The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-25
GOLDEN AGES OF LITERATURE
XVII.-MOLIERE AND THE AGE
OF LOUIS XIV.
BY MAURICE FRANCIS EGAN
Ii. u.

Inc name or Louis XIV, with whom
the Caesarism of the Bourbons cul-
minated, recalls not only the spIendor
and Viciousness Of his court, the garish
magnlhcence of his palace of Yer
sailles, the bravery Of his generals, but
several names of great men of letters
whose fame would live even if the SIN
KING We're forgotten. These are Mo
here, the prince of comedy" as Sir
Walter Scott calls him; Racine 1883
SS), Corneille Q606-S4), writers of trag-
edleS not second to those Of Euripides
and Sophocles; Bossuet (1627-17O4);
Fenelon Q651-1I15), the most eloquent
and cultivated men of their time, whose
glory has not been dimmed by succeed
ing time; La Fontaine (1621-95). 1.-The
flower of the French spirit, with the
perfume Of antiquity" whose fables
have become part of the household Ian
guage in every civilized country. There
are, too, BOileau (636-171D, the master
of eXqui~ite satire and the mentor of
stylists and Descartes (1596-1650),
whose influence as a philosophical in
vestigator has been so powerful: Pas
cal Q623-62) a scientist with an ardent
imagination; La RochefOucauld Q613-
3d. historian and brilliant maker of
maXimsAand Nine. de Sevigne (1627-96),
whose letters are models Of brightness,
sympathy and of the power of draw
ing character. There are many other
names that add to the glory of the
epoch called the age of Louis XIV
Q636-1T15), just as we speak of the
age of Pericles," 1.-The age of Angus
tus,' the age of Elizabeth" But the
splendor Of the flashing consultations
dim by contrast stars that would be
great alone.
Moliere Jean Baptiste Poquelin)
must be classed among the conrytella-
tiuns. He assumed the name of Mo-
liere after he had become an author.
Of his youth-and, indeed, of his later
life-all sorts of stories and calumnies
were current, for his pen made him
many enemies. He was born at Paris
Jan. Is, 1922. His father was an up
holsterer at one time. Later he as
sumed the personal service Of the king.
At the age of IA Jean entered the Je-
suit college of Clermont in Paris-he
owing, like VoltaiTe, who records this,
his training in rhetoric and philosophy
to the disciples of st. Ignatius LOyola
Some time about the year 1641 he took
to law. Whatever else he did between
this date and 1859, it is certain that he
was a strolling actor and a hard stu
dent. The Italian and Spanish COM
edies-to which Moliere owed much
were not included in the courses of the
Jesuits, though the Latin comedies of
Terence and Plautus were not I'M
known names. Moliere studied the art
of acting from the strolling players,
who were then looked upon as out
casts, and the science of constructing
dramas from the Italians and Spanish.
1t was a similar combination of genius
and knowledge, with theatrical expert
ence, which made the plays of Shake
speare more than beautiful dramatic
pOems-in fact, acting dramas.
MOliere was permitted by the favor
of Louis XIV to establish himself and
his company Of players in Paris. Be
fore the year 1925 there were no stock
companies" in that city. Pierre Cor
nielle had, about 1880. written some