The New York herald., 1922-04-23

own manner of life is bourgeois to
the end. But If he remains bour-
geois in the best sense, even more
does he remain writer of comedies,
manager and actor. Even his hack
ing. consumptive's cough he turns to
account on the stage and it becomes
one Of the laughable incidents of lie
Malade Imaginaire." 1t Is while upon
the stage in this comic role of the
pretended sick man that one Of these
coughing fits carries him off. Every
where. then. In Moliere's life and
works his reader is In immediate
contact. not only with France, but
with the theater. Here he cannot
help but feel that all the worlds a
stage and the poets very life and
struggles themselves have becomes
one Of the most moving interiudes
In the greater Human Comedy. As
much. indeed even more than
Shakespeare. he personifies this
spirit Of drama He can make US
weep over comic success and laugh
at almost tragic failure. But they
are never idle tears and II is never
merely empty laughter. Behind II
all we recognize as did Rossetti in
contemplating Mantegna's AIlegori-
cal Dance OF Women that
at Is bitter glad,
Even unto tears. Its meaning filleth
A secret from the wells Of Life. To
wit.
The hearts each pulse shall keep
the sense 1t had
Withal. though the minds labor run
to naught"
III.
It can be readily understood that
living so preoccupied and feverish
life. called upon to furnish a new
play whenever the King or his troop
demanded. one need not look to
Moliere for that high literary finish
which is so characteristic of the work
of his countrymen. His style is not,
as Gautier said Of Tertullian's, like
polished black marble. In this re-
spect he Is not Of the family of
Racine or Flaubert. The ready per-
fection and f1uency of the verses of
lie Misanthrope" did, to be sure, as
tonish even Boileau, and no man had
more conscien,iously studied and
labored over the essentials of his art.
He had picked up comedy where the
Italias had left it; picked 1t up, one
might almost say, out of the gutter,
poor thing of trick and intrigue,
of stock characters and outworn sit
uations, and he left it on the level
where 1t has since remained. De-
stouches, La Chaussee, Beaumarchais,
Dumas fills and Pailleron, though they
may have modified its forms. have
never carried it to a higher plane or
made 1t a more significant vehicle of
rich human experience, As it was
to Shakespeare, so to him it is pri-
marily a form of drama and not of
literature. He wrote, not with the
printed page in view, but with his
eyes upon the stage. In the preface
to ''L'Amour Medecin," he tells us
frankly, "It is well known that come
dies are constructed only to be
played" and he advises "only those
persons to read this one who have
eyes to discover in their reading the
full play of the theater." This might
very well serve as the preface to all
his printed plays. And here again
we have perhaps come upon another
Of the reasons why Moliere has never
been ranked with the very highest,
Fortunately or unfortunately, some
centuries back, and until but recently,
writer's of tragedy and of comedy
have been judged by the showing
their dramac have made when read
from the printed page. Since to
Moliere the play was the thing, to
appreciate him properly his work
must be seen on the stage. for which
1t was designed.
One Of the reasons why Moliere so
well represents the spirit of comedy
is. therefore. his complete mastery of
all the possibilities of comic effect.
He should not be judged, when his