CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1891 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE Cornell University Library PQ 536.K96 European characters in.Ff.fffSft.iSlSKi,''.!..!,, 3 1924 027 255 045 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS SALES AGENTS New York: LEMCKE & BUECHNER 30-32 West 27th Street London: HUMPHREY MILFORD Amen Corner, E.G. EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY BY HARRY KURZ, Ph.D. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS 1916 All rights reserved Copyright, 1916 By Columbia Universitt Pkess Printed from type, February, 1916 J\1)%^^1 TO GRACE COOK KUE.Z The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924027255045 Af-proved for publication, on behalf of the Department of Romance Languages and Literatures of Columbia University. ADOLPHE COHN New York, January, 1916. PREFACE This book is a study of European characters as they were depicted by French dramatists and, therefore, as they ap- peared to French audiences. The scope of the work can be briefly indicated as follows: (a) Plays written or presented between 1714 and 1789. (b) All forms of French drama except tragedy. (c) Plays presenting characters belonging to all the European nations except the Greeks and the Turks. The limits mentioned have been overstepped here and there when it seemed necessary. The author takes this opportunity to express, even if in- adequately, his appreciation of the inspiring contact he has had with these scholars : Adolphe Cohn, whose erudition and stirring power of diction constitute a memorable influence; Henry Alfred Todd, whose sympathetic scholarship is a beacon to his students; Raymond Weeks, friend and guide, whose words one day suggested the subject of this book; Calvin Thomas, famous scholar and teacher; Charles Alfred Downer, erudite and versatile mind, whose influence stirred in the author the interest that has since dominated his life. Immeasurable also is the debt to Gustave Lanson, whose fresh insight into vital methods of research aroused in the author new vigor for the pursuit of the beau ideal in literary endeavor. H. K. College or the City op New Yokk (1916) TABLE OF CONTENTS Pkeface . . ix The Study of Nationauties . . 1 Italians . . 9 I. Artists and Professionals 14 II. Lesser Folk; Arlequin 21 III. The Corsair and Italy 27 IV. Italian Lovers . 30 V. Literary Considerations 38 The Spanish 43 I. Historic Spain 48 II. Lovers and the Code of Conduct 56 III. The Spain of Beaumarchais 73 IV. Literary Considerations 79 Germans . . 87 I. Characters . . . . . 93 II. Literary Considerations 111 The English . . . 115 I. English Kings . 137 II. English Aristocrats . 141 III. EngHsh Lords in Exile 151 IV. EngKsh Attitude toward the French . 155 V. French Attitude toward the English 166 VI. Englishmen of Middle Rank and Lower 183 VII. English Women and their Lovers . . 204 VIII. Perverted English and Bad French 234 IX. Literary Considerations .... 242 X. Conclusion . ... . . 247 The Minor Nations . 249 I. The Swiss 251 1. Switzerland . 251 2. Swiss Characters , 254 II. The Netherlanders 260 1. Holland and Flanders ... . . 260 2. Characters from The Netherlands . 261 Xll TABLE OF CONTENTS III. Eastern Countries 268 1. The Nations to the East of France ... . 268 2. Characters from the Nations to the East of France 274 France and the Other Nations op Europe • . 295 I. Frenchmen . . 298 II. European Nationalities . . . . 299 III. Love in the European Countries . . . 310 Appendix 323 Index . . . 325 THE STUDY OF NATIONALITIES THE STUDY OF NATIONALITIES The object of this study is to trace the opinions about foreign nations held by the French during the eighteenth century, in so far as the numerous comic writers of the time reflected these' views in their plays. Perhaps this investigation of a simple literary question might be considered as part of a larger inquiry, the purpose of which would be to show what image of itself each great nation, after its period of ascendancy, left in the minds of other nations. Such a discussion makes a natural and effective appeal to our interest. Cycles in history are periods that witness repetitions of events or tendencies. Revolutions, wars, religious revivals, schools of literary development, are a few of the practical evidences of this rotary trend of human life. In the study of the growth of nations we have a perfect field for the discernment of these recurrent phenomena. Speaking of the modern world only, this is what we find as we glance back at the last few rungs of the ladder of the centuries. In the fourteenth century a great movement arises in Italy and sweeps over Europe, transforming the nations intellectually, causing them to look askance at a nar- row scholasticism and to glimpse a new spirit of tol- eration and freedom. The fifteenth sees the birth of a great hero who later leads the German revolt against the temporal control of an all-powerful church. Then, in the sixteenth, Spain takes ascendancy with her power of conquest and her distant lands of storied Indian gold. Thus she tinges the tide of the world 4 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA till she fades before the growing glory of France under Louis XIV. During this seventeenth space of years France glows brilliantly in her new-born power, as she inundates the continent with wave after wave of intellectual and social influence. In the eighteenth century the might of England grows apace as she deals her fatal blows against the col- onies of France. And recently, England, with her great mission of empire and maritime power realized, has witnessed the steady growth of a tremendous rival that has ventured finally to plan a day when it was to rise up in strength and dictate its own power- ful message. The world is now beholding such a struggle as it has often beheld before and as it will see again, unless cycles cease. The tremendous effect upon its arts and letters of this political ascendancy of a country is self-evident. It was a full-grown Athens that gave us our unsur- passed philosophies, a mature Rome that lived an Augustan age, a hardy England that grew into the Elizabethan period, a full-blown France that wit- nessed the classical perfection of her tragic writers. Even Italy need not be classed as an exception, for though her political impotence had begun when her Machiavelli, her Ariosto, her INIichelangelo, ex- erted their wondrous powers, yet they had been born and bred under the free skies and the broad ideals of the years preceding Charles YIll's invasion of their country. When a nation, having reached her full growth, has produced in her literature and in her arts the ideal she intimately possesses, has en- graved, so to speak, by the deep energetic strokes of her genius, her own image upon the works she has THE STUDY OF NATIONALITIES 5 created, then that nation, in the flush of her power, imposes upon her neighbors the type she is, and for years she leads in the onward process of life. This she does all the more easily because of the un- daunted inspiration of her people, and because, after all, .her individuality bears stamped upon it the larger features of humanity. National and indi- vidual she remains, but in her resplendent leader- ship, still identified with the common aspirations of her neighbors who join her in the great movement of progress. Italy and her Renaissance, Germany and her Reformation, Spain and her New World, France and the splendors of her Court followed by the reverberating truths of her Revolution, and finally, England and her Oceans, all these are tes- timonies of the splendid awakenings of national effort unto a synthesis of all the genius and power con- tained in a people. After each of these national phases there comes a waning, and a new figure arises on the world stage and strikes the imagination of men vividly and with a new force. In each of these phases we have the phenomenon of a young exis- tence, full of vitality and strength, forcing others to pay it attention, until it eventually yields its place to a still younger existence. And, as the centuries fly, the task of each particular national growth is accom- plished; each leaves some great element of its life and genius that can never be lost and will always mingle with the life and genius of other nations. In respect to this great national interplay of in- fluence, the eighteenth century represents a terrific battle-ground when the genius of no one people was predominant, and yet when several were trying to 6 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DKTUVEA give gigantic expression to the powerful impulses that stirred them. It is a century when England inaugurated her naval policy and acquired the Em- pire .upon which the sun never sets. It is a centurj^ when in impoverished France there grew apace the irresistible moral conviction of liberty and brother- hood that finally colored the whole world with new democratic ideals. It is a century, too, when the great military policy of Prussia was organized, a policy that brings us to the wrack and ruin of to-day.^ Certainly, a better understanding of the present repays one for the closer study of this century. And one of the best ways to study this period, as we hope will be realized from this work, is to try to glean its dramatic utterances. We do not include in these the verbose and haughty tones of its tragedies; but rather the ordinary voices that we can overhear in the lowlier forms of dramatic art, the comedy, the farce, the vaudeville. In the plays that have been examined, we have found marvelous reflections of these contemporary movements, and we have been brought wonderfully close to the people, to the throbbing impulses that actuated them in their thoughts and feelings concerning their neighbors. We have viewed through the eyes of French dramatists the manifold impressions that were given to them and that they communicated in turn to their exacting audiences. We have found a re-crea- tion of the life of the time, which, even if it lacks ' For some interesting statements on national developments, see in La Rcnie PoHlique el Liltcrairc, Aug. 19, 1882, an article by Raoul RosiiRES on English literature in France from 1750 to 1800. Cf . also the Introduction to Joseph Texte's splendid book, Rousseau d Ic Cos- mopolitisme Liltrrnirc an ISme siicle, Paris, 189.'i. THE STUDY OF NATIONALITIES 7 the realism that we are so fond of in our plays of to-day, gives us a startling approximation to the truth. Marivaitx, one of the cleverest of our drama- tists, puts it ably when he remarks a little acridly upon the fondness of the French for the foreign characters in their plays, a fondness that encouraged authors to enhance the qualities of their foreigners to the detriment of their compatriots. Says the Chevalier, one of Marivaux's anonymous figures:^ . . . va-t'en par exemple, chez une autre nation lui ex- poser ses ridicules et y donner hautement la pr^f^rence a la tienne; elle ne sera pas assez forte pour soutenir'cela, on te jettera par les fenetres. Ici tu verras tout un peuple rire, battre des mains, applaudir a un spectacle ou on se moque de lui, en le mettant au dessous d'une autre nation qu'on lui compare. L'etranger qu'on y loue n'y rit pas de si bon cceur que lui, et cela est charmant. It is right to add here that the French are not so badly treated by their own dramatists as Maei- VAXJX affirms. We shall find more frequently abun- dant assertions of their superiority in many ways. But we shall also find reenforced and amplified some of the very typical notions we possess to-day concerning Europeans. We shall discern clearly in our dramatic testimonies the Englishman, taciturn, thoughtful, honest; the Spaniard, romantic, un- practical, quixotic; the Italian, artistic, unscrupu- lous, imaginative; the German, military, practical; the Swiss,^ blustering, clownish. We shall meet all 2 L'lle de la Raison (1728), Scene 1. ' With a few exceptions, Swiss characters presented are doorkeepers and janitors, since, in fact, actually discharged Swiss soldiers assumed mainly those occupations in Prance. 8 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA these in hundreds of interesting ways. We shall discover the French thought of the century as it regards the Dutch and the Belgian nations, and also those peoples further east, — Austrians, Hun- garians, Russians, and others. We shall be enabled to tell how our typical judgments of to-day differ from those held at that time, and also to what a large extent they agree. The purpose of this study then is to trace, through the medium of our clever French dramatists, the essential opinions held by the French people of the European foreigners whose cities they visited, and who were drawn in ever increasing throngs to the wonderful white capital of France. ITALIANS ITALIANS In their relations with the French, the Italians among all European nations occupy a distinctive position in the eighteenth century. This position certainly cannot be characterized as one of political rivalry, as was the case with Enghshmen, who. soon became identified with vast colonial ambitions. The disunited Italian principalities counted for very little in the mighty upheavals of the century. Nor can it be said that the peculiarity of their intercourse with the French was caused by a popular concep- tion of a close kinship, like that existing between Bourbon France and Spain. Frenchmen and Italians were bound together during the century by very few royal marriages. Politically, then, there was hardly any interchange of importance, because politically there was no Italy. Prostrate and defenceless, arranged and rearranged, Italy suffers constant divisions from 1713 to 1748. Generally, she offers to her more powerful neighbors a very convenient battle-ground. Her fair provinces ravaged, they fall to the lot of victor or vanquished according to arrangement, without their inhabi- tants caring or knowing. The Peace of Utrecht (1713), of Vienna (1738), and of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), transferred from hand to hand with the ut- most ease Lombardy, Venetia, Tuscany, Modena, Parma, Lucca, and the others. After 1748 there 12 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA came a long period of repose, with the Austrians in definite control of Lombardy. Numerous paternal despots reigned in the other provinces and cities, and efficaciously prevented the birth of nationality. The people were peacefully prosperous and placidly content, not bothering their heads too much as to who owned them. This condition of slothful quie- tude remained until the French Revolution. From this hint of the political misfortunes of Italy, it is evident that the Italians, as seen by our French dramatists, could hardly be invested with the simili- tude of the vital present, so much more natural in enemies or allies. The fact is that Italian influ- ence and relationship with the French are distinctly of the past. The fifteenth, sixteenth, and seven- teenth centuries had seen the beginning and the com- plete efflorescence of the great sway of the classic gifts that Italy drew from her past, impregnated with her soul, and presented to the world. All culti- vated persons, poets, scholars, artists, made pilgrim- ages to her beautiful cities. Ronsard, Rabelais, Montaigne, Voiture, worshiped in her cathedrals. On the other hand, Paris had received within her gates hosts of Itahan students, adventurers, exiles. Dante, Petrarch, Tasso, and Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, Benvenuto Cellini, all had come to study in her learned circles. The intercourse had been therefore mutual and intimate. To the Frenchman of the eighteenth cen- tury, Italy could be no stranger in thought and fact. She was the established home of art — architecture, painting, sculpture, and music as well. She sent her teachers into France, so that her influence was pal- ITALIANS 13 pable and familiar. In our plays we meet these Italian devotees under various guises — a musician, a sculptor, a teacher, a vagrant, and last, but not least, an actor. The preceding century had seen a very successful troupe of Italian actors in Paris, ^ but their theater had been closed in 1697 owing to the tyrannical jealousy of the Comedie Frangaise, the established French theater.^ In 1716 the Regent was prevailed upon to allow a reorganization of an Italian troupe, and its arrival in Paris was a veritable triumph. The actors, in order to attract a larger public, soon ceased giving their plays in Italian. French writers like Regnard, Lesage, Marivatjx, Piron, and Favart contributed to their theater, often using the stock Italian characters — Arlequin, Scaramouche, Mez- zetin, Pantalon, Le Docteur, Isabelle, and Marinette. The troupe had its own playwrights also. Goldoni, RiccoBONi, BiANCOLELLi (who was kuowu as Domi- nique), Romagnesi, and others, furnished plays in Italian. Later they wrote plays in French, while character and plot remained Italian. Artistically then, and especially in the theatrical art, the French were in touch with their Southern neighbors. This fact is abundantly evidenced in the dramatic thought of the century. 1 As early as 1577, the Gelosi, or Italian actors anxious to please, established themselves at the hotel du Petit Bourbon in Paris. Their charge for admission was four sous. 2 The flagrant caricature of Louis XIV's secret queen, Mme de Maintenon, in a play called La Fausse Prude was the immediate cause of their exile. 14 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA I — Artists and Professionals The Italian musician is an extremely familiar fig- ure in plays of the century. The French had a fondness for him and confessedly plagiarized his work whenever it seemed desirable. Favart com- ically pictures this condition. In one of his plays,^ M. Cliquette comes in swaying from side to side. Parody, an allegorical figure, warns him that he is in danger of falling, to which he answers that he has "deux bons contrepoids." He explains further: "De ce cote c'est la Musique Frangaise, un peu lourde a la verite; de I'autre, de la Musique Ita- lienne, fort legere, mais bien chargee de notes; cela. fait I'equilibre." Parody asks: "Comment! Est-ce que vous pretendez faire usage de cette Musique Italienne?" M. Cliquette replies simply: "Eh! mais, par-ci par-la. EUe fait son effet, melee artistement avec la notre et sans que cela paraisse; mais dans les Ariettes et les Ballets seulement." Italian music is thus a rather flimsy, ghttering affair, a melodic handmaiden to the stately tragic accents of dra- matic French opera. Nevertheless the public pre- ferred the former, and brought about terrific jealous quarrels between the established royal Academy of Music and the struggling Op6ra Comique. But the theoretic side of ItaUan music was apparently not so popular. Boissy shows this in Lucile's ener- getic statement in regard to her lover's passion for Italian music : * ' Lii I'aroiHc an Parnasse (1759), Scene 3. * La Surprise dc la Hainc (1734), Act. 1, Scene 5. ITALIANS 15 Ludle Musique Italienne ! Ah ! Quel go6t d^pravg ! Lisidor Par tous les vrais Savans il se voit approuv^. Lucile II me prend des vapeurs au seul nom de Cantata, Je pensai I'autre jour mourir d'une Senate If technical terms are uninteresting, not so the music and certainly not the composers. An anon- ymous play '" gives a good typical picture of an Italian composer. His name, Vacarmini, illustrates a general tendency among playwrights who present such characters; they often choose some noun or adjective which would place the profession in a ludicrous light, and then add an Italian termination. Hence Barnabera, a pirate; Octavini, Crescendo, and Brodanti, musicians; and Rhubarbini, a physician. Vacarmini has been in Germany and has acquired a wide reputation, which he inflates still further by a conceited modesty. He easily lends himself to subterfuge and quietly accepts money from his ac- complices as a reward for his cleverness. The Ital- ian Composer in our plays is never at a loss, no matter what the situation is. He overcomes ob- stacles at a glance, as did Brodanti,^ who claims that he is "Compositeur Frangais de Musique Ita- lienne." One day his poet neglected to give him the prearranged supply of words to set to music. ^ La Musicomanie (1779) in Batjdeais, Petite Bibliothkque des Theatres, Vol. 74. ^ Momus Exile by Fuzblieh. Parodies du Nouveau Thedtre lialien, Vol. 3, Act 1, Scene 2. 16 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Without any hesitation Brodanti set to music a complete almanac of Milan. The composer is there- fore like his Italian music, light, adaptable, tricky. Italy was a great source of inspiration to French dramatists, especially in the first half of the eigh- teenth century. During this time, Italian influ- ence practically dominated some forms of comedy. Favart, in 1760, acknowledged this debt in a play that he called La Ressource des Theatres. In this farce Crispin is carried by Pegasus to the foot of Mount Parnassus. There he interviews Aristarchus, the classic who wants all non-tragic writers to meas- ure up in quality to Anacreon, Sappho, and Horace. Crispin, a comic writer himself, thus discovers that if he is funny, he will be held up as indecent; if he is philosophic, he will be cast out as a bore. So he concludes that he must not write at all. But he is saved by La Folie, an allegorical figure. L'Industrie, another symbolic figure, introduces her (so. 5): "La Folie, la Reine du monde: elle est alMe en Italie chercher des ressources pour vous tous. Quand les extravagances d'un pays commencent a s'user, nous les renouvellons avec les ridicules d'un autre & nous faisons des echanges." And so, Xar- cotique, a sleepy character, gets an opera bouffe from Venice to wake him up. Industry freely acknowl- edges her own kinship with Folly for she is herself of Italian origin. An even closer bond was established by the Itahan actors in Paris who furnished a direct means of dramatic inspiration. These actors were generally recognized as very able in their profession, indeed, according to Lesage, superior to the French. In ITALIANS 17 his La Foire de Guibray (1714), in the Prologue, an Italian who wants to introduce his actors advances toward the Judge or High Functionary and, after bowing twenty times, offers a spirited proof that Italian actors are better than the French. His main argument is that they make more money. This pragmatic test ought to convince even a manager of to-day of the superiority of any troupe. Nor was the popularity of "Les Comediens Ita- liens Ordinaires du Roi" confined to France. The Parisian troupe came very near visiting England at the behest of royalty. And Lesage shows in his dramatic way that they pleased wherever they went. The great actress Cliclinia ' recounts the adventures of her company in one of his plays: ^ "Notre troupe allait en Angleterre chercher des guineas; les vents nous ont jetes dans la Mediterrannee, ou nous avons rencontre un Corsaire algerien qui nous a forces d'aller rendre visite au bacha." The latter gave them their freedom because he was pleased when they acted for him. So much for these artists. But there are occupa- tions which, though they have no direct bearing on what we please to term art, are still associated with skill and mental effort. Among the afore-men- tioned professions of talent, I venture, therefore, to include in a minor key the less gifted profes- sion of the language teacher. He is to be found, of course, this teacher of Italian, and like others of his ilk, he is not too savory a character. Du Vaure ably reveals him in Le Faux Savant (1728). M. Ti- mantoni teaches Italian to his French heroine and ' Les Comediens Corsaires (1726), Prologue, Scene 3. 18 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA incidentally aids her to escape from an odious mar- riage with one Polimatte, a spurious scholar. The teacher is a rather inferior character dividing his attention between cultivating the young for little money, and serving their amours with richer profit for himself. No wonder then that Timantoni determines to devote the few years of his stay in Paris entirely to the service of forlorn lovers. From his present pupil he has obtained a gold watch and he is easily convinced that the whole procedure is not essentially dishonest. We have seen a similar line of conduct adopted by music teachers from Italy. We are therefore to conclude that these imported teachers, in appearance perfectly virtuous, in lan- guage even more so, are generally not averse to the personal confiscation of property for their profit. They also seem to take a lively interest in the amor- ous welfare of their pupils, and it is in this depart- ment that their services are especially appreciated. Italian physicians also had their vogue in France. The psychology of this preference for foreign med- ical ability is slightly explained by Desportes. One of his characters, Trivelin, in referring to doctors, says:^ "II en est de ces messieurs comme des etoffes, des porcelaines, et des curiosites, plus elles viennent de loin & plus cher on les paye." Rhu- barbini, the doctor in question, has sensibly fallen in love with a rich French widow, and in a most eloquent flow of scientific language he pleads his cause with her (sc. 12) : . . . jusqu'a quand voulez-vous diff^rer de mettre un baume sp6cifique aux vives blessures que m'ont fait vos appas? » La Veuve Coquette (1721), Theatre Ilalicn, Vol. 2, Scene 1. ITALIANS 19 L'amour qui circule dans mes veines enflamme tellement mes poulmons qu'il n'y a que rh^m^tique de vos faveurs qui puisse guerir la fi^vre dont brule mon coeur. This gallant disciple of Hippocrates is thus made to analyze in ludicrous fashion his disorders of love and to insist on immediate relief, medically speaking. A more enchanting character than even the teacher or the doctor is the Italian beggar. He wanders away from native chmes dazzled by visions of Parisian favors; or his brother, whom fortune has befriended in Paris, calls him unto himself to share French bounty. This is the case, of course, with Arlequin senior,' who invites his brother to leave Bergamo and take service with his own master in Paris. Arlequin junior arrives, is unable to locate the other member of his family, and wanders about tired and hungry, but cheerful. He says to himself (sc. 5): Aliens, du courage; peut-etre ferai-je fortune ici; je mon- trerai I'italien, je sais jouer de la guitare; voila de quoi se pousser dans le monde. D'ailleurs j'ai oui-dire qu'en France on prefere toujours quelqu'un de mediocre quand il est etranger, a un homme de merite qui n'est que du pays. He is immensely consoled by the fact that he is a foreigner. His reference to French recognition of talents and abilities of other countries is undoubtedly a compli- ment to the French. They had, after all, the liter- ary center of the world and they inevitably attracted spirits that were free to wander from their own ' Floeian, Les Jumeaux de Bergame (1782). 20 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA countries. Paris was a great cosmopolitan city and was visited for inspiration by people from the ends of the earth, — Turks, Norwegians, and Canadians. To- be sure, the civilized world was not a big one. But the French always graciously received their visitors and gave credit to Italians where it was due. As Favart puts it : " En Italie on voit des monumens parfaits; And again when his character La Hire pleads with the pretty damsels, Marton and Robinette, to stay (I, 5): Nous trouvons tous les deux vos charmes enchanteurs; Nous nous y connoissons, nous revenons de Rome, Et nous sommes deux amateurs. These Frenchmen, on their return from Rome, had apparently brought with them an increased ama- teur's appreciation for womanly beauty. This is perhaps a natural result, though credit does seem to be partly due in this case to the visitors. But Madame de Genlis in Le Voyageur shows us an even more interesting memento brought from Rome by the young Vicomte de Melville. He has in his possession an Italian miniature, described as follows (I, 1): . . c'est la copie d'une sainte Cecile qui est au Capitole. Mais en France nous donnons a cette tete le nom d'une grande dame napolitaine; et je te r^ponds que ce ne sera pas la pre- miere miniature venue des pays lointains sous un nom suppose. i« La Fie Urgele (1705), Act 1, Soene 4. ITALIANS 21 In these artistic flatteries, we can readily see the basis of a true appreciation of the ItaUan spirit of beauty, although in our light farces we can hardly expect sound disquisitions on classic art. We can gather by this harvest of scintillating and comic references that Frenchmen thought of Itahans as teachers of sculpture, music, and painting. Perhaps Italians did other things too. Let us see among some of our other characters those who represented different types of occupation. II — Lesser Folk; Arleqtjin To be sure, even the French mind conceives the truth that not all Italians are teachers of music, language, and art. There are plain folk as well, and bankers and traders and corsairs too. These ap- pear throughout the century in various ways but not with great frequency. Of course we cannot ex- pect to meet with any Catholic priests as stage figures, but the inimitable Lesage does not hesitate to speak his mind about them in indirect ways. In his Une J our nee des P argues, the three sister Fates are busily cutting life threads when they come to Roman church officials. These they tear away violently from their prebendaries. Presently Clotho presents another thread to her sister's scissors, with the remark: Coupez ce fil; c'est celui d'un eccl6siastique des plus patelins qu'il y ait dans le seminaire; I'hypocrite a si bien fait qu'on I'a nomme a une abbaye considerable: il a deja envoye son argent a Rome pour payer ses bulles; elles sent en che- min: faisons disparaitre monsieur I'abbe avant qu'elles arrivent. 22 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA This may not illustrate the popular thought about the priesthood, and it may not apply to the Italian priesthood especially, but it is an emanation con- cerning the Roman church from the pen of a great writer and thinker, and deserves consideration. Another rather vague character is the Italian bour- geois. He appears as the true ruler of his family, disposing of his sons and daughters at his pleasure and arranging their marriages with enviable freedom. GuEi'LETTE shows US the type in Alberti, father of Lelio.'^ The son is unwilling to marry Henriette, the girl his father has selected. Alberti is capable of tremendous rage; so it is not by mere opposition that he can be won over to his son's point of view. It will take deception to do that, — which suggests the reflection that it is queer that the Italian father always is outwitted by the trickery of the young. In this case, Flaminia, a French girl, the truly be- loved of Lelio, has simply to disguise herself as a tutor and to offer her services to Alberti, who is very glad of an opportunity to teach his son better be- havior. When the deception is discovered, the lovers have to be married, since they have been Hving together under the same roof in the intimacy that teacher and pupil may enjoy. Alberti, like the typical father, forgives, and then proceeds in the same high-handed way to arrange a marriage for his daughter with the first wealthy man he can lay hands on. Cases of intermarriage between French and Ital- ians are frequent in our plays. In addition to the instance just considered, Carmontelle shows us a " U Amour Prcccpleur, Noupcau Thedtre Italk-n, Vol. 5. ITALIANS 23 Frenchman who is reserving his daughter for a rich Venetian banker. ^^ Dorat, Autreau, and Boindin also have comedies with heroes and heroines of the "international mind," matrimonially speaking. Another interesting Italian character is the avari- cious dotard, who far excels his French brother. We have heard of the fierce parsimony of the miser of MoLiiiRE, and of the cruelty of old bachelors of the stage who are planning to marry their young wards in order to keep their dowers. But what can equal the ferocity of Aldobrandin, an Italian miser, who in exchange for a house, grants Zima, the young lover of his ward Lucille, fifteen minutes talk with her, and then forbids her to. answer a single word? To guard her more efficiently, he formulates these plans: ^^ De plus, je veux faire accommoder cette maison h ma fan- taisie; en retrancher exactement toutes les vues qu'elle a sur la place, n'y laisser de fenetres que sur le jardin dont je ferai encore elever les murs le plus haut qu'il me sera possible. One would conclude that this Italian miser, unlike the French, had not a single redeeming feature. Not any more attractive is Pasquella," an old Italian duenna who keeps warm by means of liquor. One must not ask how Lelio, a Roman merchant, can possibly employ such a person to take care of his two young daughters, Flaminia and Silvia. Their suitors however find it remarkably easy to get Pas- quella out of the way. They give her plenty to '2 Le Chanteur Italien, Proverbes Dramatiques, No. XXXVI. 1' HoTJDAHT DE LA MoTTE, Le MagnifiquB, Act 1, Scene 1. " Atjtreatj, Le Port-a-V Anglois (1718). 24 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA drink till she finally stumbles out, singing and shouting an Italian song (II, 4) : Chi non beve vita breve godera . . . Da me ne gui col gli gli, col glu glu, e col glo In general, one would gather from a reading of these plays that Italian servants were extremely im- pertinent. Arlequin is perfectly insufferable though his masters do not seem to notice it. In one play, Lisette,^^ angered by her master's stupidity, finally pushes him off the stage, saying "Et moi, je vous croiois bien plus d'intelligence." In the same play Arlequin actually opposes his master's marriage until he gets a few ducats, which good fortune induces him to grant his consent. Of course such conduct is one of the natural prerogatives of Arlequin as a servant, and must not be taken as peculiarly Italian. He is, wherever he happens to be, the same impertinent braggart. Besides Arlequin, Italians are not very much pictured away from their native land or from France. But we do meet two servants far removed. Cal- pigi 1" serves as a eunuch in the harem of the great Atar, king of Ormus, on the Persian gulf. With him is an Italian woman, Spinette, who is employed by the dread potentate to induce rebeUious beauties to be pliant to his wishes. To divert Atar, Calpigi thus recounts his adventures (III, 4) : Je suis ne natif de Ferrare: La, par les soin,'^ d'un pere avare, "• Les Quntrc Sciiiblahh'x. Xouivaii Thedlir Italicn, \o\. S. " Beaumakchais, Torare (17S7). ITALIANS 25 Mon chant s'^tant fort embelli ; Ahi! povero Calpigi! Je passai du Conservatoire, Premier Chanteur a TOratoire Du Souverain di Napoli: Ah! bravo, Caro Calpigi! He proceeds to relate how he had married a very famous cantatrice who nevertheless continued in spite of his remonstrances to live with other men; how finally he had determined to sell her to a cor- sair, who betrayed him by taking him captive and making his wife his own mistress. Bientot a travers la Lybie, L'Egypte, I'lsthme et 1' Arable, II allait nous vendre au Sophi : Ahi! povero Calpigi! And so it turns out that Spinette is his wife,- the independent lady in question. They form a lively pair, both in charge of Atar's harem. Calpigi is an honest servant and fearless. It is he more than any one else who contributes to the overthrow of the tyrannical sway of Atar. By far the greatest traveler of all Italians, a character found wherever the imagination can reach, is, as we have hinted, Arlequin. His original Ital- ian name is Arlecchino and he was born at Bergamo, a synthesis, as many would have it, of Greek satyrs and Roman clowns. With him, at about the same period, the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, there came into being Pantalone at Venice and Scapin at Naples. These clowns delighted all hearts for many years, and eventually spread their joyous pranks all 26 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA over Europe. In the seventeenth century, accompa- nied by his intimates, Pantalon, TriveUn, Mezzetin, Scaramouche, Izabelle, and the Doctor, Arlequin ap- peared in France and endeared himself forever to his laughing audiences. At first Italian actors assumed his part, Dominique, father and son, Constantini, the great Gherardi, Vincenti, and the marvelous Bertinazzi. The clown had the most important role, and play after play was turned out by both French and Italian authors to enable him to show off his innumerable pranks, his inexhaustible wit, and his laughable antics. He gradually loses the traces of his foreign origin, becomes more or less identified with his gay audience, and is eventually replaced by Pierrot, his French counterpart. To study this clown and his family in detail,^^ as they appear in our eighteenth century plays, would make a lively picture of fun and laughter, but it would not add much to our appreciation of Italian character. Arlequin is Italian only in his origin. As we watch him take his speedy flight amidst startling scenes and adventures, we realize more and more his super-national qualities. We meet him as a savage Indian from America, as a Dutch bell-ringer, a clown in the PoUsh court, a messenger for Spanish royalty, and even as an enchanted king of Naples. He fig- ures prominently in Oriental plays; now he is a black slave in Bagdad, now a Turkish Hula or substitute-husband, later a deaf-mute Moor who is prince of Guinea, and again a king of Serendib in " An admirable and interesting account of their ^'ersatile and in- ventive genius can be found in 'W'ixifrfd Smith's Commcdia dtlV Aiic, ■Columbia University Press (1912). ITALIANS 27 Madagascar. He rises to the supernatural when he poses as Mohammed before Tartars, or when he figures as an ass in Greece, or when he discourses upon love with Venus. His adventures do not end here, for Piron uses him in his Arlequin Deucalion (1723) to outwit the jealous Com^die Frangaise which had forbidden dialogue in the Italian Theater. Since the play had to be a monologue, Piron has Arlequin figure as the only -survivor of the Flood, stranded on Mt. Parnassus, and forced to address Apollo, Thalia, and Pegasus for the sake of talking to some one. It is evident from all this, that our beloved Arle- quin, a character modern, ancient, fabulous, and uni- versal, is no mere man. He spreads his ridiculous and preternatural effulgence over the intimates of his funny family. That is why we cannot in this work take up in detail the amusing pranks of Scara- mouche and Trivelin and Mezzetin. We can merely point out that, though once Italian, they had become international clowns. Ill — The Corsair and Italy The Mediterranean Sea was infested with pirate- ships through many centuries. The pirates were gen- erally Mohammedans from Algeria or Turkey. It was inevitable, however, that Italy, with all its sea- coast towns, should produce men of roving disposi- tion, men who were tempted by the dangers of the corsair's life and by its glittering rewards. These Italian seacoast towns, Ferrara, Ancona, Naples, and especially Venice, are vividly presented in French drama of the eighteenth century as places where the 28 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA peoples of the globe meet and mingle. So Boindin, in his Le Port de Mer (1704) which has its scene in Leghorn, gathers the following outlandish characters: M. Sabatin, Marchand Juif Benjamine, sa Fille M. Doutremer, Armateur Leandre, son Neveu La Saline, Valet de Leandre Hall, Galerien Turc Brigantin, GaMrien Frangois Deux Cantarines Deux Barcarolles Deux Australiennes Un Singe These singular characters are all harmoniously occu- pied side by side; and to show their cosmopolitan tastes they dance together in the divertissement at the end of the play, accompanied by Chinese music, the monkey fluently speaking Australian all the time. According to these plays with their delightful sea-marauders, it was a peculiar but explicable habit of the Oriental pirates to visit Italian towns and carry off as their chief booty beautiful damsels to be presented to the various sultans, bachas, and sophis, their overlords. One is reminded of Regnard (1655-1709), one of our dramatists, who in 1677 was himself captured by pirates while traveling from Italy and sold at Algiers. So we are not surprised to learn of the perilous adventures of a Venetian girl, now safely resting near Ravenna, but exposed long ago, when a small girl, to the honors of the sul- tan's harem. Trivelin thus recounts Flaminia's life:'* " AuTREAU, LiS A}nans Ignorans (1720), Act 1, Scene 2. ITALIANS • 29 . . . vous me dites qu'elle avait 6t6 enlev^e sur nos c6tes a I'age de cinq ans, par le Corsaire Barnabera, qui trouva des-lors que sa beaute promettoit beaucoup; que ce corsaire I'avait fait Clever a Alger, aupres d'une esclave Frangoise elevee comme elle, dont il avait fait sa femme favorite; que I'ltalienne, devenue grande, il I'envoyoit a Constanti- nople, par present au Grand-Seigneur; que le capitaine Mario, fils de Pantalon, s'^tant empar6 du vaisseau qui la portoit, en etoit devenu dperdument amoureux; qu'il I'a- voit fait conduire a Venise, en secret, et la cachoit a son pere, dans le dessein de I'epouser. Pirates do a thriving business in Italy and are con- stantly heard of. It is indeed a profitable trade but it is resorted to for reasons other than the economic one. HouDART de la Motte in his Calendrier des Vieillards shows us an Italian from Tarento, Paga- min by name, who disguises himself as a Turkish pirate in order to frighten his uncle Quinzica into consenting to his marriage with the loving Galandi. Pagamin is, however, a pirate by profession, not merely by disguise; and his servant, Sbrigani, is therefore opposed to his marriage on a common- sense basis. He urges (I, 1): Mais qu'un Coureur de mers, qui ne vit que de guerre et d'enlevemens, qui roule toujours dans sa t^te quelque entre- prise, & qui ne connolt I'amour que par les contributions qu'il leve sur de pauvres amis, devienne lui-meme un 6poux en regie, & s'expose aux represailles . . . The prospect pains Sbrigani. We have thus far been brought, through the inter- esting medium of French dramatists of the eighteenth century, to a hasty glimpse of certain aspects of Italian life. We have seen their wandering artists 30 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA and teachers, bankers, merchants, fathers and sons, a miser, a duenna, servants. We have also caught a glimpse of their seacoast populations. We are now to get a glance in a similar manner at the way French imagination pictures Italian lovers. IV — Italian Lovers When we speak of lovers in plays, we naturally include not only the actual characters but also their thoughts on love and married life. Since from the ordinary point of view love is synonymous with girlhood and youth, it is right to include also thoughts expressed by French dramatists on Italian girls. Of the latter there are, as is to be expected, all kinds and some unexpected types too. But, in general, they are not what Piron makes Lisette out to he:'' Une idole du Nord, une froide femelle Qui voudrait qu'on parldt, que Ton pensat pour elle. Lisette is certainly not a usual Italian girl. The Itahan maiden, like her sisters in other na- tions, is trained to marry, and when the age for it arrives, between sixteen and eighteen, she takes for granted the necessity of a change in her mode of life. HouDART de la Motte shows us an unusual exception in Clarice, who says : ■-" Me voila dans I'age oil I'amant amuse, ou le niari g^neroit. Je vous I'avourai de bonne foi, tout me plait dans I'amant; s'il est commode je ne le trouve que complaisant: s'il est jaloux, je ne le sens qu'amoureux. Tout au contraire d'un " La Metromnnic (1738), Act 1, Scene 2. 2» Miiiiilolo (1705), Scene 5. ITALIANS 31 mari; s'il 6toit commode, je me croirois negligee; s'il 6toit jaloux, il me paraitroit un tyran. But this girl with her common-sense view of such relationship is a delicious exception to the rule. Most of her sisters are, alas! unwise and unwitting in their knowledge of men and of men's peculiari- ties. AuTREAU conveys the impression that this ig- norance is due to their training. He condemns their education as of the convent kind. His Flaminia,-^ a product of this system, sees its defects. She argues that as a test of virtue it fails, because it forces girls to be virtuous. There is no glory in that goodness which is forced upon one. She sums it up (I, 8) : Ont-elles le merite d'avoir conserve leur honneur, quand on en donne le soin a d'autres qu'a elles? This clearly points out one of the controlling motives in Italian education for girls — the desire to main- tain their virtue for them. Though the convent as an instrument of education was a thriving institution in France, richly main- tained by a vast aristocracy unwilling to be bothered with its young daughters, nevertheless to the intellec- tual Frenchman, and the dramatist may be called such, the whole system • tended toward the produc- tion of a very conventional type of girlhood that was especially annoying in Italy. Precepts of decent behavior between men and women in Italian cities, in Turin, for example, bore the visiting Frenchman to death. He flashes into that city, with the words :-^ 21 Le Part-a-V Anglois (1718). 22 DoRAT, Le Chevalier Frangais a Turin (1778), Act 1, Scene 3. 32 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Je viens, j 'arrive ici, plein de projets brillans, Courant apres I'amour et les enchantemens. What does he find? A set of soul-destroying conven- tions. He says sadly: . . . malgre moi je me pile Au ceremonial de leur galanterie, A ce culte genant et superstitieux, Au costume bizarre adopte dans ces lieux. Rigide observateur des loix qu'on y reclame Je me suis chamarre des couleurs de ma Dame; J'imite ces Heros, qui, toujours, en tout bien, Se battaient pour la leur, sans lui parler de rien. The process, however, proves too tedious for the Chevalier and he seeks with Gallic wit to abbreviate the ardors of a long campaign. Italian lovers are much more patient. Nothing could exceed the indulgence of even the dread poten- tate of Lombardy, King Astolphe.^^ Although en- gaged to Emilie, he capriciously falls in love with Ninette, a graceful peasant girl. Colas, her lover, has offended her by a show of violence; to punish him she goes off with the king, who tries to win her by his royal splendors. Yet her heart longs for Colas. Astolphe never resorts to his sovereign power to force his attentions and so plays no dignified part in trying to woo Ninette away from her peas- ant. But, as he says democratically (I, 2) : Qu'importe le sang dont on sort? Une belle est toujours au-dessus de son sort. Again and again he urges Ninette to reflect, to com- pare him with Colas and acknowledge his superior- ^' Favart, Le Caprice Aiiioiircux (1756). ITALIANS 33 ity. Clownishly, he finally yields when he sees her heart is obdurately set for her first love. This awk- ward king inspires the reflection that the author, Favart, did not have far to seek in selecting a court that he could ridicule ad libitum. It is interesting to realize that this imaginary Lombardian royal circle, in spite of the proximity of Lombardy to France, could be staged with all this buffoonery, without giving offence. Since Italian lovers are patient wooers, are we to conclude that their women do not, because of their stern set of conventions, convent-made and church maintained, live in accordance with their prevailing southern reputation? Rose, an impertinent maid to an Italian marquise, reflects that love finds a way everywhere, ^^ if there is love: Le coeur n'est nuUe part dupe des convenances; Ce n'est que pour les sots que sont ces differences. Eh ! qu'importent I'usage, et la mode et le gout? Independent des Keux, I'amour propre est partout. En depit de la Duegne, ou d'un Argus avare, En Espagne, il s'eveille au son de la guitarre; A Londre, une ardeur sombre et des feux patiens, Flattant I'orgueil des Miss, leur font courir les champs. Rose certainly ought to know better than we; hence we conclude that Italian women, as well as those of other countries, surmounted on occasions the dif- ficulties of conventions. It is uncomfortably true that young girls bred in convents were wonderfully wise about love and life almost before they left their shelter, although, in their conduct with men, they showed by their awk- ** DoHAT, Le Chevalier Fran^ais a Turin (1778), Act 1, Scene 3. 34 EUBOPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA wardness a pitiful lack of experience. Autreaxj clearly pictures the first meeting between the unso- phisticated Flaminia and a French gentleman. ^^ The latter assures her of the sincere respect she merits, and she answers: "Vous nous faites bien de I'hon- neur, Monsieur; nous ne meritons pas tant de res- pect. ..." Then she runs off feeling that she has said something foolish. But this same girl, with all her gaucherie, has already spoken about love, its varied aspects in different countries, and its true meaning, in a way that would do credit to a lady twice her age.^^^ She has analyzed the passion so wittily that one has to believe the convent has afforded opportunities for thought on the problem. Jolly has a play which he names La Femme Jalouse (1726). She is an Italian and the worst virago imaginable. Riccoboni furnished the plot and it is pardonable to conclude that this great Italian actor was somewhat familiar with the type. Fla- minia is intensely jealous. She is constantly quar- reling with everybody, especially with her husband. She threatens to poison his servant, Arlequin, and shouts every one off the stage. In another play ^^ an Italian lover, Alata by name, reveals the key to the favors of Italian women of Turin: On est drole a Turin! II faut, j'en ris dans I'ame, Raffoler du marl, pour attendrir la femme. This is rather ambiguous. It might mean that a woman of Turin wants others to admire her husband » Le Pori-A-VAnglois (1718), Act 2, Scene 6. »»" See page 317. 