Molière is also indebted to his daughter is greatly facilitated. Larivey for the relation in which Cléante and Mariane stand to each other (cf. that of Urbain and Féliciane in Les Esprits). In Molière's comedy, however, this relation has become purified. Finally, in the order of arrangement of scenes, Molière follows Les Esprits more closely than the Aulularia. Another comedy, La Belle Plaideuse, by Boisrobert (1654), furnished Molière with a suggestion for the scene between Harpagon and Cléante, where the latter discovers that his father is a usurer (II, 2). (Cf. Belle Plaideuse, I, 8.) In the same play our author found a sketch of the memorandu scene, which he so admirably developed in L'Avare (II, 1). All that interests us here in La Belle Plaideuse may be summed up as follows: Ergaste, the miser's son, is in love with Corinne. Corinne is in need of money in order to carry on a law-suit for the purpose of recovering an inheritance. The lover tries to borrow the money for her, and succeeds in finding what he wants, but he will have to pay a high rate of interest. When finally lender and borrower meet, they prove to be father and son. This unfortunate outcome of Ergaste's plan induces him to try other means. He finds a second usurer, who is ready to favor him with the loan, provided he will pay eight and one third per cent interest and is willing, moreover, to accept a lot of old rubbish for the larger part of the money. The valet reports from the usurer: Il veut bien vous fournir les quinze mille francs; Encore qu'au denier douze il prête cette somme Sur bonne caution, il n'a que mille écus (3000 francs) La Belle Plaideuse ends with the news that Corinne has won her law-suit, and this induces the miser Amidor to give his consent to the double marriage. There are other resemblances between La Belle Plaideuse and L'Avare—all of which point to the fact that Molière made ample use of the former play. Thus, for instance, we find in La Belle Plaideuse a double love-intrigue, i.e. in addition to the one mentioned, there is that between Ergaste's sister and Corinne's brother. It is this second love-affair that seems to have suggested to Molière many points for the relation existing between Elise and Valère. As for the misers in La Belle Plaideuse and L'Avare, we find that in both plays they are wealthy and occupy a certain social position, which is not so with Euclio in the Aulularia. Finally, attention may be called to the fact that Filipin, the valet, and La Flèche resemble each other in a number of essential traits. Molière is also indebted to Quinault's La Mère coquette, written in 1665. The comedy contains a double rivalry: Ismène, whose husband is supposed to be dead, tries to win the affection of Acante, the lover of Isabelle, her daughter. Acante, on the other hand, has a rival in his father Crémante, an old miser, who treats his son in a niggardly fashion and is determined to marry the latter's sweetheart. Finally, Ismène's former husband returns after a long absence and the play ends with Acante's happy marriage with Isabelle. There are other French comedies showing certain close resemblances with L'Avare, as La Veuve by Larivey, L'Héritier ridicule by Scarron, Les Barbons amoureux by Chevalier, and La Dame d'intrigue by Chappuzeau. In reference to these plays, however, it may be said that we do not know to what extent he was indebted to them; or, indeed, whether he was indebted to them at all. The principal Italian source used by Molière is the comedy entitled I Suppositi* by Ariosto (1509). From the following brief analysis the resemblance between this play and L'Avare will be readily seen. A wealthy young Sicilian, by the name of Erostrato, has come to Ferrara in order to study law. One * Opere Minori di Lodovico Ariosto, tomo II, Firenze, 1857. day while walking on the street he sees a young lady Polinesta and he falls in love with her. In order to be always near his sweetheart, Erostrato determines to enter the service of her father, Damonio, an old miser; and to accomplish this, he assumes the name of his own servant, Dulippo. He is aided in his project by Polinesta's nurse.