart hesitates between us two. (_Goes and knocks at his
+own door_).
+
+
+
+
+SCENE XIV.--ISABELLA, SGANARELLE, VALÈRE, ERGASTE.
+
+
+ISA. What! you bring Valère to me! What is your design? Are you taking
+his part against me? And do you wish, charmed by his rare merits, to
+compel me to love him, and endure his visits?
+
+SGAN. No, my love; your affection is too dear to me for that; but he
+believes that my messages are untrue; he thinks that it is I who speak,
+and cunningly represent you as full of hatred for him, and of tenderness
+for me; I wish, therefore, from your own mouth, infallibly to cure him
+of a mistake which nourishes his love.
+
+ISA. (_To Valère_). What! Is not my soul completely bared to your
+eyes, and can you still doubt whom I love?
+
+VAL. Yes, all that this gentleman has told me on your behalf, Madam,
+might well surprise a man; I confess I doubted it. This final sentence,
+which decides the fate of my great love, moves my feelings so much that
+it can be no offence if I wish to have it repeated.
+
+ISA. No. no, such a sentence should not surprise you. Sganarelle told
+you my very sentiments; I consider them to be sufficiently founded on
+justice, to make their full truth clear. Yes, I desire it to be known,
+and I ought to be believed, that fate here presents two objects to my
+eyes, who, inspiring me with different sentiments, agitate my heart. One
+by a just choice, in which my honour is involved, has all my esteem and
+love; and the other, in return for his affection, has all my anger and
+aversion. The presence of the one is pleasing and dear to me, and fills
+me with joy; but the sight of the other inspires me with secret emotions
+of hatred and horror. To see myself the wife of the one is all my
+desire; and rather than belong to the other, I would lose my life. But I
+have sufficiently declared my real sentiments; and languished too long
+under this severe torture. He whom I love must use diligence to make him
+whom I hate lose all hope, and deliver me by a happy marriage, from a
+suffering more terrible than death.
+
+SGAN. Yes, darling, I intend to gratify your wish.
+
+ISA. It is the only way to make me happy.
+
+SGAN. You shall soon be so.
+
+ISA. I know it is a shame for a young woman, so openly to declare her
+love.
+
+SGAN. No, no.
+
+ISA. But, seeing what my lot is, such liberty must be allowed me; I can,
+without blushing, make so tender a confession to him whom I already
+regard as a husband.
+
+SGAN. Yes, my poor child, darling of my soul!
+
+ISA. Let him think, then, how to prove his passion for me.
+
+SGAN. Yes, here, kiss my hand.
+
+ISA. Let him, without more sighing, hasten a marriage which is all I
+desire, and accept the assurance which I give him, never to listen to
+the vows of another. (_She pretends to embrace Sganarelle, and gives
+her hand to Valère to kiss_).
+
+[Footnote: This stage play is imitated by Congreve in _The Old
+Bachelor_, (Act iv., Scene 22) when Mrs. Fondlewife goes and hangs
+upon her husband's neck and kisses him; whilst Bellmour kisses her hand
+behind Fondlewife's back.]
+
+SGAN. Oh, oh, my little pretty face, my poor little darling, you shall
+not pine long, I promise you. (_To Valère_). There, say no more.
+You see I do not make her speak; it is me alone she loves.
+
+VAL. Well, Madam, well, this is sufficient explanation. I learn by your
+words what you urge me to do; I shall soon know how to rid your presence
+of him who so greatly offends you.
+
+ISA. You could not give me greater pleasure. For, to be brief, the sight
+of him is intolerable. It is odious to me, and I detest it so much...
+
+SGAN. Eh! Eh!
+
+ISA. Do I offend you by speaking thus? Do I...
+
+SGAN. Heavens, by no means! I do not say that. But in truth, I pity his
+condition; you show your aversion too openly.
+
+ISA. I cannot show it too much on such an occasion.
+
+VAL. Yes, you shall be satisfied; in three days your eyes shall no
+longer see the object which is odious to you.
+
+ISA. That is right. Farewell.
+
+SGAN. (_To Valère_): I pity your misfortune, but...
+
+VAL. No, you will hear no complaint from me. The lady assuredly does us
+both justice, and I shall endeavour to satisfy her wishes. Farewell.
+
+SGAN. Poor fellow! his grief is excessive. Stay, embrace me: I am her
+second self. (_Embraces Valère_)
+
+
+
+
+SCENE XV--ISABELLA, SGANARELLE.
+
+
+SGAN. I think he is greatly to be pitied.
+
+ISA. Not at all.