2^ DoRAT, Le Chevalier Fraii<;ins a Turin (177S), Act 1, Scone 4. ITALIANS 35 whom she loves, or wants a friendship to exist be- tween her husband and her lover. But we are not allowed to doubt the fidelity of Italian women. In the play in question,^^ the countess encourages the chevalier merely through jealousy of a rival; yet, sustained by her inbred sense of what is proper, she remains unswervingly faithful to her husband. The count, her husband, has no fear for his wife, and trusts his townswomen in general perfectly (II, 2) r Nos- femmes ont des moeurs; leurs modestes Amants Tiennent leur eventail, ou ramassent leurs gants, Et c'est tout . . . Ce n'est pas comme dans votre France. To the French chevalier this condition of affairs is of course intolerable. Love in Italy seems a mighty sad affair. He says to the Countess (III, 2) : Votre sexe, autre part, apres quelques soupirs, A'eut des Adorateurs, et non pas des Martyrs. Si I'on aime, on espere; ici, c'est autre chose. Le coeur n'atteint jamais le but qu'il se propose. Votre incroyable amour, aux langueurs condamne, A toujours, par respect, un air infortun^. In Paris love has its reward the next day. To ac- count for this interesting difference we have to catch but a little of the French spirit of the eighteenth century. When we add to this understanding the evident restraining influence of religion in Italy, we come to feel that our dramatists have seized the salient facts in the struggle between the conven- tional and the free expression of love in the home of Catholicism. 28 lUd. 36 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA While it is true that devotion in that distant epoch was the business of women, yet Italian lovers too, and even husbands, sometimes appear to have a few particular characteristics which brand them as of that nation. Destouches sums all these quali- ties up in an unfinished play, Le Vindicatif. The sketch of the plot shows us that an international marriage, a French wife and an Italian husband, may end unhappily. In this case the burden of the blame is placed by the author on the husband : ^^ Oubliez-vous qu'il est de race italienne, Jaloux par consequent, jour et nuit attentif, Fin, ruse, defiant, surtout vindicatif? Ne pardonnant jamais la plus legere offense, II feint de I'oublier pour en tirer vengeance; C'est son plus doux penchant, son peche favori, Et vous devez tout craindre avec un tel mari. A veritable devil of a husband, one might saj\ But what nation lacks them? The French lady in ques- tion ignores his fits and goes her even way, per- fectly free. Enfin je suis rran5oise, et je hais I'esclavage. Apparently the struggle betAveen the two has never ended, for unfortunately Destouches did not finish the play. It is natural to conclude after this general view of ItaUan types so conventional and ordinary, as they appeared to the eyes of the French playwrights, that Italy hardly figures at all dramatically in France. The two countries were pretty familiarly associated " From ono of two short unfinished scenes. ITALIANS 37 during the eighteenth century. Neither seems far away to the other and exchanges were constant. Travelers knitted the ties closer and bankers and merchants had correspondents everywhere. Italy is not a country, therefore, which the French mind con- structs imaginatively. It is a country heard, seen, and known. Actors brought its people, its life, ob- jectively before the public, in spite of the fact that realism in their work was at a low ebb. The great art-treasures naturally drew young Frenchmen into Italy, as they do to-day. We might feel that the seacoast towns with their adventurous populations furnished creative opportunities for the imaginative French mind. But with a few exceptions there is nothing overdrawn from the dramatic point of view in what we have seen. Only once in that whole century of plays do we come across a magic object in Italy, a ring that assures its wearer of food and lodging every evening.-* It is also to be remarked that French vision of Italian neighbors, was not dis- torted by untoward political relations. Through that long eventful period from 1715 to 1789 when France was successively embroiled with Spain, Prussia, Aus- tria, England, Holland, and Russia, her political affiliations with the Italian cities and kingdoms remained sane and safe. There is a tremendous stretch of years between the invasion of Charles VIII of France in 1494 and the Napoleonic cam- paigns of 1796 and 1797. In these three centuries of peace Frenchmen had come to know Italians without the inimical influence that national rival- ries exert. 2' HotTDART DE La Motte, Le Talisman (1704). 38 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA V — Literary Considerations The collection of eighteenth century plays which contain Italian characters would show a very poor literary achievement as a whole. This may be due in part to a lack of interest in Italian life, resulting in a series of uninspired writings. It is probably caused rather by the lack of great dramatic authors. One of the most obtrusive and unpleasant facts about these plays is the pitiful lack of plot. The same defect might also be termed a superabundance of plot. It results in a play which, in lieu of real characters, has constant activities and interrela- tionships which become in a short while annoying and confusing to the reader. Diagrammaticallj^ this idea may be illustrated by a series of lines running from each person in the play to every other person, with intersections and deviations as many as you please. As we have seen, even the servants Arle- quin and Spinette take a great part in the direction of their masters' activities. Hardly a play without .its disguises, men becoming women and vice versa. The net result is an impenetrable imbroglio which La Harpe calls distinctively Italian. In one case ^^ it is the girl who, disguising herself as a tutor, introduces herself into her lover's house in a distant city, all the time pursued by her uncle, and finally convinces her lover's father of the folly of not consenting to their marriage. In another work 3" it is the husband who so effectively conceals his friend from the rage of an enemy that he mys- 2» GuEULETTE, LMh/ouc Prfe'p/f Hc (1726), Xowcau rhcdlrc Kalicn, Vol. 5. "> Jolly, La Femmc Jalome (1726), Nouirau Thcdirc Italicn, Vol. 6. ITALIANS 39 tifies even his own wife, who suspects a rival. Then follows a whole play based on this misconception, a play that is hardly readable, that makes use of harm- less characters to mystify the puzzled reader even further. There is always concealment of the per- fectly simple in order to produce this sense of be- wilderment which is the life of the play. The more bewildered the characters are, the more truly Italian the comedy; until we reach a sort of climax in one of BiANCOLELLi's plays, called Les Quatre Sembla- hles. This is a Frenchified Comedy of Errors with the scene at Naples, with Arlequins for the two Dromios and for the Antipholi two Lelios. A very important reason for this stress on plot rather than on characters lies in the characters themselves. Consult any list of Personnages. We find almost always Lelio or Mario and Arlequin, Flaminia or Silvia and Spinette. The very names, worn threadbare, had cast an impenetrable pall over the use of imagination. These puppets could be made to follow certain complicated moves of in- trigue and plot, but of life they had none. L^lio is any one of a hundred young lovers, ready to die for his mistress but always marrying her at the end of the play. Sometimes the contagion spreads as in AuTREAu's L'Amante Romanesque (1718) and everybody in the play gets married. To dissipate the weariness of the insipid plot Arlequin is often commanded to perform all sorts of tricks or lazzi. He thus turns quickly from servant into clown. He also furnishes amusement by the trials and tribulations of his love for Spinette. In Le Port-d-l'Anglois (1718), Autreau goes even 40 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA further and introduces in the play a German count, a provincial liar, a clownish hotel-keeper, a drunken duenna, and a Chinese doctor. A cosmopolitan con- glomerate of this sort would make any audience sit up. This particular play is of historic interest be- cause it was the first play in French given by the Italian actors. Some of the characters still speak Italian, so that a confusion of languages is added to that which already exists. The piratical plot of the seacoast towns is even more terribly involved, since occasion for disguise is greater. In Boindin's Le Port de Mer (1704), Leandre, to win entrance to the house of his beloved Benj amine, disguises himself and his valet as black slaves sent to her father from Smyrna. To help him, Brigantin also disguises himself as a woman. Since Sabatin, the father, a Jewish merchant, pre- fers the pirate Doutremer to Leandre, the lover con- cocts the scheme of getting the disguised Brigantin to tell Sabatin that he, or rather she, is the thirteenth wife of Doutremer, and that the latter has sold all the others into slavery. The scheme does not work and necessitates a construction of another even more elaborate. Many of the ideas that regulated and guided our French dramatists in these chaotic plays were bor- rowed from Italian writers and, as we have seen, Italians themselves suggested these plots and also wrote plays which they acted. Destouches discusses the question of borrowing in a letter to the Cheva- lier de B . . ., his dramatic pupil. He is lecturing him on the title of a play:'^ " (EiiiTcs df Destouches, Ed. Crapelet, Paris, ISll, A'ol. 5. ITALIANS 41 Je ne veux point du tout que vous la nommiez 'L'ltalien Marie a Paris': car j'ai oui-dire que les Italiens avaient traite ce sujet, et il serait tres honteux pour nous, que nous leur d^robassions un titre. Laissons-les en possession de leurs richesses fragiles, et n'^talons rien qui ne soit puis6 dans une source pure. But Destouches himself broke this excellent dictate in his Le Tambour Nocturne which he brought almost bodily from the English by Addison, simply changing a few phrases here and there and renaming the char- acters. Shall we then blame the lesser inspirations of poorer dramatists? It is interesting, finally, to note that with only one exception all Italian characters speak excellent French. The exception is of course a teacher of Italian and his peculiarities are his vowels. He says : ^^ " Servitour tres houmble, Mademiselle. Je vous prie de m'excouser si je viens un po piou tard qu'a I'ordinario; ma j'ai depouis avant-hier trois nouveaux accoliers. ..." Later he recommends a fellow country- man in this funny wise: "II entend les langues, la philosophia, I'architectoura, la scoultura, la mousique, la peintoura. II sera ici dans demi-houra." Favart avoids the question of pronunciation in many of his plays by making his Italian characters speak their native tongue. But in his La Parodie au Parnasse (1759) Crispin cannot avoid imitat- ing the sounds he has just heard Pantalon pronounce. Pan talon says to the allegorical figure, ITndustrie (sc. 5): "Ah! cara mia Deita de vu son inamorao; per tutto vu cercao e no mai piu vu trovao." Cris- pin utters dismally: "Miao, miao." 32 Du Vaure, Le Faux Savant (1728), Act 1, Scene 1. 42 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA In general, it is fair to conclude that this lack of Italian mispronunciation of French indicates that there was in reality very little of it. The same fact is to be remarked regarding Spaniards. With Eng- lishmen and Germans the case is very different and it is easy to understand why. It is interesting to realize so vividly at this advanced date in our phil- ological development that these linguistic phenomena we now so carefully analyze and trace were just as prevalent in the eighteenth century. Accordingh- our dramatists remarked, with no particular wonder at it, that linguistically Italians and Spaniards were the brothers of Frenchmen. Hence our Italians speak admirable French in a most natural way, whereas those of Teutonic origin do not. There is hardly any attempt at scenic descrip- tion, "en Italic" being the usual indication of the whereabouts of the action. Venice, too, is frequently assigned as the locality of the intrigue. Yet this vagueness of place fits in perfectly with the lack of detail in character and plot, and, as we turn away from these Italian plays, we do so with a realiza- tion of their essential farcical nature, their futility, and their unreal atmosphere. If any of these com- edies furnish interesting reading, it certainly is not due to the plot or character. It is rather a quality that is inherent in French literature. It is wit, abihty, flexibility in expression, and alertness. It is what a Frenchman might term "esprit," an un- translatable word. It is the more pohtically vital peoples of the conti- nent that draw the eyes of our French dramatists of the eighteenth centur.v. THE SPANISH THE SPANISH The history of Spain in the eighteenth century is the history of a country whose great day has passed. In the clashes of nations she figures passively in the first fifteen years of that long period and then, as if exhausted by her measure of historic grandeur, she droops into the oblivion of an unimportant ally or neutral. Thus she remains, administratively ineffi- cient, dreaming of her vivid past, a semi-Oriental nation in her abstraction from the European present. Towards the end of the century, influenced by her king, Charles III, and his anti-English tendency, she regains a certain contact with European politics; but her domestic policy had rapidly changed the character of her people and fortunately unfitted them for war. Her possessions in America might have made her a power to be reckoned with had these not soon adopted the example set by the English colonists in their war for independence. The whole century stands out therefore prominently for Spain as a period of spoliation, decline, and political insig- nificance. This slow severance from the great members of the European family has its inevitable literary effects. The Iberian peninsula loses its existence in reality and soon becomes connected with legendary associa- tions or semi-historic creations. It is once more imaginatively peopled by Moors, and their fair pal- 46 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA aces rise renewed. Or we have, reborn in pristine vigor, the jealousies of Aragon and Castile, with Leon to complete the triangle. Like Italy, another of France's southern neighbors cut off from her by mountains, Spain is invested in a glory of romance, not so artistic as the Italian, but nevertheless pos- sessing its quaint charm of ancient wonder. She becomes a country of impossible lovers, of fatal duels, of royal scions traveling incognito, of errant knights with Quixotic vision. While the rest of Europe was blighted by war, she remained a sunny oasis, a seeming evergreen beneath whose sheltering arms flourished ancient love and honor, and prospered mysterious quests. Invested in this glamour as she has become, it is almost with a shock that we turn from literature to history to find that at the outset of the eighteenth century, Spain, with her new Bourbon king, Philip of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV of France, created an upheaval in the balance of power. France and Spain, of kindred blood and now royally united, were too strong a combination for the rest of the world to permit. England, Austria, the Protestant Nether- lands, the German States, even Savoy and Portugal, all united in dragging the unhappy Philip of Anjou from his gilded seat. He was saved by the fact that the candidate of the Allies, Archduke Charles of Austria, second son of Emperor Leopold I, suddenly inherited his father's scepter. To give him now the Spanish throne was undesirable from the "balanced point of view." So Philip \ of Spain was allowed to retain his place, and his country paid dearly for the privilege of having him. The Treaty of Utrecht THE SPANISH 47 (1713) deprived her of nearly half her European territories, and the period of her impotence was fully upon her. Under Elizabeth Farnese of Parma, Spain, like a candle that flares up before its final extinction, fig- ures once more as a disturbing element. The queen, ambitious for her sons, realized an opportunity in the death of the great monarch of France in 1715. Her Italian minister, Alberoni, served her well, but he was outwitted by Dubois, the minister of the French regent. A compact between the anti-Jesu- istic Philip of Orleans and George I of England tied Spain's hands, and her visionary projects for expan- sion died with Alberoni's dismissal in 1719. By 1720 this faint ripple on the surface had completely quieted down and Dubois turned his attention to the Austrian giant, aiming to tame him into friend- liness. Politically, during the rest of the century, the Spanish lack of strength nullifies the nation's influ- ence. Yet there is this interesting fact to gather from her general international relations. Because of the English occupation of Gibraltar and Minorca, Spain was instinctively opposed to England. The same opposition was one of the features of French policy. It follows that Spain and France were mu- tually drawn together by a recognition of the value of union against the common enemy. The result was a feehng of friendliness between the two countries, encouraged by the fact of kinship and evidenced by such pacts as those of 1733 and 1761. This sym- pathetic relationship was especially strengthened under Charles III in the second half of the century, 48 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA when Spain went so far as to help France in support- ing the American revolutionists. We are therefore not surprised to find traces of this interchanging influence penetrating the French comedy of the century. I — Historic Spain Voltaire, even Voltaire, produced a play for the pleasure and amusement of the French king. Although he was rewarded by the grant of a posi- tion as court historian, yet the play ' is an insipid piece of work. It was made at the order of Louis XV, for whom Voltaire confesses - he had turned "bouffon a cinquante ans, embarrasse avec les mu- siciens, decorateurs, comediens, chanteurs, danseurs, etc." In fact he did not even choose the subject, the romantic story of a Spanish princess. Referring to "M. le due de Richelieu, premier gentilhomme de la chambre," he says: ^ "II a choisi le lieu de la scene sur les frontieres de la Castille et il en a fixe I'epoque sous le roi de France Charles Y, prince juste, sage, et heureux, contre lequel les Anglais ne purent pr^valoir; qui secourut la Castille et qui lui donna un monarque." Accordingly we find pictured in this play Spanish life of the fourteenth century, the plot having an historical nucleus in the fact that about 1370 Du Guesclin led a group of unemployed soldiers across the Pyi'enees and captured the Cas- tilian throne as a gift for Henry of Trastamara, a loyal vassal to Charles Y. It is doubtful whether such a play can ha^-e real \'alue for a study which has ' La Priiiccssc de Xaearrc (1745). ^ In the preface to the play. THE SPANISH 49 the eighteenth century for its field. But the play is illustrative of the French romantic idealization of the Spanish past. We find the princess of Navarre tyrannically deprived of her throne and a fugitive from a barbarous uncle. What more natural than for a gallant French duke to disguise himself as a Spaniard and eventually succeed in restoring the princess to her rights. Incidentally our hero falls in love with her; and he manages with infinite dex- terity the double task of reducing his enemies with a small army, and the more delicate one of over- coming the princess's repugnance to his love. The duke is extremely well disguised, for even the Navar- rese lady does not realize that her lover is of another nation. She sees, of course, that he is polite, grace- ful, that he has in his appearance "un je ne sais quoi de noble, de fier." ^ Needless to say that the Frenchman wins her love, and by his marriage, ties closer the bonds which unite the two countries. This reference to Spain and her historic connection with France seems more ancient to us now than it did to Voltaire when he wrote the play in 1745. Characteristic, however, and almost modern is the way it shows us the French lover so successful in his amorous enterprise in a foreign land. We find again ^ the same power over the fair sex exercised by a Frenchman, this time with both a Spanish and an English rival to dispute his possession. In 1756 the French captured Port-Mahon, capital of the Mediter- ranean island Minorca, a strategic point possessed since about 1712 by the English, who had taken it ' Act 1, Scene 1. ■* Favart, Le Manage par Escalade (1756). 50 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA from the Spanish. Favart celebrated the occasion by a play in which his heroine is a Port-Mahon girl, practically Spanish, called Elvire. Tomson, an Eng- lish officer, tyrannically orders her to marry him. Carlos, "bourgeois de Mahon," a gentle lover, plans to save her by running away with her. He comes with his ladder that night; but Valere, a French captive, uses it to reach Elvire's room while Carlos and Tomson are both fighting outside. At this junc- ture the island is captured by the French, and Valere, now free, has little difficulty in convincing Elvire that he is an extremely desirable and desirous lover. Favart, struck by the rather ridiculous role his Carlos plays, hastens to remark in a footnote on the page with his list of characters: On n'a point pr^tendu faire allusion par le personnage de Carlos k la nation Espagnole, dont la galanterie, la valeur et la gdnerosit^ ont toujours fait le caractere distinctif. It is well to note these three nouns, so intimately associated by Favart with the Spanish people. It is essentially these romantic qualities that strike the French mind; and where is it more natural to look for them than in a nation's past — when a nation has no present? One cannot help reaUzing then that to the Frenchman of the eighteenth century Spain is still a country intimately associated with his own historically. He dreams of her past and of the ad- ventures the daring ones of his own nation have had within her borders. Only, he does not see her as a united country, but as a land composed of rival king- doms—Leon, Castile, Aragon, Barcelona. There seems to be constant warfare among these impor- THE SPANISH 51 tant constituencies and this necessitates all sorts of royal alliances in order to cement the peace. These marriages ahvays end in true love, unless a French- man interferes, in which case he invariably carries off the bride. Unlike ordinary matches which are arranged for the prospective lovers by their parents, the royal princes and princesses of Aragon and Castile and the other kingdoms pictured in our plays never seem to have encumbering fathers or mothers. We have al- ready noticed this enviable freedom on the part of the princess of Navarre. We see it again in Mari- VAXJx's Le Prince Travesti (1724). Lelio, an un- known soldier, gains the favor of the princess of Barcelona by his conspicuous bravery. She eventu- ally falls in love with him and woos him in a human if not majestic manner. Unfortunately Lelio loves Hortense, ' a girl as unknown as himself. The en- raged princess soon has them both in her power, but their love softens her and she yields them to each other. It is then that we discover that Lelio and Hortense are none other than the prince of Leon and the princess of Castile respectively. They have been traveling incognito, apparently for the sake of the experience. But to take the flattering word of those about them, their disguise is very thin indeed, since royalty shows so plainly in their faces. Some- times these kingly scions leave their palaces avowedly with the purpose of contracting alliances with neigh- boring powers. Undying loves are oft created by the sight of a miniature, and this spontaneous love is usually seconded by reasons of state. A disguise immediately becomes necessary for the projected 52 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA journey into the loved one's kingdom, and the result is a marriage after the usual intrigue and mystery have been experienced. It is well to note that the erotic strain of these adventures relegates reasons of state to a secondary place. How far this is from historic truth none may tell, for love between royal pairs is a subject upon which but few data may be had. Voltaire, as we have seen, has an errant princess in Constance of Navarre.^ She is therefore in dis- guise, yet because of her hal'o of royalty no one is deceived. All who approach her see its unmistak- able glint about her. EUe parait bien nee; La vertu, la noblesse eclate en ses regards. She is typically Spanish even in her hatreds. Natu- rally she abominates her tyrannous uncle who has so rudely deprived her of her throne. She hates the French duke, her lover, though she has never seen him, because her family and his have always been at odds. Like all oppressed princesses, she has one recourse (I, 1) : Je vais dans un couvent tranquille. Loin de Gaston, loin des combats, Cette nuit trouver un asile. It must not be imagined, however, that we are always forced to travel in order to follow up these stirring adventures of Spanish royalty. Sometimes the whole affair happens at home; and this gives us an opportunity of studying at our leisure the essen- ' La Princesse de A'avarre (1745). THE SPANISH 53 tial component parts of an historic Spanish court. We have of course the king, young and unmarried; then perhaps some princess in disguise who is after his heart. The never-failing prime minister figures prominently, with perhaps a rival for his power. A confidante for the wandering royal daughter, or, if for a prince, the valet Arlequin, completes the sanctified circle. Destotjches pictures an ideal little court for us in his L'Ambitieux et V Indiscrete (1737). We have first of all the king of Castile, clement and just, a trifle weak in judgment because of his youth, and prone to falling in love for the same reason. It is said of him (I, 4) : Prince plein de bonte, de vertu, de courage, Discret, sage, prudent, a la fleur de son 4ge, Captivant les esprits par des attraits vainqueurs, Et forme par le Ciel pour regner sur les Coeurs. Then comes the king's unscrupulous favorite court- ier (I, 2): Toujours reveur, toujours formant quelque projet, Accable de bienfaits, et jamais satisfait. Pour s'elever sans cesse, il met tout en pratique; L'amour meme en son coeur cede a sa politique. Car e'est un courtisan plein de manege et d'art, Dont Fair et les discours sont pares d'un beau fard. One cannot feel that there is any prejudice in this description of the Spanish courtier; rather does one perceive how he tallies with his French brother. The other important component of this Spanish royal coterie is the prime minister. As in this play, he is generally a scholar, a man who was born for 54 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA the quiet of the recluse and not for the clashes of court-life. Destouches sketches him thus (I, 2) : Pour un premier ministre, il n'a pas Fame fiere; . . . Content, de bonne humeur, Pr(§venant, gracieux, sans faste, sans hauteur, N'ayant d'autre interet que I'interet du maitre, Et toujours occupe, sans jamais le paraltre. He is generally a faithful servant to the state though he falls into and out of power with amazing rapidity. Another interesting element, though not always present, is found in the intrigante of the Spanish court. In Destouches's play, she happens to be the prime minister's wife. Her unlucky husband says of her (I, 4) : Depuis pres de trois ans qu'elle vit a la cour, Elle a pris tant de gotit pour ce brillant sejour, Qu'elle en perd la raison, et se rend ridicule. Son indiscretion va jusques k Fexces. Curieuse, empress^e, elle veut tout apprendre; Et tout ce qu'elle sait, elle va le r^pandre. It is rather evident that the French dramatist who tried to picture these important components of a Spanish court had no difficulties as far as an effi- cient model goes. We easily recognize in the fore- going features of an historic court lady a complete faithfulness to the vivid personalities of the con- temporary French court. Destouches even goes so far as to admit that he found it easy to sketch the fine character of the prime minister because he had THE SPANISH 55 a splendid living model in Fleury." We must there- fore make allowance for this inevitable and almost unconscious mingling of the writer's environment with the bygone life he was re-creating. If we spoke carpingly, we should insistently claim that in none of these writings is there a pictorial faith- fulness. At best or worst, all writing is intrinsically subjective. Consequently if what purports to be a presentation of foreign life is after all tinged with local imagination, we accept it nevertheless, and with especial ease in the drama. It is this form of expres- sion that reached more people than perhaps any other form of the eighteenth century. Ignorance of letters might prevent reading, but all could see and hear and understand. The play influenced widely, and what it presented was spread yet further by dis- cussion. Faithful or inexact, these pictures of Span- ish life and adventure produced impressions which, combined with past notions and future accretions, generated types and figures of national significance. What more natural than for a French dramatist, with his burdened knowledge of the vice-ridden court of his own land, to picture the Spanish court as equally sinful and without ethics: ^ Oh! Oh! De la morale! A la cour! Fruit nouveau! These ideas, reiterated and reimpressed, soon pro- duce an ineffaceable picture of a foreign court vicious and soulless. The idea gathers strength extensively, and soon we have a general picture of viciousness « CEuvres Dramatiques de Destouches, Ed. Lef^vre, Paris (1811), Vol. 3, p. 230. ' Destouches, L'Ambitieux et I'Indiscreie (1737), Act 1, Scene 5. 56 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA evoked at the mere mention of court-life. In fact French writers take advantage of the comparative safety of a change of scene and express almost with impunity in terms of Persian satraps, Turkish sophis, Spanish hidalgos, and English milords, the threat- ening rumble of their hearts' discontent and their souls' hatred of the noble-born oppressors of France. Who can guess how much of the momentum of the Revolution was gathered from these plays of for- eign lands? II — Lovers and the Code of Conduct If Spain figures as a country of romance and ad- venture, it is but natural that she be also a paradise for lovers. We meet a great many of them in our plays and they are of different kinds. Perhaps it is better then to become acquainted with them as individuals before we venture to think of them as a family with lineal traits. Like women of other countries, those of Spain, our dramatists find, have a special fondness for French lovers, in spite of a distrust of their fidelity, — per- haps because of it. Sanchette, a noble-born girl, has such an admiration for Gallic gentlemen, that when she is told that some of their actors are to give a ballet in her honor, she exclaims delightedly:^ Vingt beaux messieurs fraiiQais! j'en ai Fame ravie; J'eus de voir des Fran9ais toujours tres grande envie. L'aimable nation! que de galanterie! . . . * Voltaire, La Piiiiccssc de Xararrc (174.5'), Act 1, Seone 5. THE SPANISH 57 This very vivacious welcome may be explained as partly due to her youthful curiosity and her in- stinct (I, 4) : C'est une fille neuve, innocente, indiscrete, Bonne par inclination, Simple par Education, Et par instinct un pen coquette. C'est la pure nature en sa siraplicite. From this inexperienced young lady we might almost surmise that in our Spanish circles there was a great liking for the Frenchman and his courteous ways. As a dashing cavalier he must have attracted the pleased approval and the shy glances of many a dark-eyed southern damsel. The husbands or fathers of these ladies were suspicious of the nature of the attentions they received. As Don Lopez, a merchant of Cadiz, puts it: ' Nous avons ici un grand nombre d'OfSciers Fran5ois. lis vont faire la guerre contre nos ennemis, les Portugais, et tous les maris et les peres font des vceux pour leur prompt depart. This distrust of the visiting Frenchman communi- cates itself naturally to the training of the young girl, so that she grows up with a staunch assurance of the universal untrustworthiness of the gay for- eigner's love-making. We find many interesting traces of this distrust, of which we shall cite two here. Valere, a character in one of Favart's plays," woos Elvire, a Spanish beauty, with all the sincere fervor he can muster. But she turns away regretfully, ad- ' D'Hi)LE, Les Fausses Apparences (1778), Act 1, Scene 1. '» Le Manage par Escalade (1756). 58 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA mitting that unlike her Enghsh lover, he, Valere, is pleasant, amusing, and attractive, but that she can- not trust his vows. Frenchmen, she asserts, have the wings of Cupid as well as his arrows. In a sim- ilar vein Isabelle, another beauty, sings tantalizingly to her French lover, Florival : " Tout en vous est seducteur; J'en dirois bien davantage; Mais, mais Vous etes Frangois, Et tout Fran5ois est volage. Neeedless to add that both Valere and Florival overcome these acquired suspicions regarding the duration of their devotion. Elvire is a lady of some strength and independ- ence af mind. It takes many assurances of lasting love to win her. But how shall we designate Aurore,'^ another Spanish girl, who deliberately chooses a man for her lover and then proceeds to make him marry her? To suspect her of unworthy motives is impossible, for she is too beautiful and rich to lack ordinary admirers. Besides she is an orphan. She has come to know Dom Lope as a worshiper who offered her the incense of his devo- tion at night through her trellis in the convent. But when, freed by her father's death, she leaves her prison-home, she finds him wooing another woman. She does not in the least submit sadly to this in- fidelity, but coolly sets out to plan to recover her lover. And a perfect plotter she is. Schemes suc- " D'HiiLE, Lev Fausses Apparences (177S), Act 3, Scene 2. " NiVELLH DE LA Chatjss:6e, L'AmouT Casiillan (1747). THE SPANISH 59 ceed one another at breathless pace, till Dom Lope, tried and true, emerges into the sunshine of Aurore's good graces. The name of the play is Castilian Love; and if such be its usual course, then it is an uneven affair indeed. We are led to believe that Spanish love is not a robust plant and that it needs nursing in the shape of plots and counterplots before its stem strengthens into a trunk. Aurore accomplishes this task with huge delight and there is not a minute when she does not control the whole situation with a firm hand, as she hatches her plots at a moment's notice. She reminds us in this respect of an Olym- pian deity, for her plans never miscarry. She loves her lover, but she does not, like Juno, go off into tantrums when he proves forgetful, misled as he is in his other devotion by a misplaced feeling of grati- tude. On the contrary, she guides him back to her in a persistent manner, with no undue haste, but relentlessly and successfully. In this she is in her element, she asserts (I, 4) : Voila precisement ramour tel que je I'aime; Je le veux traverse, contrarie, contraint. Que de mille terreurs il soit sans cesse attaint, Qu'il ait toujours tout pr^t un secret stratageme, Un detour, une ruse impossible a prevoir, Pour tromper les argus et braver leur pouvoir. This delightful heroine therefore loves the mysterious situation; the more baffling it is, the better she enjoys it. Under such circumstances, to call her merely independent is to speak of her inadequately. She is more than that, for she rises above all human law s. This, she insists, is her right (I, 4) : 60 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Et comme il me plaira, tu me laisseras vivre; Car je ne pretens plus avoir de loix a suivre Que celles des plaisirs et celles de I'amour. This point of view and its need of sharp wit and clever perception in order to maintain it, she could never have acquired in the convent. This is a per- fecting touch that Madrid has added to her rich natural outfit (I, 4) : Je passais dans Madrid pour joindre a quelques charmes, De I'esprit, des talens . . . Certainly, Madrid was a great center, a magnet that drew toward it those who aspired to social and con- versational facility. Relatively, it was to Spain what Paris was to France, the royal core of the country. At first sight the complete freedom in action and thought displayed by the brilliant Aurore could not seem typical of Spanish girls. We have heard so much of their jealous and capricious husbands and fathers that certainly such a repressive environment might well be expected to cause a dampening of the spirit of independence and a submissive sense of obedience. Yet to our surprise we are forced to conclude that this oppressive atmosphere of jealous watchfulness served only to arouse the innate and natural feeling of liberty as it was manifested in loving. Beaumarchais created his Rosine '^ in this vein. Bartholo, an old miser, keeps her practically imprisoned in his house and forces upon her his unrequited attentions. But she is very clever " Le Barbier de Simile (1775). THE SPANISH 61 and spirited, and fights him ably with a woman's weapons. She has an unconscionable way of lying herself out of a difficulty that quite takes one's breath away. Not that this habit is a frailty par- ticularly attributable to Spanish women. Eosine, however, lies with such admirable facility, that we must pause to wonder how she does it. For ex- ample: she has written a hasty note to her lover; Bartholo accuses her of the crime, for he knows that one sheet of paper is missing; Rosine says she has used it to make a candy-bag; Bartholo points out that her finger is stained with ink; this she simply explains by her statement that she had applied the ink to cure a bruise. Finally, when the wily old man has cornered her by opening one of her letters, she breaks out in anger (II, 15) : Rosine. C'est qu'il est inoui qu'on se permette d'ouvrir les lettres de quelqu'un. Bartholo. De sa femme? Rosine. Je ne la suis pas encore. Mais pourquoi lui don- nerait-on la preference d'une indignite qu'on ne fait a personne? This is the acme of independent reasoning and just the asking of such an unanswerable question brands Rosine as a modern suffragist. Her modernity con- sists essentially in the fact that she asks unanswer- able questions. Poor Bartholo can only exclaim in vexed tones, which sound modern too (II, 15): Nous ne sommes pas ici en France ou Ton donne toujours raison aux femmes. This curt argument has an interest for us in the way it hints at a foreign view of the sway of French 62 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN TRENCH DRAMA women over their men. It would be natural to think of France with her social enthronement and worship of woman as a country where she was in- deed benignly free. Such a notion would be espe- cially characteristic in a land like Spain where the fair sex was sternly held in check by the firm hand of the unfair. We can find traces of this same acknowledgment of the comparative freedom of French women in our Turkish studies; and, to be sure, one expects this aspect of French life to be emphasized in the land of the harem. Favart, in one of the best plays " he has written, gives us a first-hand opportunity to observe and enjoy the presence of three different types of women in the seraglio of the sultan at Constantinople. One is a Circassian, the other French, and the third Spanish; and it is in the last that we are most interested now. Elmire is a splendidly beautiful woman, the gem in a harem of five hundred. We are to assume that she was brought a captive to the great master, and he has ardently wooed her for a month. He thinks her an artless, guileless girl, but he has not the slightest realization of her cunning play with him. Now that she is in the harem, Elmire is very ambitious to become the sul- tana, and so for a month she has made his majesty her worshipful slave by refusing to grant him the slightest favor. Yet Osmin, the eunuch, has seen through her wiles; knowing women, he understands the little feminine tricks of Elmire in the presence of the emperor, — a graceful gesture, a position of lan- gorous repose, the slipping of a gown. Elmire is " SoUman Secorid ou Les Trois SuKanes (1761), THE SPANISH 63 consummate in the art of arousing the UTiperial de- sire, and she is strangely reminiscent to us of the dark Spanish beaut j- shrouded in mysterious charm. Yet, even Elmire makes the sad mistake, when her triumph is almost at hand, of yielding too com- pletely and too willingly to the sultan's caresses. His unexpectedly easy triumph is a little disappoint- ing to his highness, and soon Elmire sees the place she has coveted possessed by the less beautiful but more irritatingly bewitching French damsel. The vivacity of Roxelane, the successful sultana, is worthy of note. It is that very quality in this French girl that draws the master on, whereas it is to a lack of that quality that we may ascribe El- mire's failure eternally to enchant the sultan's soul. Roxelane recognizes this absence of energetic and witty power in her Spanish rival. She prods her (II, 14): • Elmire, je vous prie, II f aut egayer le repas : Point de flegme Espagnol; vive Tetourderie. Roxelane, who knows the world, seems to attribute this lack of interest to Spanish people. She is probably referring in what she says to a certain seriousness which excludes joviality. It is not real indifference to life and its joys that she observes in the phlegmatic Spaniard. Elmire is capable of love and even more capable of anger. .She cannot let her rival succeed where she has failed (III, 1) : Mais j 'aural Soliman . . . Soliman ou la mort. L'ambition a Famour est 6gale. Quoi! je verrais . . . je verrais ma rivale Jouir! Je la perdrai . . . 64 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Her wrath does not boot her anything, for she finally has to submit to the imperial will. Before we turn to the Spanish lover and his pas- sionate ideals, let us make this parting admission: that in spite of his jealousy and care, it would seem that the Castilian lady who loves elsewhere than at home is no rarity. In Piron's La Robe de Dis- sention (1726), through the agency of a magic robe which is red to the eyes of an undeceived husband and black to the other kind, we discover the lamen- table fact that many Spanish women, especially those of the lower class, are untrue to their marital vows. Many of them are very anxious to prevent their husbands from inspecting the telltale robe. We have even more direct testimony elsewhere to the same effect. Lesage in his Conversations between Fireplaces of Madrid ^^ has one hearth relate how, in that room, a recent visitor shut out the sunlight and for weeks mourned his dead wife. This was an Englishman. But the next guest was a Spanish country-dame who had come to jNIadrid in order to lead the simple life with her lover, away from those who knew them. It is remarkable that hardly a trace of marital unfaithfulness is attributed to Italian women, whereas among those of this other southern peninsula, it is seemingly a common trait. Perhaps a survey of the Castilian lover and his no- tions of the sex relations will help us to understand why this noteworthy difference has come to pass into the minds of our French dramatists. First of all we must gradually realize that the air in Spain is surcharged with a peculiar romance of " Entrcticiis des Chcmincrs de Madrid, (Eiii'rcs (1783), Vol. 1. THE SPANISH 65 passion. This is evident in divers little ways, but the chief characteristics of its presence are the rant, the exaggeration, and the trickery of love-making. Wooing seems to be the main life-work of the noble Spaniard. Hence it is possible for him to fall a vic- tim to the charms of successive beauties with a con- sistency which is as astounding as the absolute fidelity demanded of the women. This helps us to understand why in a play like Piron's Le Faux Prodige (1726), Dom Pedre, brother to Isabelle, is such a tyrant over her conduct while he pays but little attention to his own vagaries. It is the way men of his nation have acted and thought, and he continues the tradition. This relation between men and women, — for Dom Pedre's attitude is general, — could not result in a cult of womanhood that was understanding and inspiring. By his indifferent acquiescent attitude toward her private relations, the Frenchman afforded the same liberties to his wife that he himself took. In Spain, however, we find no such phlegmatic courtesy as the chief guide in the husband's conduct. No matter what his own philosophy of worldliness might include for himself, there is but one principle that dominates the alliance between him and his wife, and that is jealousy. As Arlequin remarks to Leandre: '* Vous savez que rien n'est si jaloux que les Espagnols? Jealousy is as natural to the Spaniard as the air he breathes and he comes to conceive of it as the one '« PiRON, La Robe de Dissention ou Le Faux Prodige (1726), Act 1, Scene 2. 66 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA great way in which he can show his love for his lady. Alonzo says: ^^ Aimer sans jalousie, Non, ce n'est point aimer; Ce n'est qu'un sentiment leger, Un gout frivole et passager, Que sans effort on quitte, et qu'on oublie. Mais quand on aime pour la vie, On aime avec fureur. Souvent c'est un martyre, C'est un affreux delire. Qui tourmente et dechire Un trop sensible coeur. This then is the very soul of Spanish passion; and if we cold analysts can but enter into it slightly, we shall be enabled to understand the heights of exaggeration attained with the utmost sincerity by these lovers. We shall realize how it is possible for ■Dom Fernand to announce in dolorous tones to his lady-love who prefers some one else to him, that his heart is pierced and torn by fatal torture: ^^ Je porte aux fonds des deserts, Mes pleurs, ma honte et mes fers. Adieu, chere Isabelle. We can also enter more sympathetically into the psychology of the passionate Dom Lope who is fired by a mere description of a lady into colossal ardor: ^^ " d'H^le, Les Fausses Appnreiices (1778), Act 2, Scene 14. 18 PiRON, La Robe dc Dissciilion (1726), Act 2, Scene 12. " NivELLE DE LA CuAuss^E, L'Amour Caslillan (1747), Act 2, Scene 7. THE SPANISH 67 Tout me fit adorer ma divine inconnue. En un mot, j'eprouvai qu'un cceur pour se donner, N'a pas toujours besoin du secours de la vue. Dom Lope is youthful and inexperienced. He is young enough to feel that money should play no part in his choice of a mate (T, 5) : . . . Mais a mon sens, quoiqu'il en soit, Tout amant qui se vend n'est qu'un vil mercenaire. Yet this noble sentiment, uttered in the heat of emo- tion, fades before the practical reality of a rich and dowered wife. Thus many an ardent purpose per- ishes before the cold blast of the conventional. Yet we cannot call this a fact regrettably true of Spain. Rather the opposite is true of that magic land, for in its surcharged atmosphere, even the bare logic of necessity weakens and the most philosophic loses his practical composure. So contagious is her eroticism that all her guests become to some extent tainted with it. We are not then siirprised at Arlequin's impatient remonstrance at his master's exaggerated devotion : ^° Quoi! vous donnez dans ces exces? Vous, aimer de la sorte! Yoila qui n'est guere Frangois; Ou le diable m'emporte. Mais il est vrai que nous sommes en Espagne; je vous par- donne ces folies. This electrified atmospheric condition takes a queer turn in Seville, where passion with its retinue of charms and missives and tears holds regal sway. ^'' PiKON, La Robe de Disseniion (1726), Act 1, Scene 2. 