The Washington herald., 1908-02-02
MOLIERE IN PROSE.
Works of French Dramatist Translated Into English
Without Loss of Their Beauty

ton to the present edition OF The PLAYS
Of Moliere.' by George Saintsbury. that
writer says that
iou must read Aloliere long. and yen must rad
nm not IN scraps or separate plays. bat CJntuu-
0g5ly. before yoa really p-ehend bis essence.
f0f u ls not essence of style OF FORM as
MiltoHs Is almost wholly and Danies 90 q great
extent II is not an essence 0f craftsmanship
Ike DIyden's. Raciuss or ia a lesser way stIlI
Pope - II j. not tie power Of creating a special
les or more limited world Of bis own like lin vsry
diueffnt Eay5l the essence ~ SPENCE or Ari0sto.
OF bsizse. or Dickens. 1t is not quite-though it
comes nearer 10 these-the IoHtr II investing every
thing with actual life which belongs 10 Shake
sutarc suprcmely. and % Scott Thacke-ar Fie,dinz
ia different says and degrees Il does not exsctiy
ti-naiYrm egeyfhng b. passing T. through bath
Of burlesque lun] like Rshaais. or romaute irony
Ike CcHautcs w indignant ifany like Sgift. IL
only asks eTcHfhiHg Thich suggests fselT Can you
help zoe To- make men laughg' ard r. So u takes
Tie thing and makes 10 do this With tie rest it
p a que iaire as the French phrase goes u has no
business for them. they may De excellent things for
other artists aud other methCds. blt not fGr ii and
f9g him
To his mistress method N0ce was never fslse,
except the one instance % Don Gsrcie Dc
NsTaue. which pracicallg docs not count fof ne
abandoned 10 soon a. a nisf- be never printed IT,
and be pat it IN the stock-Uat for lie Nissan
tmoDe,' where one MAY venture 20 think that Il
proved Itself rather dangerous Ingredient. Elss.
it, D
always brought him luck B1t IL dispensed hin
from some things which. IN other methods may t-5
Justly demanded Literal originality was one for
If yCu get ueW laugh out q old Jokes Why
notl II dispensed him from the formal denoue-
ment though il may be observed land DO e an ia.
tertsting comment on Arist0ti5s dislike and dis.
trust # 'CiaIacterl that the great euaracferm0u-
ger--ShakasBea sometimes, Scott and Tnacseray
almost always. Fielding. perhaps more than is
sometimes al0Wed-are art % "huddle Uu" tIeir
rfrrn H. Of
precise dsfrsefingy miscellaneous IN his choice #
meaus- Iautomime hCrseplay philosophical in-tIsi-
meBts OF fire P1Irceauuac and Aislade Imarlairs
tyre, impossible arabes1ues o. incident and deegfa-
tou. whole dream-w0rid Of iuc0uuuities Il
made him shCcE BOeau iwH0-e admiration for
MoleTe is his best asset. thGcgh the limitations 0f
that admiration discount II rather dsastrJusyi and
horliy people who we're less r0lg-minded than
Boiieau. But il carried him through. II j. vas
his mistress he was lis master-tls Master of the
Laugh-
II is not necessary here. perhaps. TO go
into the scandals and the ISLANDERS which
have been hurled at MoIiere for certain
episodes in his life. Similar things have
been charged against Shakespeare and
other great poets. They Go not really
count.
What does count is that Molicre died
not an old man-with a great parcel Of
work accomplished, work which has lived
through long years; which has vitalized
English as well as French literature OF
the stage. which has been fine insplra-
tion and example. And as FOR the end oP
Moliere-the tragedy OF the end which So
many writer's have thought fit TO dwell
upon-it IS as Mr. Saintsbury says:
IF God has given you brains. and cour-
age, and the upward cOUntenance; il YOU
have loved; If you have had your day
and lived your life. what more do you
want? MOliere had had and done all this.
And as for dying in his vocation. Nelson
and he and that sanity hero Of Rotr6ue
who elected 'mOuTir deh0ut 81 dams son
rang may possibly appeal together 70 a
tribunal which does not judge according
10 the standard OF the Puritan and the
PhaIisee."
It Is highly probable that this beautiful
edition Of The Plays Of Moliere" viii
remain for some time the standard and
definitiye edition. II Is as complete as
thought could make it. To each volume
there is an appendix containing informa-
-tion which throws sidelights on the varl-
Gus plays. The volumes are printed BY
T. & A, Constable, at the Edinburgh Uni
yersity Press.