+
+SGAN. For the rest, your love touches me to the quick, little darling,
+and I mean it shall have its reward. Eight days are too long for your
+impatience; to-morrow I will marry you, and will not invite...
+
+ISA. To-morrow!
+
+SGAN. You modestly pretend to shrink from it; but I well know the joy
+these words afford you; you wish it were already over.
+
+ISA. But...
+
+SGAN. Let us get everything ready for this marriage.
+
+ISA. (_Aside_), Heaven! Inspire me with a plan to put it off!
+
+
+
+
+ACT III.
+
+SCENE I.--ISABELLA, _alone_.
+
+
+Yes, death seems to me a hundred times less dreadful than this fatal
+marriage into which I am forced; all that I am doing to escape its
+horrors should excuse me in the eyes of those who blame me. Time
+presses; it is night; now, then, let me fearlessly entrust my fate to a
+lover's fidelity.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE II.--SGANARELLE, ISABELLA.
+
+
+SGAN. (_Speaking to those inside the house_). Here I am once more;
+to-morrow they are going, in my name...
+
+ISA. O Heaven!
+
+SGAN. Is it you, darling? Where are you going so late? You said when I
+left you that, being rather tired, you would shut yourself up in your
+room; you even begged that on my return I would let you be quiet till
+to-morrow morning....
+
+ISA. It is true; but...
+
+SGAN. But what?
+
+ISA. You see I am confused; I do not know how to tell you the reason.
+
+SGAN. Why, whatever can it be?
+
+ISA. A wonderful secret! It is my sister who now compels me to go out,
+and who, for a purpose for which I have greatly blamed her, has borrowed
+my room, in which I have shut her up.
+
+SGAN. What?
+
+ISA. Could it be believed? She is in love with that suitor whom we have
+discarded.
+
+SGAN. With Valère?
+
+ISA. Desperately! Her passion is so great that I can compare it with
+nothing; you may judge of its violence by her coming here alone, at this
+hour, to confide to me her love, and to tell me positively that she will
+die if she does not obtain the object of her desire; that, for more than
+a year, a secret intercourse has kept up the ardour of their love; and
+that they had even pledged themselves to marry each other when their
+passion was new.
+
+SGAN. Oh, the wretched girl!
+
+ISA. That, being informed of the despair into which I had plunged the
+man whom she loves to see, she came to beg me to allow her to prevent a
+departure which would break her heart; to meet this lover to-night under
+my name, in the little street on which my room looks, where
+counterfeiting my voice, she may utter certain tender feelings, and
+thereby tempt him to stay; in short, cleverly to secure for herself the
+regard which it is known he has for me.
+
+SGAN. And do you think this...
+
+ISA. I? I am enraged at it. "What," said I, "sister, are you mad? Do you
+not blush to indulge in such a love for one of those people who change
+every day? To forget your sex, and betray the trust put in you by the
+man whom Heaven has destined you to marry?"
+
+SGAN. He deserves it richly; I am delighted by it.
+
+ISA. Finally my vexation employed a hundred arguments to reprove such
+baseness in her, and enable me to refuse her request for to-night; but
+she became so importunate, shed so many tears, heaved so many sighs,
+said so often that I was driving her to despair if I refused to gratify
+her passion, that my heart was brought to consent in spite of me; and,
+to justify this night's intrigue, to which affection for my own sister
+made me assent, I was about to bring Lucretia to sleep with me, whose
+virtues you extol to me daily; but you surprised me by your speedy
+return.
+
+SGAN. No, no, I will not have all this mystery at my house. As for my
+brother, I might agree to it; but they may be seen by some one in the
+street, and she whom I am to honour with my body must not only be modest
+and well-born; she must not even be suspected. Let us send the miserable
+girl away, and let her passion...
+
+ISA. Ah, you would overwhelm her with confusion, and she might justly
+complain of my want of discretion. Since I must not countenance her
+design, at least wait till I send her away.
+
+SGAN. Well, do so.
+
+ISA. But above all, conceal yourself, I beg of you, and be content to
+see her depart without speaking one word to her.
+
+SGAN. Yes, for your sake I will restrain my anger; but as soon as she is
+gone, I will go and find my brother without delay. I shall be delighted
+to run and tell him of this business.
+
+ISA. I entreat you, then, not to mention my name. Good night; for I
+shall shut myself in at the same time.
+
+SGAN. Till to-morrow, dear... How impatient I am to see my brother, and
+tell him of his plight! The good man has been victimized, with all his
+bombast!
+
+[Footnote: The original has _phébus_, which is often used for a
+swollen and pretentious style, because it is said that a work on the
+chase, written in the fourteenth century by Gaston, Count of Foix, in
+such a style, was called _Miroir de Phébus_. It is more probable
+that the word _phébus_, meaning showy language, is derived from the
+Greek _phoibos_, brilliant.]