68 EUROPEAN CHAEACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Lazarille, a Spanish servant who keeps his head, comments on Sevillian love: ^' Palsambleu, la drole de ville! On ne fait nulle part Tamour comme a Seville. On ne sait qui I'on aime, & qui Ton a charme. We are led to imagine the impressionable youth of that city as tagging around all day in delirious flirtation with veiled ladies who uncover their faces for a moment but to add fuel to the huge flame already kindled. Apparently there is no one to interfere with this amorous exchange between people unknown to one another. Indeed, the duenna, that Spanish lady of extremely wide repute, is conspicu- ous in Spain by her absence. It would seem as if the pressing need for her cervices in other countries had deprived her own land of her watchful care. Not even mothers figure in our pla3's; and our Cas- tilian beauties could enjoy a liberty unequaled and unheard of were it not for the disturbing presence of fathers or "brothers. Our sympathy with these motherless heroines makes us rebel hotly against the unjust discriminations practised by these fathers and brothers. The latters' very predominance in the family to the detriment of all the other relatives, especially the female con- tingent, is enough to prejudice us against them. But one might expect a brother who is himself a lover to understand his sister better and not fall into these tyrannically conventional modes of conduct. Instead, Alonzo ^^ exercises his male authority and 2' NiVELLE DE LA Chauss^e, LWmoxir Caslillan (1747), Act 1, Scene 1. '^'^ d'HJile, L(S Fnusses Apparcnces (1778). THE SPANISH 09 makes a refugee of his sister Isabelle, whose sole guilt is her desire to marry a man she loves. She confides to her friend Leonore her fears aroused by her brother (I, 9) : ^'ous connoissez son caractere imp^tueux? Aussi jaloux de I'honneur de sa niaison que de sa maitresse, portant a I'exces tous les prejug^s severes de notre nation . . . These unmerciful social customs of Spain to which Isabelle refers had, no doubt, for their original pur- pose, the sensible desire to preserve the reputation of girlhood in spotless purity. But it is to their excessive and unfair demands that Isabelle objects. These she cannot abide. They force her to act in a manner entirely contrary to good natural im- pulses. Rescued early one evening by a gallant young Frenchman named Florival from some evil- intentioned men, poor Isabelle is conducted in safety to the house of a friend. The moment she reaches the doorway, she turns around on her courte- ous rescuer and says regretfully (I, 5) : II est bien cruel pour moi de congedier mon protecteur; mais vous devez connoitre I'aust^rit^ de nos moeurs. Si on vous voyait ici . . . These unfair demands of convention in Spanish life arouse a sympathy even for the tyrannical brothers and fathers who are themselves slaves to a cruel social organization. No one can for a moment doubt its ultimate detrimental effects. Our playwrights realize for their characters that on the part of womanhood it encourages secrecy and deception, on the part of man a social serfdom. Even when girls 70 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA have nothing to hide, they are forced by pure brow- beating to hide it. The attitude towards them is one of suspicion. Beneath this dense cloud of super- ficial relationship never a breath of the natural is stirring. There is constant struggle instead, and in this unhealthy dimmed atmosphere are bred the bats of jealousy and anger. The mere mention of a lady's name in connection with some natural incident is enough to cause those about her to shun her. Isabelle having been seen on the streets of Cadiz with the gallant Florival, a young ardent lover takes it for granted that the girl in question was his Leonore, and he promptly turns into a passionate reviler of a perfectly innocent girl. This is but one of many instances of a similar sort. In France) the freedom in matters sexual enjoyed by men and women of the social whirl was beneficial in at least this respect: that it rather enhanced the natural- ness of loving and its normal activities. In Spain, everything seems unnatural, especially the point of view of man. The result of this environment was the evolution of the independent and rebellious type of woman we have met in Rosine and Elvire, the deceptive type we have seen in Isabelle and Leonore, the type which, like Elmire, is purringly beautiful and sexually attractive, and finally, a type that takes more naturally to the foreign husband — the French- man for instance. We have met this girl in San- chette and Elvire. All this our discerning French dramatists have seen and clearly set down. But they go even further. They know, partly by the conditions in their own land, that a. code of conduct based on the artificialities of social rank and THE SPANISH 71 convention, must lead in emergencies to acts which would be nothing short of ridiculous, did they not entail tragic consequences. Don Louis, ^^ a Spanish naval officer, remarks this, himself in his friend Don Lambinos, whose son supposedly has been killed. In Spain the normal thing to do is to murder the mur- derer. The point d'honneur ^''^ demands it. But so ingrained is this habit of thought that the sense of bereavement is lost as soon as the criminal is pun- ished. Emphasis is placed on the duty to be per- formed, and when that is accomplished, convention is satisfied. Vindictiveness is thereby encouraged and a totally wrong set of values placed on the various relations of life. Don Louis says of his friend : ^^ Ah! Quel homme! Quel caractere vindicatif! Que je plains ceux qui peuvent avoir besoin de son indulgence! Le plai- sir de faire punir I'auteur de la mort de son fils le consoleroit, je crois, de sa perte. Yet what does this semi-open minded gentleman, who so ably criticizes his friend, do in the same cir- cumstance? The man he believes murdered is his . nephew, hence the code calls upon his avenging activ- ity. When he learns that Fontrose, the French admirer of his daughter, is the culprit, he has to de- cide between his duty towards his family and his duty towards his daughter. Besides, since Fontrose is the son of a French marquis who had formerly saved his life, gratitude figures as another element 2' DiJMANiANT, La Nuit aux Aventures (1787), Act 2, Scene 4. 22'* For an interesting discussion on the point d'honneur see Ro- manic Review. Vol. 1. No. 3. (1010.) 72 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA that disturbs the nicely balanced demands of con- vention. Here is his decision (II, 9) : C'est le seul moyen de concilier ce que je dois au sang et a la reconnoissance. Je vais chercher Fontrose, je me bats avec lui. Si j'ai le malheur de le tuer, mon neveu est veng^, je Fecrirai au marquis & il m'approuvera. Si je succombe, eh bien! en cachant mon duel, je vais faire mes dispositions pour qu'on lui laisse ma fille, & la moitie de tous mes biens. This rambling talk is so devoid of common sense that we feel assured that a Frenchman of the time could not have uttered it sincerely. Yet he would see that according to the stage there is only one way for this Spaniard to reconcile love and honor, and that is to kill some one. If he kills Fontrose, alas! his daughter loses a husband. If he is killed, alas! his daughter loses a father and is expected to marry his murderer. The absurditj' of the whole situation never strikes him, as it would his lighter- hearted Gallic brother. How pure nobility of con- duct oft betrays, in Spain, a lack of reasoning power! We naturally expect this man-made system of morals to lead its Spanish exponents into other sense-- less situations, though by our dramatists these are often intended to appear serious and tense. But in stage plays where the heart-throb is after all the principal thing, we find the code mainly exposed in the conduct of lovers. We have seen the pure pri- mal passion beset and hedged in and thwarted by many conventional obstacles. And this is the re- grettable impression that we must take away with us concerning Spanish love. THE SPANISH 73 III — The Spain of Beaumarchais In 1764 Pierre Augustin Caron, already known as Beaumarchais, traveled to Spain with a two-fold purpose. He was interested in vast financial under- takings which required his personal investigation. Besides this and almost as important, was his desire to bring to justice the notorious Clavijo, who had mis- led and deserted his sister Marie-Louise. When he returned to France, he had found his vocation. His stay in Spain seems to have given the young genius the spur to dramatic activity, and in 1767 he pro- duced his first play, Eugenie, a bourgeois tragedy manufactured according to the formulae of Diderot. In spite of its failure, Beaumarchais nursed in his mind the conceptions that his visit to the land of romance had given him. The hypocritical Almaviva, the sparkling Figaro, and the bewitching Rosine, all were born from that visit, and he gave them life in his inimitable way, imbued with all the disgust and revulsion that his own life had inspired in him. For we must remember that Beaumarchais was born of a watchmaker and that he had risen to the ranks of French court nobility. He could not have accom- plished all this without the temporary sacrifice of his free soul; and he gives vent to the revolt in his heart by the immortal children of his mind. We have then in the plays of Beaumarchais a very interesting and instructive example of foreign staging for polemic purposes. Nobody who reads his works to-day can doubt that behind the Spanish veil with which he covers his thoughts lies the intense purpose of exposing the vice and wickedness of his 74 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA own time and clime. Essentially, then, in his pic- tures, he is probably French. Withal it is impossible that some characteristic realities should not be found which are distinctly attributable to the nation whose name he chooses. No author of genius could escape from such an influence. An instinctive adherence to some canon of truth, felt rather than perceived, would prevent him. When we therefore meet the Spanish nobleman Almaviva in Le Barbier de Seville (1775) or in Le Mariage de Figaro (1784), we can frankly admit the true purpose of his creation by Beaumarchais. But this must not prevent us from perceiving those natural associations which the hidalgo's descent in- volves. How normal it seems then to find him one bright morning thus soliloquizing as he saunters past the window of his most recent love : ^^ Si quelque aimable de la Cour pouvait me deviner a cent lieues de Madrid, arr^te tous les matins sous les fenetres d'une femme a qui je n'ai jamais parlc, il me prendrait pour un Espagnol du temps d'Isabelle. This seems so natural that Beaumarchais with his unfailing instinct makes Almaviva appear first, and these are the first words he utters. They seem to establish all the unities at one blow, time, place, and plot. We recognize the highly romantic wooer at once. We know that he is about to face insurmountable dif- ficulties in this quest for an indefinite lady whom he doesn't know. He is a nobleman, of course, but the sword in his belt is not going to help him cut his way through obstacles till he reaches the side of his « Le Bnrhicr de S^riUc, Act 1, Scone 1. THE SPANISH 75 beloved. Herein is Beaxjmarchais polemic, for his hero fades away into insignificance before the truer protagonist of the play, Figaro, the valet, the brain of his master. But Almaviva is still a Spaniard and a seeker of adventure, a man whose heart falls a prey to any pretty woman he meets. Perhaps he is most typically Spanish, though least like himself, when he gives up perforce the ancient right of the feudal lord to spend the first night with the new- wedded wife of a vassal. He does it because honor demands it, and honor is a peculiar Spanish product, as we shall see. He proclaims his renunciation in no uncertain terms: ^^ L'abolition d'un droit honteux n'est que I'acquit d'une dette envers Fhonnetet^. Un Espagnol peut vouloir conquerir la beaute par des soins — mais en exiger le premier le plus doux emploi comme une servile redevance, ah! c'est la tyrannie d'un \'andale, et non le droit avou6 d'un noble Castillan. It is interesting to note here what quality this Spaniard considers inherent in the course of love- making. It is legitimate, so he thinks, to try to win a beauty to favor him, but he must never force her favors. This plausible theory is startlingly Oriental. We see it again and again in practice in the eastern harem. But in the west it remains a theory, an ideal to strive for. Rarely indeed is a Spanish girl in our plays allowed the liberty of choice. Even Almaviva is a hypocrite with all his Spanish honor, for he tries to seduce Suzanne even before she is married to her Figaro. 2' Le Mariage de Figaro, Act 1, Scene 10. 76 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA So much for the young nobleman and his love- gambols. We may be permitted to include here a glance at another author's presentation of a similar character grown much older. Voltaire shows him to us under a new name. He is Murillo : ^* . . . un baron absurde, ayant assez de bien, Grossierement galant avec peu de scrupule: Mais un homme ridicule Vaut peut-etre encor mieux que rien. All through this play we find him a vacillating per- son who looks out for his own good, making love at every opportunity, and without courage in a crisis. He is not even a pathetic figure, he is merely ridicu- lous. Beaumarchais, in the second ^' play of his Figaro trilogy, shows us Almaviva again and, like Murillo, the Spanish nobleman is now much older. With his age his libertinism and hypocrisy have grown to tremendous proportions. His constant de- ception of a submissive wife awakens our sympathy for that much abused lady. And our exultation is great as we watch the shrewd wit of the valet Figaro, abetted by that of his fiancee Suzanne, triumphing over the seignorial power of the count and restoring him unwittingly to the arms of his ever forgiving wife. To be sure, this does not show us the figure of the Spanish nobleman in a very favorable light. In fact he strongly resembles his immortal prototype, Don Juan. The courtier who promiscuously distributed his affection was common enough, however, in France, ^'^ La PriuccKsc de A'aearre (1745), Act 1, Scene 1. ^' Le Mariagc de Figaro (1784). THE SPANISH 77 and it was natural to lend similar qualities to the lords of other lands. There are notable exceptions in the case of England. It follows that Beaumar- CHAis did not actually create these qualities so in- herent in high-born characters; but when he gave life to Almaviva, he apparently fixed forever some of the essential attributes of the romantic Spanish wooer, the popular coureur d'aventures. No amount of righteous conduct on the part of subsequent liter- ary heroes of that nation can live down the reputa- tion of Figaro's master. Beatjmarchais's genius shows its real power in another way. Not only do his major characters remain in the mind and take on significance with reflection, but his minor characters are not less clearly presented and they, too, remain with us as real individuals, not as types. Let us take, in Le Barbier de Seville, those most ordinary of all, the miserly tyrant Bartholo and his assistant Bazile. The former reminds us of a host of old misers who harshly imposed their mode of life on those about them. We instinctively hark back to the Harpagon of MoLiEEE, who is the prototype of a horde of successors. But our Spanish Bartholo is vastly superior to this common herd. He is mean and cruel and nasty, but he is also a man of whom one is afraid. He has power, he is more than a match for the flighty Almaviva, and he can fight for what he considers his right, to the last ditch if necessary. Bazile, too, is raised by his infinite ingenuity to heights never attained by a stock comedy charac- ter, such as he really is in his office of accomplice to Bartholo. 78 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA But why examine these minor characters further? No matter how intensively we study Antonio, the count's gardener, Ch^rubin his page, or Marcehne, a maid, we cannot get the feeling that they are truly Spanish just because of the individuality with which Beaumarchais imbues them. As they gather significance in the course of the action of the play, we begin to realize a deeper meaning behind their words and acts. We catch a glimpse in their eyes of Beaumarchais, the prophet, the seer. How else shall we explain the words of Marceline who, play- ing a clownish part till her cue comes, suddenly rises to eloquent heights of abjuration and condem- nation of the system men have built for women : ^ Mais dans I'age des illusions, de Finexperience et des be- soins, oil les s^ducteurs nous assiegent, pendant que la misere nous poignarde, que peut opposer una enfant a tant d'enne- mis rassembles? Tel nous juge ici s^verement, qui, peut- etre, en sa vie a perdu dix infortunees! . . . Hommes plus qu'ingrats, qui fl^trissez par le mepris les jouets de vos passions, vos victimes! c'est vous qu'il faut punir des erreurs de notre jeunesse; vous et vos magistrats, si vains du droit de nous juger, et qui nous laissent enlever, par leur coupable negligence, tout honnete moycn de subsister. Est-il un seul etat pour les malheureuses filles? Here is the soul-crv of a betrayed woman as she faces her guilty judges; and as we hearken to her from our present perch in the centuries, we bow to Marceline with tears in our eyes, and a sob is our answer to the immortal truth she utters. Truths, these are so immortal that they transcend not only time but place. They are no more Spanish 2* Le Mariage dc Figaro (17S4), Act 3, Scene 16, THE SPANISH 79 than they are French or EngUsh. And who is Figaro but the immortal rebel, the hater of injustice, the lowly soul pushing its way for air against the mass of putrid social conventions! Figaro is no more Spanish than Gil Bias or Don Juan. He is the seeth- ing spirit of the world, he is the embodiment of dis- content with conditions, he is, as many would have it, Beaumarchais himself. While this is probably true, no one can deny that the impression that Le Manage de Figaro made on its audiences was that it was a dramatization of the manners and thoughts of Frenchmen. The French nobles who thronged the Comedie Frangaise and saw themselves enacted in Almaviva were not insulted at this expose of their immorality, but remarked amusedly: "Que c'est ressemblant." ^^ Grimm in his correspondence speaks in no uncertain terms of the play and the characters it truly represents.^" It was a play that made a special appeal to the people, and their frenzied en- thusiasm at its premiere was certainly not aroused by what they considered to be a depicting of Span- ish life. We render homage to the great Pierre Axjgustin Caron de Beaumarchais for having a genius won- derful enough to create characters which we cannot say have helped us much in this effort to view for- eigners through the medium of French dramatists. IV — Literary Considerations Let us examine an excerpt from a criticism made by the famous critic La Harpe in the Mercure de 2' La Baronne d'Obeekiech, Memoires, Vol. 2, Chap. 23. '" Grimm, Correspondance Litteraire, Vol. 13, p. 106. 80 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA France, January 25, 1779. The occasion for it was a new comedy, Les Fausses Apparences, written by D'HiiLE and presented in the Theatre Italien on December 23 of the preceding year: Cette piece ... est du genre de ces anciens canevas des Theatres Espagnol et Italien, de ces imbroglio, fondes sur des meprises et des deguisemens, et qui ont fourni des su- jets a nos poetes dramatiques du siecle dernier, lorsque notre litterature naissante prenoit encore ses modeles en Espagne et en Italic, avant d'en produire elle-meme de meilleurs This dictum seems to confirm the impression of hterary weakness that these plays have made on us. We have found the same to be true concerning the comedies of Italian life. The trouble seems to lie mainly in the plot. It is generally so involved and confused, owing to this conscious imitation of Spanish and Italian plays, that we lose interest long before the Gordian knot is cut. We could cite many instances of these tiresome, long-drawn-out comedies with their obvious situa- tions ; and, in our attempt to describe their plots, we should perhaps become disagreeably involved ourselves. But let us try to relate what happens in one play just to show how complicated a simple adventure may become. Let us choose Dvmaniant's La Xuit aux Aventures ou Les Deux Moris Vivants (1787). Dona Eleonore, the daughter of Don Louis, steals out of the house one night to visit a masked ball. She has on her domino, so she can meet and talk with whom she will. During the dancing, she be- comes acquainted with the young Fontrose, a French THE SPANISH 81 chevalier, who has come to Madrid incognito to learn what he can about this very Eleonore, whom his father wants him to marry. Fontrose is cap- tivated by the lady in the domino without knowing who she is and, after the ball, he follows her to learn where she lives. Suddenly he sees her beset by some men, one of whom engages him too. This unexpected enemy is Don Juan, a nephew of Don Louis. He has mistaken Eleonore for Laure, his fiancee, and suspects this stranger of courting her. Fontrose easily disposes of Don Juan, though both are wounded and each believes that he has killed the other. The Frenchman, realizing that he is now a fugitive from justice, takes refuge in Eleo- nore's house. She and her maid contrive to hide him for a few hours. Then various incidents occur which render his stay precarious. The ladies then contrive to have him and the valet who is with him leave the house, concealed in a trunk. By a convenient mistake, the trunk is taken to a prison where Don Juan is incarcerated under the charge that he has killed a foreigner. The two recognize each other eventually and everything is explained away. The telling of the plot makes it look much sim- pler than it really is, for there has to be left out a mass of confusing detail apparent only in the dia- logue. But our account should give a notion of how the scheme of the play hinges on misunderstandings and mistakes. Dominos and incognitos are indis- pensable aids in all this mystification. Can one imagine the veritable confusion that results with the introduction of magic? We find such a hodgepodge in Piron's La Robe de Dissention ou Le Faux Pro- 82 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA dige (1726). This magic dress, which shows by its color whether husband or wife has remained faith- ful, sets off a whole village into two armed camps, until it is generally proven that almost all have broken their marriage vows. The resulting compli- cation is indescribable, involving as it does protesta- tions and struggles and false accusations. It is also noteworthy that this comedy has a distinctly Orien- tal flavor with its magic robe. But we must not be surprised at this when we think of Spain, in "\"ol- taire's words, as "le pays des romans." This attitude toward the land of Castilian speech we have met with in practically all this study. Such an attitude would naturally exclude any at- tempts at realistic staging, so far as the dramatists are concerned. Costume, for example, is not em- phasized in our printed texts of these plays, nor even scenery. Only two authors have attempted feebly to indicate that they want their characters to be dressed as Spaniards. Dumaniant has the follow- ing list of clothing properties : ^^ Don Louis — Officier Superieur de la Marine, Habit bleu, paremens rouges, large galon d'or, cocarde rouge. Don Lambinos — ancien costume espagnol noir, passepoil rouge. Mosquito — postilion, veste ^cailate, galonn^e en argent, k bouffettes de couleur jaune, cheveux plats. Don Juan — fils de Don Lambinos, frac ecarlate, cocarde rouge. It is interesting to note that Dumaniant designates red as a popular color and that he does not attempt at all to clothe more than one minor character. " La X nil aux Areiiturcs (17S7), THE SPANISH 83 In regard to costume Beaumarchais is much more conscientious. We shall not attempt to give here a representative list of his properties, for they can be found under his personnages quite rich in detail except for the women's parts. He goes so far as to make an attempt at scenic effect, too, and writes the following indication for the first scene in Le Barbier de Seville: Le theatre represente une rue de Seville, ou toutes les croi- s6es sont grillees. This sounds extraordinarily Spanish and we know that Beaumarchais actually saw those windows in Spain. Though other authors have not given us any de- tailed scenic indications of the fact, we have trav- eled with them in Seville and in Cadiz. We have been, too, in Madrid and in Barcelona. We have seen a romance acted out on the borders of Navarre and also in the palace of the king of Castile. We have been taken to view a Spanish lady at Con- stantinople and another in Minorca, an island in the Mediterranean. Piron alone has given us a locality — all too indefinite — in his "une ville d'Espagne." '^ In shining contrast with this stands our Beaumar- CHAis's indication that the action of his Le Manage de Figaro takes place in the Chateau d'Aguas Frescas, three leagues from Seville. We might also mention that we meet a troupe of Catalonian puppet-show actors in Paris, in "une partie des Beaux Boulevards illuminee," ^' which goes to show that Spaniards '2 Piron, La Robe de Dissention (1726). ^' Fa V ART, La Soiree des Boulevards (1750). 84 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA who came to Paris found their distinctive occupa- tions, as did our Italian artists. Marie Therese, the queen of Louis XIV, maintained a troupe of Spanish players to remind her of home. They never became popular because of their language and their bombastic dialogue and tiresome plots. Let us conclude these technicalities with the re- mark that, as was the case with Italian characters, our dramatists have seen fit to put perfect French into the mouths of their Spaniards. We are philo- logically not surprised at this fact. Only once do we find a Spaniard, a Biscayan, making the most amusingly characteristic mistakes in his efforts to speak the angelic language. Naturally his 6's and v's bother him: ^* Monsu, je bois a bostre havillement que bous etes un memvre de I'opera comique. Je bais prier une de ces veautes. And there is also the initial es: Faitcs-moi receboir a bostre espectacle. Apart from this instance, Spaniards are at home in the French language, whether the scene is in France or in Spain. This ability to speak his language must have seemed natural to the Frenchman, for he felt in the Spanish character on the stage before him a certain approximation to himself, a similarity. The relation- ship between the Bourbon dynasties that ruled the two countries served only to increase the cousinship between the two peoples. The poUtical Facte de '* Lesaqe, Lex D(',srs/)(';r.s- (1732), Scene 8. THE SPANISH 85 Famille drew the bonds even closer. The Spanish atmosphere seemed normal and our French audi- ences must have enjoyed with a friendly familiarity the gay procession of heavy-hearted lovers and dark damsels that our dramatists creatively imported for their amusement. GERMANS GERMANS One of the conclusions reached in this work, es- pecially when studying characters belonging to a nation politically unfriendly to France, is that the foreign policies of the French government had but little effect on the stage representations of either a friendly or an inimical people. It is evident then that even in the eighteenth century, the popular imagination had seized upon definite conceptions of foreign types and had adhered to them despite the fluctuations of international alliances. These asso- ciated qualities of alien lands remained in the drama, while the passing political condition created by cabinets was often ignored. Now and then, es- pecially from the antagonisms with England and Holland, there arise dramatic works of a purely occasional interest. But these are few, poetry being a much more favorable medium for such expres- sion, as the laureates of England prove. Favart's L'Ecole des Amours Grivois (July 16, 1744) is a rough vaudeville rudely nailed together to celebrate the recovery at Metz of king Louis XV from serious illness. It has its scene in Flanders and shows how the Flemish people were intensely anxious to come under French rule in preference to Germanic dom- ination. This skit was so successful that the same dramatist wrote another, Le Bal de Strasbourg (September 13, 1744), in which Germans and Swiss 90 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA alike are almost overcome with joy at the French king's recovery. In 1756, when the Seven Years' War was officially begun, Favart takes up his pen again; in his Le Mariage par Escalade, we find out how inferior are English sailors and officers to the French. But plays of this kind, which reflect so completely a merely passing condition of political relationship, are negligible. This fact is sufficiently proven by the friendly tone of French plays of the eighteenth century which have English characters, although it was a period of extreme land and sea rivalry between the two great countries. In the present chapter will be seen how the notion of the German, more properly of the Prussian, developed, quite unhindered by a succession of wars between France and some of the German states extending through .a period of about twenty-five years, 1740 to 1763. The fact that there are few references to Prussian characters in the drama of the first forty years of the century can easily be explained by the relative non-importance of that nation in the councils of the world. Its birth as a kingdom dates from 1700 and its place as a military power is won only in the second half of the century. It is after 1740 that Prussians feel themselves to be a nation, united by a common bond of hostility against Austria. Up to that time the various dis- united duchies had hardly figured in national rela- tions with France. And even when the struggle for supremacy between Austria and Prussia involved France, there were many independent states, which, like Bavaria, remained friendly. Many of these GERMANS 91 little principalities, guided by self-interest, to be sure, had entered into private pacts with France. Thus in 1714 and again in 1727, by a secret treaty, the king of France promised to support the can;- didacy of the elector of Bavaria to the imperial throne, in the event of a vacancy. Royal family connections modified also to a great extent these widely ranging agreements between France and the many German states. Maria Theresa married the Frenchman Francis Stephen, duke of Lorraine, and this was no common bond for two countries in the eighteenth century. Political exigencies forced even Prussia, in her effort to retain Silesia at the outset of the War of the Austrian Succession, to league with France. With so many varying treaties, with such a baf- fling series of alliances, there could hardly be any significant movement of friendliness on the part of the Frenchmen toward Germans. If anything, it is a feeling of aloofness and unacquaintance that is likely to result from so precarious a system of national treaties. So far as the drama indicates, it is after 1740 that the French notion of a German type begins, stimulated previously by the military vagaries of Frederick William. Later, in the Seven Years' War, Prussia and England were the allied enemies of France, grappled in their common interest by the superb statesmanship of Pitt. It is now, dramatically speaking, that the Prussian enemy is really born, just as, in Germany, a definite revul- sion against things French becomes decidedly evi- dent after the victory of Rossbach (1757). The Treaty of Paris (1763) despoiled France of her vast 92 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA colonial possessions. Her defeat was due to naval inferiority to England, but largely also to the con- centration of military attention that Prussia forced by her growing menace. We are not surprised then to find in 1753, accord- ing to BoissY,! that Germans were tipplers and worse. We are reminded of Montesquieu's state- ment: "En Allemagne, je bois avec les AUemands." But toward the end of the century, in 1789 for example, a saner view is taken, and in one play^ Germans are actually revealed as very intelligent and sober and generous. So enmities come and go and come again. Drama can reflect these international movements but little since they are on so vast a scale even if controlled by a few powerful individuals. It is rather in the ordinary life of the people than in any labored form of literary expression that we must seek the truth of a nation's heart, the ordinary life of the people as reflected perhaps in their intimate letters. The drama, however, has an advantage for this kind of study: it can place before us at the same time people typical of different lands in mutual relation, and it can picture their give and take with imagi- native force. It is not therefore a mere photograph of aliens that we obtain, but, if I may call it so, a motion picture of interrelated characters. Seen in this hght, the few plays of the eighteenth century which present German thought and custom form an important document from which we can gather, ' Le Retour de la Paix (January 23, 1753). ■■'' DEzi;DB, Augitste H TModore (1789). Imitated from Engel's Der Page. GEEMANS 93 in mere outline, essential traits as seen by French playwrights. Many walks of life and many ranks are pictured in this document, from king to hotel-keeper, from a princess to a frontiers-woman. One interesting fact about them all is that they are generally German — not Prussian, not even Austrian. "La scene est en Allemagne" is the usual scenic direction. Bavarian, Wiirtemberger, Saxon, Hessian, these provincial dis- tinctions do not clearly exist on the stage. We can recall only one instance of more definite reference and that is in a Proverbe by Carmontelle, called le Prince de Wourtsberg.^ Wourtsberg evidently stands for Wtirzburg, a principality which was ceded to Bavaria in 1815. We are often led, how- ever, to think of these German characters as Prus- sian, since that was, as it is now, the most striking of the lingually associated principalities. I — Characters With these introductory words, we may now turn our attention to the personnages as we meet them, starting with the nobleman, descending to the bour- geois, and ending with a few general remarks culled here and there. Unlike the Italian plays, which showed us very little of high-born persons, the German plays stage even royalty. This may be because of the numeri- cal superiority of German kings, since each state had its prince, thus rendering his presentation on the stage less audacious. It was inevitable also that ' Carmontelle, Proverbes dramatiques (1822), Vol. 3. 94 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA where there were so many rulers, some at least should be unimportant and possessed perhaps of ridiculous pretensions. Accounts of the doings of these minor sovereigns were current enough in France, brought back abundantly by itinerant French actors and singers. M. Brillantson,* one of Carmontellb's characters, is a French singer who will have a rare story to tell in Paris regarding the prince of Wourtsberg and his musical faculty. We do meet however, in DezJide's Auguste et Theodore (1789), a great and generous king, and the play communicates the thought that he is probably Prus- sian, although the scene is "en AUemagne." Theo- dore, a poor page in his employ, is sure of the king's generous remembrance of the deeds of one of his officers. "Le Grand Roi,^ oublia-t-il jamais un brave officier, tue sous ses drapeaux?" The king is eminently just, too. Auguste, another page, con- soles himself for his misfortunes: Le Roi ^ sera instruit, 11 saura tout: rien n'echappe a sa vigilance; 11 admet et ^coute tous ses sujets. Tous ont ^galement part a sa bonte et a sa justice; c'est le Dleu tut^lalre de son peuple; 11 sera sensible a nos malheurs; . . . This is indeed a king, and one looks askance at the kindly exaggeration of this description. But Dez^de goes further, for royalty is actually put on the stage. We find the king at his desk disposing of business in a most efficient and kindly manner * Le Prince de Wourtsberg, Proverbes Dramatiques, Vol. 3, Pro- verbe LXVIII. = Act 2, Scene 2. » Act 2, Scene 3. Evidently veiled praise for Louis X\'I. GERMANS 95 (II, 4). He has two great drawers, one on the right for petitions requiring immediate attention, and one on the left for those not granted. This enviable picture of capable royalty is quite offset, however, by the ludicrous prince of Wourts- berg. He is a tremendous absolute monarch wor- shiped in a tiny court somewhere in Germany. He is pleased by a French itinerant singer because the latter sings exactly what he is asked to sing in the manner he is told. His art is made absolutely ridiculous, for the prince's pet theory about music is that it should be fast. Brillantson does his best in the matter of speed and makes such a disturb- ance that there is no music left. Yet his wonderful tempo wins him a place in the little court, where he must, at their pleasure, sing for the princesses their favorite song, "Si jamais je prends un ^poux." In the same comical assemblage at Wiirzburg is the king's chamberlain, a gouty sot, past his prime. The prince jests with him (sc. 4) : Vous n'^tes plus bon a rien, Chambellan, si vous ne supportez pas mieux le vin que cela. Vous ne chassez plus. Je ne vous conseille pas de vous marier non plus. He is a most disgusting picture of a rheumatic lover of women, who has dulled the edge of his appetite. Somehow this pitiable figure seems typical in some aspects of the fed-up aristocrat of all nations. We meet him in England, in France, and especially in Turkey; and generally he is some high functionary close to the king, a milord, or a bacha, or sophi, or cadi. He is essentially the progenitor of the aristocratic villain in a modern melodrama; for he 96 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA it is who generally persecutes the innocent hero- ine by his unworthy attentions and thus brings unhappiness to the loving hero. He is invariably defeated at the end; for what obstacle can resist true love? Certainly the portly old wooer is never a serious hindrance. German aristocracy of even lower pretensions is not pictured in colors any more enviable. Its musical taste especially seems to be a favorite butt for ridicule. In an anonymous play called La Musicomanie ^ (1779), we find the Baron Steinbak, a musical idiot ready to swallow any idea regarding his hobby, no matter how preposterous. In his house everybody leads a hard life, for he forces all his servants as well as his daughter to play some musical instrument. He has an orchestral instinct which leads him into the queerest vagaries. For anybody to obtain anything from him, the request must be musical. His druggist has to sing his items and state his claim in harmony. When L^andre, his daughter's suitor, disguised as an Italian musi- cian, puts before him the scheme of bringing up chil- dren with music as their only mode of speech, the baron wildly applauds and gives his daughter to the unknown theorist in order to bear children upon whom the novel scheme may be tried. This German admires Rousseau tremendously, and if his daughter Isabelle is not a successful nature product, it is not his fault. Another aristocratic weakness slightly peculiar to Germany is a drinking propensity highly hinted at ' Le Prince et Baddrais, Petite Bibliothhque des ThMres^ Vol. 74. GERMANS 97 in the name Trinquemberg,^ a name given to a baron. Yet it is this same Trinquemberg who saves his race in the eyes of Flaminia, an Itahan girl. She prefers him to all other suitors, in spite of his ferocious dialect, because of a remarkable combina- tion of qualities, with the German predominating. She wants a Frenchified German and the baron has been in France. She says (I, 6) : Or, un AUemand francise est au point que je souhaite. II prend, ici, avec le terns, ses degres de politesse, et quelque- fois meme de galanterie. II n'a ni les caprices de I'Espagnol, ni la jalousie de I'ltaHen, ni la volubilite du Frangois, et conserve toujours sa Constance allemande. II n'aime ni trop, ni trop peu. Enfin 11 est marl raisonnable. This wilful preference for a German suitor, al- though couched in negative terms, is well worth study. It reveals essential qualities that a discern- ing French mind like Autreau's associated with Germans. Naturally, so he thinks, a German has none of that social finesse of bearing that marks the consummate loyer and gentleman. If he possesses it, it is an acquired habit which makes him a most desirable companion. He does not inherit tempera- mentally either caprices, jealousies, or fickleness. He goes evenly and smoothly through life, distributing his affection judiciously. He makes an ideal hus- band, when, to his German foundation of solid qual- ities, he adds the grace and conversational charm of the French. We to-day are rather familiar with these notions, and we may be prone to think of them as modern * Atjtrbau, Le Port-A-rAnglois (1718). 98 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA when they are really not so. Axjtreau expressed them in 1718, at a time when there was no Germany, hardly a Prussia. But Germans were familiar fig- ures in Paris all through the century, whither they were self-confessedly drawn by their intense desire to learn social custom. To the French they were in this respect a rather ridiculous people. Julie, a French girl, speaks ^ thus of a German baroness and her relative, M. Reiter, "officier allemand": Je n'en puis plus. Bon Dieu, qu'ils sent plaisans! La Baronne surtout qui veut faire I'aimable. Quelle affectation! Quel accent effroyable! Ciel! Comme elle est coeff^e! Et son cousin Reiter Qui parle son jargon, est encor mis d'un air . . . Non, je n'ai jamais vu de figure semblable. The baroness is indeed a pitiable person. She is evidently making strenuous efforts to break into French society and is, of course, overdoing it. But Reiter, whose language is a jargon, is rather an engaging character. His appearance is perhaps a little forbidding because of his bristling nature. He badly frightens Dulaurier, a valet, who refuses to announce to him that his master does not want him admitted (III, 4): Je ne lui f erai pas de r^ponse semblable : Je le connois, monsieur, il est brutal en diablo. Reiter, however, speaks fairly good French, and shows himself to be very sensible and polite. He exercises self-restraint even under provocation, and in excited moments only does he abuse infinitives, " BoissY, L' Impertinent malgri lid (1729), Act 1, Scene 1. GERMANS 99 the conventional way of making a German speak dialect : Pour vos amis, Monsir, vous etre trop poli. (Ill, 5). Reiter is perfectly ready to admit his inferiority in social graces and is conscious of awkwardness in feminine society. But he perspicaciously points to the inevitable fallacy of a studied system of polite- ness when carried to the extreme. He says to his friend, Leandre: Moi, plus grossier que vous, respecter mieux les femmes. (Ill, 5) He will not allow the patronizing Leandre to make fun of his relative, the baroness, although the Frenchman invites Reiter to laugh with him at his own cousins and aunts. This family facetiousness violates one of the sacred notions of the German heart; and at Leandre's insistence, a duel follows. The Frenchman wins but begs his friend's pardon later, having been brought to realize that the Ger- man was right in protecting his relative from ridicule. From this interrelation, we gather the notion that not only were there friendly exchanges between one and the other nation, but that there was also a sense of inequality that was regulated by a feeling of justice and fair play on both sides. The German in France, in spite of the popular conception of his foibles, will get friendly treatment. And we are not surprised moreover to find in Luxembourg, then a distinctly German principality, a promising young 100 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA French officer ^^ who outwits two German soldiers and whose conduct in the matter is justified by a German colonel because the soldiers used unfair tac- tics. They had tricked the Chevalier de St. Clair into tearing his cuffs of expensive lace by proposing a toast to the French king and tearing their own cheap cuffs. The chevalier retaliated by toasting the German emperor and getting a dentist to pull out a false tooth from his mouth. The Baron Cleinersdorff, their colonel, orders the two lieu- tenants, Rossbach and Wassbruch, who refuse to reply to the toast in kind, to lose two good teeth as a punishment for their trickery. We have here illus- trated a case of German resentment against the suc- cess of a Frenchman, this whole situation of rivalry controlled by a guiding sense of justice on the part of a German official. In all of this, therefore, there can be no trace of essential unfriendliness. In this particular case, the disagreement is rather due to a feeling of jealousy, as Wassbruch's complaint easily shows (sc. 1) : Mais c'est M. le Colnel qui dit toujours; la Cheval Saint- Glair, il est charmant; la Cheval Saint-Glair, il est un grand officier; la Cheval Saint-Glair . . . et puis encore la Cheval Saint-Glair; cela il me feroit jurer centre le France tiaple- ment, voye-vous. Even when we find a real hostility against the French, as is the case in Mercier's Le Deserteur,^^ it is based on some personal hatred. In Mercier's "> Cahmontellb, La De>it, Proecrbcs Dramatiques (1S22), Proverbe LXXIV. " About 1780. GERMANS 101 play, M. Hoctau, a landed proprietor or a "Stad- chouldus" as he calls himself, in a little German village on the French border, hates Frenchmen with a virulent hatred; but one feels that his grievance is richly fed by the fact that a successful rival for the hand of Clary Luzere is Durimel, a young Frenchman. There are plenty of traces in these dramatic glean- ings of the presence of enterprising young French- men in various German cities. We have already met a singer, an officer, and the young Durimel who is directing a woolen factory for Madame Luzere, a German widow. Carmontelle ^^ shows us how M. Dubreuil, in order to give his son a thorough training in banking, sees fit to send him to a large financial concern belonging to Herr Trotberg. These are unmistakable business relationships and ex- changes. It is perfectly natural, then, to find Herr Trotberg the following year visiting M. Dubreuil. The German banker appears before us as follows: "habit vert, a brandebourgs d'or, boutonne, per- ruque a noeuds, chapeau et epee haute, avec cra- vate." This is no small business man and he shows his antecedents by the careful way in which he marks down on his tablet any new word that strikes his ear. His manner is very dignified, he is always careful. He makes many mistakes in the gender of French nouns and is puzzled by the fact that that language has at least two words to express the same idea. He creates a terrific disturbance in the house in his efforts to gratify a sudden desire for beer. He is a 'typical German financier, and there must have " L'Etranger, Proverhes Dramatiques (1822), Proverbe L. 102 EUEOPEAN CHAKACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA been many like him on business quests in France. Many must have settled in commercial towns like Marseilles. We find in that city a merchant by the name of Hamberg,'^ a much respected citizen. His French and that of his son Leuzon are so perfect that one has to conclude they are descendants from a family long established there. German ability in learning too, as well as in com- merce, is somewhat acknowledged by our French dramatists. In Gueulette's Le Tresor Suppose we are introduced to the Vicomte de Shrigandorf, an illustrious German cabalist, who is asked to drive away by his incantations a fairy that guards a treasure. We meet also a doctor, really a French- man in disguise." His valet utters the significant words (II, 2): . . . Mon maitre Est un noble Prussien, et Berlin I'a vu naitre. Mais il aime Paris par inclination, Et parle bon Fran9ois. This, taken literally, would indicate even on the part of the home-loving German savant a desire to be in Paris, the magnet city that drew from the four corners of the world. Lisette, a servant in this play, thinks this foreign doctor exceptional for a foreigner (IV. 3): II traite en Gentilhomme, et sans rien exiger, Poli comme un Frangois, quoiqu'il soit stranger. This is a blanket indictment for all aliens, including Germans. They are not ex]iected to be polite and '^ Joseph Pilhes, Le BUnJait Anonymc (17S-1). " BoissY, Le Mcdccin par occasion (1745). GERMANS 103 gentlemanly like Frenchmen; it is surprising to meet a foreigner who practises the conventional savoir- vivre. But if in the imagination of French dramatists their German neighbors are not surfeited with a social Gemiitlichkeit, they do picture their plain people full of the milk of human kindness. Dez^de " shows us a simple pair, a hotel-keeper and his wife. Their re- lationship is more homelike than loving. It is only when the wife pretends to coquet a wee bit with some of the house guests that her husband inter- feres with her freedom. She does it openly and very clearly to tease him. They perform every thought- ful duty they can possibly think of in order to en- sure the comfort of their guests. The hotel-keeper voices his philosophy of life very quaintly (I, 1) : Leve avant tout le monde, couche le dernier, soins, activite, vigilance, exactitude at probity, voila les moyens dont se sont servis mes bons ayeux & que j'emploie moi-meme pour conduire.ma maison. On doit toujours se distinguer dans son etat & puisqu'il faut jouer un role ici-bas, je prefere celui de bon homme a tous les autres. Je suis d'un carac- tere facile, je ne ran5onne, ni ne poursuis personne. Je plains ceux qui sont dans I'impossibilite de me payer & quand je trouve une bonne occasion de rendre service, je la saisis. He seems to sound here some of the essential notes in simple German character, even as we think of it to-day — ■ activity, exactness, honesty, contentment, kindliness, love of home, service. Never would we consent to attribute this bevy of virtues to the aristocratic city class. But who can say that the 1* Auguste et Theodore (1789). See note 2, this chapter. 