[2] LE MISANTROPE. ACTE I. SCENE I. PHILINTE, ALCEST E. PHILINTE ALCESTE affis. Laiffez-moi, je vous prie PHILINTE. Mais encor, dites-moi, quelle bizarrerie- Laiffez-moi là, vous dis-je, & courez vous cacher. PHILIN T E. Mais on entend les gens au moins fans fe fâcher. ALCESTE. Moi, je veux me fâcher, & ne veux point entendre. PHILINTE. Dans vos brufques chagrins, je ne puis vous comprendre ; Et quoiqu'amis, enfin, je fuis tout des premiers A L W PHILINTES. Hat's the Matter then? What ails you? Pray leave me. PHILINTES. But once more, tell me, what whim ?- Leave me, I fay, and go hide yourself. PHILINTES. But you might hear People, at leaft, without being in a Paffion. ALCESTES. I will be in a Passion, and I won't hear. PHILINTES. I can't comprehend you, in your hafty Humours; and in fhort, tho' a Friend, I am one of the first B 2 A L ALCESTE fe levant brufquement: Je fuis donc bien coupable, Alcefte, à votre compte? Allez, vous devriez mourir de pure honte, Et tout homme d'honneur s'en doit fcandalifer. Vous chargez la fureur de vos embraffemens: Je ne vois pas, pour moi, que le cas foit pendable, ALCESTE. Que la plaifanterie eft de mauvaise grace! PHILINT E. Mais, férieufement, que voulez-vous qu'on faffe! ALCESTE. Je veux qu'on foit fincère, & qu'en homme d'honneur, On ALCESTE S, rifing hastily. I, your Friend? Strike that out o' your Books. I have, hitherto, profefs'd my self to be fo; but after what I have now discover'd in you, I flatly declare to you, that I am fo no longer; I'll have no place in a corrupt Heart. PHILINTES. I am highly guilty then, Alceftes, in your Account? ALCESTES. Go, you ought to die with mere Shame, there's no excufing fuch an Action, and every Man of Honour ought to be fhock'd at it. I fee you ftifle a Man with Careffes, and profess the utmoft Tenderness for him; you over-charge the Transport of your Embraces, with Proteftations, Offers, and Oaths: and when I afterwards ask you, who is this Man, fcarce can you tell me what his Name is. Your Hot Fit's all over the Moment you are parted, and you treat him to me as a Person abfolutely indifferent. Plague! 'tis an unworthy, base, infamous Thing, so far to demean one's felf, as to act contrary to one's own Sentiments: And if, by Ill-luck, I had done as much, I fhould have gone the Inftant, and hang`d my self for Vexation. PHILINTES. I don't fee, for my part, that this is a hanging matter, and I shall petition you, that you wou'd graci ously think fit, that I mitigate a little the Severity of your Sentence, and, with your leave, not hang my felf for this Fact. ALCESTES. How aukwardly this Raillery fits upon you! PHILINTES. But seriously, what wou'd you have one do? I wou'd have you be fincere, and like a Man On ne lâche aucun mot qui ne parte du cœur. PHILINTE. Lorsqu'un homme vous vient embraffer avec joie, Non, je ne puis fouffrir cette lâche méthode Et traitent du même air, l'honnête homme & le fat. Je veux qu'on me diftingue, & pour le trancher net, Mais quand on eft du monde, il faut bien que l'on rende Quelques dehors civils, que l'ufage demande. ALCESTE. Non, vous dis-je, on devroit chàtier fans pitié Ce |