+
+I would not have this undone for twenty crowns!
+
+ISA. (_Within_). Yes, sister, I am sorry to incur your displeasure;
+but what you wish me to do is impossible. My honour, which is dear to
+me, would run too great a risk. Farewell, go home before it is too late.
+
+SGAN. There she goes, fretting finely, I warrant. Let me lock the door,
+for fear she should return.
+
+ISA. (_Going out disguised_). Heaven! abandon me not in my resolve!
+
+SGAN. Whither can she be going? Let me follow her.
+
+ISA. (_Aside_). Night, at least, favours me in my distress.
+
+SGAN. (_Aside_). To the gallant's house! What is her design?
+
+
+
+
+SCENE III.--VALÈRE, ISABELLA, SGANARELLE.
+
+
+VAL. (_Coming out quickly_). Yes, yes; I will this night make some
+effort to speak to... Who is there?
+
+ISA. (_To Valère_). No noise, Valère; I have forestalled you; I am
+Isabella.
+
+SGAN. (_Aside_). You lie, minx; it is not she. She is too staunch
+to those laws of honour which you forsake; you are falsely assuming her
+name and voice.
+
+ISA. (_To Valère_). But unless by the holy bonds of matrimony...
+
+VAL. Yes; that is my only purpose; and here I make you a solemn promise
+that to-morrow I will go wherever you please to be married to you.
+
+SGAN. (_Aside_). Poor deluded fool!
+
+VAL. Enter with confidence. I now defy the power of your duped Argus;
+before he can tear you from my love, this arm shall stab him to the
+heart a thousand times.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE IV.--SGANARELLE, _alone_.
+
+
+Oh, I can assure you I do not want to take from you a shameless girl, so
+blinded by her passion. I am not jealous of your promise to her; if I am
+to be believed, you shall be her husband. Yes, let us surprise him with
+this bold creature. The memory of her father, who was justly respected,
+and the great interest I take in her sister, demand that an attempt, at
+least, should be made to restore her honour. Hulloa, there! (_Knocks
+at the door of a magistrate_).
+
+[Footnote: See page 261, note 5.]
+
+
+
+
+SCENE V.--SGANARELLE, A MAGISTRATE, A NOTARY, ATTENDANT _with a
+lantern_.
+
+
+MAG. What is it?
+
+SGAN. Your servant, your worship. Your presence in official garb is
+necessary here. Follow me, please, with your lantern-bearer.
+
+MAG. We were going...
+
+SGAN. This is a very pressing business.
+
+MAG. What is it?
+
+SGAN. To go into that house and surprise two persons who must be joined
+in lawful matrimony. It is a girl with whom I am connected, and whom,
+under promise of marriage, a certain Valère has seduced and got into his
+house. She comes of a noble and virtuous family, but...
+
+MAG. If that is the business, it was well you met us, since we have a
+notary here.
+
+SGAN. Sir?
+
+NOT. Yes, a notary royal.
+
+MAG. And what is more, an honourable man.
+
+SGAN. No need to add that. Come to this doorway; make no noise, but see
+that no one escapes. You shall be fully satisfied for your trouble, but
+be sure and do not let yourself be bribed.
+
+MAG. What! do you think that an officer of justice...
+
+SGAN. What I said was not meant as a reflection on your position. I will
+bring my brother here at once; only let the lantern-bearer accompany me.
+(_Aside_). I am going to give this placable man a treat. Hulloa!
+(_Knocks at Ariste's door_).
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+
+SCENE VI.--ARISTE, SGANARELLE.
+
+
+AR. Who knocks? Why, what do you want, brother?
+
+SGAN. Come, my fine teacher, my superannuated buck; I shall have
+something pretty to show you.
+
+AR. How?
+
+SGAN. I bring you good news.
+
+AR. What is it?
+
+SGAN. Where is your Léonor, pray?
+
+AR. Why this question? She is, as I think, at a friend's house at a
+ball.
+
+SGAN. Eh! Oh yes! Follow me; you shall see to what ball Missy is gone.
+
+AR. What do you mean?
+
+SGAN. You have brought her up very well indeed. It is not good to be
+always finding fault; the mind is captivated by much tenderness; and
+suspicious precautions, bolts, and bars, make neither wives nor maids
+virtuous; we cause them to do evil by so much austerity; their sex
+demands a little freedom. Of a verity she has taken her fill of it, the
+artful girl; and with her, virtue has grown very complaisant.