104 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA peasant and the farmer have not their hearts, Uke their work, closer to nature? It may be that these simple folk do not look kind. The hotel-keeper's wife remarks this about her husband, when he de- termines to mortgage all his property to help a poor widow in her distress (I, 14) : Avec cet air brusque, qui croirait qu'il a Fame si sensible? Ces Allemands? This hotel-keeper illustrates another notable tend- ency as seen by French dramatists — a tendency among German people to render into a philosophical system their mode of life. This could easily be turned into the ridiculous. But after we have read the innkeeper's modus vivendi, we are filled with a deeper respect for him and his view of life. AVe feel his kind optimism to be basic and unchangeable. And we have a reverence too for Madame Luzere, a German woman, who has lived a long life on the French border. She has penetrated in her contem- plative wisdom the futility of land seizure and the fallacy of enmities. She even sees the foUj' of her own country in maintaining an iron-clad army. She speaks of German soldiers: '^ Qu'a fait pour nous cette milico avide, qui se disait nos allies, nos defenseurs; ils semblent n'^tre venus ici que pour devancer les ennemis dans I'art du pillage, lis ont pris tout ce que la modeste loi de la guerre leur a permis d'emporter. Les Fran- cois arrivent; on leur cede la place; ils ne feront pas pis que les autres; ils vivront seulement a nos depens. " Mercier, Le DcxcrU'ur, Act 1, Scene 1. This author is neither the first nor the only one to have spoken thus. GERMAN^ 105 Nor can she in her gentle way see any reason for international enmities, the incubus of the poor: '^ Qu'entendez-vous par ce nom d'ennemis? J'ai vu des mon enfance la guerre changer vingt fois de face et d'objet. Les feux de joie succedaient aux massacres, on redevenait amis, apres s'etre egorg^s. Le pourquoi de ces debats san- glans reste toujours inconnu, et je n'ai pas encore rencontre de militaire qui m'ait paru I'avoir devine. This is no ordinary woman who talks thus, and if the mass of any nation felt like her, there could be no war. All honor to Mercier for having portrayed this type of mind, so modern in its concepts of the clashes of nations — perhaps a little too modern. This same Madame Luzere has a guiding sense of the practical which leads her past the pitfalls of erroneous feeling. This practical nature is custom- arily associated with Germans. We have seen traces of it in the unromantic officer, Reiter, in the careful banker, even in royalty dispatching its business. Because of this quality there is a lack in the general depicting of German nature as we have reviewed it, a lack that is conspicuous to us because it is a quality frequently associated with the Spanish, the Italians, the Turks, and even to some extent with prosaic Englishmen. This quality seems more natu- rally to go with southern blood of Latin descent. It is hard to designate it by one term, for what word can embrace intensively romance, imagination, vision, passion, phantasy? Can we say Quixotism? At any rate, the English, as seen by the French dramatic eye, are but slightly endowed with this colorful char- acteristic and the Germans possess none of it. Only <6 lUd. 106 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA once in all the century do we find a young German " who is placed in a highly romantic situation. But it seeks him out, not he it. He is the son of a poor German baron who has his home on the borders of the Danube. The three sister Fates are planning his life for him. He is to have manly beauty, the kind that is possessed by "un heros de roman." This makes us think of the tall fair-haired warrior of legend. But our lad is to run the gamut of ordinary experience, "le vin, le jeu, les femmes." In Paris he will be initiated into the mysteries of vice, and then he will go to England where the great romantic event of his life will take place. After a short so- journ, he will be secretly summoned one evening to a noble lady who is suffering from a fruitless mar- riage with an old lord. Yet his highly heroic act in helping the lady to a son is to be vilified, for our German will accept for his services in the matter an annual stipend from an unknown source. Thus the practical asserts itself in the very midst of a most entrancing incident. Lesage does not attribute in his satirical way very much charm or grace to the German lover. Neither does Mercier. In one of his plays, ^^ a French invad- ing ofhcer is making overtures to Clary, a German girl, in order to make her delay her marriage with her lover. Says he (II, 3): "Charmante, regardez- moi: ce n'est point un Germain empese et ridicule qui soupire a dix pas de son idole; c'est un Fran- gois" ... to which Clary answers: "On le voit bien." And it seems sadly true that dashing French " Lesage, Unc Journee des Parques, Deuxi^me SiSance. '* Le Deserlcur about (1780). GERMANS 107 lovers are often preferred by the village damsels to their own ponderous swains. Hence the remarks in this play regarding the French officer in general: "L'officier Frangois n'est pas d6ik en trop bonne reputation dans ce pays." Nor is he more popular in Spain, where, as we have seen, he outrivals the capricious Spaniard. The success of the amorous Gaul in his amiable quest is not so surprising in Germany, however, where love and marriage are pictured as rather formal affairs. The stiffness of the marriage alle- mand is well known even as far as Barostan, an imaginary Oriental city." Almoraddin, an Asiatic prince, fears that his father will not consent to his marriage with one of lowly birth. According to his companion: " Le roi suivant les apparences Blameroit notre engagement. II est raids en fait d'alliances, Comme un grand seigneur allemand. While we have found no particular case where the tyranny of the German father imposes an unhappy marriage on one of his children, there is small room to doubt that the united life of married people was conceived as a narrow, confining existence. Faith- lessness on the part of the husband was inconceiv- able, on the .part of the wife impossible. In this respect the Parisian custom was an astounding revelation to the German visitor. Le Baron d'Orn- bruck ^^ has traveled a great deal, but nowhere has '^ Lesage, La Reine du Barostan (1730), Scene 10. '" Carmontelle, Le Maii, Proverbe LXXVII. 108 EUKOPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA he found, as in Paris, the husband so insignificant and unobtrusive. A visitor in many households, for weeks he beheved that the women were widows. Such conditions could never exist in Germany, of that he is sure. There, a married woman has but one husband and no lovers. Imagine therefore the problem that confronts a German who falls in love with a French girl. This is the pitiable case of M. Pitre-mann, "ce fameux violon de Mannheim." He asks M. de Vigneul to help him gain the lady's heart, and pleads thus : ^^ J'ai pour Fannie toujours plus de miUe ducats, voyez- vous; & je puis avoir encore d'autre avec. J'ai vu un Demoiselle ou j'ai soup6 dans son logis; c'est un Fille qui est charmant et cela 11 feroit un bien joli Fenune pour moi, & Monsieur 11 connoit, volla pourquol je dls. This is delicious prose for an eloquent Teuton, and Carmontelle, who knew German well, gives to his sentence an unmistakable tinge. M. de Vigneul warns the ardent suitor that the lady has a very questionable past, but he, brave gallant, is un- daunted, borne out as he is by the customs of his own country: ^^ Je demande pardon pour mol; chez nous on dlt autrement, un Fllle 11 n'a point de Marl, alnsl 11 peut falre et puis la mariache II fait qu'on pense plus apres comment le Femme II a fait avant. This is an unusually liberal view, entirely ahead of us moderns. It seems therefore debatable whether Germans really entertained such a notion. It seems 2' Carmontelle, La Courtisane Amoitmisc, Act 1, Scene S. GERMANS 109 hardly probable that they considered leniently on the part of an unmarried woman what they severely condemned for their wives. If what Carmontellb tells us is authentic, then it is amusing to note that it is directly opposed to the conventional con- duct of the Frenchman, who gave to the married woman more latitude than to her solitary sister. The Germans, then, are not pictured by our French dramatists as notorious loose-livers. We have met them in various guises, to be sure, and we have seen many of their good qualities as well as some of their bad ones. We have learned about the musical vagaries of some, the foolish social aspira- tions of others, their complete subservience in mat- ters of etiquette to the French, straightforward justice in their military camps, the good broad-hearted kindness of the common man, a tendency toward philosophizing, their careful method of doing things, their sense of the practical. We find also dramatic mention of them as subject to a habit which we are prone to-day to associate with them. In one of Boissy's divertissements,^^ we find them a beer- drinking crew, who unite Bacchus and Venus: Trinquier & zoupirer tour a tour. Lesage in his Une Journee des Parques, pictures vividly in the dialogue of the three sister Fates the debauch that four Germans are having in "Stras- bourg" with two French comediennes. They have emptied two hundred bottles of wine in the last twenty-four hours. The men fall dead, the ac- tresses remain alive, for they are very useful to the 22 La Frivolite (1753) 110 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Fates. MoigsY ^^ credits Germans with an invention which ought to endear them to the hearts of our modern social whirlwind set, the invention of an indecent dance. This is the allemande, a dance in three-four time which resembles the older style of waltz and for which Bach, Handel, and Haydn have composed. The horrified French father in the play will not let his little boy learn the allemande, but substitutes the minuet. With this shocking accusation against German pirouetting, our general presentation of French dramatic thought regarding a neighbor draws to a close. We must admit that the study reveals a lack of real relationship between the two countries, a relationship that is based on equality. We learn rather of the superiority, socially and artistically, of the French. Paris, that flashing center of the universe, is a lodestar whither are drawn "in adora- tion the eyes of all who pretend to refinement, to intellectuality, to human intercourse. This is espe- cially true of Germany in spite of the ascendancy of the Hohenzollerns. The correspondence of Grimm with the courts of Germany is a noble testimony to this avidity for Parisian thought and scandal, just as La Harpe's relation with the Grand Duke Alex- ander of Russia and Fa-\'art's with Count Durazzo of the Austrian court bear out the same tendency. It is therefore psychologically not surprising that if the French are the teachers of these eastern na- tions, they have the resultant impression that they have but little to learn from their pupils. A lack 2' Le Menvct ei l'AUc7iiande, Les Jeux de In Petite Thalie (1769), Proverbe III. GERMANS 111 of interest is the inevitable consequence, and a lack of acquaintance too, a lack of desire to learn about their neighbors on the east. There were of course great French visitors to the German states, such as Voltaire and Matjpertuis. But Voltaire's stay in the Prussian court was rather a separation from France than a union with Prussia. The multiplicity of his unfriendly relations, the breaking of his life's dearest tie, the glittering offer that confronted him, all these combined to make him go to Frederick to become one of the unbearable international assem- blage of sages. This invitation of Frederick's has often seemed a sort of symbol or epitome of the con- nection between France and Germany during the eighteenth century. II — Literary Considerations There are hardly any to make. Plays with Ger- man characters are not common writing. Only a few authors who, like Carmontelle and Favart, have cultivated their acquaintance in Paris, can undertake to present them with authentic, though shght, touches of dialect and dress. We have seen how Favart, because of his ambitious zeal, pictures the whole world, and Germans among others, as overjoyed at the recovery of King Louis. The news flashes through Hungary, Piedmont, Italy, Flanders, and Berlin. Prussians especially are glad, because, as a French pamphleteer explains, ^^ Le Roi de Prusse et notre maltre Par les armes se sont unis. " Le Bal de Strasbourg (1744), Scene 5. La Princesse Gudule La Princesse Ulrique 112 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Carmontelle is practically the only one who has conscientiously endeavored to give his foreign characters a touch of realism. He does this mainly by dress and dialect, with a few clear strokes of character delineation. Thus, in his Le Prince de Wourtsberg, his list of personnages contains this description: Le Prince Wourtsberg — Souverain — Habit vert, brode en brandebourgs en or, cordon jaune bord4 de rouge, plaque d'argent sur Fhabit, chapeau et ipee, coiffe en aile de pigeon, grand toupet. Robes riches, beaueoup d'ornements dans leurs coiffures en argent, en diamants et fleurs, contenances genees , avec des ^ventails. La Grand Chambellan — Habit brun et vests jaune brodes en argent, grande perruque brune, gants, canne, chapeau, et I'ordre du Prince. Frederic — Valet de chambre du Prince — Habit vert galonn^ en or avec des revers, boutons plats, petite perruque ronde. This description certainly gives us a little glimpse of German royalty and its surroundings in clothing. Few modern playwrights would give more complete sartorial details for an innkeeper than Carmontelle does for Pitermann : " Piter^nann, maitre du Cafe. Veste jaune, habit vert a bou- tons plats, manches a la matelote, perruque noire, col noir, sans chapeau. Carmontelle, like Boissy and Favart, was a shrewd listener and thus renders rather faithfully, by changes in spelling, the mispronunciations and mis- 25 Proi'erbcs Dramaliqucs (1822), Proverbe LXXIV, La Dad. GERMANS 113 constructions of Germans who attempted to speak his language. Here are a few examples: Non, non, envoye-vous Frederic, et dites aussi a mon mu- sique pour I'accompagnement de venir avec.^^ Je dirai comme vous il chante fort pon.^'' Paris 11 est toujours joli. Je suls ete fort charm4 de ma derniere voyage.^* From these and others quoted above, we observe a few infallible recipes for the making of German talk, viz., mistakes in gender, wrong prepositions before in- finitives, prepositions at the end of sentences, redun- dant pronoun after the subject, wrong auxiliaries, sound of sh for g and of p for b. Throw in an occa- sional guttural exclamation, with a generous profu- sion of "Ah! men gott! men gott!"" and the product is very worthy. Some of Carmontblle's German characters are unable to speak French at all. To obviate this difficulty an interpreter is introduced. This is the role of Baron Schloff in Le Prince de Wourtsberg. In print this play appears with a line ruled down the middle of the page, with German on one side and, on the other, an adequate French translation of all the German sentences. One has the choice of reading the whole proverbe in broken French and pure German, or all in good French, a neat httle device which should surely please all readers. From a literary point of view there is little to praise in these plays. Some of Carmontelle's proverbs, short plays with a moral to teach, are amusing. Boissy's L'Impertinent malgre lui has cleverness, "> Le Prince de Wourtsberg, Scene 4. " La Dent, Scene 4. 114 EUKOPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA and the author's masterly ability with the alexan- drine makes that famous line appear as a useful comic implement. Perhaps best of all is Mercier's Le Deserteur, which is ahve with a tense dramatic situation that stirs our war-oppressed hearts of to- day. But since all serious plays, slight or great, had to be written in the style that the tradition of Corneille and Racine demanded, practically all of these works stop short for want of dramatic breath and die the death of the unfit. THE ENGLISH THE ENGLISH A GREAT French thinker who Uved three years in England and who in that time had met all ranks from the king down, learned to love her greatness. In a serious way Voltaire sings of this fervent appreciation: ^ Ses peuples sous son - regne ont oublie leurs pertes; De leurs troupeaux feconds leurs plaines sont couvertes, Les guerets de leurs bl^s, les mers de leurs vaisseaux : lis sont craints sur la terre, ils^ont rois sur les eaux; Leur flotte imperieuse, asservissant Neptune, Des bouts de I'univers appelle la fortune: Londres, jadis barbare, est le centre des arts, Le magasin du monde, et le temple de Mars. Aux murs de Westminster on voit paraitre ensemble Trois pouvoirs etonnes du nceud qui les rassemble, Les deputes du peuple, et les grands et le roi, Divises d'interets, reunis par la loi; Tous trois membres sacres de ce corps invincible, Dangereux a lui-meme, a ses voisins terrible; Heureux, lorsque le peuple, instruit dans son devoir, Respecte, autant qu'il doit, le souverain pouvoir! Plus heureux, lorsqu'un roi, doux, juste et politique, Respecte, autant qu'il doit, la liberte publique. England, great on land and sea, with her capital city the home of art and commerce, and her Westminster a symbol of the people governing, had captivated 1 La Henriade, Chant I. 2 He refers to Elizabeth. 118 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Voltaire's imagination. It is true that he had per- force left his own land and had been welcomed in England with munificent friendliness. But Vol- taire, the greatest of all Anglomaniacs, does not here exaggerate his admiration, even if his terms be suggestive of flattery. His debt of gratitude for his reception was amply paid by these sincere tributes, not counting his adulatory expressions. What was there then about the English and their ways that drew from this eager, thin-faced philos- opher an appreciation so heartfelt? Well may we ask, for we shall find that the French dramatists' thought concerning their Channel neighbors was pre- dominantly like Voltaire's, ranging from favorable admissions to fervent flatteries. Certainly we can- not account for this essential friendliness of relation by the political status between the two powers. The merest glance at the history of the century will reveal to us France shorn of all her colonial glories, and Eng- land in triumphant possession of them, having filched or wrenched them away. Governmentally the two nations have little in common, and artistically even less. How could a visitor from the immaculate white city learn to care for the murky black one? Montesquieu saw nothing at all to admire in Eng- lish architecture; and London, he agreed, prompted thoughts of suicide. Even in literature we can hardly find an explanation for this strange phenome- non of Anglo-French amity. It is true that there were almost constant streams of influence and ex- change. Yet these were in the main but weak mingUngs, borrowings and imitations that hardly rippled the surface of each nation's individuality. THE ENGLISH 119 How then shall we explain this surprising phe- nomenon of two great nations, conscious of each other as rivals, apart spiritually, mentally, and mor- ally, differing too in their social and philosophic outlook, disparates in almost every conceivable respect, yet withal attracted to each other in some imperceptible way? Shall we call it a case of the attraction of opposites? Only a prolonged and deep study of the relations, historical and cultural, of England and France can indicate more clearly the bases of this astonishing international entente, whose terms are undefined, yet whose permanency seems unquestionable. In spite of wars and quarrels this psychical adjustment remains harmoniously balanced. Jean Finot, a modern French critic, has endeavored to penetrate the mystery, and by his method has established a new science which might be called Political Psycholoy. He says: ^ The French, considered to be a Latin people, were supposed to be necessarily haters of the English who were looked upon as a Germanic people. Yet there is scarcely any Latin blood in the French, and the formation of the English people, their blood, their collective soul, their civilization, and their interests, ally them indissolubly to the French root. Study of Anglo-French history wiU'show that despite all precon- ceived ideas, the two peoples, separated by mutual ignorance, are merely two branches of the same tree, sprung from the same trunk. . . . They quarrel often, but unconsciously keep rendering each other services. .Everything in their history proves the existence of some mysterious element which, rising above the obstacles created by events of the moment, subordinates these to a pre-existing force of moral and intellectual solidar- 3 Excerpt from New York Times, Feb. 7, 1915. 120 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA ity. Thanks to this reciprocal influence both peoples have arrived at the consciousness of their political personalitj', conquered their liberties, and given form to their national genius. . . . It seems as if nature had chosen these two peoples and made them similar in order to make a picked pair which in spite of temporary troubles, should go through hfe perfectly con- tented with the always beneficent and salutary support given by each to the other. And, in order that the pride of neither may be hurt, first France, then England, takes the role of savior, protector, or benefactor of the other. This does not exactly explain the phenomenon, but it is interesting to note that Finot takes cog- nizance of it and indicates its psychological nature. Moreover its mere existence connotes an explanation or understanding of it. A study like the present one can form a little stepping-stone and perhaps afford a closer view. The plain facts of history which bear on the con- nection between France and England during the eighteenth centurj-, if read without an interpretative faculty, would be fatally prejudicial to the solution of this problem. For what do these facts reveal to us? Stated in utter nakedness, attached to their respective dates, they reiterate unfriendliness, en- mity, clash : — 1704. Battle of Blenheim. — EngHsh drive French out of Germany. 1706. Battle of RamiUies. — EngUsh drive French out of Netherlands. 1717. Triple AUiance. — Selfish union between England and France. 1720. Danger of war. — .Vgitation because of tenure of Gibraltar bv England. THE ENGLISH 121 1729. Treaty of Seville. — Commercial union between Eng- land and France. 1733. Danger of war. — Results in pact between France and Spain for mutual protection against England. 1738. Questions concerning North America appear. — Strug- gles between English and French settlers. 1714. France declares war against England. — Attack on EngUsh coast by French fleet is prevented only by heavy storms. 1746. Another proposed invasion of England on behalf of the Pretender, Charles Edward. 1748. Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. — No colonial losses yet, but French navy and commerce suffer severely. 1753. Seizure by French of English colonies — Ohio Val- ley. No war results. 1756. Seven Years' War. — France and Austria allied against England and Prussia. 1756. WiUiam Pitt's control. — An Enghsh minister whose policy was avowedly anti-French. 1759. French fleet practicall}' annihilated at Lagos and Quiberon. 1761. Second pact between Spain and France for protec- tion against England. 1763. Peace of Paris. — France loses North America and India. 1763-1770. There is peace but little cordiaUty between the two countries. 1778. France aids American colonies against Enghsh. 1786. Commercial treaty between England and France. Signs of fast developing friendship. These facts stand out clearly in the relationship between France and England as indicative of un- ceasing struggle. One might call the period from 1715 to 1815 a second Hundred Years' War. Eng- land's intense ambition to control the world-seas brought her into immediate conflict with France,' 122 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA the only great power that had the courage and strength to stay her. Yet, in all these hard-fought battles, the heart of neither country was very intimately concerned. This fact robs the struggle of its ardor and defeat of its sting. The wars of the eighteenth century are eminently created by cabinets and factitiously carried on by mercenaries. No country at any time is nerved in its effort by the encouraging consciousness that it is fighting for the cause of civilization. On the contrary, each na- tion is concerned as an individuality in a colossal struggle for the dominance and the survival of itself as the fittest. The enthusiastic nationalism of Wil- liam Pitt is as repellent as the cynical nationalism of Frederick the Great, for neither is generous and noble. Each struggles to exalt his own nation to a height from which she need fear no rival. Because of this unintelligent clashing, the sting of defeat is not felt too greatly by the vanquished, especially when the losses consist mainly in the de- privation of far-away and unknown lands. The French were hardly ever a great colonizing nation. Even in their occupation of Algeria, there were many opposed to the apparent detraction of interest from the home-country. The loss of Canada, a vast expanse which they peopled in no invigorating and systematic manner, could mean but little to French- men. Their lack of appreciation of the importance of these American possessions is again proven by the more peaceful method in which, in 1803, they disposed of Louisiana for a mere song. The plea of necessity may mitigate the error, but it cannot con- ceal its true provenance. THE ENGLISH 123 Since, in these questions that we are trying to solve, we are deahng with the general thought and feeling of great masses of the nation, it seems evi- dent that Englishmen, taken as a race, could not appear antagonistic. The mass of neither nation had little share in the political manoeuvres of the cUque in power. An Enghsh army never entered upon French territory, just as the French transports never reached the English coast. With Calais A'isible from Dover and Dover from Calais, the feel- ing of conquest which had in the fourteenth century inspired in England a sense of political possession of France, changed in the eighteenth to a desire for commercial advantage. Such rivalry, no matter how fierce, could not stimulate hatred, and it was likely to bring peoples together in greater mutual under- standing. Historically, then, if we enter into the spirit that animated the two countries in their century of fight- ing, we can find but little trace of that real enmity which lights the fires of a nation and keeps them burning till their blaze has devoured the hated race. Favart, that most occasional of French poets, sings in 1756, when England and France are pitted against each other, in the hghtest and most carefree manner, against the owners of the sea : ^ Trop longtemps d' ces Tyrans d' la mer L'orgueil amer Nous ballotte; Mais malgre la fortune et 1' vent, J'allons au d'vant De leux Flotte. * Le Mariage par escalade (1756), Scene 7. 124 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Centre st'Amiral Bing, Zing, J'tons not' d^charge. Et ces preneux d' vaisseaux Sots Gagnent le large.. These words, even though sung by a French tar, Vadeboncoeur, cannot be taken to reflect a very- serious or stubborn naval opposition to England's schemes. They show us the light-hearted French- man in an adventurous mood, ready for the fun of the game, with Httle realization of its stakes. He is so generous an enemy that at the slightest defeat he inflicts, he stands ready to raise his prostrate foe and praise him for his resistance. So Favart again addresses to the English these honeyed words on the occasion of the seizure of an island by his country's soldiers : '" Pour vous ce n'est point une honte, G^missez moins de nos succes : Anglois, cheris de la Mctoire, Vous ne c^dez qu'aux seuls Francois; Vous n'en avez pas moins de gloire. We may call this sheer optimism, or a lack of under- standing of the dangers of the situation. But when, even in those present troubled times, it was possible to place serenely before the public English characters endowed with nobility, sincerity, and kindhness, how could we to-day gather that French enmity and hatred were sternly aroused, that in the hearts of the French people there burned a sullen resentment against their northern neighbors? ' Le Manage par escalade (1756), Scene 15. THE ENGLISH 125 If we add to this interesting lack of basic antago- nism between two great nations, a rapidly develop- ing intimacy in the realm of thought and art, we have a pretty strong proof of continued amicable exchange during the whole century. This intimacy can be easily traced, a clear vivid hne of influence that is wonderfully fascinating to study. In England we see it in evidence in an Anglo-French series of writers whose works were widely welcomed by the classic formalists of France. Pope, the Boileau of Britain, had his Rape of the Lock translated into French four times (1728, 1738, 1743, 1746). His Essay on Man and the Essay on Homer also won wide approbation. Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Dryden's Montezuma, Milton's Paradise Regained, Addison's Cato, were all translated before 1740, and all reveal to a remarkable degree the sway which a French thinker like Boileau exerted over English minds that were classically inclined. Even Addison's Spec- tator, a work so singularly indigenous, was translated in an edition of eight volumes, from 1714 to 1754. The smooth colloquial prose of that talkative jour- nal must have seemed normal to the conversational French stylists. It is true enough that these trans- lations were often unreliable and that often, too, the thoughts of our English satirists were not fully comprehended. M.oncrif, a French academician, emphasizes in Gulliver's Travels the imaginative creativeness and thereby reveals the fact that he fails to see the satiric character of the work.'' Yet these Anglo-French writers were read with great apprecia- tion, their French qualities were highly lauded, and * MoNCRiP, (Euvres MMees (1743), page 7. 126 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA allowances were made for those features of their work which seemed foreign and hence untrammeled by the heavy classical laws of form and style. Because of these laws, rapidly become more and more unsuited to the genius of the French people, especially in the latter half of the eighteenth cen- tury, all forms of expression had remained rigid while their content had dwindled. The freer spirits had chafed under these rules imposed by the inheritance from a Racine and a Corneille. Yet the greater number of writers continued in the classic style, turning out epics, odes, epistles, tragedies, comedies, all in the same mold with perhaps a different set of names or events. A hundred years of this kind of regulation would naturally terminate any fresh and vigorous spontaneity. It was time for a change of fashion. There was little inspiration to be ob- tained from the literatures of Spain and Italy, both well known to the French and already exhaustively imitated, as we have seen. There was England, to be sure, with her pure English writers, an indigenous Anglo-Saxon school that had one name to conjure with, Shakespeare. But their works, to the few Frenchmen who had ventured to become acquainted with them, seemed barbarous, their taste unrefined, their language uncouth. Even Voltaire, who was among the most daring in this exploration of the cavernous depths and mj'sterious forms of Shake- speare's genius, could discern only the fact that the beauty of our dramatist's work seemed drowned in a thousand follies, — boorishness, rudeness, indelicacy, the very qualities so acclaimed by the English populace.' ' \'oLTAiRE, Lettrcs sur les Anglois, Lettre XVIII. THE ENGLISH 127 The truth is that the French were not yet attuned to the Enghsh thought and its mode of expression. Aware of this fact, translators who undertook a task like rendering Shakespeare into their language, were forced into the most pitiful stratagems. La Place, who did into French ten of his plays as well as single works by Otway, Ben Jonson, Rowe, Dryden, Congreve, Young, and Addison, substituted every- where expressions in good taste for the more ques- tionable forms employed by his English models. He suppressed rough characters, replaced by the barest analyses whole scenes the language of which was too brutal, and, to cap the crime, he forced the whole of this English torrent of free genius to mean- der in prisoned alexandrine canals! The one thing La Place cannot forgive in Shakespeare, and no Frenchman of the time could, is that with all his high-born characters he mingles base, low ruffians and boors, whose language is as offensive as their presence. Their introduction on the stage in the midst of all this titled nobility offends good taste and good sense, affirms our classic-fed Frenchman. And then, to have people actually die on the stage in such great numbers! How could a French audi- ence suffer such an undignified procedure? Up to 1740 it is safe to say that the essential na- ture of the indigenous literary production of England precluded its acceptance by the French. Then a miracle happened. In 1742, an Enghsh novel was translated. Those who read it had read many others in their own language, novels of adventure, novels with a moral to teach, romances of chivalry or of pastoral life, novels of satire, of portraits, and of 128 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA fables. This new work was not different in form from these others, but it added another type, the domestic novel. Richardson's Pamela created a furore. Peo- ple at first read its sober and moral pages with pleasure, then with admiration, then with enthusi- asm. It was on this occasion that Diderot chanted a veritable dithyramb in Richardson's honor: "0 Richardson, Richardson, thou standest unique before me, thee shall I read for all time . . . thou shalt remain side by side on my shelves with Moses, Homer, Euripides, and Sophocles" . . } From 1750 to 1760 English novels have a tre- mendous vogue in France. They are all translated as fast as they are received, good or bad, old or new. Richardson, Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, Burney, S. Johnson, and a hundred others, find themselves named across the Channel with fervent admiration. It is astounding to note that their popularity was hardly dampened by the Seven Years' War. French readers devoured this literature mainly because of its novelty. It led them near lower circles of life, into small bypaths that revealed the poor and the humble. It showed them in a sort of transfigured light the beauty and truth enshrined in the unassum- ing lives of the unnoticed, the sweet nature of those whose time on this earth was full of tribulations. Such types had rarely before invaded the sacred precincts of literature. Yet they possessed definite individuality in the minds of their creators and were ' DiDEBOT, Eloge de Richardson (1761). For a splendid study on Diderot and English Thought, consult Cru, Columbia University Press (1913). THE ENGLISH 129 given real names. This too was novel to our French readers, for they had been accustomed to invest the solitary Leandre or Valere with all the qualities necessary to make him figure in any romance of passion or idylhc adventure. As a result we see Diderot calling his famous "Pere de famille" M. d'Orbesson, and Sedaine his noted and unwitting philosopher M. Vanderk. Names become a means of identification and the situations become human and natural. The novel from across the sea had made the first inroad upon literary artificiality. Then came a newer and even greater influence, that exerted by English poetry, an influence that grew out of the translation in 1759 of Thompson's Seasons. An efflorescence of nature thought, en- couraged by Young's Night Thoughts, Gray's Elegy, Goldsmith's Deserted Village, and other poems, eventually became apparent in French literature, especially in the prose novels of the late eighteenth century. Bernardin de St. Pierre and Chateau- briand are wonderful French manifestations of this literary phenomenon. The purity of nature and its grand beauty, the avowed melancholy of solitude amidst its lovely forms, such ideas work their way into the minds of French writers and give us Paul et Virginie and Atala. The general admiration for English literature and its untrammeled creations rose to such a degree that Saurin, who had himself adapted an English play in his Beverlei (1768), felt called upon four years later to write another ^ wherein he ridicules the rapidly growing imitation and worship of things ' L'Anglomanie (1772). 130 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA "a I'anglaise." He explains in an instinctive psy- chological way the basis of this international enthu- Je ne sais si j'ai besoin de dire que dans cette comedie je n'ai pas pretendu jetter du ridicule sur les Ecrivains illus- tres qu'a produit I'Angleterre. Je les admire et je les respects; je n'ai voulu attaquer que cet entho.usiasme aveugle de nos Anglomanes, que cette espece de culte qu'ils rendent aux Auteurs Anglois, peut-etre moins pour les exalter, que pour rabaisser les notres. Ce travers prend sa source dans la jalousie secrette qu'on porte aux hommes celebres de sa nation, jalousie qu'on ne s'avoue pas, mais qui n'en est pas moins r^elle. Les grands hommes etrangers ne font pas ombrage k notre petitesse . . . It is therefore not surprising to find that by 1776 French readers are sufficiently imbued with the Eng- lish spirit to be prepared for the real Shakespeare, who can now be translated in unmodified form. Le Tourneur, Catuilan, and Fontaine-Malherbe published the first volume of his (Euvres Completes in that year, and in a remarkable preface defended his genius against the affrighted exclamations of thin, over-delicate minds. Say they, in their epistle to the king: ^^ "It is barbarous to think that half the human kind is vile refuse, unworthy of the pen of genius, to be simply scorned." It is easy to trace in these lame democratic grop- ings the germs of the approaching Revolution. One can discern a powerful incentive to the Anglomania that dominated Frenchmen in the days immediately '» In his Avertissement. " (Euvres de Shakspeare, transl. of Le Tourneur, Xo\. 1, Epttre au Roi, page 7. THE ENGLISH 131 preceding the Revolution. In fact, though the thought is open to question because of its hazardous nature, one cannot avoid wondering how much of French friendhness and esteem for the Enghsh people, which as we have seen is characteristic throughout the century, was due to an intuitive and unreasoning process in the minds of a race suffering from govern- mental oppression, but born for freedom. We shall find traces of great respect for the Englishman and his democratic politics. A country where a clever pamphleteer might hope to become a great states- man, where the close relative of a director ^^ of the king's councils might be found busily working in a counting-house, where the nobility did not disdain to adopt some line of occupation that happened to interest them, certainly such a Utopia might well arouse the class-ridden citizens of France. The fermenting influence of England on the aspiring minds across the Channel cannot really be overesti- mated, as our closer study may show us. Let us conclude this general attempt to suggest the political and literary relationships of these two great lands in the eighteenth century, by gathering a few impressions from the actual life of the time. We know, for example, that Charles Edward, the Jacobite Pretender to the English throne, lived in France, and that he and his ambitious little retinue were a great object of interest wherever they hap- pened to be. They were regarded politically in a rather friendly way, since their presence in France constituted an ever useful menace against England. Similarly, there were large numbers of French refu- " Lord Townshend. 132 EUROPEAN CHABACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA gees in London, where they found a hearty welcome. They had their own place of worship and their par- ticular coffee-house.^' They soon learned to speak English, though they were linguistically at home in England, most educated men and women being con- versant with French. In France, English was read by many of the frequenters of the literary salons, though it was certainly not a current means of speech. Voltaire was such an apt pupil that he learned not only to speak the foreign tongue well but to write it even better. His little volume published in Eng- land in 1727, containing two essays composed in the language he had begun to acquire the year before, is a marvel of diction and style, which, some say, would have reflected no discredit on Swift or Dryden. Among the great literary Frenchmen of the century who visited England, there are tliree whose impres- sions might interest us here. One of them, Voltaire, went as an exile. He included his impressions in his Letters Concerning the English Xaiion, which, though written in French as Les Lettres Philosophiques, ap- peared first in translation in London. This measure was taken by the author to justify and assure their eventual appearance in France, for well he knew the storm they would raise at first across the Channel. The year 1734, the date of the publication of these letters, marks an epoch in Anglo-French relations, literary and social. As Condorcet observes": "This work created among us a time of revolution, " The Rainbow. " Vie de Voltaire, CBi/.Hrs Coiiipliles, Vol. 1, page 208. Ed. Garnier Fr^res (1883). THE ENGLISH 133 in which was born a liking for Enghsh philosophy and literature; it interested us in the customs, and politics and commercial advance of that people; it stimulated a spreading knowledge of their language." Voltaire met all the social and literary lights of the time, Pope, Young, Congeeve, Bolingbroke, Thomson, Falkener, Swift, Berkeley. He ad- mired the beauty of English women. He noticed with appreciation the dignity, in English hfe, of trade. He understood how the liberal attitude towards hterary aspirants, coupled with the actual freedom of the press, 1" encouraged genius and enabled it to win both fame and fortune. Altogether his impressions are much more favor- able than those of his less scintillating confrere, Montesquieu. The author of L'Esprit des Lois visited England after Voltaire had left it, and stayed about two years, till 1731. He, too, was presented to the king, George II, but he cared more to study the customs of the people than to meet them on equal social terms. Besides, he was more interested in the religion of England, her poli- tics, her parliamentary debates. From his letters and his Notes sur I'Angleterre we gather that at the very outset he realized that he was in a country unlike any other in Europe. He studied particularly the aristocracy and the middle classes and noticed the gross sensuality everywhere prevalent. It was a sensuality that was evidenced especially in their devotion to the material things of life. Merchants were well protected, England was growing rich. Men were becoming bluff, coarse and unmannerly in >5 Toleration Act (1695). 134 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA their ways. The imaginative faculty seemed atro- phied with disuse and real devotion to the public weal was not common. It was true that so far as the government was concerned Englishmen were the masters of their own destiny. Yet they did not seem to appreciate their liberty, so Montesquieu felt, for they sold it. Every vote could be bought, some of the Scotch members of Parliament dispos- ing of theirs for the annual stipend of £200. Unlike the condition in France, where money was freely spent, things were done in England to get money. Nor were other customs or conditions that he met on the great island any more agreeable to him. On every hand he found reserve and coldness, a lack of social warmth that chilled even him. He found it difficult to make friends. This was very different from Voltaire's experience, and, also unlike Voltaire, Montesquieu found EngUsh women repellent, without beauty, without religion, without manners. Socially, there was neither po- liteness nor rudeness in their approach, simply an entire lack of manners. This is interesting again in its contradiction with the amusing episode of Voltaire, who spoke so unblushingly about his stomach troubles while at dinner at the Pope house- hold, that poor Mis. Pope felt obUged to leave the room.^^ We have gone into all this detail concerning Montesquieu's impressions to show that French admiration of their neighbors was sometimes tem- pered, and that one discerning mind was not carried " J. C. Collins, ]'nhnire in England, page 44, or Johnson's Life of Pope. THE ENGLISH 135 away by appearances, but burrowed underneath and found the bad as well as the good. For Mon- tesquieu adds to his unfavorable comments many praises, particularly of the quick-witted intelligence that he met among all classes. He was astonished at the number of daily and weekly journals, about twenty, that were widely read. He was infinitely pleased with the freedom of the press which voiced the opinions and sentiments of innumerable sects and factions. England, he says, is the freest country in the world, and we cannot do him an injustice by thinking that perhaps he said it regretfully as he thought of his own land and how he had been forced shortly before to drape his anonymous satire on her customs in a Persian garb, all for the sake of safety." Rousseau, the third great French literary visitor to England, went over in such a stress of circum- stance, driven out as he practically was from France and Switzerland, that his mind must have been somewhat affected. He was therefore too self- ishly concerned to pay much outer heed to those who welcomed him. Yet what a welcome it was! David Hume, himself at the height of his own reputation, went over to Paris in 1765 to meet the disconsolate and homeless writer, and escorted him into England. In spite of the fact that Rousseau's stay was an unhappy one, owing entirely to his own uncompanionable temperament, not a word of accusation can be uttered against the treatment he received. It was most regal in its munificence, most angelic in its patience with the author's vagaries. " Lettres Persancs (1721). 136 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA The story of his visit reveals how his philosophy of nature had come to dominate English minds and how his greatness as a thinker was appreciated by a nation justly famous for its own philosophers.^* In the impressions of the three illustrious French visitors, as well as in those of other men who came into contact with the English, this power of thought seems to be naturally associated with them. In our plays we shall often meet the morose English- man, sunk in silent meditation. That this notion of him is popular in the eighteenth century is indis- putable, and that it is quite truly characteristic is extremely probable. The Puritanic struggle of the preceding century had left an indelible mark in every direction on English national development. Out of the reaction against the Commonwealth and its stern principles, there came, to be sure, a relaxation in public morals. But this deplorable condition was accompanied by a compensating ele- ment, the widespread sincere eagerness to discuss problems, political, social, or even religious. The intense interest manifested in the way the country was governed, the desire to understand the basic facts concerning its social organization, the need of strong-minded men to grapple with the vexatious problems of a fast growing country, these were some of the causes for this intellectual efflorescence in Englishmen. It was a time in their history when the pen was as mighty as the sword, if not more so. With this slight reconstruction of some of the elemental generalities about the English and the ^' Hume, Gibbon, Locke, Hartley, Priestley, Berkeley, HoBBEs, Clarke, Shaftesbury, Smith, Warburton, etc. THE ENGLISH 137 French in the eighteenth century, we can now pass on to a study of our plays, in the hope that they will fill in the details, and build up for us a com- posite picture of the Enghshman as he appeared to the French dramatists of the time and to their audiences. I — English Kings Our plays afford us some interesting pictures of the noble-born of England. We have lords, or the more usual milords, in their varied attitudes toward life. But our dramatists quite daringly present to us a brace of kings, though we must hasten to add that they had been long dead and therefore quite historical. One is Richard Coeur-de-Lion, dear to the hearts of the French to whom he was akin, and familiar because of his titular characterization. He looms up heroic in Sedaine's play," a figure of blended fact and legend. He is always referred to as "ce heros, ce grand homme." We find him lan- guishing in prison in the Chateau de Lintz, in Ger- many, after his Holy Wars in Palestine. Blondel, his court-poet, in reality a French singer whom this legendary association with Richard has immor- talized, finds his master in prison and frees him by an assault. Sedaine's musical play is a delightful staging of the Blondel legend and deserves the re- vival it has received. Richard Coeur-de-Lion is a very human king in spite of his greatness. We are a little startled at first to meet him as a prisoner, chafing impatiently at his chains not because of pent-up valor, but "Richard Coeur-de-Lion (1784). 