* Now it happens that a wealthy old miser Cleandro seeks the same young lady in marriage and finds a favorable hearing with Damonio. The love between Erostrato and Polinesta is finally discovered, and the lover is thrown into prison. The latter, like Valère in L'Avare, has won his master's favor to the detriment of a servant Nevola, who now greatly rejoices at the idea of being avenged. Erostrato's father, Filogono, arrives from Sicily just in time not only to free his son from imprisonment but also to bring about his marriage with Polinesta, after Cleandro has renounced his claim to her hand. Besides the points of resemblance that appear from this analysis we find in I Suppositi (1, 2) a parasite, Pasifilo, who flatters Cleandro regarding his looks and age very much as Frosine does Harpagon in L'Avare (II, sc. 5). The claimst which have been advanced in favor of a number of other Italian comedies as being additional sources from which Molière drew may be disregarded, since in some cases such comedies were based, like L'Avare, upon the Aulularia, as, for instance, La Sporta by Gelli, in others it has been found that the imitation is on the side of the Italians rather than on that of Molière. This is true of plays like L'Amante tradito, Il Dottor bacchettone, Le Case svaligiate and La Cameriera nobile comedies which belonged to the style called "commedia dell'arte" in which the actors had to improvise to a large extent, and whose dates it has been impossible to ascertain. It is difficult to say whether Molière was *For a similar situation, cf. L'Avare, p. 7, l. 11. ↑ Riccoboni, Observations sur la comédie et sur le génie de Molière (Paris, 1736). acquainted with the works of Lucian and Martial; but if he was, the former's dialogue, “The Cock or the Dream," and the latter's epigram IX, 9, may have suggested to him some ideas for L'Avare. For further possible sources, cf. Körting's Geschichte des französischen Romans im XVII. Jahrhundert II, p. 70 Revue d'Histoire littéraire de la France I, pp. 38-48. L'Avare was performed for the first time on the stage of the Palais Royal the 9th of September 1668. The court, whose residence at that time was at Saint-Germain, witnessed a performance of the comedy the 5th of November of the same year. During the closing years of Molière's life L'Avare was performed forty-seven times and if we judge by the rather low receipts, as reported in the Registre kept by La Grange, it cannot have been a great favorite with the public during the years mentioned. The people, it is said, objected to the too serious vein running through the play. A second reason for this lack of popularity was that L'Avare was written in prose. (The general tendency in the 17th century was to write comedies in verse.) In spite of these and other objections, however, the comedy gained in favor in later times and to this very day it is quite frequently performed at the Comédie-Frar.çaise. The Germans value L'Avare even more highly than the French, and Goethe speaks of it in enthusiastic term Molière,' said Goethe, 'is so great, that one is astonished anew every time one rereads him. He is unique his pieces border on the tragic; they are apprehensive; and nobody has the courage to imitate him. His 'Miser,' where vice destroys all love between father and son, is especially great, and in a high sense tragic.' (Cf. Goethe's Conversations with Eckermann, May 12th, 1825.) According to the Grands Écrivains series, vol. VII, p. 41, there exist eight French poetic versions of the comedy (one incomplete). Moreover, it has been translated into many languages. In English we have two imitations of L'Avare, both under the title of The Miser,' one by Shadwell (| and the other by Fielding (1733). CHARACTERS HARPAGON The principal personage of L'Avare is Harpagon, the All the remaining characters exist only for the purp throwing light upon him. Harpagon is not a miser wh suddenly become enriched, like Euclio in the Aulularia has been wealthy for a long time, and keeps up a establishment. Nor is his avarice of sudden growth. the descriptions made of him by his children, as well Valère, 'maître' Jacques and La Flèche, we learn what k a man he was in the past. The immediate and visible effects of Harpagon's passion show themselves in his excessive suspicion and lest any one should learn of the whereabouts of his mone steal it. At the same time his avarice proves a very s obstacle to his love. But Harpagon is not merely f anxiety to keep what he has, he makes every effort crease his wealth by good or bad means, for he has le sense of right and wrong. In order to accomplish his pu he inflicts suffering not only upon his servants and h but also upon his children. Mariane, with whom Harpagon is in love, is a poor When he finally decides to marry her in spite of her po it is because he hopes to make up for the dowry in some way. (He intends to marry off his children without any riage-portion.) How much the miser is really in love Mariane may be inferred from his readiness to give h when he is asked to choose between her and his stolen m chest. (Cf. V, 6.) Considering Harpagon's great avarice, critics have bl Molière for representing him as being in love, as if lov |