+
+AR. What is the drift of such a speech?
+
+SGAN. Bravo, my elder brother! it is what you richly deserve; I would
+not for twenty pistoles that you should have missed this fruit of your
+silly maxims. Look what our lessons have produced in these two sisters:
+the one avoids the gallants, the other runs after them.
+
+AR. If you will not make your riddle clearer...
+
+SGAN. The riddle is that her ball is at Valère's; that I saw her go to
+him under cover of night, and that she is at this moment in his arms.
+
+AR. Who?
+
+SGAN. Léonor.
+
+AR. A truce to jokes, I beg of you.
+
+SGAN. I joke... He is excellent with his joking! Poor fellow! I tell
+you, and tell you again, that Valère has your Léonor in his house, and
+that they had pledged each other before he dreamed of running after
+Isabella.
+
+AR. This story is so very improbable...
+
+SGAN. He will not believe it, even when he sees it. I am getting angry;
+upon my word, old age is not good for much when brains are wanting!
+
+(_Laying his finger on his forehead_).
+
+AR. What! brother, you mean to...
+
+SGAN. I mean nothing, upon my soul! Only follow me. Your mind shall be
+satisfied directly. You shall see whether I am deceiving you, and
+whether they have not pledged their troth for more than a year past.
+
+AR. Is it likely she could thus have agreed to this engagement without
+telling me?--me! who in everything, from her infancy, ever displayed
+towards her a complete readiness to please, and who a hundred times
+protested I would never force her inclinations.
+
+SGAN. Well, your own eyes shall judge of the matter. I have already
+brought here a magistrate and a notary. We are concerned that the
+promised marriage shall at once restore to her the honour she has lost;
+for I do not suppose you are so mean-spirited as to wish to marry her
+with this stain upon her, unless you have still some arguments to raise
+you above all kinds of ridicule.
+
+AR. For my part, I shall never be so weak as wish to possess a heart in
+spite of itself. But, after all, I cannot believe...
+
+SGAN. What speeches you make! Come, this might go on for ever.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE VII.--SGANARELLE, ARISTE, A MAGISTRATE, A NOTARY.
+
+
+MAG. There is no need to use any compulsion here, gentlemen. If you wish
+to have them married, your anger may be appeased on the spot. Both are
+equally inclined to it; Valère has already given under his hand a
+statement that he considers her who is now with him as his wife.
+
+AR. The girl...
+
+MAG. Is within, and will not come out, unless you consent to gratify
+their desires.
+
+
+
+
+SCENE VIII.--VALÈRE, A MAGISTRATE, A NOTARY, SGANARELLE, ARISTE.
+
+
+VAL. (_At the window of his house_). No, gentlemen; no man shall
+enter here until your pleasure be known to me. You know who I am; I have
+done my duty in signing the statement, which they can show you. If you
+intend to approve of the marriage, you must also put your names to this
+agreement; if not, prepare to take my life before you shall rob me of
+the object of my love.
+
+SGAN. No, we have no notion of separating you from her. (_Aside_).
+He has not yet been undeceived in the matter of Isabella. Let us make
+the most of his mistake.
+
+AR. (_To Valère_). But is it Léonor?
+
+SGAN. Hold your tongue!
+
+AR. But...
+
+SGAN. Be quiet!
+
+AR. I want to know...
+
+SGAN. Again! Will you hold your tongue, I say?
+
+VAL. To be brief: whatever be the consequence, Isabella has my solemn
+promise; I also have hers; if you consider everything, I am not so bad a
+match that you should blame her.
+
+AR. What he says is not...
+
+SGAN. Be quiet! I have a reason for it. You shall know the mystery.
+(_To Valére_). Yes, without any more words, we both consent that
+you shall be the husband of her who is at present in your house.
+
+MAG. The contract is drawn up in those very terms, and there is a blank
+for the name, as we have not seen her. Sign. The lady can set you all at
+ease by-and-by.
+
+VAL. I agree to the arrangement.
+
+SGAN. And so do I, with all my heart. (_Aside_). We will have a
+good laugh presently. (_Aloud)_. There, brother, sign; yours the
+honour to sign first.
+
+AR. But why all this mystery...
+
+SGAN. The deuce! what hesitation. Sign, you simpleton.
+
+AR. He talks of Isabella, and you of Léonor.
+
+SGAN. Are you not agreed, brother, if it be she, to leave them to their
+mutual promises?
+
+AR. Doubtless.
+
+SGAN. Sign, then; I shall do the same.
+
+AR. So be it. I understand nothing about it.
+
+SGAN. You shall be enlightened.
+
+MAG. We will soon return.