138 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA because he is separated from his lady-love-. He sings as he gazes at her picture (II, 2) : Si Funivers m'oublie, S'il faut passer ici ma vie, Que sert ma gloire, ma valeur? Douce image de mon amie, Viens calmer, consoler mon coeur, Un instant suspends ma douleur. Our great crusader mourns in this idyllic vein his lost freedom, and this presentation of him is incom- patible with our idea of the fearless adventurer. Nevertheless, so well written is this "comedie en musique," that we are led to listen to its gentle strains with pleasure, and the spirit of it makes us forget its inconsistencies. Sedaine presents to us yet another English king and this time we may suspect the author of a shrewd purpose, though he has disavowed it. In his Le Roi et le fermier (1762), we meet a king who has lost his way in the hunt. A gamekeeper finds him and, unaware of his identity, conducts him to his simple hut and invites him to partake of the humble fare. Royalty is thus divested of its wonted trappings and is made human. The king is in for the adventure, and without a shadow of dis- trust he complies with Richard the gamekeeper's request (II, 3) : Tenez, voila mon baton, il vous aidera a marcher dans les sables, donnez-moi votre ^pee qui peut a'ous faire tomber. This is idyllic security, yet perfectly normal between ordinary men. And later, around the fire, when THE ENGLISH 139 every one has sung his cheerful ditty, the king joins in with the rest (III, 12) : Ah ! quel plaisir, quel plaisir, de lire Dans les yeux d'un peuple attendri Tout cc qu'inspire La pr&ence d'un roi cheri. That a king could be so normal is incredible, even if he be English. The attitude towards roy- alty in the whole play is respectful beyond reproach. Yet, because the ruler of France could never appear as simple man, it was inconceivable that the ruler of any other country should do so. How could a king be the hero of a comedy, anyway? Can one imagine a sovereign hustled around on the stage like a com- mon actor, tapped on the shoulder by peasants, and in general behaving in so undignified a manner? It wasn't true to life. Shakespeare might create such a character, but Shakespeare was an untutored dramatist. Besides, with a Louis XV on the throne of France, the play could not go. Injustice was a peculiar weakness of his and he could not bear to take any hints from the stage. He tabooed Colle's La partie de chasse d' Henri IV (1764), written two years after Sedaine's work and with the same plot. Sedaine himself had to make certain changes, as he admits in his preface: Jamais scene au theatre n'a ouvert a tout poete une plus vaste carriere, un moyen plus simple pour faire entendre des verites utiles sans manquer a la veneration profonde dont il doit etre p^netre. Entralne par la scene et par le lieu ou elle se passe ^° et par 21 The scene is in England — a forest. 140 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA I'original anglois qui m'a beaucoup servi, j'avois fait dire a mon fermier des Veritas de toutes les cours et de tous les temps; mais quelques personnes anim^es de ce zele que j'aurois eu peut-etre inoi-meme a leur place, ont cru voir des duretes; ils ont fait changer cette scene et elle est re- presentee telle qu'elle a ete changee. Sedaine admits frankly that his comedy is an adaptation of an English play,^^ which he found in a serviceable French translation.^^ But the im- portance of his admission lies in the fact that this play with its humane type of sovereign has an English original. This fact emphasizes an already well-marked tendency in the Frenchman's thought of England and her freer government. Unlike those other adaptations^' of English plays which com- pletely Frenchified plot, character, and even name, this one shows that the author felt the necessity of preserving the atmosphere of the original by his scene — "en Angleterre" — and his names — Rich- ard, Betsy, Jenny, Lurewel. Even this precaution did not prevent voices of protest at the liberties taken. To the nobles, England and her liberal ideas must have represented a baleful and threaten- ing influence. As has been indicated, the king, really Henry IV, to whom legend has attributed this forest episode, is pictured by our dramatist simply as an adventur- ous good fellow, and not at all with any aspersions on royalty. He reminds us vividly of Shakespeare's ^^ Dodsley's The King and the Miller of Mansfield. 2^ Patu, Lc Choix de Pelites Pihces du Th&Atre Anglais (1756). ^' e.g., Destouches, Le Tambour Nocturne from Addison's The Drummer. See Appendix. THE ENGLISH 141 Henry V. Jenny, a shepherdess whose flock has been stolen, consoles herself (I, 10): Je veux ravoir mon troupeau. Le roi doit chasser encore demain; j'irai sur son passage, je me jetterai a ses pieds, il m'^coutera; il ne seroit pas roi s'il n'etoit pas juste. This confidence in the justice of the lord of the land is certainly no sign of lack of respect. Yet it is such a reference that was likely to upset those unbalanced conservative minds who so wretchedly mismanaged France. Sedaine's royal character thus gains added significance because of his political nature. We must come to regard the English king as a dangerous person for the established order in France. II — ■ English Aristocrats Among the many milords we meet in these plays of the- eighteenth century, we discern various in- teresting types. To Louis de Boissy,^^ who died in 1758, is due a good deal of credit for developing in a clever way several definite kinds of English- men and presenting them to an appreciative public. Among his characters, the milord that approaches closest to perfection from the standpoint of a French audience, is certainly the one who is most akin to it in thought and act. Milord Craff ^^ of London, one of Boissy's characters, must have seemed an Anglo-French person of an ideal sort. His philosophy of life is surprisingly similar to that of Le Baron de Polinville, a French nobleman visiting England. " For a recent excellent work on this author, consult Zeek, Louis de Boissy, Grenoble (1914). ^ Le Frangois a Londres (1727). 142 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Neither is swayed by light influences, such as the fashion, unreasonableness, prejudice, but both are devotedly attached to a system of conduct serenely free from thoughtlessness. Thus, while milord Houzey, Graff's son, is trying with all his might to imbibe the French social graces, and while Le Mar- quis de Polinville, presumably the baron's brother, is declaiming on the superiority of his country's manners, Graff and the baron avoid this lack of equilibrium, and maintain a calm friendly attitude. We come to respect Graff's deliberate reflective manner, which is inherited by his daughter Eliante. Father and child unhesitatingly agree that the silly foppery of the marquis makes him an undesirable suitor, while the baron with his common sense and his courtly manner is preferred. This rendering of an English lord so that he appears to be quite an ordinary Frenchman, is, however, only one of Boissy s gifted ways. In another of his plays,^' he presents to us the English Count of Neuilli, a nobleman of the heroic type. Neuilli has voluntarily followed his friend Sussex into exile in France. When the latter died, he entrusted his wife and daughter to his friend. For safety, the girl is brought up as the daughter of a French marquise. She learns to love the son of her foster-mother, who is, however, opposed to their marriage because of the girl's poverty. Neuilli himself is passionately devoted to Sussex's daughter, but when he hears of her lo^'e for the marquis and of his mother's opposition, he stifles his own hope and removes obstacles for the young lovers by set- =» Lc Comte de XcaiUi (1736). THE ENGLISH 143 tling his fortune on his ward. This is an illustrious model of a guardian and we must consider him a paragon of virtue for this one act of self-sacrifice, not counting many other kindnesses which he has an opportunity to perform in the long stretch of this " comedie heroique " of five acts. Nelton, his servant, says of him (I, 1) : La renommee est juste a I'^gard de mon maltre, Elle ne peut jamais trop vanter ses vertus; Et quoi qu'elle en publie, elles sont au-dessus. Sa patrie est partout oil son coeur genereux Peut vei'ser, en secret, ses dons aux malheureux: Sa \'ie est un tissu d'actions heroiques; Pere de ses vassaux et de ses domestiques, II soulage leur peine, 11 previent leurs besoins, Et le plus miserable obtient ses premiers soins. NeuiUi has an optimistic human philosophy that carries him over rough places, and it is interesting to note that its main feature is its emphasis on service to humanity. This recognition of the generous, kindly impulse in Englishmen is fairly common among our dramatists; in fact we meet it several times in a very peculiar way. Car- MONTELLE, the Writer of dramatic proverbs, illus- trates the point in a little play called Les Deux Anglais}'^ Milord Wittham is tired of life. He has wealth and power, yet he is not happy, because his weighty cares give him no rest. He resolves to commit suicide. Milord Henri, a fellow country- man, has just lost all his wealth in a shipwreck, and, penniless, he too determines to die. The two meet on 2'- Proverhes Dramaiiques, No. 2. 144 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN TRENCH DRAMA a bridge where they have planned to carry out their resolution. They fall to talking; and when Wit- tham learns of the other's financial ruin, he gladly gives away his wealth, ready to do a kind act be- fore his death. But in the doing of it, he realizes a sudden joy, which makes him desire to live on just in order to experience anew this joy caused by giving and doing for others. We are led to imagine that his lonely life blossoms into an optimistic generosity. We find again in Patrat's L' Anglais ou le Fou Raisonnable (1781) and in Falbaire's Le Fabricanl de Londres (1771) this queer birth of altruism on the verge of suicide. The importance of this lies in the notion it implies that the English lord, though surrounded with luxuries and amuse- ments, is still a stern thinker. He is not the care- free aristocrat of the French, but a rather gloomy one continually preoccupied with important matters, as if he never allowed himself time for recreation. A French marquise states her impressions of Lord Brumton, one of these meditative gentlemen, in these terms :^* II est brusque . . . mais 11 est franc. Sa fiert^ qui paroit choquer la politesse, Releve en lui I'air de noblesse D'un homme qui soutient son rang. Son maintien est froid . . . mais . . . ses yeux ont de la fiamme Et je lui crois une belle ame. This is a kindly description, for Lord Brumton is a most unamiable gentleman, prone to offer rebuff. Yet our witty French marquise penetrates this 2' Favart, L'Anglois d Bordeaux (1763), Scene 1. THE ENGLISH 145 outer wall of coldness, and believes that she sees within a sensitive as well as a proud soul. Because of her wise perception she later attains his love and his hand. We can readily see how a vivacious Gallic brunette might succeed in melting her way into the icy formality of even a haughty milord who takes such elaborate pains to conceal a truly beautiful nature. However, the French audience of the time was not given only these high types of nobility upon which to feed their English curiosity. This very medi- tative attitude so frequently attributed to the Eng- hsh aristocrat might well become in time an object of ridicule; for who can prevent the wicked thought that silence somfetimes hides a lack of intelligence as well as a profusion thereof? Our suspicions are justified in the year 1778, when a certain acquaint- ance with their lordships might lead Frenchmen to revised opinions of them. Dorat in that year put upon the stage a most pitiful caricature of an Eng- list aristocrat. ^^ He is Lord Arlington, speaking of whom Lord Rochester, a clever pamphleteer, says (I, 2) : Par example, quel mal de faire un peu justice D'un Arlington surtout, qui, ne pour mon supplice. Sous le grave appareil d'un silence apprete, Enferme ses projets moins que sa nullite; He goes on with the other lords: D'un Due de Buckingham, qui ne pensant qu'a peine. Fait des contes le soir pour endormir la reine; De tant de Courtisans, tant de Lords d^soeuvres Ivres de politique, ou d'ennuis devores? 2" Le Chevalier Frangois a Londres (1778). 146 EUEOPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Once the lord has become even to a slight extent ridiculous, his comical attributes multiply plenti- fully. He becomes pompous and is always afflicted with gout or with spleen, — as Dorat calls it, "Suppl^en." His Lord Arlington, who imagines himself to be an important official of state, finds it necessary, when he plans to travel to a watering place in order to cure his spleen, to go in disguise. He makes himself even more foolish, or Lord Roches- ter makes him so, by his laconic replies to questions affecting the government, which he cannot really answer (II, 4). On the stage this scene must have provoked shouts of laughter, for even after every monosyllabic response, there is a long grave pause in the conversation. Here are some of the questions and answers: Quctitions Answers of Arlington Comment vont les affaires? Bien. De la Cour que dit le Peuple? Rien. A-t-on de I'Ecosse assoupi les J 'attends les paquebots. querelles? Les revoltes d'Irlande? On y remediera. Quant aux nouveaux impots? Un Bill y pourvoira. Lord Arlington has in his brief way solved all of England's weighty problems. The scene is a very clever burlesque on an English political conversa- tion, with its sententious and pithy gravity. From the comic to the immoral is but a step in the downward scale, and we find some awful ex- amples of English libertinism set before us by our dramatists. In fact in one play,^" given in 1776 at =» VEcolc des Mocurs (1776). THE ENGLISH 147 the Comedie Frangaise, the author,. Falbaire, at- temps to point out certain lessons in conduct to be drawn from his Lord Belton's unspeakable be- havior. Falbaire's purpose is sufficiently evident from the subtitle to his drama, Les Suites du Liber- tinage. Lord Belton is a rake with not an ounce of fair play about him, and the sex-life is the only one he leads. His wife, whose days are embittered by her husband's escapades, tries in her anguish to palliate his offence (I, 3) : Et, je dois I'avouer, ses graces, sa figure, Tous les aimables dons que lui fit la nature, L'aidant toujours trop hi en a seduire, a charmer, On dispute souvent I'honneur de renflammer. We pass over this rather slighting hint of immo- rality among English women, to note that Lord Belton, in addition to his other accomplishments, is a hypocrite as well. He resorts to subterfuge in order to make his wife think that he is repentant. He hopes in that way to inveigle her into taking with her to their country home the young Henrietta, their maid, upon whom Lord Belton has set his eyes. We must do him the justice to say that he is con- sistent enough to believe that his son, too, has a right to forbidden joys, only — and this the father earnestly repeats — he must not let himself be caught (I, 10): On ne vous defend pas quelques amusements. Se laisser arreter comme un grand imb^cille ! Soyez a Tavenir plus sage. 148 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Charle," the chip of the old block, is as disgusting a rake as his father. His sole ambition is to gain the esteem of his fellow-profligates by the boldness of his misdeeds, and every failure in his scheme serves only to earn him their mockery. The result upon him is deplorable. Passing by a house, one evening, where a wedding is being celebrated, he breaks in upon the happy assemblage and attempts to carry off the bride. He is of course captured by the police, and thereupon receives the fatherly admo- nition already quoted. To relieve the sad impression produced by these two graceless rascals, let us add that Lord Belton has a second son who is exactly the opposite of his father. Jame ^^ is a kindly lad, much too good for anybody about him. He is sincere and generous. The presence of this kind character is a dramatic necessity in a play of such unrelieved villainy. Incidentally, it was a just check to accusations against Falbaire of biased presentation of English aristocrats. We shall discern his true purpose later. We have now seen the haughty nobles of England in several guises, the philanthropist, the optimist, the pessimist, the thinker, the fop, the fool, the libertine. Let us add one more very general type to our composite dramatic picture, that of the lord who has embraced some literary or political pursuit. Politically, a nobleman in England had much more to do than play the courtier, so that those who embraced this profession faced an arduous life with many vexatious problems. Politics was rather a " s omitted to meet the exigencies of French versification. THE ENGLISH 149 profession than a sport. Nor was it unusual even for those who were concerned with pubhc affairs to take up in semi-serious ^^ein the art of writing. The vis- count BoLiNGBROKE represented in actuality in the first half of the eighteenth century the English lord, perpetually involved in political factions but never- theless finding time to develop his mind and to write articles of serious philosophic import. We are not surprised, then, to discover a trace of this naturalness of occupation, even among the idle nobilitj", in Boissy's play.''^ Lucile, a French girl, ardently wooed by Alilord Guinee (Guinea), is sur- prised that the Phantasj' he has had acted before her was written by him. He answers with pride (II, 10): Bien loin qu'il en rougisse, un Lord, dans mon pays. Fait gloire ouvertement de pratiquer lui-meme Les Arts qu'il recompense & les talens qu'il aime. When we think of the Marechal de Saxe and his inept orthography and compare him with his English contemporary Peterborough, we feel the mental ac- complishment of the latter to be certainly greater. It is interesting to note that, according to Milord Guinee, the English writer wants his work known. The French nobleman did not condescend to do more than circulate his thoughts among those of his own class. We get a pleasant reminiscence of Pope or Swift in Doeat's character. Lord Rochester. He is a biting satirist and his ironies often awaken govern- mental resentment. Yet he fearlessly takes up the 32 La Surprise de la Haine (1734). 150 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA cudgel again and strikes for the right in his keen way. A valet says of him:'' Je ne suis pas surpris que I'ordre de la Cour Enferme tous les mois son esprit dans la tour. II vous peint tout d'un air qui ne vous fait pas rire. This detracts somewhat from our notion of the liberties enjoyed by the English press because of the Toleration Act of 1695. But we gather from the play that Lord Rochester, like the more modern Shaw, paints people as such immoderate fools, that one might well lose patience with him and his disre- spectful irony. Our plays rarely indicate the personal appearance of these noblemen. We have already met with a description of Lord Brumton, that saturnine thinker. D'Allainval, in a Prologue to one of his plays,'* writes a fable, in which appear in the order men- tioned, "Sire Lion, Mylord Rhinoceros, Le Seigneur Elephant, et tel autre gros dos." It is perhaps a bit unfair to indicate in extenso Milord's proportions by this abrupt title applied to the portly rhinoceros. But who will deny that he may have deserved this caricaturistic touch as he appeared before the eyes of his lean French brother? In our plays, however, the actor who filled the part naturally supplied his own corporeal dimensions, so we must not overem- phasize this impression. Our dramatists were inter- ested mainly in the milord's manners and his mind, and so are we. '' DoRAT, Lr. Chevalier Francois a Loudirx, Act 1, Scene 1 (1778). ■" L'Abb^ d'Allainval, L'Ecole des Bourgeois (1728). THE ENGLISH 151 III — English Lords in Exile From the Hanoverian succession to the English throne in 1714 to about 1747, when an Act of Pardon reinstated political refugees who were then in the service of the Pretender in France or Spain, the stirring annals of the relationship of England and Scotland reveal a process of adjustment to their recent union, with the natural attendants of fric- tion and struggle. Since 1707, their United Par- liament, in which Scotland's representation was fractional, had passed acts opposed in various degrees to principles already enacted into Scotch law. It was natural then, because of this inevitable lack of harmony, to regard Scotland as a landing ground for England's enemies coming from over, the sea. We have alreadj" seen how James, the Pretender, and his son Charles Edward were used as political pawns in the hands of the European prime-minis- ters. Scotland was half sympathetic with the claims of these ousted Stuarts, and the records of the first half-century show numerous uprisings of the clans and their leaders as part of well-prepared schemes to dislodge the Hanoverians. We know that these did not succeed, the English being too wary and their insularity working for their protection from conti- nental forces. A natural consequence, however, was the execution or exile of such families as the Carnwoths, the Kenmures, the Nairnes, and the Mackintoshes, as well as of dissatisfied Englishmen who lent their men and their services to the Jacobite movement. France was not only a convenient home for these 152 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA dispossessed sympathizers of the royal CathoUc scion of England, but it was a convenient base for operations. When conditions in London became too hot for suspects in the anti-Hanoverian cause, they might, as Mar '^ did, flee to Scotland, but they certainly were safer across the Channel. The rela- tionship, quasi-forced by its nature, that thus sprang up between the English exiles and their Gallic enter- tainers, finds very interesting expression in many of our plays. For example, we are not surprised to discover in BoissY's Le Comte de Neuilli (1736) mention of Paris as a haven for distressed refugees, and the hint, too, that some of them devoted any wealth they happened to possess to aiding their fellow un- fortunates. Speaking of Neuilli's generous activity, Nelton, his valet says (I, 1) : Paris des Etrangers fut de tout tems I'asyle; Milord, pour les aider, a choisi cette ville. We must note that all this is voluntary on the count's part. He has simply followed his unfor- tunate friend Sussex who, he affirms, has been un- justly exiled (I, .3) : Quand je fuis un pays funeste a I'innocence, Indigne centre lui, quand je n'aborde en France Que pour y regretter, par un deuil eternel, Un ami condamn^ sans etrc criminel: This irritation against his own land seems quite proper even to us, when we consider for a moment the high-souled gentleman who ^■oices it. England, '° English agent for James, the Pretender. THE ENGLISH 153 if she had become known to Frenchmen in the first part of the eighteenth century only by the great mass of refugees who left her, could not have in- spired much respect for her reputed liberty. She does not appear as a land free from envious in- trigue and cowardly spoliation of the weak by the powerful. In Boissy's play, this is what a French marquise believes concerning the true reasons for Sussex's proscription (III, 5):" Accuse faussement par une brigue lache, II vit son nom fletri d'une eternelle tache; On proscrivit sa tete, on confisqua ses biens, Et I'aveugle fureur d^grada tous les siens. Aux noirs traits de I'envie injustement en prise, Ce malheureux seigneur se sauva dans Venise; This story of the exile of an innocent aristocrat rather awakens our sj'mpathies; and a French audi- ence was likely to share in its generous impulsive way Xeuilli's resentment for his friend's needless expatriation. A Frenchman could not consistently feel well-disposed toward a man who had been driven out of his country for plotting against the king. But England was famed for her toleration, evidenced by such laws as the Act of Pardon (1746). In spite of this fact our plays indicate a merciless pursuit of those who sinned against the government. Indeed, if we would take the testimony of our French drama- tists, the Act of Toleration (1695) was hardly more than a law on paper. We have already met Lord Brumton, the proud nobleman of the fearless gaze. His independent spirit, we must gather, is the reason for his exile : ^^ 36 Favakt, L'Anglois a Bordeaux (1763), Scene 1. 154 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA ... II s'est mele d'ecrire Centre le Ministere Anglois. Ses oppositions, ses clameurs, ses pamphlets Centre des Magistrats que I'on vouloit elire ; Un esprit turbulent ennemi de la paix, Son zele amer, le fiel de sa satyre . . . Writing, even in England, we see, was a dangerous occupation when the writer presumed to criticize too openly those in control. An interesting little geographical note with regard to our exiles is implied in Favart's L'Anglois a Bordeaux. The action of this- one-act comedy takes place in Bordeaux, as the title indicates. But there is a reference in one of the scenes '^ to the fact that Lord Brumton is the only Englishman in Bor- deaux. This sounds probable enough, since our banished noblemen would naturally prefer Paris, the center of activity, for their permanent base. Bordeaux, with its harbor at the mouth of the Garonne, would afford an excellent haven for which to aim in the effort to attain safety eventually in Paris. From this brief study, we have been helped to gain a little the point of view of the French regard- ing these forced English visitors. But we must not think that the only Englishmen who crossed the Channel were exiles, nor that our plays were the only means for the dissemination of knowledge con- cerning them. Undeniably, however, our comedies do reflect to a great extent the popular notion of the day regarding these comers from the British Isles. Let us then study further to understand a little more how the English met the French and what the French thought of the English. » Ibid. THE ENGLISH 155 IV — English Attitude toward the French If it was natural Tor the French, because of the high degree to which thej^ had developed social amenities, to dictate the laws of etiquette to the less cultivated German circles, we can readily agree that England, accused of a lack of manners by Montesquieu, might also regard France as her social mentor. Even a cursory examination of the English comedy of manners of the eighteenth century reveals the frequent mention of this rela- tionship. The bluff and sturdy merchant ^^ might regard with suspicion or amusement the airy graces of his southern brother; not so, however, the English nobleman who would more likely be tempted to mimic them. Lord Houzey,''' an imitative character we have already met, is very young, and that fact partially explains the readiness with which he takes up the vicious life imported by the Marquis de Polinville from Paris. Lord Houzey is by nature not bad; he is even willing to admit that before he became acquainted with his social preceptor he had been a little bashful in the presence of ladies. But, thanks to his lessons, he has changed (sc. 6): Je suis semillant, je badine, je folatre, je papillonne, je voltige de I'une a I'autre, je les amuse toutes. Je parais poli, respec- tueux en public; mais je suis hardi, entreprenant tete-k- tete. We thus meet a rather vivid example of the result upon one young Englishman's mind of the infiltra- tion of borrowed customs in society. His head is " A character in Boissy's Le Francois a Londres (1727). 156 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA completely turned by his familiar French guide whom he regards as the mirror of social graces and whom he therefore impetuously seeks to imitate. His ambition is expressed by himself (sc. 14) : J'ai I'air Francois! Ah! Monsieur, vous ne pouvez me dire rien dont je sols plus flatt6. C'est de tous les airs celui que j'ambitionne le plus. Despite his violent attempt to Frenchify his conduct, Houzey realizes that there is something lacking, some element that brands him as an imi- tator (sc. 14) : C'est un je ne sals quoi qui nous manque, que je ne puis exprimer. Perhaps this element is precisely what has al- ways distinguished the imitative from the imitated. Milord Houzey's sister, Eliante.^^ sees it more defi- nitely, and she probably hits the nail on the head when she speaks of her brother's counterfeited demeanor (sc. 7) : II se gato plutot et le voila enrole dans la coterie de nos Beaux d'Angleterre; engeance ici d'autant plus insupport- able, qu'elle a tous les vices de vos petits mattres de France, sans en avoir les graces. To a level-headed English girl, and our plays show us a few, these imitative social gambols seem disgusting. In fact this refined quintessence of graceful showiness might in general seem quite futile to the mass of sturdy English society. People were more ■" A name often gi\"en to widows and older women. THE ENGLISH 157 inclined to use discretion toward one another, feel- ings were not fluently expressed, and the general attitude was that of restraint. For this, Anglo- Saxons were well known. It was therefore an un- wonted sight that greeted the eyes of the French lady, Orphise, when she saw a supposed English- man throw himself at her feet, even before he had said a word, in order to soften her heart towards him. She naturally exclaims:^' Comment done, un Anglois a tel point se transporte! II commence d'abord au premier entretien, Par se mettre a genoux ! . . . This to ^"alere, a Frenchman, who has, for some reason which Romagnesi's insipid play does not make clear, disguised himself as an English milord. Yet his ready, witty responses would betray him, if his disguise did not. To Orphise's remonstrance at his un-Saxon conduct, he quickly retorts : ^^ . . . Quand on commence bien, On finit de la meme sorte. Orphise. On m'avoit dit que jMessieurs les Anglois En agissoient avec plus de decence. Valere. Oui : mais quand nous sommes en France, Nous faisons comme les Francois. This is a pleasant affirmation of the psychological fact that foreigners traveling in a country are naturally inclined to adopt, if only temporarily, the customs of that country. It might, however, " RoMAGNBSi, L'Amant Protee (1739), Act 3, Scene 4. ■"' The words "en Anglois" indicate that Romagnesi intended the actor to say these hnes in English. 158 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA lead to some interesting discoveries to investigate further the conduct of these visiting Englishmen. Might we not find certain traces of a rather ready letting down of the bars of restraint, bars maintained with such a show of decency in their own land? Charles Collb bears us out in this uncharitable suspicion. In a play called La Verite dans le Vin (1747), we meet two Englishmen, both lords, who have resided in France some twenty years. They have prospered exceedingly, using their in- fluence in society in return for monetary consid- erations, for the worthy purpose of aiding social climbers to obtain a perch on the ladder. Mylord Sindereze and M. I'abbe Kensington are a pair of as low rascals as one might care to meet anywhere. They deal mainly with middle-class women, whom they impress with their imposing rank. Madame Dupuis's words reveal a little the moral code in vogue in France, of which the milord takes advantage. She says to her friend, the wife of the President Nacquart (sc. 1) : Tout le monde sait que cet Anglois a fait votre manage avec M. Nacquart, et qu'il avoit de bonnes raisons pour cela; et Ton a vu, depuis. Mademoiselle votre fille appeler constam- ment ce bon Mylord son petit papa, ct, comme je vous dis, cela n'a r^volt^ personne . . . cela a paru nature! . . tout simple . . . Je vous en ai donn^ la raison; c'est qu'il y avoit de la dignite dans un pareil choix . . . il auroit fallu avoir de I'humeur et beaucoup pour ne pas trouver cela decent. Un Mylord, un Pair d'Angleterre, un Chevalier de rOrdre de la JarretiSre! So much for Milord Sindereze whose stay in France is a tissue of such acts. He is bad enough, THE ENGLISH 159 but Kensington is worse. M. Dupuis accuses him in the following term's (sc. 11): . . toujours d'un cote et d'un autre avee des coquines . . . Apres avoir soupg avec ces impures-la, au point du jour, M. I'Abbe les mene boire du ratafiat a Neuilly, et c'est lui qui menela caleche: . . . Even so, Madame Nacquart yields herself to his wishes in return for his efforts in behalf of her social ambitions. Yet he breaks her submissive patience at last by a final vice which he has added to his overstocked catalogue:" Livre au jeu, oil il s'est ruine deja une fois; accable encore de nouvelles dettes; sujet, enfin, a un dernier vice, qui n'est plus meme de mode, un vice bete! I'ivrognerie . . . I'ivro- gnerie . . . defaut miserable et bas, qui est, depuis long- temps, banni de la societe des honnetes gens . . . et meme de celle des ecclesiastiques ! However painful the impression we get from these two unworthy visitors to French shores, we must accept them as part of the record of the life of the eighteenth century. They must stand as certain characters found in every nation, rascals ready to take advantage in a foreign country of the superi- ority that their rank in their own affords them. That there were such Englishmen we cannot doubt. But we can state here that the preponderance of the worthy characters of that nation in our plays might indicate that the Kensingtons were few and far between. We certainly cannot carry away with us from our readings among the dramatists the impression that Englishmen were universally *'■ Said by Madame Nacquart, Scene 7. 160 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA thought of as morally deficient. On the contrary, we find many an amusing passage that indicates how straight-laced they were, a condition implied in the way they were shocked at things they saw in Paris. The recently landed Lord Ridling ^* cannot get over the fact that at the Opera the girls are after all the chief interest and that during the performance the men portion them out for enjoy- ment afterward. M. de Pretendsiere defends the system by claiming that such is the custom, even among married men, which serves only to shock the sensitive Ridling all the more. This lord's displeasure seems to be justifiable, according to Boissy. In one of his plays *^ we are introduced to Miss Blar, "comedienne angloise," who has come over from England to learn happi- ness from the country in which it was said to abound. She, too, is surprised at the licentious system in vogue among actresses in Paris. The suggestion that she join the ranks and become the mistress of some nobleman who happened to ad- mire her beauty or talent, draws from her a just protest : ^^ Jamais je ne m'allie avcc aucuii Alilord. Notre profession a Londres est glorieuse. Le d^faut de merite est seul deshonorant. Unc actrice de nom, quand elle est vertueuse, Peut aspirer chez nous au parti le plus grand; On y rougit du vice & non pas du talent. *' Carmontelle, Le Sac d'Aroiiic, Thcdirc de Campagnc, Paris, Ruault, 1775. « La Frii'oUti (1753). " ScciK- 3. Her words remind lis sadly of Adriennc Lecouvreur and Madame I'^a^art. THE ENGLISH 161 This is natural and pardonable pride, though Miss Blar might be accused of a little leniency. But her words do reveal a characteristic point of view, whether assumed or sincere we need not discuss. "VVe can safely say that this English actress takes her work seriously and does not believe that her main purpose is to attract men. On this point she scores French women : ** Ne vivre que pour niettre une coeffe, un panier, Ah! j'aimerois autant orner un espalier. In some cases, this repugnance towards French ways amounts to sheer unreasonableness. We have already met Lord Brumton, of whom a Frenchman says : *° II nous detests tous, sans vouloir nous connoitre; Cet homme est anti-Gallican. And, in fact, he is, ridiculously, violently, crazily anti-French, in spite of the fact that he is an exile in their country" and is being treated with most angelic kindness. Happening upon his daughter Clarissa reading a French novel, he throws it out of the window, snapping out impatiently (sc. 2) : . . . Occupez-vous de Lock, Ma fille; lisez Clark, Swift, Newton, Bolingbrok, Songez que vous etes Angloise; Apprenez a penser. . . . The idea of a young marriageable girl being told to learn how to think must have been very amusing to a French audience. They probably felt that only " Ibid. <5 Favart, L'Anglois a Bordeaux (1763), Scene 1. 162 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA an English father could be so brutal and unsympa- thetic. But Brumton's impatience singles him out as an extreme and unusual type of English traveler, for he can see nothing good in Frenchmen (sc. 6) : Je ne vols que des jeux, je n'entends que des ris, Chanteurs importuns! doubles traitres; Avec leurs violons, leurs tambourins maudits, Incessament, expres, passer sous mes fenetres, Pour me troubler dans mes ennuis! Tous les jours des sauts, des gambades, Et tous les soirs des serenades! Music certainly could not have been so popular in England. Happy uproar, demonstrativeness, expres- sion of joy, these simple manifestations worry our unaccustomed aristocrat. He naturally objects also to the luxury displayed on all sides. His constant surprise at the comfort and beauty of things about him awakens in our minds distrustful images of dim and unadorned English rooms. Milord finally vents his spleen on a clock, a real French clock with its rich old flowered carving and its intricate beauty. He sees in it a significant symbol, for to him it is typical of the French, this bedecking and adorning even of the flight of time. As he meditates over the problem of international differences, he is sud- denly illuminated with regard to the French (sc. 2) : CV peuple est toujours gai jusques dans ses revers; De tout il se console, & par sa fa^on d'etre, Un Fran9ois est heureux, un Anglois cherche a I'etre. This subtle analysis sounds like a real truth and does seem a wonderful illustration of the influence upon historical events that the genius of a nation may THE ENGLISH 163 exert. The French nation, in truth a suffering people in the latter half of the eighteenth century, unfor- tunate in its colonial expansion, physically exhausted by its expensive wars, groaning beneath the weight of an intolerable system of taxation that pauperized the poor and accrued to the benefit of a few powerful individuals, this nation, actually so wretched, appeared nevertheless to be the most happy. Its enthusiasms, its reckless enjoyment of the present, its innate verve, enabled it to wear a semblance of care-free joyous- ness that often softened its own suffering and charmed away the rising unhappiness of many days and years. But for this optimism of soul and mind, would not the French Revolution have come in the Regency or, perhaps, more probably toward the end of Louis XV's reign, a period marked by indelicate decadence and scurrilous indecency which alienated the people from their government? It is worth re- marking and pondering that Englishmen, of sterner cast, gave vent to the highest climax of their struggle for freedom, in the execution of their king one hundred and forty-four years before the French. Between two nations, both wonderfully alert intellec- tually, yet responding so differently to a similar autocracy of government, there must be some basic psychological divergence, to be sought not only in events, but also in the minds of the people. These dissimilarities our dramatists ha,ve felt and have endeavored to set down in their rich comic way. We who read them to-day in the light of historic in- terpretation can appreciate the truth in these pic- tures of the past so lavishly given to us. And when Favart reveals to us in his clever way his percep- 164 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA tion of differences and oppositions, he not only sets the stage, but in his dialogue we see the life of his time revivified. We feel the pulse of activity ani- mating these ancient forms. The drama is essen- tially a medium for the expression of life, and thoughts and feelings reach us that could not have come to us by any other means. How clearly we can perceive relations when we observe people mutually reacting on one another! No description of Tomson,. an English naval officer, could show his spite against his French enemies so vividly as his own words uttered in their very presence. He refuses to exhibit even the ordinary military amenities when he is captured. Instead, he exclaims angrily :^^ Bon, bon, I'Anglois, peuple sense, De tous ^gards s'est dispense ; . Un Anglois doit-il reconnoitre Quelques vertus dans les Francois? Non, qui les cstime est un traitre. He seems to reflect sadly on his own nation, espe- cially when he continues: Ont-ils connu dans ma patrie, Cette noble ferocite? Chez eux au courage on allie Une imbecille humanite; This might be termed boomerang criticism, and it does incidentally indicate to us the French percep- tion of how seriously the Englishman takes himself. He sees but little romance in fighting; it is rather a stern business, of which hatred is a natural concomi- •" Favakt, Le Manage par escalade (1756), Scene 1. THE ENGLISH 165 tant. The Frenchman can see good points in his adversary and even respect him for his power. Not so the EngUshman. If the French are his enemies, he will reason himself into an antagonistic frame of mind that will permit no deviations. Favart ac- cuses him of this systematic ill-will which permeates even his education:*' . . . Des qu'un Anglois respire, On prepare sa haine, on le nourrit de fiel; Centre nos agr^mens on pr^vient son enfancc: Eviter avec nous la moindre ressemblance Est le principe essentiel. Un Anti-Gallican nous juge mal, & pense Qu'un peuple qui s'amuse est superficiel. We must mitigate the rather bitter harshness of this criticism of Favart's by reminding ourselves that it was written towards the end of a protracted struggle with England in which France had been worsted. As time went on and wounds were healed, the two countries drew commercially together, and their rapprochement seems to have been so simple that the historian might well question the quality of their hatreds. The consistency of their dislikes certainly seems different from aversions generated in more modern times. Anglomania in France be- fore the Revolution was an interesting and natural phenomenon. Neither is it surprising to find in 1784 a play given on the stage of the Theatre de I'Ambigu-Comique ^^ in Paris, which enhances this growth of friendship and reveals the Englishman " L' Anglois A Bordeaux (1763), Scene 1. " Madame de F. . . Le Rival par Amitie, Baudrais, Vol. 73. 166 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA glowing with admiration for beautiful France. Says Vindsor (sc. 2) : Oh ! le charmant pays ! partout de la gaiete ! Chez le Fran5ois, quoi qu'on en dise, On voit r^gner cette aimable franchise, Et meme cette hbert^ Que nous cherchons en vain aux bords de la Tamise. It is more than an ordinary sentiment that wrings this expression of admiration from Vindsor. He is, at other times, just an Englishman, with his normal modicum of enthusiasm. He had characteristically come to the conclusion that since his country and the one he is visiting have united in an everlasting peace, he must not praise his French brothers (sc. 3). During war- time he would not hesitate to laud an heroic enemy, but now he pauses, so close is the union drawn. We have followed, to a brief extent, as far as our dramas have revealed them to us, the vicissitudes of the relationship between the English and the French. We have traced them from vacuous social imitations, through veritable dislikes of various kinds, till we finally anchor in a surer haven of appreciation. Let us now turn to the complementary study. V — The Attitude of the French toward the English In 1726, the year of its publication, Gulliver's Travels was translated into French, and made its author's name famous on the continent. Marivaux, one of the cleverest dramatists of the century, staged the idea of the Lilliputians as early as 1728 in a play which he called L'IsIe dc la Raison ou les Petits THE ENGLISH 167 Hommes. The inhabitants of his imaginary island are of normal proportions in every way, because they are entirely guided by reason. Eight Europeans are shipwrecked, and the moment they set foot on the island they dwindle in size, in proportion to their lack of reason. Blectrue, a trusty counselor of the island, soon leads them back to their normal size by his lessons, and he incidentally criticizes for them their European systems of thought. Here is what is said of Englishmen:*^ Dans de certains pays sont-ils savants? ■ leur sciences les charge; ils ne s'j^ font jamais, ils en sont tout entrepris. Sont-ils sages? C'est avec une austerity qui rebuts de leur sagesse. Sont-ils fous? ce qu'on appelle etourdis et badins? leur badinage n'est pas de commerce; il y a quelque chose de rude, de violent, d'etranger a la veritable joie; leur raison est sans complaisance, il lui manque cette douceur que nous avons, et qui invite ceux qui ne sont pas raisonnables a le devenir: chez eux, tout est serieux, tout y est grave, tout y est pris a la lettre: on dirait qu'il n'y a pas assez longtemps qu'ils sont ensemble; les autres hommes ne sont pas en- core leurs freres, ils les regardent comme d'autres creatures. Voient-ils d'autres moeurs que les leurs? cela les f&che. Et nous, tout cela nous amuse, . . . In a short tirade, remarkable for its incisive thought, we have from the mind of a great French writer, a critical rfeume of the ways of Englishmen. He scores their knowledge, ridicules their wisdom, commiserates their joys, despises their reason, ex- poses their lack of congeniality, taunts them with their insularity, and finally flings his glove in their faces as he dubs, them snobs. *" Scene 1. The word English is not mentioned, but the inference is clear. 168 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA This distinctly unsympathetic attitude toward the inhabitants of the British Isles is not confined to Marivaux. Even a hasty glance at dramas of the early part of the century reveals a similar uncom- promising hostility which we may justly ascribe to ignorance. Voltaire, the first great influence in opening the eyes of the French to a truer view of the English, published his famous letters in 1734. In this highly explosive book the author's com- patriots suddenly saw revealed a country where different religious sects lived in perfect peace to- gether, where a people's control over the government was secure, where the nobility of labor and commerce was recognized even among the higher ranks, where taxation was based on the consent of the taxed, in short where thought and philosophy had progressed radically in the right direction. This revelation laid the foundation after 1734 of a lasting admiration for the English. However the untoward events of the century may have disturbed the trend of this ap- proving attitude, we come back to it constantly. Traveling promoted a truer mutual knowledge, and in such an acquaintanceship each nation inevitably had a great deal to gain. That this realization of the advantages to be reaped by unselfish international relationships could actually be voiced in a play given in 1763, a year of bitter reflection for France, seems something to marvel at. Favart, a man whose experiences single him out among men, not only shows that he has this realization but he actually expresses his appre- ciation of the true interdependence of nations:"" s" L'Aiiqlois ci Bordeaux (1763), Scene S. THE ENGLISH 169 La chaine des besoins rapproche tous les hommes, Le lien du plaisir les unit encor plus. With this guiding thought he studies an abo- riginal Englishman, unsullied by any foreign influ- ences. He places him in France and proceeds to show how his new environment affects him. We find him at first extremely unhappy, a feeling that is, however, not new to him. Melancholia is a popu- lar attribute of his compatriots, for we meet it often in our dramas. It is not difficult to understand this aura of discqntent or see how it arose through the observation of actual English life. The English- man's natural reserve, his continued activity and public interest, and especially his grave dignity, all these could easily combine to give the Frenchman in his lighter atmosphere an erroneous impression. To him joy, to be joy, has to be spontaneous. Therefore he states his antidote for Anglo-gloom in the following terms :^'' Pour etre heureux, soyez ce que nous sommes. But Milord Englishman cannot see things this way : '^° Suis-je fait pour etre plaisant? Connoissez mieux I'Anglois, Madame; son g^nie Le porte a de plus grands objets. Politique profond, occupe de projets, II pretend a Thonneur d'eclairer sa Patrie. Le moindre citoyen, attentif a ses droits, Voit les papiers publics & regit I'Angleterre, Du Parlement compte les voix, Prononce librement sur la paix ou la guerre, Pese les interets du Roi, Et du fond d'un caf^ leur mesure la terre. » Ibid. 170 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN TRENCH DRAMA We have to make out the fact that an EngUshman is too vitally concerned with the affairs of life, busi- ness, government, to have left time or will for less intense occupations. His seriousness becomes ob- trusive after a while; it looms up as a national trade mark. We see from this how easy it would be to mark out Lord Monrose " as an Englishman, even if we did not know his name. He is stolid, and so deeply im- mersed in brooding over his own misfortunes that he becomes quite hardened to pitj and sympathy. What marks him out as non-French is the fact that he does not seem at all interested when he hears that there is a pretty girl stopping at the inn where he is; and what distinguishes him to the French mind as an Englishman is that he is no more moved than a stone when he hears she has fainted. Voltaire names him a Scotch peer and Voltaire's impressions are wonderfully keen. It follows that, for a Frenchman to disguise him- self successfully as an Englishman, one of the chief requisites would be this grave abstracted look. Damis,^^ whose pretentions to Sophie's hand lead him to want to soften the heart of her guardian, Eraste, who is an extraordinary Anglomaniac, dis- guises himself as a member of the admired nation, and assumes the name of Blacmore. Eraste ex- amines him critically for a while and then remarks (sc. 2): . . . Par exemple, k vous voir, Vous etes un penseur . . . " Voltaire, L'Ecossaise (1760). '" Saubin, L'Anglomanie (1772). THE ENGLISH 171 . . . Je parie Que sur vous le beau Sexe a fort peu de pouvoir, Que I'amour, k vos yeux, n'est rien qu'une folic. Imagine a nation without love, or even without ordinary human feelings, for Blacmore goes even further and asserts seriously (sc. 2) : Jamais je n'admire . . . Jamais je ne ris . . . And On rit de tout chez les Frangais : Sachez, Monsieur, qu'en Angleterre, On se pend quelquefois, mais qu'on ne rit jamais. By these various traits Eraste easily identifies Blac- more as a genuine Englishman and at once consigns to him his ward. Not only does the exaggerated use of the faculty of reason come in for its just share of ridicule, but we find also that Frenchmen are not so very gullible regarding English liberty. They are prone to ques- tion its nature. A French marquis would naturally distrust the kind of political freedom that forbade duelling. M. de Pretendsiere remarks sarcasti- cally: ^^ "Les Anglois ne tirent point I'^pee k Londres, la liberte le leur defend." To him there- fore a nation that has such ignoble tendencies is vulgar. "Ces Anglois sont plaisans avec leur li- berty, lis sont peuple, voilk tout. Cela n'a nul ton, nul gout." We are not surprised at this utterance of contempt, for how could a French nobleman, fashioned by the court into a mirror of elegance, *' Cakmontelle, Le Sac d'Avoine, ThSdtre de Campagne, Scene 7. 