VALERE, Lover to Ifabella. LISETTA, Waiting-Woman to Leonora. ERGASTO, Valet to Valere. COMMISSARY. NOTARY. Two FOOT MEN. SCENE, a publick Place in PARIS. [8] L'ÉCOLE DES MARIS. ACTE I. SCENE I. SGANARELLE, ARISTE. M SGANARELLE. ON frére, s'il vous plaît, ne difcourons point tant, Et que chacun de nous vive comme il l'entend ; Bien que fur moi des ans vous ayez l'a vantage, Et foyez affez vieux pour devoir être fage, SCANARELLE. Oui, des fous comme vous, ARISTE. Grand-merci, le compliment eft doux. SGANARELLE. Je voudrois bien fçavoir, puifqu'il faut tout entendre, Ce que ces beaux cenfeurs en moi peuvent reprendre? ARISTE. Cette farouche humeur, dont la féverité Fuit toutes les douceurs de la fociété,. A tous vos procédés inspire un air bizarre, Et, jufques à l'habit, rend tout chez vous barbare. SCANARELLE. Il eft vrai qu'à la mode il faut m'affujettir, Et [9] THE SCHOOL for HUSBANDS. ACTI. SCENE I. SGANAREL, ARISTO. P SGANARE L. RAY Brother, don't let us talk fo much, but let each of us live according to his Inclination; tho' you have the Advantage over me in Years, and are old enough to be wife, I must tell you, notwithstanding, that I don't intend to bear Reproofs from you that my Fancy is the only Director I have to follow, and I am well pleas'd with living after my Own manner. ARISTO. But every Body condemns it. ARISTO. Thank ye; the Compliment is kind. SCANAREL. I'd fain know, fince all muft out, what thefe fine Cavillers can find in me to reprove? ARISTO. That furly Temper, the Severity of which fhuns all the Pleasures of Society, gives a whimfical Air to all you do, and renders all about you barbarous, even to your very Habit. SGANAREL. I fhould make my felf a Slave to the A 5 Fashion Et ce n'eft pas pour moi que je me dois vêtir. De ces petits pourpoints fous les bras fe perdans, Qui vous font reffembler à des pigeons patus ? Et jamais il ne faut fe faire regarder. L'un & l'autre excès choque, & tout homme bien fage N'y rien trop affecter, &, fans empreffement, Et Fashion to be fure, and it's not for my felf that I ought to drefs my felf;- would you not, by your pretty tittle tattle Stories, Mr. Elder Brother of mine, (for, thank Heav'n, fo you are by one twenty Years, to tell you plainly, tho' its not worth while to speak on't :) would you not, I fay, in these things perfuade me into the Fashions of your young Coxcombs ? Oblige me to wear thofe little Hats, which let their weak Brains evaporate, and thofe powder'd Wigs, the vaft Bufhiness whereof obscures the Figure of an human Countenance? Those short Jerkins but just below the Arms, and those large Bands hanging down even to the Navel ? Thofe Sleeves, which one fees dip in the Sauce at Table, and thofe Petticoats called Breeches? thofe pretty Shoes bedeck'd with Ribbons, that make you look like roughfooted Pigeons, and thofe large Rollers, where, as in the Stocks, the captive Legs every Morning are confin'd, and which make these accomplish'd Gentlemen walk ftraddling as if they were flying? I fhould delight you, without doubt, equipped in this manner; for you, I perceive, carry about you the fame Geugawa that they do. : ARISTO. One fhou'd always comply with the Majority, and never make one's felf be ftared at. Either Extreme is offenfive; and every wife Man in his Clothes as well as his Words, fhou'd have nothing too much affected, but with Readiness follow whatever Change Cuftom introduces. I do not think one fhould imitate those one fees continually ftraining beyond the Fashion, who are fo fond of being in Extremes, they would be uneasy should any Body go a Step beyond them. But I hold it wrong, upon one's fingle Opinion, to avoid obftinately what all the World purfues, and think it's better to be amongst the Num ber |