+
+(_Exeunt Magistrate and Notary into Valeère's house_).
+
+SGAN. (_To Ariste_). Now, then, I will give you a cue to this
+intrigue. (_They retire to the back of the stage_).
+
+
+
+
+SCENE IX.--LÉONOR, SGANARELLE, ARISTE, LISETTE.
+
+
+LEO. Ah, what a strange martyrdom! What bores all those young fools
+appear to me! I have stolen away from the ball, on account of them.
+
+LIS. Each of them tried to make himself agreeable to you.
+
+LEO. And I never endured anything more intolerable. I should prefer the
+simplest conversation to all the babblings of these say-nothings.
+
+[Footnote: The original has _contes bleus_, literally "blue
+stories" because old tales, such as _The Four Sons of Aymon,
+Fortunatus, Valentine and Orson_ were formerly sold, printed on
+coarse paper and with blue paper cover; a kind of popular, but not
+political, "blue-books."]
+
+They fancy that everything must give way before their flaxen wigs, and
+think they have said the cleverest witticism when they come up, with
+their silly chaffing tone, and rally you stupidly about the love of an
+old man. For my part, I value more highly the affection of such an old
+man than all the giddy raptures of a youthful brain. But do I not see...
+
+SGAN (_To Ariste_). Yes, so the matter stands. (_Perceiving
+Léonor_). Ah, there she is, and her maid with her.
+
+AR. Léonor, without being angry, I have reason to complain. You know
+whether I have ever sought to restrain you, and whether I have not
+stated a hundred times that I left you full liberty to gratify your own
+wishes; yet your heart, regardless of my approval, has pledged its
+faith, as well as its love, without my knowledge. I do not repent of my
+indulgence; but your conduct certainly annoys me; it is a way of acting
+which the tender friendship I have borne you does not merit.
+
+LEO. I know not why you speak to me thus; but believe me, I am as I have
+ever been; nothing can alter my esteem for you; love for any other man
+would seem to me a crime; if you will satisfy my wishes, a holy bond
+shall unite us to-morrow.
+
+AR. On what foundation, then, have you, brother...
+
+SGAN. What! Did you not come out of Valère's house? Have you not been
+declaring your passion this very day? And have you not been for a year
+past in love with him?
+
+LEO. Who has been painting such pretty pictures of me? Who has been at
+the trouble of inventing such falsehoods?
+
+
+
+
+SCENE X.--ISABELLA, VALÈRE, LÉONOR, ARISTE, SGANARELLE, MAGISTRATE,
+NOTARY, LISETTE, ERGASTE.
+
+
+ISA. Sister, I ask you generously to pardon me, if, by the freedom I
+have taken, I have brought some scandal upon your name. The urgent
+pressure of a great necessity, suggested to me, some time ago, this
+disgraceful stratagem. Your example condemns such an escapade; but
+fortune treated us differently. (_To Sganarelle_). As for you, sir,
+I will not excuse myself to you. I serve you much more than I wrong you.
+Heaven did not design us for one another. As I found I was unworthy of
+your love, and undeserving of a heart like yours, I vastly preferred to
+see myself in another's hands.
+
+VAL. (_To Sganarelle_). For me, I esteem it my greatest glory and
+happiness to receive her, sir, from your hands.
+
+AR. Brother, you must take this matter quietly. Your own conduct is the
+cause of this. I can see it is your unhappy lot that no one will pity
+you, though they know you have been made a fool of.
+
+LIS. Upon my word, I am glad of this. This reward of his mistrust is a
+striking retribution.
+
+LEO. I do not know whether the trick ought to be commended; but I am
+quite sure that I, at least, cannot blame it.
+
+ERG. His star condemns him to be a cuckold; it is lucky for him he is
+only a retrospective one.
+
+SGAN. (_Recovering from the stupor into which he had been
+plunged_). No, I cannot get the better of my astonishment. This
+faithlessness perplexes my understanding. I think that Satan in person
+could be no worse than such a jade! I could have sworn it was not in
+her. Unhappy he who trusts a woman after this! The best of them are
+always full of mischief; they were made to damn the whole world. I
+renounce the treacherous sex for ever, and give them to the devil with
+all my heart!
+
+ERG. Well said.
+
+AR. Let us all go to my house. Come, M. Valère, tomorrow we will try to
+appease his wrath.
+
+LIS. (_To the audience_). As for you, if you know any churlish
+husbands, by all means send them to school with us.
+
+[Footnote: This is the last time Molière directly addressed the audience
+at the end of one of his plays; in _Sganarelle_ he did it for the
+first time.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The School for Husbands, by Moliere
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