172 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA see much in a system that prohibited private com- bats and turned out gawky meditators? Socially, this derision of English manners must have been usual in the early part of the eighteenth century. We have already met with a Frenchman's version of a typical English social chat.^* Boissy's Marquis de Polinville ^^ denies that conversation even exists in England. "Leur conversation! lis n'en ont point du tout. lis sont une heure sans parler, et n'ont autre chose a vous dire que Howd' eyd'o, comment vous portez-vous? Cela fait un entretien bien amusant." His relative, the baron, parries the stroke: "Les Anglois ne sont pas bril- lans, mais ils sont profonds." But the marquis continues his line of thought, which leads him to a total eradication of the existing system : ^° Au lieu de passer les trois quarts de leur vie dans un Cafe k politiquer, et a lire des chiffons de Gazettes, ils feroient mieux de voir bonne compagnie chez eux, d'apprendre a mieux recevoir les honnetes gens qui leur rendent visite, et a sentir un peu mieux ce que vaut un joli homme. This sounds a bit like the utterance of a private grievance. But the marquis has a real class criti- cism to express, and when he remarks impatiently; "Je veux dire qu'ils n'ont pas I'air qu'il faut avoir, cet air fibre, ouvert, empresse, pr^venant, gracieux, I'air par excellence," he is summing up the broad dissatisfaction with English society that men of his type would naturally conceive. We have seen how our dainty marquis attributes ^* This chapter, page 146. '* Le Francois a Londres (1727), Scene 1. THE ENGLISH 173 this lack of social atmosphere among Englishmen to their absorption in political wrangles. They seem to carry their concerns with them even into their maudlin convivial gatherings. Lord Houzey, tremendously impressed with the vast superiority of Frenchmen, also realizes this ugly fact, and he be- gins to deplore the usual absence of ladies from these gatherings (sc. 6) : Nous autres Anglois, nous n'entendons pas nos interets quand nous vous bannissons de nos parties. Nous ne buvons que pour boire et nous portons la tristesse jusqu'au sein de la joie. II n'est que les Frangois pour fairs agr^ablement la debauche. This definitely cedes the palm, as far as Houzey is concerned, to the French. He claims nothing cred- itable for his own nation. Not so his shrewd father, who is in such harmonious accord with the French Baron de Polinville. Milord Craff asserts quite con- tentedly, even proudly, that Englishmen do not pos- sess esprit, if that quality indicates light wit and the saying of pretty things. He is perfectly satisfied with le bon sens, which, to our critical marquis, is the most frightful thing in England, and makes everything so dull. It is interesting as well as amusing to note that how- ever much transplantation from France to England, or vice versa, miight affect disdainful grandees of either land, the contrast between the two countries does not appear so glaringly strong in the eyes of lower man. Dumont, a French valet in the service of the young nobleman, Sidney, is pleased with condi- tions about him in London, so normal and unchanged 174 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA do they appear in his eyes. He says to his master: ^^ Depuis votre retour du voyage de France, Ou mon gotit pr^s de vous me mit par pr6f4rence, Je n'avais pas encore regrette mon pays; Je me trouvais a Londres aussi bien qu'^ Paris; J'etais dans le grand monde employe pres des Belles, Je portais vos billets, j'etais bien regu d'elles; No wonder he felt quite at home amidst this repro- duction of the social atmosphere of his own land. In fact, in social London a Frenchman with a toler- ant spirit might get along comfortably without too overwhelming a sense of difference. Yet the few references we find to the capital city of the English do not reflect extreme pleasure or satisfaction. Montesquieu says: " "Paris is a beau- tiful city with some ugly things, and London an ugly city with some beautiful things." It is hard to imagine a Frenchman with the white vistas of Paris in his mind conceiving an affection for dark, narrow London. Montesquieu complains " of its streets, badly paved, the roads full of holes and ruts, of its carriages so frightfully high, of the grim ugly houses overhanging the streets and shutting out air and light, of its architecture, which he thinks pitiful. The parks alone pleased him. In accord with this impression is Boissy's discon- tented marquis, who says ruefully :^^ . . . je me serois bien pass^ de voir une ville aussi triste et aussi mal elevde que Londres. '« Gresset, Sidnei (1745), Act 1, Scene 6. " Letlres Fam., Q<:ui>res Complites, 6dit. Laboulaye, Vol. 7, page 229. *' Le Francois a Londres (1727), Scene 1. THE ENGLISH 175 Nor does the famous English murk escape notice, for how could it? La Fleur, a French valet, is very much concerned about his master's sudden illness. He easily fastens upon the cause :^^ C'est I'effet du brouillard qui regne en Angleterre; J'en ai senti I'atteinte, en arrivant ici: Una de ces vapeurs, ce matin, m'a saisi. Yet, as we have already seen,*" Montesquieu for- gets the poor impression the city has made on him in his admiration for the people and the general intelligence he meets on all sides. This respect for the power of the English mind is generally shared with him by our dramatists. Sauein's Anglomaniac says : ®^ Les precepteurs du monde k Londres ont pris naissance; C'est d'eux qu'il faut prendre legon. Aussi je meurs d'impatience D'y voyager. De par Newton, Je le verrai, ce pays ou Ton pense. Gkesset's Englishman, Sidnei, says to the same effect :«2 L'homme qui pense est seul un ami veritable. This atmosphere of thought with which the English- man is invested naturally serves partly to explain his melancholy appearance. Some Frenchmen, as we have seen, were led to the belief that his sadness was *' BoissY, L'Epoux par Supercherie (1744), Act 1, Scene 1. «o This chapter, page 135. " Beverlei (1768), Scene 4. s2 Sidnei (1745), Act 1, Scene 6. 176 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA real. Favart was not so easily deceived. His Mar- quise Floricourt says cheerfully : *^ Que les Anglois soient tristes, misanthropes, Tou jours avec nous contrasts, Cela ne me fait rien; leurs sombres enveloppes N'offusquent point, d'ailleurs, leurs bonnes quaht^s. lis sont francs, genereux, braves; je les estime. The qualities of character — frankness, generosity^ courage — indicated by these three adjectives might well be the results of thought, particularly frank- ness. The English are famed for their straight- forward outspoken manner. Again and again, we find them pictured as bluntly expressing their thoughts. Lord Brumton, for instance, after making some slighting remarks on certain habits of the French, habits of feigning and masking and false politeness, concludes: ^^ Un Anglois n'a point I'art de cacher son humeur; II porte sur le front I'empreinte de son cceur. Nous osons nous montrer partout tels que nous sommes, Et c'est chez nous qu'on pent juger des homnies. This attitude, full of sincerity and truth, could not fail to impress Frenchmen favorably. A feeling of confidence would permeate their relationship with their neighbors, a confidence reflected in all possible ways. Friendship would be natural, so would intermar- riages. Of all this we find traces. One clever dramatist could not refrain, in his respect for their sincerity, from picturing an Englishman who has made a promise and who is exquisitely tortured in ^ V Anglois a Bordeaux (1763), Scene S. " Favart, U Anglois a Bordeaux (1763), Scene 12. THE ENGLISH 177 the keeping of it. Nelson/^ the young protagonist of this play, refuses to admit that since he passion- ately loves Corali, a beautiful Indian entrusted to his care, he might do well to marry her. He feels that he is morally bound to keep Corali for his friend Blandfort, who has confided her to him. The situation becomes unbearable for Nelson, living there in the same house with the girl he loves, yet realizing constantly that his promise has put her beyond his reach. He finally determines to run away. Prevented by Corali, who loves him devotedly, he threatens to kill himself unless she agrees to a mere passive friendship between them (sc. 10) : Corali, tu connois quelle est ma probite. Tout citoyen se doit a la soci^te; II est comptable a sa patrie. Even in this tense moment of his life, the incor- rigible Englishman moralizes over his situation and draws generalizations on conduct. He sees in his own way of acting a measure of responsibility to society at large, and with that larger social consciousness his individual expressions or inhibitions become re- plete with a deeper meaning for the welfare of the race. With this viewpoint, so vital in happy mutual intercourse, largely attributed to Englishmen, it is not surprising to find among the fine qualities they develop, divine generosity. There are many in- stances of the spirit of noble giving. We might mention that of the Chevalier Anglois,''^ who gives 65 Fa V ART, L'Amitie a I'Epreuve (1770). «« Lesage, Les Trois Commeres (1723), Act 3, Scene 13. 178 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA SO much more than he has promised that he truly earns the grateful praise of Columbine: Par cette gen^rosit^, monsieur, vous justifiez bien la bonne opinion que nous avons a Paris de la nation Angloise. It remains for Favart, as, one might expect, to at- tribute to the admired nation the very flower of generosity, self-effacement : Tel est I'Anglois, il cache le bienfait.^^ This is high praise indeed, although it happens that the particular good deed referred to in this play was done anonymously by a Frenchman. Nevertheless, the praise stands, a glowing tribute to a sister na- tion. There are still other qualities or facts concerning English life and organization for which the French have a strong appreciation, especially when they feel a corresponding lack in their own ways. The rigid and harsh system of justice in England, though early ridiculed, met with truer recognition as the years of the century passed on and the French bur- den of injustice became more intolerable. Thus before 1710 Lesage in his Urie Journce des Parques draws for us the doleful picture of Clotho, one of the three Sister Fates, bringing out from her rich store twenty threads belonging to English prisoners, thieves condemned to death. As she cuts these threads, she murmurs: "L'etonnante nation." Con- trast this sarcastic sally on the rigorousness of Eng- lish punishment with the more significant remark made some sixty years later by Duling (1776), one " L'Anglois a Bordeaux (1763), Scone IS. THE ENGLISH 179 of Falbaire's characters, when the wicked Lord Belton is cruelly taking advantage of him:^* . . . dans Londres d4ja Ton a vu plus d'un Lord monter sur r^chafaud, pour payer par sa mort le sang le plus abject. This is a threat made by an underling, a mere tutor in a lord's household, to his very master. What a profound sensation its utterance on the stage must have made, what a notion of the efficacy of English justice it must have encouraged! These are the little things of international influence that burrow into minds and upon which are reared new ideals and loftier purposes. This international give and take has so many great and small manifestations that it would be impossible to include them all, unless a work were to assume encyclopedic proportions. As Madame de Genlis puts it, speaking to her English friend : ^' Par exemple, vous y ^° verrez que nous nous piquons de vous imiter sur tous les points, a I'exception d'un seul, c'est la bienfaisance. Nous exagerons toutes vos modes, nous pre- nons vos usages, vos maniSres; . . . We have followed in our dramatic wanderings some of the larger influences playing between two great nations. We might stop with these, not pretending to include details. We have, however, the welcome pretext of an Anglomaniac, and if we may be per- mitted to add his particular likings to what has been said, we shall get a few specific notions of English 88 L'Ecole des Moeurs (1776), Act 1, Scene 7. ^' L'Aveugle de Spa, Thedtre d'Educalion, Scene 2. '" In Paris. 180 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA appearance and manners. Eraste '^ is the name of this violent lover of things a I'angloise. He has created about him the proper atmosphere in which to indulge his hobby (sc. 1): Mais dans cette campagne ou d'ordinaire 11 vit, On s'habille, on se coeffe et I'on teste a I'Angloise. A son ceil prevenu, sans un petit chapeau, II n'est point de femme qui plaise. Eraste says (sc. 2) : Suivant I'usage Anglois, j'ai voulu, ce matin, Qu'on fit, d'un grand Parterre, un petit Boulingrin; J'y veux avoir de tout, des vallons, des collines, Des pres, une plaine, des bois, Une Mosquee, un pont Chinois, Une riviere, des ruines, . . . This is indeed the typical conglomerate of English gardens, so popular in the eighteenth century. At four o'clock an English tea is served, of course (sc. 3). In all this imitative existence Eraste gathers happi- ness, for he believes he is unique. He determines not to marry, thus following Newton's example, and avoiding classification as an ordinary man. He in- sists on being as singular as he pleases, as singular as he thinks Englishmen are (sc. 2): A Londres chacun prend la forme qui lui plait. On n'y surprend personne, en etant ce qu'on est. A more violent conversion than Eraste's is to be found in a play called Le Rival par Amitie.''^ Fi- " Saurin, L'Anglomanie (1772). " Madame de F. . . . (17S4), Baudrais, Vol. 73, THE ENGLISH 181 nette, a servant, saucily describes the effect upon her master of a visit to England (sc. 1) : Eh bien ! 11 nous revolt avec Indifference, Monsieur ne parle plus que dlfficllement; II n'oserolt plus rlre, 11 sourlt gravement. On ne salt ce qu'il dit, ce qu'll fait, ce qu'll pense, II joue enfin TAnglois, et tres maussadement. Young Dorval actually goes into tirades of abuse against his own country, France, and his madness even leads him to renounce Lucille, his lady-love, be- cause she is not English. Says he in his impas- sioned way to Vindsor, his friend (sc. 3) : . . . et chez vous, les talens, la sagesse Ne sont jamais mis en oubll. Dans votre Isle jamais leur doux eclat ne-blesse. La, I'Hyraen est un Dieu, dont les liens sacres Par les epoux sont toujours reveres; L'amour un sentiment plein de d^llcatesse. La, I'amltle n'est point un commerce honteux D'lnutlles egards et de dehors frl voles, De protestations et de valnes paroles. La, prenant un essor raplde et glorleux, Le genie, elance dans sa noble carrlere. Sans entraves, sans freln, pent franchir la barrlere; La, le Sage peut reflechlr, Et, sans danger de le paroitre, Vlvre en Phllosophe, et joulr De la dignite de son etre; Et, pour trancher des discours superflus. La, I'homme est homme enfin . . . This adulatory eulogy is a complete resume of the late eighteenth-century feeling toward the English. It is a cry vibrant with heart-felt admiration and, to a listening ear, it contains a haunting note, a call 182 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA to arms, vague, unformulated, but present. This was five years before the storm of Revolution actually swept France. To measure these waves, coming and going, of in- fluence and inspiration between countries is an im- possible task, life is so multifarious. They can be at least indicated, suggested, and a word will often do the work of many descriptions. That is why homage was rendered at the beginning of this chap- ter to BoissY. After picturing vividly the doings of a Frenchman in London^' and revealing the ridicu- lous narrowness of extreme and partisan views re- garding one's own nation, he indicates by a significant word, used by a sane Englishman and a sound Frenchman, the great borrowed characteristic that each nation partly owes to the other. Says the Baron de Polinville to Milord Craff (sc. 17): Vous venez. Monsieur, de me convaincre, que rien n'est au dessus d'un Anglais poll. Says Milord Craff to the Baron de Polinville: Et vous m'avez fait connoltre, Monsieur, que rien n'approche d'un Frangois raisonnable. If we read the significance behind these words, we get a glimpse, a sort of bird's-eye view, of the nature of the interchange between England and France in the eighteenth century. " Le Francois a Londrcs (1727). THE ENGLISH 183 VI — Englishmen or Middle Rank and Lower We meet among these stage characters our drama- tists have created many interesting types, some of them more interesting than lords, especially where our writers could allow themselves greater freedom and invest them with a little reality. We shall in this section interview a few of the more important individuals that we meet. We may in this way ob- tain a notion of what our French audiences carried away in their minds as their impressions of ordinary Englishmen, men placed in stations of life similar to their own. Our dramatists afford us an opportunity of meeting all sorts and conditions of men, — cap- tains, soldiers, travelers, merchants, shop-keepers, workmen, scientists, doctors, priests, editors, tutors, inn-keepers, gaolers, jockeys, villains, good or bad, and finally servants. The pictures we are going to draw of some of them, while perhaps unrelated and diverse, will give us well-defined individual impres- sions, which, when added together, will obviously reveal certain general tendencies in the minds of our dramatists. We shall then be able to answer ques- tions concerning these impressions. Are these char- acters generally seen to be good or bad, faithful or untrustworthy, honest or dishonest, intelligent or stupid? Let us endeavor to build up our answers. First of all we renew acquaintance with Tomson,'* an English officer. We see in him a strong Saxon fighter, determined never to yield. He naturally tends to become rather fierce. Elvire, a girl whom " Favart, Le Mariage par escalade (17.56). 184 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA he is trying to force into marriage with him, says of him and his nation (sc. 1) : . Oui, son premier but est I'honneur, Et votre farouche valeur En vous prouve moins un grand cceur Que la fureur de tout detruire. English soldiers are emphasized as savages, full of lust for destruction. They seem a class of grim Northern warriors, crushing everything before them in their way to victory. Naturally they lack the finer sensibilities — a failing noticeable even in their officers. Tomson, unlike any conceivable French soldier of his rank, despises love as a power to sway, and rather brutally states that he is going to marry Elvire because he wants to possess her. In his opinion French officers, because of their propensities for love-making, are weaklings (sc. 1) : Tous les Frangois sent les heros des Dames, lis ont tonjours pense comme des femmes. Let us offset the impression made by the fearless and merciless Tomson with Sudmer, a naval officer, whose portrait is drawn by the same author, Favart. It is refreshing to meet Sudmer, with his intelligent point of view regarding the relations of nations. He has traveled a great deal and this has opened his eyes to the fact that men are perhaps brothers, no matter where they happen to live, and that there is good in them all. THE ENGLISH 185 Je trouve partout ma patrie '^ Oil je trouve d'honnetes gens; En Cochinchine, en Barbarie, Chez les Sauvages meme ... He possesses to a rare degree the "international mind," for how could one plead more eloquently than he does for universal peace? Quoi! parce qu'on habite un autre coin de terre," II faut se dechirer & se f aire la guerre ! Tendons tous au bien general. Je ne connois sur la machine ronde Rien que deux peuples diff^rens; Savoir, les hommes bons & les hommes mechans. It is natural then for Sudmer to close the play by uttering the words of peace, words full of meaning in that very year of 1763, when the Peace of Paris ended the bitter experience of the Seven Years' War (sc. 21). Sachez que les bienfaits sont de tous les pays. Je trouve tous les jours, par leur correspondance, Paris a Londre & I'Angleterre en France. This warm statement shows a pretty close kinship, undisturbed by the existence of strife. What a wonderful nation the French were, when even in those days of loss and trouble, they could still gaze frankly at their enemy of the day before and call him friend! How brave the audiences were that heard Sudmer speak these words of peace, who, rising above enmity, cheered the prospect of friendship with a nation to whom they felt akin! " L'Anglois a Bordeaux (1763), Scene 14. 186 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA The Englishman with the "international mind" seems to be a rather familiar figure. We meet his kind not only among milords and naval officers; even the honest Jacques Splin/^ or as we might translate it, Jack Spleen, has definite ideas on the subject of international kinship. As an Englishman, he feels first of all his responsibility toward his own country. His duty done, he sees no reason for an unfriendly attitude toward any other land. We take it that Jacques Splin is a successful merchant who is tra^'el- ing for his health. But in no place does he find favorable conditions (sc. 6) : J'ai parcouru toute I'Europe, je me suis ennuye. J'ai ete dans le Russia, j'ai trouve trop froid: j'ai ^te dans I'ltalie, j'ai trouv^ trop chaud: j'ai ete dans le Hollande, j'ai trouve trop triste: je suis dans le France, je trouve trop gai . Poor Jacques, at the end of his wits, has nothing left to do but to commit suicide. There is one thing however that restrains him. He fears the possible disgrace that may revert to his country (sc. 6) : Je ne veux pas qu'en France on puissc croire qu'un Anglois il soit un lache ou un malhonn^te homme; ma patrie seroit fachfe. Still he has persuaded himself to carry out his plan. He meets most opportunely Jaquot, a waiter in a hotel, who is about to forego this life "' because he has no power financially to persuade the cruel i\I. Loyer, the hotel proprietor, to give him his daughter. '" Patrat, L'.-lris^ois (1781). Jacques is French ior Jaiiics^ Perhaps Jim Spleen would be a better rendering. " See pages 143, 144. THE ENGLISH 187 As might be expected, Jacques Splin gives Jaquot all his monej^ and experiences in the giving a joy the like of which he had never felt before. He deter- mines to live with all the world of men his brothers, except those, of course, — and here the patriot be- comes visible, — who are enemies to England (sc. 9) : Celui qui attaque la gloire ou la liberie de mon pays, de quelque nation qu'il soit, il est mon ennemi; mais celui qui a besoin de mes secours, il est toujours mon compatriote. We rather like Jacques Splin for his hearty ways, his lack of ceremony, and his kindliness. A strange figure he must have seemed to our French audiences, with his unbalanced pessimism. He is called in the play "le fou raisonnable," and as he stalked about, hardly uttering more than a sentence in answer to any question, insisting on responses devoid of mean- ingless flatteries or polite terms of address, he must have produced a profound impression. When M. Loyer calls him Milord, he rebuffs him and intro- duces himself as "Jacques Splin, honnete homme." As Jack Spleen, plain man, we leave him, with a realization that in his case English manners must have appeared crude, English talk laconic, and Eng- lish folly reasonable. , There was one bluff old merchant, however, who fairly swept French audiences off their feet in spite of his odd ways. This was Freeport, "gros negociant de Londres"; and if we look among the dramatic authors of the century, we find but one that had genius enough to create him, Voltaire of course. In his L'Ecossaise (1760) we see Freeport, a beautiful soul with a hard envelope, in relation with other Eng- 188 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA lish people. With the quiet dignity that comes from the assurance and goodness in his makeup, he meets Frelon/^ an editor possessed of a venomous tongue, and always defeats him in the ensuing battle of words. When he learns of the unfortunate Lin- dane, a Scotch lass who has been separated from her father. Lord Monrose, in their hasty flight from their home, and who has been living in abject poverty trying to make both ends meet, Freeport forces his way into her room without more ado. There he relates to her his successful business ventures in Jamaica and, considering that a sufficient explanation, he throws a bag of gold on her table. This was capital fun for French spectators, but Freeport pro- vides more. Though Lindane naturally refuses to accept his money, he disregards her refusal, buries him- self in his newspaper, and insists that he does not understand what she says. He has his way. He is a good spirit whom one is forced to like and obey. He is always kind and helpful in his straight bluff way, which is nevertheless full of a kind of fatherly delicacy. Eventually he conceives a deep affection for Lindane and, in his familiar way, chides her because her pride prevents him from seeing her oftener. Often he chides himself for being such a fool about people, especially about Lindane. He realizes with a sort of comical start that she really was not intended for him, and that he must stop falling in love any further. He is not a bit silly about it, rather all the time dominated by good sense. '» Really Freron, editor of L'Antiee Litt^aire, ^'0LTAIRE's arch- enemy. THE ENGLISH 189 Freeport, the English merchant, is a superb crea- tion of Voltaire's. He seems perfectly genuine, as if the author were picturing an actual being whom he had met and known well. There can be no doubt that in England Voltaire had really come across this type of benevolent merchant. At any rate, the French felt that Freeport was thoroughly English and thej' applauded him. They were attracted by his bizarre and brusque, yet natural and gentle way of doing what he thought was good and right. The English themselves were highly flattered by the figure of Freeport, and Colman, one of the contemporary dramatists, immediately, wrote, in imitation of Vol- taire, a comedy entitled The English Merchant (1767), the principal character of which is Freeport. Earlier in the century we meet another English merchant, Jacques Rosbif,'' grosser, less amiable than Freeport, yet a man one respects for his peculiar traits. He is the essence of commercial shrewdness, entirely devoid of all manners and social politeness. Naturally, an elegant French marquis would say of him (sc. 5) : C'est bien I'Anglois le plus disgracieux, le plus taciturne, le plus bisarre, le plus impoli que je connoisse. Rosbif is not over-fond of society and he does away entirely with pomp and ceremony. Above all he hates useless verbiage, and therefore he dispenses with all polite introductory phrases and comes to the point. His philosophy of social organization is as simple as it is sound. He says (sc. 8) : " BoissY, Le Frangois d Londres (1727). 190 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Je me moque, moi, d'une noblesse imaginaire, les vrais Gentilshommes ce sont les honnetes gens, il n'y a que le vice de roturier. When we finally become somewhat familiar with his straightforward ways, we are naturally as anx- ious as the French public of the time must have been to watch his first meeting with the dainty, prancing Marquis de Polinville. I^ finally happens and it does not disappoint us. Rosbif looks at the chattering Frenchman for a long time. He then says frankly that he regards him as a curiosity which he wants to examine, and tells him to go right ahead. The marquis prattles on in the midst of the other's stony silence and curious, inquiring gaze. After a while the polite gallant is a little discomfited at receiving no reply. Still he keeps on with his in- exhaustible verbiage till the merchant turns on him and reduces him ad absurdum (sc. 10) : Vous etes un fort joli bouffon et vous valez bien trois schelins. Rosbif has apparently no use for the man who has nothing to do in life except to be pleasing and to fascinate women. The highest compliment there- fore that he could possibly pay to a Frenchman is that he deserves to be an Englishman. This tribute he offers to the sensible and agreeable Baron de Polinville and his words are sincere and simple. In spite of the strange ways of these merchants, their lives after all appear quite prosaic, devoid of adventure or color. They were interesting to French audiences because they were new and vigorous mani- festations of the life of a shrewd people. Yet we THE ENGLISH 191 must not leave this type of Englishman without making the acquaintance of Vilson/" a manufac- turer of woolens. He will show us that romantic circumstance can call forth the heroic element even in an English merchant. It is Vilson's pride that he owes no man anything; He conducts his business on sound lines, never overcharges and never is unfair. He is naturally beloved by his workmen. When he woos Fanny he refuses to accept any dowry. Even when he learns that she is an illegitimate child, his love for her continues pure and strong. Then, after their marriage, troubles come. Vilson's banker is declared insolvent and our manufacturer loses his fortune. To pay his outstanding accounts, Vilson deprives himself of the little he has left. Facing the world thus in utter poverty, he realizes that he can- not give Fanny the home she ought to have. He knows that she was once wooed by a Lord Orfey, who is still unmarried. He sees his duty clearly. By note he informs the rich lord of his death and then plans to jump into the Thames. Let us add that, as might be expected, he is saved from this rash and wrong act by a wealthy and despondent gentleman who is about to commit a similar deed. It certainly does seem impossible for an Englishman to commit suicide by jumping from a bridge. At any rate, in Vilson's life such a close call might be termed a real adventure. There is also Thomas Spencer,*^ a woodcarver, and his father-in-law, Thomas Frick, both cheerful, simple souls humbly plying their trade. Into their quiet *° Falbaihe, Le Fabricant de Londres (1771). *i LoNGUBiL, L'Orphelin Anglois (1769). 192 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA lives comes a sudden surprise, for it is discovered that the young Spencer, whose parentage was before unknown, is really the heir to vast baronial estates. Though he disdains this unexpected wealth, he heeds the command of his king and comes into pos- session of his own; not before making sure, however, that his wife and her father, whom class laws would exclude from the court, can enjoy his new distinctions with him. The play in which he so nobly figures is of especial interest to us because all its characters save one are English and are all virtuous and good save this one. He is Franck, a Gascon, secretary to Lady Lallin (who does not appear on the scene) and a rascally agent in her devilish schemes. In her attempt to prevent Spencer from inheriting his right- ful name, Franck aids her ably. This secretary is not a prominent personality in the comedy, but he does represent clearly, if we would take the testi- mony of English pays wherein he appears, a certain type of French servant that was actually in some demand in England, —the servant who was an in- valuable adviser in social relations and intrigues. Franck is not without his regrets at having left France, for he says, when asked whether he is coming to like England (1, 4): Pas trop. Mon pere qui 4toit ne a Londres regretoit a Bor- deaux la biere d'Angleterre; moi qui suis n^ a Bordeaux, je regrette les bons vins de France. Frick and Spencer are however good-natured men of business, with love for their work and for their fellowmen. Their quiet kindly ways invest the play with a sweetness and faith that makes their lowlv THE ENGLISH 193 station, honestly maintained by their own exertions, seem preferable to the affluence that bursts in on them by inheritance. In some of our plays we naturally meet characters "who are commercially associated with these English men of business. It is impossible to take them up here in any detail. Suffice it to say that, as a class, lower tradespeople and employees appear honest, trustworthy, and faithful. When Vilson, for ex- ample, is declared bankrupt, his employees, who love him, refuse to take his wife's necklace in payment of their wages, but instead make up a collection of fifteen guineas which they present to their unfortu- nate master. Such traits are common and were prob- ably to some extent founded on fact. From these aspects of English commercial life, let us pass to another phase that sometimes interested Frenchmen. We have already met several examples of the cold, reserved raisonneur, with his dignified melancholy. Certainly, as we think of him and his kind, we have to agree that English thinkers and scientists were no fools, when even their folly is reasonable. Hence it is a rarity to meet a scientist whose apparent peculiarity is more than an over- pompous dignity. We find such a one, however, in Mayeur de St. Paul's L'Eleve de la Nature (1781), and his caricature owes a good deal of its ridiculous nature to the author's ineptitude. We meet Johnson, a pseudo-scientist, who has an intense desire to see what would happen to a human being if he had no contact at all with any other human being. Hence his silly vow (sc. 1) : 194 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA . . . j'ai promis a la tendre moiti^ qui me fait cherir I'exis- tence que si le Ciel nous accordoit plus de six rejetons de notre heureux hym^nee, le septieme et les suivans seroient rendus a la nature, pour qu'elle les elevat elle-meme dans son sein. His purpose is also to prove the Rousseau doctrine thiat men are born good. So he shuts his seventh son up in a wooden cage and keeps him there for twenty years, feeding him through a grating. After that, the cage is carried with its occupant to a de- serted island, where the nature-product is to be freed and to be allowed to work out its own salvation. This noble experiment on a human being is so out- landish that it seems almost incredible that the author could reasonably choose even an Englishman as its agent. We can account for it only in part when we state that to dramatize an unreality or an impossible idea, the author would probably feel the necessity of choosing a foreign land for the scene. Only a very poor artist, however, would choose Eng- land as a likely place for so crazy a plot. In Dr. Bristol *^ we meet another English scientist of a very different kind. Not that his science is any more dependable than Johnson's, for he is pic- tured as a shrewd quack. His method of curing is, however, peculiarly adapted to irritable and nervous people. A French marquis who is in love with a most fidgety countess, says of him (sc. 1): Oui, je I'ai connu pendant mon voyage d'Angleterre; il m'a paru avoir de I'csprit et 6tre honnete homme; pour bon m^decin, c'est autre chose. II cmploie des mani^res de *^ Carmontelle, Lc Pdtagon. THE ENGLISH 195 remedes fort extraordinaires, parce qu'ils sont simples; & cette espece de charlatannerie qui n'est pas dangereuse, peut gu^rir I'esprit de la Comtesse, ou ses nerfs, comme on ap- pelle sa maladie. Scoffers might, if they chose, discover in Dr. Bristol the progenitor of Christian Science. We hasten to add that it is his common sense protruding in all he does and says that makes him such a good antidote for nervous people. He does sound a little grotesque when he complains of a French patient whom he has been treating for the past five years and who has shown some improvement during the last month be- cause he has been following the advice of another physician. This so disheartens the Englishman that he is about to leave France. While Dr. Bristol, like his confrere Johnson, does not throw much credit on the scientific propensities of his nation, he does add to her glory by his common sense and good nature. A less agreeable picture than that of these English scientists is Falbaire's drawing of the "ministre" William.*^ We have seen that in all the century of dramatic production Catholic priests do not figure at all. No matter how prevalent were immorality and irreligious life among the people, they could not yet bear to have the contact of the stage sully those holy things which their minds still invested unconsciously with a superstitious respect. Although in other liter- ary forms and in indirect reference in plays. Catholic clerics are showered with invectives and abuse, to place a living priest on the stage and thus vividly desecrate the cloth, that was an impossible sacrilege " Falbaire, Le Fabricant de Londres (1771). 196 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA The Church would never have tolerated it. For this reason William, an English minister and a sancti- monious hypocrite, takes on added importance, as he is, so far as we can tell, the only ordained clergy- man of Christian faith who is an actual stage figure during the eighteenth century. Because of his pre- tence and deceit, he does not reflect any credit on the English clergy. He is constantly asserting his conviction that alms-giving is the surest way to the Lord's blessing. Thus, when Sudmer, the banker we have seen above, fails, William fastens upon the cause (III, 2) : Je me doutois bien qu'il finiroit mal. J'allai lui demander, 11 y a trois mois, quelques guinees. C'etoit pour secourir des malheureux. II me les refusa, & des-lors je predis sa ruine. La voila arrivee. C'est bien fait. Tot ou tard il faut que les gens durs et malfaisans p^rissent. Yet when his intimate friend ^'ilson loses all his money, William at once rushes to his house to claim payment of a note. Although the note is made out in his own name, the clergyman insists that the money is not his own, but belongs to certain chari- table persons whom he represents. He consents to accept in payment jewels far exceeding the amount of the note. In spite of this sickening hypocrisy, which is so obvious, he goes off still making protestations of friendship to Vilson. Duling, an English tutor drawn by the same au- thor, is much more sincere and honest than William. Yet he seems to us to-day quite stupid because of his obstinate conventionality. Although the passion of his pupil. Lord Jame, for his daughter Henriette, THE ENGLISH 197 is obviously pure and frank, Duling takes it for granted that it is but a scheme for his daughter's seduction. This he believes because it is so ingrained in him that there can be no true extra -class mar- riages. He does not even attempt to test Jame's words. He simply rushes to miladi, the young man's mother, and exclaims:*^ ^^oulez-vous qu'il se perde et que j 'en sois coupable? Que, manquant le premier aux principes sacr^s, Qui par moi jusqu'ici lui furent inspires, Dementant une vie integre et toujours pure, Je trahisse I'honneur, la vertu, la nature? Although this sounds antiquated to our modern ears, it does picture vividly the English tutor's adherence to class rules and his horror at what seems a violation of custom. The attitude lacks initiative and smacks of servility. Such as it is, it does not seem unnatu- ral to one in service in a noble family. Certainly no one can question Duling's devotion to the house- hold that employs him, his complete self-sacrifice in its interests. On one occasion our tutor goes bail for Charle, Jame's older brother, who has been arrested for breaking into a house where a wedding has been going on, in order to steal the bride. Duling has really given a note to the injured parties in order to obtain their promise to hush the matter up and prevent scandal. Lord Belton, Charle's father, de- lays paying the note, and so the poor tutor is tear- fully taken away by the police, leaving his daughter, for whose safety he fears, in the care of Ladi Belton. 8^ Falbaire, L'Ecole des Moeurs (1776), Act 2, Scene 9. 198 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Jame, the younger brother, tries hard to raise the money for Duling's release. He runs to his friends in London, but they refuse to aid him. Yet help arises for the miserable Duling from a most unex- pected quarter, from the gaoler. The latter is touched by the. evident innocence of his prisoner and undertakes to pay the note out of money saved for his own daughter's dowry. He is sure that she will be glad to have him do this kind act. This is a most novel and interesting sort of gaoler. As might be expected his kindness is concealed by his rather rough manners. He gruffly refuses any word of thanks and repulses even the young Lord Jame, who throws himself on his knees before him — a most significant picture. And again we have portentous words, words of warning uttered by an English gaoler, words that must have stirred uneasy thought in the minds of some listeners (IV, 14) : Le riche en ces prisons chaque jour fait conduire Beaucoup d'infortunfe, mais jamais il n'en tire. Ses chevaux, ses valets, ses maitresses, ses chiens, Voila, voil^ pourquoi sont r^serv^s ses biens. Oil diable avez-vous vu qu'aux gens dans I'opulence On alloit demander de I'argent? Quelle enfance! Non, a quelqu'ami pauvre il faut avoir recours, Et c'est \k qu'au besoin on trouve du secours. Our prison-keeper and his practical philosophy of rich and poor assume great importance to us as we see them presented to French audiences. He is an English gaoler, if you will, in his gruff kind ways, but in his words he is more. He is a thought-provoking kind of Englishman when he utters this clear warn- THE ENGLISH 199 ing, even though he is but a lowly individual. He belongs to a nation that has won its way to freedom. His words are therefore full of meaning for the rich oppressors and for the impoverished of France. It is true thai on almost every hand among our English characters of lowly station, we meet rough manners and abrupt, direct speech. Hence we must not pass over a very exceptional servant, a jockey, who, in spite of his brogue, manages to convey the prettiest flatteries. The name of this ''jocquey" is Williams,*^ with an s. He comes in (I, 4) looking for "Une tame," but finds two ladies before him. Says he gallantly: . . . Je vois; mais sur mon ame Vous mettez diablement du trouble en mon esprit. Celle que je viens pour, I'etre, a ce qu'on m'a dit, Avec des yeux bien beaux, mine jolie. A laquelle de vous m'adresser, je vous prie! This is a perfect flower of politeness plucked from the very soul of the occasion. Indeed to an English audience such honeyed words might smack more of the Celt than of the Saxon, thus suggesting a dis- tinction which the French listener was at this time unable to discern. Williams continues to acquit him- self most creditably. He agrees for the sweet sake of the ladies to wreck his master's vehicle, of which he is postilion. For this service he is given a purse, with the stipulation that he must not let his master receive any injury, but that one wheel must be broken. The obliging Williams, not to be outdone, offers for the consideration of two purses to break ** Desfourcheeets, Le Mariage Secret (1786). 200 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA two wheels in the prearranged accident. In this willingness to serve and obey for special rewards, our English jockey resembles continental servants as they are seen on the stage; he is akin to the army of Arlequins and Frontins. What stands out above all others as a general quality of English servants is devotion, a quality rather distinct from the care-free attachment of French or Spanish servants whom we have met. Their devotion is apparent in many ways, but par- ticularly in their ready sharing of the tribulations of their masters. Lord Brumton, for example, is followed in exile by the faithful Robinson,*^ who shrewdly obtains money from French friends for his master's support. And there is Polly, *^ who actuall}' faces starvation together with her Scotch mistress Lindane. Polly naturally remonstrates with her de- serted lady for refusing aid, even when prudence permits her to accept. There would be no shame in taking aid from friends. But Lindane holds out and for once Polly rebels (I, 5) : La grandeur d'ame vous soutient: il semble que vous vous plaisiez k combattre la mauvaise fortune: vous n'en etes que plus belle; mais moi, je maigris a vue d'cEil; depuis un an que vous m'avez prise a votre service en Ecosse, je ne me reconnais plus. But Polly is loyal, and she remains by her lady's side till the happy ending. Then there is the lovable David,** who is a sort ** Favart, L'Aiiglois a Bordcau.r (1763). " Voltaire, L'EcossaUe (1760). »' Falbaire, Lc Fabricanl dc Londres (1771). THE ENGLISH 201 of combination clerk and housekeeper to Vilson, the unfortunate manufacturer. David is completely un- like the typical French apprentice, for at no time is there anything but the purest loyalty in his ac- tions in his master's household. He loves Vilson freely and independently, never in a servile way; and when misfortune comes, he works to save his employer and stays with him through thick and thin. So does Betzi, Mrs. Vilson's maid. She insists on remaining and serving without pay. As illustrative of this great difference between English servants on the stage and those of France, Xelton *' stands out dominantly. He is more of a dignified friend than a valet, and in the list of char- acters he appears as "le Confident du Comte." But he speaks of the Count of Neuilli as his master and we know his relation by his deference. Nelton as a French servant would have been altogether impos- sible. He really coincides with our notion to-day of a confidential man. As such we find in Nelton a wise helper, remarkably lucid and logical in his utterances. He says, for example, in optimistic vein (1, 3): Rien ne sauroit ternir I'eclat du vrai merite; On le respecte a Londres, on I'admire a Paris, Et, plus fort que la mode, 11 brills en tout pays. How carefully he chooses his words! How easily he appears to suggest a difference in the way merit or genius is regarded in two different countries, — re- spected in one, admired in the other. We can see how staid and respectable Nelton must be. He has '8 BoissY, Le Comte de Neuilli (1736). 