Omaha daily bee., 1895-12-01
ADJUSTMENTS,

EsS.ssSsss as.si =. y J : q No
The course OF study Of Moliere laid out
by the literary section Of the Unity cut
| bids fair to be most interesting as we'll as
profitable one to those concerned. 1t is
the intention to take up the plays one by one
an evening being devoted to each Of the
best known. After an Introductory essay, out
lining the circumstances under which the
play was written ard produced and the prin-
| cipal feature of the work itself, the play is
read in whole or in part, and an informal
discussion closes the evening. The first paper
Of the seriest appears herewith. The next, on
Les Precieuses Ridicules," by Miss Ada
| Tobitt, is announced for the evening OF
January 4.
LIE BOURGEOIS GENTILHOMME.
The eyes of Moliere, ever keen beyond
the faculties of most men who have lived
upon this earth to perceive the faults and
frailtes Of its denizens, looked out in 1869
upon world which, without being greatly
better or worse than 1t had been for few
years Immediately before or was to be for a
Few years to come, was yet in the midst of a
period In its history which marked lower
plane of moral life than it had known for
centuries past.
lie Grand Monarque ruled over France
Louis, the God-given, the fourteenth of the
name, who reared in the course of his reign
of seventy-two years that fabric Of absolute
monarchy which was to endure for as long
time after his death until the last vestiges
Of 1t were swept away by the high tide of
revolutions the period Of whose sway is called
the Augustan age of France from the num-
Der OF great men whom he assembled around
his throne; and whose personal licentious-
ness, reflected in the immortality of bril-
liant, but corrupt court, was warrant for
the unparalleled ooseness which pervaded all
classes of the people. The entree of the
gittering circle nearest the king was not
always to those who by distinguished
achievements in war, statecraft or the arts
had deserved rank and place. Moliere was
there, to be sure, and Racine and Corneille
and Boileau and La Fontaine, besides great
soldiers, able statesmen, painters, engineers
and scientists Of distinction, and the throng
of the hereditary nobility; but upstarts of all
kinds crept in and the newly rich, ambitious
of prefsrment, made frequent and often sue
cessful financial bids for position, and, in or
out, aped the manners, dress and language Of
those more advantageously placed in the
social scale.
Possibly we, who live in still more
favored time, when money Is accounted
dross and ungllded merit receives its due
reward may fail in the completest appreci-
alton Of the causes which led the dramatist
to pillory these amiable and ambitious cit-
zens and to write lie Bourgeois Genti-
homme." At all events he, whose wont 1t
was to hit the first ugly head in sight, be-
came unpleasantly conscious Of the SNUG
features of this kind of hypocrisy and hit
them lightning stroke in the year 1869.
Moliere had at that time a place at court
involving duties about the person of the
king, who was then and always his friend
and patron, protecting him steadfastly
against the animosity of the courtiers
which was provoked anew each successive
play gave fresh wound to their flourishing
self-esteem. The historian Motley, in his
admirable paper on Moliere, which forms a
part of the Biographical and Critical Mis-
cellanies," describes the circumstances of the
first production Of lie Bourgeois Gentil-
homme." 1.-THE play he says, was first
represented in the presence of the court at
Chambord. The king maintained during the
performance an inscrutable physiognomy,
which made it doubtful what might be his
real sentiments respecting it. The same de-
pertinent was maintained by him during the
evening toward the author, who was in at
tendance in his capacity of valet de chambre. |
The quick-eyed courtiers, the counts and |
marquiseo, who had so often smarted under |
the lash Of the poet constituting this into an |
expression of royal disapprobation, were loud |
In their condemnation of him, and a certain !
duke boldly affirmed that he was fast sink |
ing into his second childhood and that un- |
less some better writer appeared French |
comedy would degenerate into mere Italian |
farce. The unfortunate poet unable to |
catch single ray of consolation, was |
greatly depressed during the interval or fiVe |
days which preceded the second representa-
tion Of his piece, on returning from which |
the monarch assured him that none of his |
productions had afforded him greater enter
and that if he had delayed ex-
pressing his opinion on the preceding night
1t was from the apprehension that his judg-
ment might have been Influenced by the |
excellence of the acting Whatever we may
think Of this exhibition of royal caprice we
must admire the suppleness of the courtlers,
one and all of whom straightway expressed
their full conviction of the merits of the
comedy, and the duke above mentioned
added In particular that there was a Wis
comica in all that Molere ever wrote to
which the ancients could furnish no parallelv
What exquisite studies for his pencil must
Moiere not have found in this precious as
sembly'
. In point Of construction lie Bourgeois
Gentilhomme' differs from all others of
Moliere's plays in being really "a play in
cne act, divided by ballets." Aime Martin
aludes to this popularity, which would
hardly escape even a superficial reader. 1t
would be long single act which should
lie Bourgeois Gentilhomme," but
TO all intents and purposes, and from a
technical standpoint there are no more
The characters there are a bakers dozen of
speaking parts) "have their exits and their
entrances" each change of that kind being