202 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA a mind of real worth, a mind that understands, and it is therefore not surprising that the philosophically inclined Count of Neuilli reasons and thinks with his servant, and entrusts to him his innermost secrets. Their relation is indeed a beautiful one. Above all let us note that Nelton, in common with David and others of their class, is not in the habit of passing lewd remarks, or of pointing out evil in the men and women about him, or of making love to every servant girl he meets. The lives of these companions are characterized mainly then by a clean and free devotion to their employers, — masters seems hardly the word. Servility, therefore, is far from being an important quality of the relationship between gentlemen and those subject to them. This in itself is significant when compared with dissimilar conditions in France. But it is noteworthy that we find in one play, given five years before the memorable 1789, a strong tirade delivered by the Franch valet Frontin, who has turned Quaker to please his master but who is half tempted to remain one to please himself; a tirade in which he clearly points out the wonderful chances for success that even a servant may enjoy in England. His speech is made ridiculous by its exaggeration, but in this very fact lay the possibility of ever say- ing it in pubhc. Frontin declaims:'" Je gagne cent paris et je fais ma fortune; Je n'en reste pas \h. D'une ardeur peu commune Je travaille mes fonds; me voila Commer^ant, Et je centuple mes finances. " Madame de F. . ., Le Rinil par Ainilic (1784), Scene 5. THE ENGLISH 203 Nous jouissons enfin: nos tr^sors sont immenses! Mon credit, mon m^rite, et surtout mon argent Me font entrer au Parlement. Jjh, brillant par mon Eloquence, Je nargue I'univers et je berne la France. Je prouve qu'un Anglois vaut lui seul six Gascons, Trois Normands, deux Manceaux et quatre Bas-Bretons. Du peuple je deviens I'idole; J'achete une Comte. Le Roi, qui me craint fort, Me gagne, en me donnant le titre de Milord. Te voila Myladi. Finette, le beau role! La foule des plaisirs s'empresse autour de nous. English consistency demands, Frontin admits, that if these fine schemes fail, he will have to kill himself. We have by now interviewed the most important of the minor English characters our dramatic authors have drawn for us. We have found officers dis- cussing universal peace, travelers maintaining their affection for their native land, merchants lavishing kindness upon those about them or meeting misfor- tunes bravely and nobly, scientists experimenting in queer directions, tutors devoting themselves body and soul to the interest of those who employ them, serv- ants revealing a fund of faith and affection for their masters that is astounding to us to-day. The only disagreeable character was the English clergyman, and even that seems natural when we consider the notorious abb^s of France. If called upon now to render judgment as to whether these characters gen- erally appear good or bad, wise or stupid, honest or dishonest, we shall in the main incline to the favor- able decision. As a class, these Englishmen seem to be dominated by good principles of conduct. They 204 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA seem also to possess, in addition to sterling qualities of character, good minds and kind hearts. Certainly as the French audience proceeds after the play to the door of the theater, it comments on its way, "A fine race, a good people, those English." VII — English Women and their Lovers In Favart's L'Anglois a Bordeaux (1763) we learn that when Lord Brumton, one of the characters, was exiled he took with him into France his daughter Clarice. There, although aware of her father's an- tipathy toward Frenchmen, she fell in love with the good and generous Dormant who worked for their comfort and safety. But Brumton had already de- cided to grant his daughter in marriage to his friend Sudmer. There results a problem for Clarice; and perhaps wc are a little surprised at the rather slight struggle in her heart between obedience to her father and love for her admirer. She chooses obedience, and in words remarkable for the completeness with which they reveal an English girl's environment, training, and thought, she says to Sudmer (sc. 17): Les volontes de Mj^ord sont des loix. La gdndrosit^ de votre caractere, Vos nobles proc^d^s, font hpnneur a son choix ; Et les vertus sur men coeur ont des droits Preferables a I'amour meme. Lorsque de la raison on ecoute la voix, On estime, du moins, en attendant qu'on aime. Here is a girl, then, who, forced by the situation to choose between her lover and her father, does not THE ENGLISH 205 passionately cling to her lover and tearfully submit to her father. She deliberately sizes up the pros and cons and, guided by a sense of reason, she de- cides to take her chances with a good naan her parent has selected. Certainly one cannot accuse her of blind subservience to her father, for she says frankly to him (sc. 18) : En Angleterre, un coeur n'est point esclave; Le pouvoir paternal est chez nous limite; Mais ne soupgonnez pas que jamais je le brave. And she adds, implying that she has thought it all out: Perisse cette liberte Qui des parens detruit Tautorite. Clarice thus obeys her father, perhaps partly through a sense of compliance, but mainly we have to agree, because she wants to. That is her way of thinking and doing; and, when we consult the long list of French heroines who are forced to decide be- tween love and duty, we must conclude that Clarice is "different." Perhaps we express it aptly when we say she is English. One might think that an unfortunate marriage re- sulting from such a system of conduct would modify it. Let us see. In Boissy's Eliante " we find a young English widow whose husband was a brute. As a reaction from him, she has fallen in love with a graceful and superficial French marquis. But her reason shows her his unfitness and she struggles to forget him (sc. 4) : '1 Le Frangois a Londres (1727). 206 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN TRENCH DRAMA Oh! Je m'en corrigerai, je m'en corrigerai. Je suis femme, et j'ai pu me laisser ^blouir par les graces et par le faux brillant d'un merite superficiel; mais je suis Angloise en meme tems, par consequent capable de me servir de toute ma raison. So she, too, falls back with the utmost calm on the fact that she is English and therefore able to follow the dictates of her mind. And like Clarice, this is the attitude that her mind tells her to assume toward her father (sc. 24) : Non, mon pere, decidez vous-m^me. L'^poux que vous me donnerez sera toujours sxXr de me plaire. We find her thus able to control her natural im- pulses and to decide definitely to submit in matters of the heart to the dictation of her parent. So she refuses the marquis. We pass over for the present what this implies concerning the sincerity and strength of an English girl's passion, to meet Ellenore,'^ the daughter of Lord Sussex. She has been brought up in France by a French marquise who had allowed her to believe that she was really her daughter. '^^ Yet even though she is unaware of her real parentage, her words and conduct reflect her inheritance. Whatever she utters is always replete with good sense and sound logic. The young marquis, supposedly her brother, has to say of her (II, 5) : La raison la conduit dans tout ce qu'elle fait. '2 BoissY, le Comte de KeuilK (1736). °^° Cf. supra, p. 142. THE ENGLISH 207 In spite of their fraternal relationship, these two young people find themselves in love with each other, and consequently burdened by the conscious- ness of an illicit passion. When the marquise, his mother, finally reveals the fact that they are not really brother and sister, Ellenore does not swoon for joy. Nor does she rush off to her lover, no longer her brother, with the great news. On the contrary, she considers thoughtfully the whole situation and, in a most charming speech, she thanks her foster- mother for her care of her. This crisis past, she calmly faces the next one, which arises from the refusal of the marquise to consent to her marriage with her son. Like a Frenchman, the young noble- man immediately proposes running away. But Ellenore, with the heritage of her nation dominating her, says indignantly (V, 1) : Yons me verriez plutot affronter le trepas. Tout mon bonheur depend de me voir votre epouse; Mais je suis a tel point de mon devoir jalouse, Qu'en depit de ma flamme, & malgre votre feu, Je ne la deviendrai que de son ^^ propre aveu. Her conduct seems justifiable and her logic is indis- putable. The astounding fact about her is that in the heat of excitement, she can always clearly discern her duty toward others. She has a real power of wise penetration, a deliberateness of judgment that seem almost uncanny. Like others of her ilk, she has a mind, whereas in French plays with French heroines we see graceful women possessing wit rather than thought. "' Referring to the marquise. 208 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA The extraordinary fact that EngHsh women think is reflected in a thousand facile ways in other com- edies of the eighteenth century. Boissy presents to us Miss Blar/^ an actress who has come to France to learn happiness. A Swiss gentleman, M. Fauster, who is as wise as his name, analyzes her ailment in these terms (sc. 3) : Miledi pense trop. La pensee est mortelle. To which she can only reiterate: Ah! Peut-on exister, si Ton ne reflechit? And there is Madame de F. . . who cleverly indi- cates in a few words why Dorval, a French Anglo- maniac, is attracted by the sister of his English friend, Vindsor:^^ . . . CVst en commentant Loke, Pope, Clarke, Addison, Swif, Steele et Bolinbroke, Qu'elle a su gagner notre coeur. In the same play it is Frontin, an observant French valet, who indicates how completely reason dom- inates the relations of English men and women. He says (sc. 14) : A Londres la beaute, I'argent n'ont plus de droits: La raison assortit les gouts, et non point I'age. And there is the refreshingly novel Juliette, ^« a young English girl who insists that her brother should not »< Boissy, La Frimlilc (1753). Cf. supra, p. 160. "'■ Madame de F. ., Le Mval par AmitU (17S4), Scene 12. The spelling of the proper names is accurately copied from the text. »" Favabt, L'AmiiU a Vcpreucc (1770). THE ENGLISH 209 marry the girl he loves because he has promised to be her guardian and keep her for another man. Juliette is a new kind of confidante, different from the general type in that she does not side with the lovers and put all her energy into deceiving every other character for their sake. And, finally, there is ^Iadame de Genlis who in her L'Aveugle de Spa says intimately (sc. 2) : Et d'ailleurs, je crois qu'en general les Anglaises sont plus compatissantes que nous; elles ont moins de fantaisies, moins de coquetterie; et la coquetterie etouffe et d^truit presque toutes les vertus. From all this it is but natural to conclude that the character of Englishmen as they are generally pictured has its influence on the way in which their women appear to French eyes. The women, too, be- come endowed with a certain instinct of reason and thought, whose presence they acknowledge and to whose influence they submit. The thinking faculty of women being thus rather emphasized, it follows that love in England is a much more serious matter than it is in France. It is not surprising for a Frenchman to realize that if he is to obtain a favorable answer to his ardent suit for the hand of an English lady, he will have to forego some of his volatile traits. This is the sad extremity that a chevalier, racked by Miss Adelson's indif- ference towards him, flnally reaches. He exclaims pleadingly : '^ " DoRAT, Le Chevalier Frangois a Londres (1778), Act 1, Scene 4. 210 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA S^rieuse une fois, voudrez-vous bien comprendre Qu'en vous idolatrant, mon ccEur est sans detour, Que je meurs a vos pieds de d^pit et d'amour; Que j'ai des mceurs enfin! Car tel est votre ouvrage, Que je suis bien surpris de me trouver si sage: Miss Adelson has this rare influence on the ardent Frenchman, not because she is of a particularly re- flective cast of mind. She is really very different from other girls we have met. She approaches more closely the flirtatious type. It is in her nature to play with men, and especially with the men she is likely to love. But even with her, love is not a light play of gusty passion. In her presence, as- pirants become tame and virtuous; even a care-free wooer like the chevalier submits to this ameliora- tive influence. In Miss Adelson' s conduct toward her Frenchman there is no trace of discrimination against him just because he happens to be a Frenchman. This is a little unlike Fav art's Clarice,'* who, as we have seen, has come to love Dormant, a French nobleman. Clarice, although she lends a favorable ear to his pleadings, shared at the beginning of his suit all her father's antipathies, naturally inspired by anti- Gallican education. We see her therefore spurning her lover's kind, friendly words (sc. 4) : Jc n'ai garde d'aj outer foi A des paroles si flattcuscs: C'est votre style a vous. Votre premiere loi Est de nous prodiguer des louanges trompeuses. All this sounds puritanical and home-bred, but she caps the climax when she continues: " Favart, L'Anghus a Bordeaux (1763). THE ENGLISH 211 L'art dangereux de la seduction Est le trait principal qui vous caract^rise; Get art que chez nous on m^prise, Fait partie en ces lieux de I'education. This was probably the normal point of view in Eng- land regarding French politesse, and the attitude is certainly one of distrust. English plays of the period show how there became associated with Frenchmen ideas of extravagance, and flattery, and adulation of women. The kind and gentle ways of the Gaul, so unusual in England, would naturally give rise in many an unmannered Englishman to a doubt of their sincerity. It is not surprising then to meet Clarice who, like many others, has a dis- trust of the honeyed words, even when sincere, of her foreign wooer. Not that our plays reveal to us amidst the varied host of English lovers only a type unanimous in its unswerving fidelity. We meet young noblemen of flighty passion and questionable sincerity even among our thoughtful lords. But their coquetting and their slight passionless endeavors at attracting the glances of the fair do not spring from the care-free heart, nor from an overflowing zest for life. Thus, in Fal- baire's Le Fabricant de Londres (1771), we meet the middle-aged Scotchman, Lord Falkland, who, in his youth, had seduced a peasant girl. He has led an active life of fame and honor as governor of Jamaica, and he has also married. Yet through all the lapse of years, the burden of his early sin weighs upon him, and the moment his wife dies he starts on a repentant quest for the girl he had betrayed. His remorse be- 212 EUKOPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA comes quite tiresome, especially when he has an at- tack of spleen. But we meet the same non-sporting tendencies in the young Sidnei.'^ Much admired by the court ladies of London and a highly successful winner of their favors, he suddenly deserts the giddy whirl for the solitude of his far-away country home. There we find him bemoaning his sins and regret- ting deeply his desertion of Rosalie, his well-beloved. No truly gay reveler could thus forget his joyous dignity, certainly not to the point of attempting suicide, which is exactly the sad depth to which Sidnei sinks in his mournful solitude. One glance at Rosalie, however, convinces us that Sidnei has but little to fear as punishment for his. desertion. She, too, unlike the gay girl of French comedy, has withdrawn to her country loneliness to brood dejectedly over her lover's misconduct. Her distinctive English trait is then that she does not make light of his desertion but rather that she is grieved to the heart by it. Did she find consola- tion in her solitude (II, 8)? Mais, loin de voir calmer ma vive inquietude, Je retrouvai I'amour dans cette solitude. So she remains faithful to Sidnei and she thereby in- timates to the French audience, accustomed to other ways of stage life, that in England a girl's concep- tion of love is more basic and sincere. Rosalie awakens our sympathy and we are glad to see her finally united to Sidnei. In ^'oLTATRE's L'Ecossaise (1760) we feel very differently about »' Gresset, Suhiei (174.5). THE ENGLISH 213 Lady Alton, another deserted lady, who has lost her lover because of her disagreeable nature. For- tunately for Lord Murray, he has gained an insight into certain propensities of her character and he has willingly avoided any further intimacy. One can readily imagine then how Lady Alton regards her rival for Lord Murray's heart. She says to her, in- dicating in her words the violence of a Scotch woman's passion (II, 1) : Connaissez-vous Famour veritable, non pas Tamour insi- pide, Tamour langoureux; mais cet smiour-lk, qui fait qu'on voudrait empoisonner sa rivale, tuer son amant et se jeter ensuite par la fenetre? Sachez que je n'aime point autrement, que je suis jalouse, vindicative, furieuse, implacable. It is perfectly apparent now why Lord Murray is rather anxious to find another life-mate. Lady Alton is certainly not in accordance with the general type of English woman we have met. She seems a rather familiar stage figure, that of the disappointed rival who resorts to means fair or foul in order to regain the lost love. In this respect, therefore, we must consider her ferocious nature as a conventional stage element necessary to motivate the conduct of the lovers. She is one of the obstacles they have to face. We have to conclude then that the relationship, as we meet it in our plays, between English men and women is not based on a measured give and take of favors. Love to them does not seem a favor or a reward, but a true alliance based mainly upon reason, occasionally upon emotion. In this varied picture the English girl appears in a rather 214 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA favorable moral light, the dramatist being too gallant and too wise to draw her differently. Not so the Eng- lish lover, upon the caricature of whom the dramatist may freely vent his pent-up feelings. We can readily see how for a time the adventures of Pamela with her wooers might puzzle Frenchmen. Was it really true that an attractive girl could pass through all these hazardous situations and never yield her vir- tue? If so, whose fault was it? BoissyI"" tries to answer this provoking question, and in his endeavor he does not spare our English lovers, at whose door he comically lays the blame for Pamela's virtuous success. In his Pamela en France (1743), the won- derful girl comes to visit Paris; and it is Boissy's intention that before the end of his play she shall lose the possession for which she was justly famous. Her concierge says to her (I, 5) : Non, la victoire au fond n'est pas si surprenante; Dans vos climats vous n'avez eprouve, Que les combats grossiers & la hauteur choquante D'un Gentilhomme brusque & des plus mal appris, Qui tou jours vous traite en servante, Et vous prodigue a tout propos Les agreables noms, les doux et tendres mots Et de sotte et d'impertinente. Such rudeness was inconceivable of lovers in France, where Pamela encounters men who do not force her favors but coax them by poHte flattery. This dif- ference of procedure accounts to a large extent for ""> He was one of many that tried to dramatize Richardson's novel, which was translated by Prevost in 1742. D'Arnaud, La Chauss^e, d'Aucoub, and others failed in the attempt. Voltaire clearly showed the same influence in Nanine. THE ENGLISH 215 the ease with which English girls in our dramas preserve their goodness when courted by their coun- trymen. It also serves to illustrate a tendency re- marked before, the invincibility of the French wooer and the superiority of his manner. Our composite picture of English womanhood and its manifestations of love would be incomplete if we omitted Dorat's vivid description of coquettes. England has her degraded women as well as the more thoughtful and polished caste we have met. Here are a few of these wasted females i^^^ ... La Stuard, si naive en ses moeurs, Qui, d'un air enfantin, fait si bien des noirceurs. . . . Castelmaine . . . qui, toujours plus hardie, Se donne a cinquante ans les airs d'une etourdie, Et ne distingue pas, tant son ceil est distrait, Le visage qu'elle a de celui qu'elle avait. We meet, however, very few of these outwardly decorative women. The lack is itself conspicuous, and strikes a more characteristic note than any pro- longed study in detail of English courtesans could afford us, if they existed. There might be little distinctive about them, since by their conduct they would attempt to approach closely similar women in France. Their salient qualities could hardly be dif- ferent on the stage, since graceful indecency would predominate. Practically the woman of loose morals in England is for us a dramatic nonentity. If we do find hinted at in our plays a sort of general accusation against English morality and mar- riage, this is relieved of its harshness by the largely >»' DoBAT, Le Chevalier Frangois a Londres (1778), Act 1, Scene 2. 216 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA satirical sense that accompanies it. We find such an utterance in Madame de Genlis's Le Voyageur,^"'' made by the foppish and insincere Comte de Melville. He is telling his friends about his travels, embellish- ing his story with many lies and insisting especially on the number of his fair victims in foreign lands. Says he, in the very act of utterance detracting from the value of anything he is about to remark (II, 3): Les Anglaises surtout quand elles aiment, c'est avec une violence. . . J'en ai connu une entre autres, bien surpre- nante a cet egard. . Belle comme le jour, tres piquante, ties a la mode, he bien, cette femme (dont le nom est tres connu, memo ici) est capable d'un exces de passion qui sur- passe tout ce qu'on peut lire dans ' les romans les moins vraisemblables . . . une impetuosite d'imagination, un feu, une chaleur, une d^licatesse! . . . et une maniere d'ecrire, vdritablement pleine d'^nergie et de seduction. Yet even if we took this entrancing English lady for granted, we might well admit her charm and her power. In her all is light and beauty, and even her questionable qualities seem proper. She is, however, as rare in our plays as her next of kin, the pure co- quette. And, when we study carefully this apparent lack in English women of frivolity and its attendant dangers, we come to ascribe as its cause, to some ex- tent, the thoughtful nature of these women, a charac- teristic we have already noted. But to an even larger extent we discern its cause in the kind of love that Englishmen have to offer their womenfolk. For we must not forget that frivolity is not the mainstay of an Englishman's life; his is a satur- !»' TMdtre d' Education, Paris, Leoonte et Durey (1825), Vol. 4. THE ENGLISH 217 nine temperament. To him analysis of the facts romid about him is as natural as the air he breathes. But who may analyze with impunity the divine gifts of joy and passion and inspiration? What merciless havoc the slightest application of thought often works upon these soul-born fragrances! Boissy, in his inimitable way, puts it thus;!"^ Et I'Anglois si profond, ou qui passe pour tel, Creuse dans le frivole & tombe dans le vuide. This note concerning the Englishman's faculty for thought we have met before. We have seen its de- plorably pessimistic results upon his character, as evidenced in his daily acts and relations. We are now to witness this reasonableness as applied to his love-making; and we shall agree that as a result some startling phenomena occur in his amorous quests. The first interesting fact we discern about our am- bitious wooers is that they do not attach much sig- nificance to the lady's past adventures. They seem to realize that the present is the all-important ques- tion, and we may add for them that they probably have an abiding faith in the lady's preservation of her virtue. However, it seems to be part of the system of reasonable love-making to disregard by- gones. An Englishman in Romagnesi's L'Amant Protee (1739) says of his nation (I, 5) : Monsieur, je suis lev6 dans un s^jour Ou I'on n'a pas tant de delicatesse: On compte seulement du jour Oii I'on a pris sa femme ou sa maitresse; Le terns pass^ ne flatte ni ne blesse. "^ Boissy, La Frivolite (1753), Scene 2. The quaint spelling of vuide is due to its rime with guide. 218 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Perhaps he is lying in his efforts to make light of the questionable adventures of Orphise, a French lady who has captivated his heart. We find, be- sides, contradictory references that indicate how on the question of his lady's past the Englishman was ludicrously discriminating. Thus in Pieon's comic opera, La Robe de Dissention (1726), when the quest for a virtuous lady in Spain proves futile, Arlequin, one of the seekers, is forced to avow that the English lord is wisest in his way of so choosing that there can be no doubt about his wife's probity. Arlequin describes it as follows (I, 2) : Pour pouvoir d'un si beau tresor Etre temoin fidelle, Mariez-vous comme un milord, A quelque jouvencelle De has age, & qui soit encor A la mamelle. It would be very illuminating indeed if we met this distrust of the fair sex elsewhere among our English- men. We find rather that they have an implicit faith in their womenfolk. Their love-problems do not arise from doubts and perplexities due to lack of faith or to suspicious conduct. Rarely do we find in these plays the intricacies and entanglements characteristic of the Spanish and Italian plot. The relationships of lovers are more dignified and really on a higher scale. No concealments or disguises necessitate a prolonged imbroglio. That is why our plays with English characters make so much bet- ter reading even when written by extremely inferior dramatists. The worth of the material often throws THE ENGLISH 219 a glamour over the incapacity of the authors; and espe- cially in a play with a clear plot and swift dialogue are we likely to soften our judgment even of awk- ward blunders. How easily we forgive Shaw! It is an interesting question then to decide whether, were it possible to isolate certain typical love-prob- lems, we could definitely assert and maintain that the characters concerned are Enghsh. We are in- clined to believe that we could generally judge aright. For example, can one conceive of a Spanish, or an Italian, or even a French Belfort? This is what Alilord Belfort 1"* did: he was to marry Emilie, when he learns that his friend the Marquis d'Or- viUe is desperately in love with her and losing his health because of the hopelessness of his passion. Belfort immediately renounces all claim to prior right in Emilie and hands her over magnificently to Orville. Belfort is an M. P., with all that that im- plies, and his judicial mind conceives no obstacle to his unselfish donation of the girl he is to marry. The act may somewhat disparage his love, but it is this very fact that makes it so eminently English. Or, when we meet Nelson, ^"^ another member of Par- liament, and find him handing Coralie, a young East Indian girl to whom he is passionately devoted, over to his friend Blandfort, we are naturally struck by a similarity. In Nelson's case, the transaction takes place merely because Nelson has promised to guard Coralie till Captain Blandfort returns from a dis- tant voyage. During his absence, ward and guardian fall in love with each other. The Indian girl, prim- "* BoissY, L'Epoux par Supercherie (1744). 105 Pavart, L'Amilie a I'epreuve (1770). 220 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA itive in her nature and simple in thought, cannot see any reason why they should not live together. Not so the stern Nelson, who realizes his duty. He re- mains unshaken, and when his friend returns he gives up his charge as he received her, showing only in his tragic demeanor the cost to his soul of that act. All ends happily for the lovers, and in this case we feel glad that Nelson's nobility has not resulted in an irreparable loss. Or, if we turn to the interesting variation of this plot that Madame de F. . . offers in her Le Rival par Amitie (1784), we meet Vindsor who deliberately falls in love with a French girl, Lucille, in order to cure her true lover, Dorval, of his extreme Anglo- mania, which includes a dislike of French women. Dorval at first encourages Vindsor in his suit and willingly gives up his claim to Lucille. This is cer- tainly astonishing in a Frenchman (sc. 8) : Vindsor. Vous vous moquez, Dorval. Quoi! vous me livrerez Une femme charraante, et que vous adorez! Dorval. Quoi ! vous etes Anglois, et ce trait vous etonne ! Later, when Dorval realizes that Lucille is slipping away from him, his latent jealousy and sense of pos- session dominate, and he demands the gift which he has so freely given. And, of course, Vindsor stands perfectly ready to return Lucille. When we ask whether this magnanimous transfer of beloved objects is indicative of unreal passion, we come to a debatable question. We are inclined to venture the opinion that the , Englishman's love as THE ENGLISH 221 presented in these plays is in itself not essentially different from the same divine spark in men of other nations. He feels the same emotions, suffers the same uncertainties, and eventually marries in the same waj-. What distinguishes his ardor from other kinds is the state of mind that accompanies it. In our plays, an Englishman is never dominated by his love. He is generally able to get away from it, to view it, to analyze it. Since it is more or less prone to paralyze his thought faculties, he naturally regards it with suspicion. In fact, he reiterates that it is a weakness that must be overcome. As Nelson puts it:i°« L'amour ne doit troubler la paix Qui regne dans une ame. Je triompherai de sa flame. Ceder a la tendresse ! . . . J'aurois cette f oiblesse ! . . . Non, non, jamais. The Anglo-Saxon seems to have something in his make-up that enables him to stop in the heat of ex- citement and reflect over the consequences of his acts. He sees beyond the immediate; he even suc- ceeds in freeing himself from his own skin. He has a larger social consciousness and realizes that his con- duct affects others besides himself. An Englishman's love-problem is therefore knitted with some larger problem of moral import, the be- trayal of friendship, the maintenance of honest deal- ing, the question of unselfishness. It is by these tokens that we may hope to recognize a love-plot "» Favabt, L'Amitie a I'Epreuve (1770), Scene 3. 222 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA abstracted from its characters and stated in general terms. It is above all by its guiding serise of rea- son and moderation that we can discern the Enghsh type. Let us take the case of a lover whom we shall identify later. He is generous, brave, sincere. He is forty years old. He has fallen in love with a young girl, but he cannot- boldly press his suit, though he is entitled to deepest gratitude on her part for his services to her father and his help in her upbringing. He realizes how much older he is. In his mind there results a true and poignant struggle between his impulse and his reason, and, in mental distress, he utters these notable words .•^"^ Puisque je ne puis vaincre une ardeur qui m'entraine, Ma raison sur mes sens se rendant souveraine, Lui fera du devoir subir la juste loi, Et la saura du moins rendre digne de moi. Mais doit-elle ^clater? Ou doit-elle se taire? So he pauses and wonders whether he had better conceal his passion. After a long struggle he con- fides in his servant, whom he treats like a brother. We learn then that he fears a refusal and that he could not bear the shame of it. Nor has he any desire to conceal his age and adopt a sj'stem of flattery and foppery so characteristic of the life about him in Paris. He confesses to his servant (I, 3): . . Ton maitre novice k pousser des soupirs, Ignore I'art fiatteur d'exprimer sos desirs; Et, d'un amant soumis, je rougis a mon ago, De venir faire ici le triste apprentissagc. '" BoissY, Le Comic de A'cuilli (1730), Act 1, Scene 3. THE ENGLISH 223 Je vais du ridicule affronter le danger, Sur-tout dans un pays ou je suis etranger, Le centre des bons airs, oil I'agr^ment preside, Ou la mode gouverne, & le dehors decide. Un rien choque, a Paris, Foeil d'un sexe charmant, Qui se rend a la gr^ce et non au sentiment : II faut etre enjoue pour lui parattre aimable, Et, si Ton ne badine, on n'est pas agreable. \'ieilli dans la douleur, puis-je plaire a present? Je sais etre fidele, & non pas amusant; Des Frangois s^ducteurs je n'ai pas le m&-ite; Mais quand j'en aurois I'art, j'en fuirois la conduite. Je serois, a ce prix, honteux d'avoir vaincu; Et I'amour est un monstre ou manque la vertu. In this high moral vein, he sees his problem and solves it. When the worst has happened and he has been refused, he is merely stimulated by his misery into an energetic activity in behalf of others that alleviates a bit the keenness of his despair. He has been cut deep, we can see that. But we cannot re- frain from thinking as we watch him bestirring him- self for others, that his wound is rather mental than cardiac. He eventually reasons himself back into a hopeful state from which he can survey the past with calm. And when the girl, for whom he would gladly have given everything, announces her intention of marrying another man, he bequeaths his money to them in order to help them overcome the opposition of the lover's parents. This lover, who possesses all the grandeur and elevation of a Cornelian hero, figures in one of Boissy's comedies. No wonder the author felt the necessity of qualifying his play by naming it Le Comte de Neuilli, Comedie heroique. It does not fall short of the heroic, as we have seen. 224 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA and our hero is an Englishman. We recognize him by all conceivable tests of character and conduct. And we recognize him especially in his philosophy of love, which he voices thus (IV; 2) : Son bonheur m'est cent fois plus cher que le mien meme. J'aspire au nom d'Epoux & non pas de Tyran; Et de la liberte je suis trop partisan. It would perhaps be a httle disconcerting if we met in all English lovers this intensely moral conduct and impeccable whiteness of character. Fortunately for the reality of things, our dramatists do not fall into this error. We have already met several types of Englishmen of a pretty low kind, a fact which is evidence that to our unbiased Frenchmen there were different sorts and conditions in all nations. Let us therefore suffer the presentation of a kind of lover totally different from the respectable ones we have met. He is Milord Guin^e (Guinea) ^"^ and lives up to his name. His billet-doux sent to Constance, a French girl, shows the state of his mind (I, 7): "\'ous avoir vue avant hier au Tuilerie avec votre soeur, pour la premiere fois; n'avoir su votre nom et votre de- meure que par un de mes gens, qui a suivi votre carrosse en sortant; vous avoir adoree depuis ce moment-la; oser vous I'^crire aujourd'hui, dans I'impossibilite de vous le dire; et vouloir vous epouser apres-demain si vous et les votres y consentez; tout cela vous dit, Madame, que vous ^tes Fran5oise, c'est-a-dire, faite pour faire naltre d'un coup d'oeil la passion la plus rapide; tt que je suis Anglois, c'est- a-dire, extreme, et n4 pour sentir plus fortcment qu'un autre, et pour agir en consequence. '»* BoissY, La Surprise de la Hainc (1734). THE ENGLISH 225 Thus he continues pressing his suit and urging the need of haste. Delay seems to him entirely unnec- essary, now that he has taken this somewhat in- formal way of introducing himself. Besides, he is an Englishman; which fact should be taken to explain, according to him, the strength of his passion when once awakened. Milord is very frank on this point (III, 5): N'epouse point I'esprit, j'epouse la personne; II faut voir devant soi toujours un bel objet, Sans quoi le mariage ennuyer tout a fait. Constance is then an ideal wife for him, for she at- tracts him in the way he likes. He tries to tell her in a halting manner that he loves her, and his words make the nature of his love altogether obvious. He says to her (I, 9): . . . Oui, c'est votre visage. En faveur de Tamour, faites grace au langage. Tourner un compliment n'est pas Fart d'un Anglois; Mais regardez mes yeux, ils parlent bon Frangois. We realize, nevertheless, that with all his bluff man- ner and crude words. Milord Guinee is going to make a good husband. His affection will be of the even kind, without jealousies, without quarrels, without exaggeration. Good common sense unalloyed with the slightest romantic tinge will guide his movements. And when we mention the romantic, we are re- minded of its conspicuous lack in the constitution of the Englishman. We have already seen how reason as a mental faculty forms one of the guiding prin- 226 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA ciples of the philosopic islanders. But we must guard against the possible impression that this faculty turns our characters into abstract thinkers addicted to vague unrealities. On the contrary, Englishmen seem to have a practical reason applicable to any circumstance immediate or remote. This is to be remarked even in their love-making. We have seen it in Milord Guinee, in Belfort, and in Vindsor; but let us add the noteworthy instance of Captain Bland- fort.^"^ About to marry, he appreciates the possi- bilities of fate and exacts from his fiancee a promise that she will marry again in case he dies. To facili- tate the fulfilment of this agreement he includes in the marriage contract a factitious clause stating that he has received from her a property near Dublin affording an income of £1000 sterling. We can sym- pathize with this lie and possibly even with its pur- pose. But the whole procedure, considered from the point of view of the French audience, must have seemed exotic, peculiarly English. Our plays, so wonderful for their inclusiveness, have so far shown us English lovers in their relation before marriage. We do, however, encounter in our gallery of characters a few who have borne the brunt of marital life for some time; and we must admit that their experience has generally been beneficial and broadening. Sonbridge,"" seduced and disillu- sioned by a lord, has never forgotten the sad event that befell her; and when her daughter Fanny elects to marry a simple merchant in preference to an ardent nobleman, the mother gladly assents. Extraor- "» Favart, L'Amim a I'Epreuve (1770). "0 Falbaike, Le FabHcani de Londres (1771). THE ENGLISH 227 dinary mother! She even conceives it her duty to tell Vilson the merchant, before their marriage, of the illegal birth of her daughter. Fanny fully justifies her maternal inheritance. She proves a devoted wife and attaches to herself by her loving care the two children of her husband by a former marriage. When financial ruin faces the family Fanny gives away her jewels in payment of debts, and by her courage upholds her husband in his despair. She is a sweet character and a dignified type. Simple and gentle she must have seemed to the French audience. In Molly Spencer ^" we meet a similar type of woman facing an entirely different set of circum- stances. She is the wife of a prosperous master- carpenter. Her father, Thomas Frick, visiting an orphan asylum one day, was attracted by a smart lad whom he adopted and trained in his profession of joiner. This boy, whose parentage was unknown, later married Molly, Frick's daughter, and we find the happy family of three living in peace and joy. Then the cloud gathers. It is discovered that Thomas Spencer is really the scion of a noble house. His father had been forced into exile and had left the care of his son to chance. Lord Kiston, a Knight of the Garter, interests himself for the dispossessed nobleman and obtains the king's consent to a com- plete restoration of the name and honors due him. But this cannot include Molly, for she is of lowly birth and the laws of the court rigidly debar her from participation in her husband's honors. Rather than enjoy his new-gotten splendors without her, Spencer "' LoNGUEiL, L'Orphelin Anglois (1769). 228 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA willingly renounces them. Molly obstinately refuses this sacrifice and insists that her husband accept his fortune, serve his country, and leave her to her humble existence. She must not retard his progress, but she will love him from afar as she watches his rapid advance to fame and honor. Spencer cannot agree to this arrangement, he loves his wife too well. The king, touched by their devotion, removes all obstacles and the two remain united. Molly is a woman of true and tender feelings, a very paragon of virtuous wifehood. She reflects honor on her nation. She practically sums up all the qualities with which our dramatists invest good English wives. Those we have met thus far are cer- tainly guided by their moral excellence and by their devotion to their husbands. This is quite unlike the less dignified characters of the wives of other nations whom we have met. But we may go even further into this strange dissimilarity and remark that even when an English woman has the ordinary conventional ground for proving faithless to her hus- band, she does not take advantage of it. In Dorat's Le Chevalier Frangois a Londres (1778), Lady Halifax is married to an old lord who is more interested in scientific experiment than in her, and who gives her free rein to pursue her own interests. One com- ments immediately: a splendid situation to introduce a lover, an intrigue. INIiss Adelson, a friend of Lady Halifax, says to her, referring to her pent-up life in the country (I, 5) : Avouez; dans vos champs, vous p6rissez d'ennui. Miladi answers: THE ENGLISH 229 Ah! c'est assez Fusage aupres d'un vieux mari, J'aime le mien pourtant, c'est un homme estimable. And in these words lies the key to her character. Simple in taste, virtuous by nature, she feels no need for a love escapade; in fact, she conceives a veritable affection for her distant husband, an affection based on respect for him. All this shows a power of dis- crimination and judgment that compels our own respect for Lady Halifax. Although she embarks on the rather questionable course of flirting with a French chevalier for the sake of her friend as well as for the sake of the plot, there is never at any moment a breath of suspicion against her. In all her conduct she enhances our esteem for the virtue of the women of her nation. This perfect devotion and serene goodness might naturally in sonie moments of stress result in a lack of strength or fiber. This possibility is exemplified for us by one of Falbaiee's characters, Ladi Belton."^ She is too milky sweet altogether, and has abso- lutely no control over the vicious life her husband is leading. She is submissive, too full of forgiveness, always, ready to receive her husband back with open arms. She softly pleads with him to leave his wicked ways with other women. Generally, however, she sits and waits for him to come back penitent, and in her resignation she often resembles a stupid lamb (I, 5) : Qu'il me rende son coeur & le mien lui pardonne. J'oublirai tons ses torts, ses m^pris, ses travers: Qu'il revienne, I'ingrat, mes bras lui sent ouverts. "2 Falbaihe, L'Ecole des Maeurs (1776). 230 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA She is finally brought to the pass where she has neither money nor jewels left, because she has faith- fully disposed of all her possessions in her effort to make reparation for the wrongs committed by Lord Belton on various innocent girls. While her gener- osity appears in these acts, her stupidity shines even more brilliantly; for what woman could fail to see that such a course of reparative conduct would only serve to encourage a husband in his vile ways? A character of neither spirit nor force, milady finally determines to leave the house; but, at the slightest sign of regret on the part of milord, she easily changes her mind and remains. Naturally, the play ends with his complete reformation, an outcome as ridiculous as it is unplausible. However, in spite of Ladi Belton's tame submis- siveness and tamer rebellion, we cannot deny that she has a standard of conduct, and that her instincts make her generous and kindly. She is a type of woman, not particularly English, placed in an un- favorable environment and unequal to coping with it. She is English in her devotion to her husband. Can one conceive of a lively stage character of the French or Italian type acting in the same helpless manner in the face of a husband's desertion? We may well imagine that there would be a more lively opposition, some intrigue elaborateh' planned and executed to appeal to the husband's jealousy and thus turn his erring heart back to his energetic wife. In these lovers whom we have met we can find but few traits that border on the unfaithful and the dishonest. If we therefore judged from the point of view of drama the rank and file of English married THE ENGLISH 231 folk, we could confidently assert that they generally appeared before our French auditors as a very wholesome and happy set of people. It is only in indirect references that we catch a glimpse of another side of married life in the British Isles. Thus Mi- lord Guinee "^ in his efforts to make England seem quite homelike to a French girl, decks out his land in a colored garb that has many French glints in it. He maintains that in the morning the cup of love overflows for man and wife in England, and there is joy for both. In the afternoon they become a little indifferent, and finally, a little later, they quarrel. Then comes a reconciliation, and another quarrel. These alternate till night, when the two are definitely reunited once more. At this description, Lucile, a French girl, is forced to exclaim (I, 9): II pense la-dessus aussi bien qu'un Frangois. But milord continues, unconscious of exaggeration: Mvre a sa fantaisie est un droit du Pays; Et nos maris Anglois effacent en d^pense, Et passent en bonte tous vos maris de France. Londre est pour le beau sexe un s^jour enchante. L'opulence y preside avec la liberte. All this is rather pardonable boasting on the part of an ardent English lover anxious to make his country appear normal to French eyes. In it there is no hint of widespread immorality nor of general disaffection between married people. We meet, how- ever, with a scathing denunciation of English con- duct in Falbaire's Les Suites du Libertinage (1776), "' BoissY, La Surprise de la Haine (1734). 232 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA a play with a moral. In it, Jonathan, a vile agent for a lord's base purposes, utters this Mephisto- phelian indictment (III, 7) : Tous les honnetes gens aujourd'hui font de meme. lis se sont arranges pour se faire un systeme; Et, ma foi, je I'approuve. Entre eux il est regu Qu'un homme qui seroit d^shonore, perdu, Pour voler un schelling, peut, sans craindre le blame, Voler a tout le monde ou sa fiUe ou sa femme. Met-on de I'importance a ces mis6res-la,? On s'amuse a present, on rit de tout cela. Chaque femme est a Londre un effet qui circule, Et celui qui I'attrape en jouit sans scrupule, Jusqu'a ce que, changeant de gouts et de destins, La coquette s'echappe & passe en d'autres mains. Had Falbaire dared to write Paris instead of Lon- don, he would have done so. And this consideration, we must admit, disposes at once of this horrible cess- pool of vice attributed to English life. Falbaire's intent in his whole play was reformative, hardly revolutionary, though he levels some bitter accusa- tions at the heads of guilty nobles. Even in 1776, no French reformer could as yet venture to name in loud tones abuses and malpractices while he remained in France. So Falbaire adopts the only safe way and stages his vices in London, just as Beavmar- CHAis chose Spain for the home of his immortal discontent. This method, glaring in its obviousness, was really just as efficient as more openly beUigerent measures. We have by now interviewed the most interesting figures in our long dramatic gallery of English characters. We have had the honor of meeting THE ENGLISH 233 kings and we have perhaps been surprised at their rather human appearance and conduct. We have come to know many aristocrats, some pohte, others gruff, some melancholy, others generous, most of them abstracted and thoughtful, some ridiculous, a few vicious, and finally, one or two gifted writers. In almost all of these high-born men, we have found ster- ling quahties — dignity, mentaUty, power, sincerity. We have wandered freely among Englishmen of middle rank, merchants, officers, manufacturers, workmen, clerks, tutors, gaolers, servants. On all hands, again, we have seen the same good quali- ties of a strong race — honesty, wisdom, friendliness. Lastly in our voyage we have been guided through a host of lovers and have found in them the reflec- tion of the fine attributes of their parents and their teachers. What an overwhelming number of good characters, good in every ethical sense! How elo- quently this significant fact speaks to us! Our study points out in unmistakable terms the undeniable fact of the admiration of the French people for the English. Our study, by its insistence on cer- tain traits generally met with, has also indicated to us what particular characteristics of Englishmen our dramatists, and therefore their audiences, seized upon. The general reconstruction and interweaving of these attributes, upon which rests the "type" Eng- lishman, we have seen to be a very favorable one, although history might point offhand to a totally different conclusion. Finally, with all these facts concerning their northern neighbors so truly appre- ciated by our writers, we have indicated here and there the broadening influence which observation of 234 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA governmentally free Englishmen and their methods fostered, and which culminated in a worship of everything English before the great social and politi- cal earthquake of 1789. Studies along similar lines of other forms of literature might round out these influences which we have discerned in the drama, but they cannot indicate more clearly or more insistently the main features of the relationship between the two greatest nations of the world in the eighteenth century. VIII — Perverted English Speech and Bad French When Pennant, an English antiquary, visited Voltaire at Ferney in 1765, he found that the witty thinker had become somewhat rusty in his use of English.^" The one thing Voltaire did easily remember was a series of curses and oaths. Of these he was still a perfect master. This is doubly interesting when we remember that Voltaire had published works in English written in flowing style and idiomatic diction. But now the words that had left the deepest impressions on his mind were the forcible ones. We must admit that this seems natural. In our own day a man who does not know French or Spanish or Italian or German will probably recog- nize, Diable! Caramba! Cristo! and Donnerwetter!, while perhaps bhssfully unconscious that the harmless English exclamation oh dear! is probably from the now equally harmless French Dieu! and the Eng- lish dear me ! from the Italian Dio mio ! "* The Literary Life of the Late Thomas Pennant, page 6. THE ENGLISH 235 English oaths have a pecuUar fascination for Frenchmen. They never become quite the rage, because the French language is plentifully supphed with its own euphonious invectives and exclama- tions. But even in early days English impreca- tions had popularly come to stand as type words for the whole language and Englishmen themselves were called "godons,""^ the nasal equivalent of a somewhat similar though unmentionable English expletive. The universality of this last oath is most astounding. It appears to the French mind as an exclusive and decisive characteristic of any English sentence. Its utterance on the stage was enough to signify either that the character was English, or could speak the language. Figaro de- clares that he knows English, and to prove it he offers his acquaintance with G — d d — n: "^ Diable! c'est une belle langue.que I'anglais; il en faut peu pour aller loin. Avec God-dam, en Angleterre, on ne man- que de lien, nulle part. Voulez-vous tater d'un bon poulet gras: entrez dans une taverne et faites seulement ce geste au gargon (il tourne la broche) : God-dam ! on vous apporte un pied de bcEuf sale sans pain. C'est admirable! Aimez- vous a boire un coup d'excellent Bourgogne ou de Clairet, rien que celui-ci (11 debouche une bouteille): God-dam! on vous sert un pot de biere, en bel etain, la mousse aux bords. Quelle satisfaction! Rencontrez-vous une de ces jolies per- sonnes qui vont trottant menu, les yeux baisses, coudes en arriere et tortillant un peu des hanches; mettez mignarde- ment tons les doigts unis sur la bouche. Ah! God-dam! "* Olivier Basselin, Chanson Pairiotigue, fifteenth century. "^ La Folle JournSe, Act 3, Scene 5. Beaumarchais's Eugenie has not been discussed in this chapter, although its characters are English. The play was first written with French characters and arbitrarily changed. Hence it is of little value. 236 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA elle vous sangle un soufflet de crocheteur. Preuve qu'elle en tend. Les Anglais, a la verite, ajoutent par-ci par-la quelques autres mots en conversant; mais il est bien ais6 de voir que God-dam est le fond de la langue. With the English language thus reduced to a cursing simplicity, it is not surprising that whenever an English character is made to speak his own lan- guage or a deformed French, his nationality can always be recognized by his copious use of impre- cations. There is Williams "^ for instance, a Welsh- man, who suspects that his daughter Laurette is receiving the attentions of the graceful Florestan. When he catches her with a love-note, his rage flows out with "Ah! damnation, god-dam!" Blondel, a Frenchman who overhears him, says (I, 6): Goddam! Est-ce que vous etes Anglais? Williams. Oui, je le suis. Blondel. Vigoureuse nation ! This characterization of the nation by one of its oaths has its significance. G — d d — n is a com- bination of strong sounds, and in its expressiveness it can hardly be excelled by any- other combination of two words. It contains in its two monosyllables the High Principle as well as the Nether One. The utterance of it involves the intensity and force of a bellowing rage. No wonder that this malediction left a deep impression in the French mind and even- tually came to represent a certain quality of the Enghsh. A nation that could use it so naturally must be vigorous, lusty, robust, forcible. One may "' Sedaine, Richard Cmir-de-Lion (1784). THE ENGLISH 237 truly and seriously assert that G — d d — n pro- duced a profound psychological effect in the French- man's estimate of his Channel neighbor, associated as it became with ideas of strength and force. The very lack of variety in the small family of English invectives made its few members seem more energetic. Yet none could dim the extreme snap and brilliance of the original G — d d — n. In one of our plays, "^ Tomson, an English officer, suffers the most provoking incident that can befall any man, that of losing the girl he has set his heart upon. What rouses his ire even further is her exe- crable preference for a gallant Frenchman. Tom- son vents his anger in an awful torrent of abuse. He threatens that the lovers are bound to come to blows inside of two months, and finally explodes with (sc. 15) : Traitre, je me pendrois si vous etiez heureux. French dog, G — d d — n you for a son of a — This impressive anger with its expressive accompani- ment is the severest example of its kind that we have found. In Romagnesi's L'Amant Protee we meet another Englishman who has three rivals for the hand of the fair Orphise. He blusters a good deal and is ever ready to fight them. But the worst challenge he throws ,at them is "Teek mi deel," which we may paraphrase, "Take my deal." He is a comparatively gentle scion of a forcible nation. The only other interesting and characteristic phrase we have met is the French perversion of "How do you do?" In Saxjrin's play, L'Anglo- "* Favart, Le Manage par escalade (1756). 238 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA manie (1772), Damis determines to pose as an Eng- lishman in order to win the favor of Eraste, an Anglomaniac, and guardian of the girl he loves. Damis refers to Eraste's knowledge of English (sc. 1): Mais je sais que pour lui leur Langue est de I'Arabe, II n'en salt pas une syllabe; Moi, j 'en puis Scorcher quelques mots au besoin. (II contrefait V accent Anglois) Odi dou; Miss, Kismi. If carefully pronounced, this will hardly need trans- lation. We have already met the Marquis de Po- linville "^ and heard his accusation against English social conversation. According to him Englishmen have nothing else to say but "Howd'eyd'o," a phrase which they repeat for a whole hour. The personal proper names employed by our dramatists are generally clear and attributable to Englishmen. Craff, Kensington, Freeport, Arlington, Rochester, and many others are decidedly indigenous. Rosbif is of course descriptive of the Britisher's favorite viand. Among women, we have met Betzi, Fanny, Molly, and Jenny, and a great many miladies and misses. Christian names are much more com- mon for female characters than for male. We can, however, register such names as David, Richard, Jacques, all of which are usual French names too. Charles and James are found without the s, since its omission facilitates the ^'ersification and it is not pro- nounced by Frenchmen. Most often the feminine names chosen are those that have French equiva- "» BorssY, Le Fran<;ois d Londres (1727). Cf. p. 172. THE ENGLISH 239 lents, and then the names are entirely Frenchified. Hence Leonore, Emilie, Constance, Laurette, Lucile. Finette is frequently found, but the name is always applied to a French maid in the employ of an EngUsh lady. We find Vindsor and Vilson for the English equi^'alents with w. We also find Cheroud for Sherwood, Semur for Seymour, the usual Cantor- bery, and the logical Chespir for Shakespeare. Rarely indeed is there specific indication, either by direct or by indirect reference, of a character's derivation from one of the British Isles. Welshmen, Scotchmen, and Irishmen are all generously con- founded in the type Englishman. In 1707 Scotchmen became British by law; hence in continental minds racial differences naturally tended to disappear. Besides, in almost all the plays which have their scene in England, the action takes place in London. This uniformity, one might say unity of place, prac- tically disposed of the notion that the British Islanders might belong to separate races and consolidated them for the French mind into one nation. We have already seen that the French knowledge of the English language, as it is revealed in our plays, was not particularly extensive. The opposite is true as to the extent of the English acquaintance with French. Nearly all our characters speak the angelic language perfectly, whether the scene be in France or in England. As a fact, English society knew the graceful tongue and often used it socially. Yet some of our dramatists are at intervals tempted to add to the exotic nature of their ma- terial by introducing touches of imperfect language that are often amusing. Colle exaggerates some- 240 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA what in this respect when his Lord Sindereze/^" who has been in France twenty years, swears "Par Saint Patrissch!" and proceeds, in execrable French, to explain his past sins (so. 10): Point, Matame, ch'epargne rien, moi; rien. Ch'epargne point plis mes foibless' a moi seul . . . Che reproche tou- chour a moi le grand aversion que j'ai eue, jadis, pour moi marier . . . ce qui m'a fait com'mettre des malhonn^tetfe avec les femmes; et memement, qui m'a empech^ autrefois d'^pouser fous, Matame . . . oui . . . OUI . . . et c'est pour cela que je suis et4 venu a c'theure chez fous, pour achever d'appaiser les remords de men conscience . . . This perversion is quite labored. It has the ear- marks of a German tongue, rather than that of an English one. A natural touch is the displacement of the objective pronoun, "epouser vous" instead of vous epouser. In Boissy, we find again "j'epouse vous. "^^' Boissy also introduces frequently the infin- itive in place of tense forms. Milord Guinee says, ^^^ trying to induce a French girl to marry him: Vous faire infiniment d'honneur a I'Angleterre. Pour mieux justifier votre estime pour nous, Moi, vous mener a Londre en qualitc d'epoux, Vous, recevoir I'accueil it tout I'eclat insigne, Que m^rite mon rang tt dont vous etes digne. When we compare the language of this nobleman with that of the ordinary Jacques Splin, a seasoned traveler, we see that the latter is at no disadvantage. He says, swearing at the loquacious innkeeper: ^-- 120 Coll£, La Veritc dans Ic Yin (1747), '2' Boissy, La Surprise dc la Hainc (1734), Act 1, Scene 9. 1" Patrat, L'Anglois-(17Sl), Scene 6. THE ENGLISH 241 Ce diable d'homme, il aime beaucoup pour parler. Je crois que j 'ai mal fait de pas me tuer hier dans cette autre hotelle- rie; j'aurois fait plus tranquillement qu'ici. This certainly indicates a rather good acquaintance with the French language. We see traces of similar linguistic ability in all of these Enghsh characters who are made to speak a perverted French. Their arrangement of words is seldom outrageously bad. It is true that Doctor Bristol, one of Carmontelle's characters, stutters horribly through an effort to ex- press his gratitude toward a French lady: ^^^ C'est un grand bonte; mais mon conversation il est ingrate- ment a cause de la langage que je ne suis pas encore bien au fait. But he speaks good French elsewhere, and we can readily understand how at the moment of thanking a pretty woman for her kindness even an English doctor might lose control over his tongue and speak with a little embarrassment. The highest praise of the Englishman's knowledge of French comes from Saxjrin. In his L' Anglomanie (1772), Eraste, one of the characters, has just re- ceived a letter from Lord Cobbam. The latter knows French, but he uses Enghsh even when he writes to his French friends, because, as Eraste ex- plains (sc. 4): . . . Le bon Milord, Blesse que notre langue 6tende son empire, Possede le Frangais & ne veut pas I'^crire. The Enghshman might well have been envious of the popularity of the French tongue among social "' Carmontelle, Le Patagon, Scene 5. In his The&tre de Campagne. 242 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA and literary circles. This slight reference to the universality of the beautiful tongue of the nation of talkers is in itself a clear explanation of the marked ability in speaking their language with which our dramatists invest all their foreign characters, Eng- lishmen no less than others. IX — Literary Considerations We shall confine the few remarks we ha^'e to make under this head to actual literary differences be- tween the French and the English, as brought out in their dramatic relationships. We could bring forth various authorities to illustrate our conten- tions, but here we shall cite only a few writers. First let us mention a most significant racial dissimi- larity as it appears in one of our plays. We remember how in the trying year 1756, when the two countries were thrown into a volcanic upheaval over the colo- nial question, Frenchmen nevertheless did not lose their heads and indulge in exaggerated caricatures of their enemies. We remarked in Favart's skit,"* Le Manage -par Escalade (1756), that Frenchmen as well as their northern neighbors come in for a huge share of sarcasm. In the Avertissement to his comic opera, Favart justifies his fair treatment, as if it needed defence: Quelques critiques ont trom-e que Ton ne m^nageoit pas assez les Anglois, que nous ne devions point rendre injure pour injure, ni imitcr l'ind(§cence des spectacles de Londres k notre ^gard; ce sentiment fait honneur a notre nation; mais une d^licatesse trop scrupuleuse auroit empeche de ™ Sec page 164. THE ENGLISH 243 faire paiier les personnages selon leur caractere. D'ailleurs quelques traits laches par le zele du patriotisme, ne sauroient offenser une nation qui seroit respectee et ch6rie des Fran- 9ois meme, sans I'esprit de vertige qui la conduit dans la circonstance presente. It seems almost incredible in our present war-ridden year that Favart should have felt it necessary to defend his presentation of a play in which English character was certainly not offensively treated. The author asserts that he has tried to draw his English captain as true to life as he could. The resulting picture does not seem unfair.^^^ Another essential difference is brought out in our dramatic study, and this one enters rather deeply into the psychology of the two nations. It is exemplified best by Voltaire's procedure in his adaptation of an English play to French audiences. In his La Prude (1747), he has imitated Wycherly's Plain Dealer. In the introduction Voltaire mentions some of the differences he has had to adjust. The English, he says, take too many liberties in their comedies, the French too few. In an English play, words of the filthiest kind will take their place to- gether with wonderful passages of description, beauty, wit. Apparently English audiences are very differ- ent from the French, he concludes; for with the French, at least outward delicacy of treatment is necessary. The play may be immoral to the core, but its vice must be painted and scented. For the EngUsh, this precaution is not at all needed. This helps us to understand why La Harpe in his Barneveldt (Drame imite de I'anglais, 1778), sup- 124 lUd. 244 EUKOPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA presses such a stage property as a gallows; why, too, he eliminates a free-love relationship of a rather frank kind; why Destouches in his Le Tambour Nocturne (1736), an adaptation of Addison's Drum- mer, omits soldiers' oaths and brawls. Madame de F ... in her Le Rival par Amitie (1784) includes in a splendid tirade uttered by a French valet prac- tically all the essential dramatic qualities of the English which their southern admirers could not bear (sc. 5) : Aimes-tu le spectacle? Allons a Drury Lane. LS, tu verras ce qu'un Frangois condamne, Ce que I'on ne voit nulle part; Le naturel tout pur, le sublime de I'Art : Des bouffons, tres plaisans, dans une Tragedie; Des fossoyeurs, des ossemens, Et des filles de joie avec des revenans. Le meme naturel regne a la Comedie. C'est \k qu'on assaisonne une fine saillie De raorbleu ! de god-dem ! de tous ces mots piquans Qui charment par leur ^nergie. This author has uttered the nation's judgment in the eighteenth century concerning English plays. These few words actually sum up the mental atti- tude of the French toward English crudities, ingen- uous situations, outspoken broad humor, and frank stage brutalities. There was this undeniable advantage in the Eng- lish dramatic atmosphere — that it made for original- ity and encouraged liberty, ^'oltaire constantly deplores the opposite condition in France. The great imitator of the Classicists felt hampered, es- pecially in his comedies, by the custom that THE ENGLISH 245 demanded long plays full of talk and devoid of action. In his L'Ecossaise (1760), he attempted an innovation by starting his play in what might then have been considered the middle of the action. His heroine, Lindane, is found waiting alone in an inn for her lover, Lord Murray. The fact that her lover's family is inimical to hers serves to com- plicate the plot. Yet this normal stage situation puzzled our audiences. Their minds worked back and they asked the none too pertinent question, how, if the lovers' families were opposed, could they ever have met and become lovers? Audiences of the time apparently could not assume that an ac- quaintance between them might have accidently begun and ripened into passion. This unexplained relationship was taken seriously by many as a defect in the play; and Voltaire, exasperated, wrote to d'Argental: ^-^ Pourquoi avez-vous la cruaute de vouloir que Lindane ennuie le public de la maniere dont elle a fait connaissanee avec Murray? Ce Murray vient au cafe; ce coquin de Fre- lon qui y vient aussi y a bien vu Lindane; pourquoi milord Murraj^ ne I'aurait-il pas vue? Ce sent des petites mis^res, qu'on appelle en France bienseances, qui font languir la plupart de nos comedies. Voila pourquoi on ne pent les jouer ni en Italie, ni en Angleterre, ou Ton veut beaucoup d'action, beaucoup d'interet, beaucoup d'allees et de venues, et point de preliminaires inutiles. After studying in a little detail the comedies of the century, one is rather prone to agree with Voltaire's complaint. His words recall vividly page after page ^ Cm-respondance de Voltaire, CEuvres de Voltaire, 6d. Gamier Freres (1880), Vol. 40, p. 461. 246 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA of uninteresting dialogue, useless preliminaries, and obvious, situations. One is more likely to obtain satisfaction in the reading of three act comedies of the eighteenth century than in those of five acts, and more satisfaction than in either of these is to be found in one-act plays. The brief space the latter afford necessitates a swift action and concise dia- logue. One can easily study at first hand the deplorable results obtained in the artificial attempt to cover the length of five or three acts with the meager threads of a one-act plot. For such an ex- periment we heartily recommend Boissy's L'lmper- tinent malgre lui, any of Dorat's plays, Falbaire's L'Ecole des Mceurs, and Romagnesi's L'Amant Protee. These few will probably prove the point. There are many more that could be cited if necessary. It is interesting finally to note that in none of our plays have we found definite instructions outlined by our authors regarding the costume of their char- acters. We might interpret this as an indication of the sirnplicity and ordinary taste displayed in their garb by Enghshmen. In reality, Paris was then the sartorial dictator of Europe; and Englishmen, as well as others, willingly submitted to the unwritten law of the Goddess of Fashion, as it emanated from her abode. English ways of dress, especiallj- in upper circles, were therefore not peculiar or foreign, and our authors do not make special notes concerning them. There is also a conspicuous lack of scenic descrip- tion, conspicuous because we find copious details in plays in other foreign lands, especially in Turkey and the Orient. The most pretentious effort at scenic THE ENGLISH 247 effect is to be found in Falbaire's Le Fabricant de Londres (1771), in the last act. The author's direc- tion reads: Le theatre repr^sente une place, des maisons de chaque cote & dans le fond. La Tamise avec le pont de Westminister. II y a plusieurs escaliers pour monter sur le trottoir du pont, qui est garni d'un parapet. This is indeed an ambitious bit of scenery, even for a Belasco or a Barker. It seems simple to account for the general lack of detailed description in the other plays merely by the fact that almost always the ac- tion takes place in an interior. The movement for specific indications regarding interiors is of very recent prominence. X — Conclusion As we think of terms adequate to express our general thought of the French and English during the eighteenth century as we have found them in our plays, it seems most fitting to use the words of Jean Finot, words which guided us in the beginning of our work : ^^* Tear from French history the pages written under English influence and a much shrunken France will result; try in your thoughts to exclude France from the history of English civilization and all Anglo-Saxon greatness will disappear in the mists. Or, to take the same idea from a French play given in 1784,^" wherein an Englishman tries to answer gallantly to a French toast to England: 126 New York Times, February 7, 1915. "'' Madame db F. . ., Le Rival par Amilie (1784), Scene 16. 248 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Le Frangois nous ^gale en g^n^rosit^. Estimez vos rivaux, mais sans vous meconnoitre.'^* Frangois! nous vous devons peut-etre, Ce caractere si vante; Et nous serions moins grands, si vous cessiez de I'etre. ''' Addressed to Anglomaniaes. THE MINOR NATIONS THE ^IINOR NATIONS I — The Swiss 1. Switzerland It was Rousseau who said, speaking about the people of his native land, that the Swiss were drinkers of wine and milk, that they were naturally reserved, peaceful, and simple, but violent when roused to anger. The characters we meet in our plays do not fully bear out the philosopher of nature in his wise estimate. Certainly during the eighteenth century Switzerland appeared a safe little country, enviably free from rival aristocracies, and splendidly isolated by its lofty snow-covered guardians from the turmoil of breathless Europe. Her independence had been guaranteed to her by the Peace of West- phalia in 1648, and thereafter she enjoys a long period of leisure, given over to the development of industry and to the organization of her federated states. Now and then, as in 1712, we hear the threatening rumble of religious disputes, but pres- ently the Protestants of Bern and Zurich and other cities emerge into the sunUght of God's favor for- merly enjoyed exclusively by Catholics. The development of cities is the predominant fac- tor in the growth of Switzerland during this century. As religious liberty was gradually established for each town, the form of government was also left 252 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN TRENCH DRAMA to the various municipalities. In general the move- ment toward progress involved a centralization of power, so that a kind of governing aristocracy de- veloped. In Bern, out of 360 families, 69 fprmed a ruling oligarchy. Yet even this extent of popular control must have seemed amazing to the monarchies of Europe. It is to be expected then that our plays will re- veal a certain respect for the tiny nation that had wrought its freedom into a reality. We find this; and besides, a friendly familiarity with the Swiss, easily explained by the intimacy of long standing between the two nations. Historically, the French had come to know the Swiss as wonderfully depend- able allies. It is estimated that between 1747 and 1830 a million soldiers left their Alpine homes to serve France. These famous contingents did not serve as mercenaries, for pay, until the nineteenth century. It is true that the Swiss lent their mili- tary forces also to Austria, Spain, Holland, England, Russia, Bavaria, and the Italian cities. But in France the establishment of regiments like the "Cent Suisses," the king's bodj^guard, which lasted for three centuries, must have brought the Swiss nearer to the hearts of the people. The general use of the individuals of that nation as janitors, doorkeepers, and servants also promoted a wider acquaintance, though, in the last mentioned relationship, the Swiss appear in our plays in horrible caricatures of tipplers and brawlers. Intellectually, the relationship between France and Switzerland can be drawn even closer. Rousseau, the greatest educational influence of the century, was THE MINOR NATIONS 253 a Genevan by birth and a Frenchman in every other \Yay. The little republic afforded a convenient ref- uge for French men of letters whose pronouncements were likely to endanger their liberty. Besides, in addition to the German literary school headed by BoDMER and Breitinger, there was a very influential group of writers and thinkers who lived in Catholic Switzerland, and naturally fell under the sway of visiting Frenchmen or of the great literary circles they represented. Thus we come to hear of the Franco-Swiss scholars, Ruchat the historian, Bochat the antiquarian, BrRLAMAQXJi the jurist, and Crousaz the Descartian philosopher. As the century pro- gresses the intellectual intimacy of the thinkers of both nations increases. Jacques Necker and his famous daughter Mme. de Stael, Benjamin Con- stant, Bourguet and his brother geologists Saus- SURE and Luc, are only a few of the names that link the two countries indissolubly together. In this day of guide books for the infinitesimal corners of the globe, it is interesting to note that as early as 1714 the Swiss nation had already found its lasting vocation as a sight-seeing and sporting cen- ter. In that year a guide book called Les Delices de la Suisse was issued by Abraham Ruchat, and was in constant demand, as the many editions of it till 1778 show. Travel into Switzerland by way of Geneva was common, and communication with a country a great part of which spoke French seemed normal to the Galhc traveling public. 254 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA 2. Swiss Characters BoissY, in his allegory La FrivoliU (1753), attempts to prove the advantages of the carefree life of the French over any other kind of life. To help him in his worthy project, he introduces an Englishwoman and a Swiss, both sufferers from depression, both seeking in Paris the restoration of happiness. The Swiss, M. Fauster, is a scholar who has given up the study of books, as his famous forerunner of the sixteenth century had done before him, because they prevented him from obtaining a true knowledge of life. His attitude is characterized by common sense and calm thinking. He is called upon to decide a dispute in the following terms (sc. 4) : Pour etre juge en notre cause, Monsieur est d'une nation Qui, toujours neutre, agit sans passion. Fauster is joyously impressed by the pleasures of Paris, and he finally comes to feel that he has found here the true way of life, unlike the Englishwoman who absolutely refuses to yield to the warming pulse of the wonderful city. Fauster easily seizes upon the difference between his nation and hers when he utters the significant words (sc. 4): La raison est Angloise, & le bon sens est Suisse. This subtle distinction seems to emphasize the Eng- lish as theoretical, the Swiss as practical thinkers. The fact that the Swiss and the English are at all compared mentally reflects great credit on the for- mer when we remind ourselves of the profound ad- THE MINOR NATIONS 255 miration awakened in France for the philosophers across the Channel. M. Fauster is so charmed, then, by French ways and manners, that he embraces them for the rest of his life, we are to conclude. We find another Swiss, who in his pecuhar perverted language also professes great admiration, this time for the French king, Louis XV. This foreigner utters the following astounding statement to a Frenchman :i L'amour que chafre pour ton maitre, M'afoir rendu de ses sujets: Tout I'Etranchir qui le connoitre Afoir t'apord le cceur Frangois. The occasion of this skit by Favart was the king's recovery from illness, when the whole nation breathed its fervent thanks in his behalf. It was natural, at such a time, for the most circumstantial poet of the stage to exceed the ordinary limits of credibihty. Why be surprised at this sudden allegiance of a Swiss to the French king, when in the same play we receive the solemn assurance from a Flemish couple that their one fervent hope is that they may have a son who will look like Louis and a daughter that will look like the queen? A touching instance of the attachment of a Swiss to a Frenchman is vividly pictured by Jean Jacques Rousseau himself in his Les Prisonniers de Guerre, which has its scene in Hungary. Dorante, a French officer, is a prisoner there, and Jacquard, his Swiss servant, who has been given his liberty, chooses to stay by his side and lighten the burden of his master's captivity. His awkward de- ' Favart, Le Bal de Strasbourg (1744), Scene 6. 256 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA votion is very touching and we must admit that he understands his master. In his desperate efforts to amuse him, he offers the following homely advice (sc. 1): Moi point souffrir que fous s'afHicher touchours, touchours; fous poire comme moi, fous consolir tout I'apord. To an audience familiar with the figure of the Swiss drinker on the stage, Jacquard's method of comforting his French master must have been sufficient evidence of his love and allegiance. We are not allowed to forget the fact that the Swiss were widely employed in France not only as body servants but also as janitors. Whenever a dramatist wants to introduce into his play a comic element which is to touch all his characters, he has of course the inexhaustible Arlequin; but wearying of him, he is likely to choose un Suisse. Piron in his semi-serious allegory, Credit est Mort (1726), has a doorman who jealously guards the entrance to the "Hotel de Credit." A woman named Faithless^ appears and tries to get in. He asks in his jargon (sc. 4): Que vouloir au logis sti femnie? And when she struggles to get in, he assures her: Ton criment ne rien faire h moi. But the moment she offers him money, he graciously yields. He says as he accepts it: "Grosse Dank, Yonfrau," and then gravely announces his guiding policy: ^ Madame la Mauvaise Foi. THE MINOR NATIONS 257 JMoi lietre h toi pour de I'argent, Toi fusse-t-il le Diable. Let us add here that the universahty of the Swiss as doorkeeper finally brings him into the dignified com- pany of the ancients. In Piron's puppet-plaj^, Columbine-Nitetis (1722), we find him serving in this official capacity to Psammenite, king of Memphis in Egypt. Here too he speaks his lusty jargon with great relish, so that he is not to be confounded at all with the Egyptian folk about him. He is all the time his hearty, roseate self. He is, as the Swiss in another play ^ fondly calls Arlequin, a ' ' lustick lansman." We have by this time seen the joyous inhabitant of the Alps in several guises more or less inferior. We find him, however, predominantly in a rather unmentionable state, too drunk, alas! to utter much of value to our study. In Lesage's puppet-play, Le Remouleur d' Amour (1722), he drinks heavily and appears vicious and slothful. He falls comically on the stage when he attempts to walk. He complains bitterly about his misfortune in love. He dotes on a pretty cabaretiere, or bar-girl, who is not at all ■nclined towards him. As he makes a final lunge to the ground in his sodden suffering, Pierrot picks liin up and says sympathetically (sc. 12): Allons mon grand baril, vous avez besoin de repos; je vais vous mener faire schloff dans un de ces bosquets de myrtes. The predilection of the Swiss lover for a bar-maid seems to be a general and curious phenomenon of Alpine love as presented in our plays. Lesage ' Le Temple de la Verite, by Romagnesi (1726). 258 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA shows US another lamentable instance * of this affec- tion, when his Swiss mutters tearfully (sc. 9): Ch'aime monmoiselle Catin. Chavre I^-dedans ein coeur. Now the lady mentioned is spirituously occupied, and hence the irrepressible Arlequin analyzes this passion mockingly : Get honn^te suisse croit aimer la maitresse du cabaret et il n'en aime que les tonneaux. Barrels as the basis of Swiss love offers an interesting reflection, though we must not for a moment grant the universality of such a liquefied condition of affection. Carmontelle reveals to us that even the higher strata of Swiss society are addicted to the fatal habit of drink. In one of his proverbs '" we meet the Baron de Trottberg, a Swiss captain. He is a pretty vile kind of soldier. Falling ill, he calls for the doc- tor. The latter orders him at once to drink hot stuff and to have a guard. The captain naturally misunderstands these ambiguous prescriptions; he gulps down wine instead of broth, and has four sen- tinels to join him instead of a nurse to tuck him in. "Tiaple," he exclaims, rapidly improving, "Gott, Gott, puvons," and his nurses are nothing loath. Besides these exhilarating accomplishments, we discover in the Swiss, perhaps as a concomitant of intoxication, a certain swaggering fearlessness that might well intimidate his more sober fellows. In ■• Les Amours D6guis^s (1726). > Proverbe V, Le Suisse Malade. THE MINOR NATIONS 259 one play « we find the usual anonymous Suisse applying for a position as an actor. He cites modestly his various histrionic powers (sc. 4) : Che li etre un fort excellement Coin6tien, & encore en plus meilleur Poete, en fort bon Orateur; che faire faire tes harangues, chavre fait des Poemes 6tiques, & encore en Trag^die. When his appUcation is not received with enthusiasm, he waxes wroth and exclaims thunderously: Tastitertonder! Moi point te respect pour personne, je suis en Suisse, j'avre du coeur comme un tiable, & moi vouloir entrer tans votre troupe par force. The foregoing utterer of thunder brings us to the end of our little gallery of anonymous Swiss char- acters. The merest examination of the peculiar French they speak is convincing evidence that they are not the French Swiss. Not only is their dialogue tinged with German mispronunciation, but their stage habits and manners become intimately asso- ciated with similar ways of acting which we have found to be characteristic of German figures. It is interesting to note this fact, as it demonstrates a rather true perception of the numerical predominance of the Teutonic element in the population of Switzer- land. The few characters we have found are so uni- form in their manner of presentation, that we may be allowed to assert definitely that the Swiss has actually become, in the eighteenth century, a conven- tional stage tippler and brawler. This fact is not to ' Les Debuts, Dominique et Romagnesi (1729), Vol. 7, The&tre Italien. 260 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA be interpreted as indicative of the general attitude of our writers towards the inhabitants of the little republic. It simply means that the Swiss janitor or vagrant, the only Swiss figures familiar to the French, had come in the course of dramatic develop- ment to be the clown, the rough blatant swaggerer. He was just a stage type, like the Jewish pedlar of diamonds, whom we also meet quite frequently. The Swiss clown provided the broad slap-stick humor,, and filled the house with mirth at his obscene jests and drunken antics. The one dignified excep- tion to this ungenerous classification is M. Fauster,^ and his perfect language proves him to be a citizen of West Switzerland. II — The Netherlanders 1. Holland and Flanders There are very few presentations on the French stage of Flemish or Dutch figures. The relationship between France and the Netherlands during the eighteenth century was in the main amicable, and curiosity about these northern provinces does not seem to have been great enough to cause their fre- quent mention in our plays. At the beginning of the century Holland did indeed figure prominently for "a time as an ally of England against France. Belgium, too, is an Austrian possession till the Revolutionary ei-a, and therefore a country some- what inimically conceived. The War of the Austrian Succession brings a victorious French army under the ' See page 254. THE MINOR NATIONS 261 ]Marechal de Saxe into Belgium and Holland. His successes loom up importantly in our dramatic field because he was accompanied for four years (1746- 1750) by Charles Simon Favart, who directed in Flanders the army's troupe of players. We naturally find in this period of Favart's activity, reflections of his environment and experience. After the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), however, nothing momentous occurs to disturb the steadfast political friendship of France and the Netherlands. Belgium remains an Austrian province till 1790, when its fight for independence was outlined in the University of Louvain. Both the Dutch and the Belgians culti- vated a literary imitation of French writers- and produced epics and odes and elegies. In Brussels, too, the Academy founded by Maria Theresa was inspired by French scientific progress. Among the unassuming names of the period, we may mention Feitama, who translated Voltaire's Henriade, and the prince of Ligne, of whom Madame de Stael said: "le seul etranger, qui dans le genre frangais, soit devenu modele au lieu d'etre imitateur." With these few introductory remarks, we have probably indicated that our search for foreigners from the Lowlands has not resulted in any illuminating discoveries. Such as they are, we present them. 2. Characters from the Netherlands Let us begin by citing as an example of the close artistic connection between Belgium and France, the adventures of two female babes just born to an actress of the Opera at Brussels. The sister Fates 262 EUROPEAN CHARACTEBS IN FRENCH DRAMA are outlining their career,^ and they bountifully be- stow upon the one girl the gift of thrilling song, and upon the other that of magic dance. The sisters are eventually to come to Paris, where their great talent is to be recognized and rewarded, and whence they will return to their native land laden with treasure. This reference to bounteous Parisian rewards await- ing the genius of other lands is but another recogni- tion, added to a long list, of the fact that Paris was a magnet that drew towards it the peoples of the known world. Who will deny to-day its invisible magnetic potency, and who that has once yielded to this mysterious force, has not experienced, with greater longing, the hope of return? Our two talented sisters are to have their adven- tures in Paris. In this they are an exception to all the other lowland characters we meet, for we find them mainly in their native haunts. \Ye travel thus in goodly company through Spa, and here and there in Flanders, and past nameless cities in Holland. In Spa we are introduced to an extremely poor family, a phenomenon very common in that city: ' On ne peut faire un pas ici sans rencontrer des malheureux! . . . cela serre le cceur. These sympathetic words are uttered by an English lady who is full of kindness and who has conse- quently commissioned a priest, Father Antoine, to seek out the poorest and withal the most virtuous family in Spa, so that miladi may present fifty pieces of gold to it. The Anglebert family happens to meet * Lesagf, Uiic Journcc dcs Parqiies. ' (iENLis, L'Avcuglc di' Spa, Scene 2. THE MINOR NATIONS 263 these conditions because it is abjectly poor, and be- cause the mother, who has to work for five mouths, has added to her burden by adopting a bhnd and deserted creature to whose misery her heart went out. One might well term this motherly kindness and feel in full measure the human glory it sheds upon the city of Spa. Unfortunately, however, the play in question was written for the non-dramatic purpose of educating, and consequently it could not reach manj' auditors. The work is marred by its gushing sentimentality; it has for its avowed pur- pose to reveal the rewards of kindness and the pleas- ures of giving. Naturally, then, all the characters form a company of unrelieved goodness. Even the loquacious Capuchin, who admits frankly (sc. 3) : Je n'ai jamais su rien dire en deux mots. is a lovable figure, of whom the English lady says (sc. 3): Soulager les pauvrcs et cultiver des fleurs, voila son bonheur et ses plaisirs. Let us turn from this play, with its milky kind- ness, to one that has its scene in Flanders and that wears a more energetic aspect. Favart thus de- scribes the setting of his comic opera or, as he calls it, "divertissement Flamand":" Le theatre represente un hameau Flamand. On volt dans I'eloignement une ville dont les Remparts sont detruits par le Canon; de I'autre cote un Camp, a la t^te duquel est une batterie de Canon. Milieu de la Scene, occup^ par plu- sieurs Flamands, dont les uns jouent de divers instruments '■" L'Ecole des Amours Grivois (1744). 264 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA SOUS un grand arbre, pendant que les autres, autour de plusieurs tables, boivent, fument, jouent et dansent. We are thus ushered into a war-swept district; but instead of a desolateness greeting our eyes, a care- free populace turns out and celebrates merrily. When we inquire further, we discover that the reason for their joy is that the French have driven the Austrians off; for the Flemish naturally prefer to be under the rule of the French king. They assure us : ^^ C'etoit malgre tous nos Bourgeois Qu'on lui faisoit resistance; Chacun lui crioit sur les toits, Y avance, y avance, y avance. Naturally, French soldiers respond in good part: Chantons avec ces bons Flamans, Qui sont joyeux d'etre a la France And the populace, not to be outdone, cites the main reason for its preference for French rule: La bierre nous rendoit sournois, Du vin j'ignorions I'usance; II nous fait boire du pivois.'- Morgue, quelle difference! Soyons a jamais sous les loix De ce bon roi de France. We are quite struck by the ease of this transfer of allegiance, in spite of the basic reasons assigned for it. But our astonishment at the thoroughness of this conversion increases when we learn that a " Ballet at the end of the play. '^ Refers to French king. Pipois is argot for wine. THE MINOR NATIONS 265 Flemish couple have the fervent hope that their children may look like the royal pair of France. Naturally, too, we might expect, as an inevitable accompaniment of the presence of French soldiers on foreign soil, a widespread desertion of their na- tive swains by the fair sex. In Favart's play, Isa- belle, "demoiselle Flamande," typifies this natural reaction. She heartlessly leaves L^andre for the company of a grenadier, but has the presence of mind not to yield entirely to his wishes. Her con- duct makes him complain (sc. 5): Depuis quatre jours environ, Je vous assiege tout de bon. Quoi ! les filles de ce Canton Sont done plus difficiles A prendre que les villas? A very honorable reflection on Flemish girls, and probably very true. We meet, on the other hand, in Carmontelle's Le Prisonnier, a picture of rather vicious life in a Flem- ish citadel. The commander is a vulgar fellow who loudly swears faith to his wife and quietly cajoles other women. His wife uses many endearing terms in addressing her husband, but has an equally plenti- ful supply for her numerous lovers. And then there is a major, who is indefatigably loquacious, and who is dutifully loyal to the commander and amorously devoted to his wife. We need not go into further detail regarding these manifold interrelations, but may frankly admit that in visiting this fortress we have stumbled upon a pretty vicious company. We do not meet any more desirable characters 266 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA in a nameless Dutch city, in which Piron lays the scene of Le Claperman. In the Prologue to the play, the shade of Apollo informs us that in order to keep lovers faithful he has planned to let each Dutch town have its Claperman, who by his drum and shout is to awaken all wives early in order that they may see whether their husbands are asleep at their sides. In this particular town, Arlequin obligingly accepts the strenuous task of Claperman. The pres- ence of this dangerous element arouses all husbands, for they claim (II, 4) : . . . pour notre repos, nous avons besoin du sommeil de nos feinmes. Poor Arlequin has no easy time of it. First, a few women give him money to make sure that he will beat his drum at the proper time, for they are justly curious about their husbands. Then another group of anxious wives pay him in order to enable him to forget to beat his drum. Arlequin has already accepted a considerable money opiate from the worried men. He therefore takes right and left whatever he can get, and then proceeds to earn his citj-- wage by performing his duty and beating his drum. The result is most unfortunate. Poor Scaramouche, for example, who happened to be with the wife of his employer, the notary, has to flee; but, unable to make for the door, he steps out of a two story win- dow and sprains his legs. On all hands there are mutual discoveries of an embarrassing nature, and it is presumably their mutuality that finally solves the situation. In the meantime, on the countr^'-road at three THE MINOR NATIONS 267 o'clock in the morning, farmers and their wives are on their way to the town-market and, as they tramp on, they lustily sing (II, 2) : Thomas fait I'amour chez Lucas; Lucas fait I'amour chez Thomas ; Blaise aime la femme a Colas; Colas, la femme a Blaise. Indecency and vulgarity seem to be commonly attributed to Dutch folk, in the town as well as in the country. It remains for Favart in his truly witty Le Prix de Cythere (1742), to penetrate psychologically into the nature of Dutch love. A Dutch pair appear on the island of Cythera to claim the prize Amour has offered for the truest love. They contend that their brand is the best because it is sensible and unro- mantic. The man says to Hebe (sc. 2) : Nous n'entendre rien a tous les jolis petits sottises des Amoureux des autres nations. Nous commencer d'abord par TEpouse- ment et nous faire apres connoissance. Hehe. C'est-a-dire que votre amour commence ou finit celui des autres. Le Hollandois. Sans doute. Moi, par exemple, avoir epous^ mon femme par lettre de change. He then goes on to tell how she came along as an item in a consignment of merchandise. She is young, strong, and rich. So he takes her because, as he says, in Holland "I'amour est une affaire d'int^ret"; and she takes him because, as she says, marriage is the builder of the repubhc. They have many 268 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA children and seem to be happy in their way. But Hebe criticizes it, and makes suggestions for reforms : Une convenance dans les coeurs plutot que dans les biens; une sympathie ^troite et tous ces petits soins que vous meprisez et sans lesquels I'amour ne subsists point. With this brief expose of the Dutch system of marriage, our description of the way of stage char- acters from the Netherlands draws to a close." By the paucity and haphazard nature of the material, we have probably indicated a lack of interest in these characters on the part of French audiences. As proof of this we offer the fact that there are even no traces of preconceived types of Belgian or Dutch people, only two general notions — one concerning their vulgar immorality and the other the common sense basis of their marriages. Such a dramatic condition, we have previously found, indicates a lack of true relationship based on equality. In the case of the Netherlands, we can unhesitatingly affirm this fact. Ill — Eastern Europeans 1. The Nations to the East of France Politically, the relations in the eighteenth century between France and such countries as Poland, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, and Russia, form a " In Sedaine's Le Philosophe sans le Savoir (1765), we meet M Vanderk, " perc et fils." While the names arc Dutch, plot and char- acter are decidedly French. \\'e may conclude that Sedaine in- tended the name to disguise more effectually a French family. A glance at an encyclopedia will rcve.al names like ^'andame, a French general, ^'anderburgh, a French writer, and others. THE MINOR NATIONS 269 most interesting chapter; interesting, but not be- cause the annals are crowded with events. The eyes of continental Europe were now turned westward, and focused no longer toward the far east of the crusades or the nearer Orient of the Turks. The leaders in the great nations of Europe had come to reahze that expansion in Europe and America was to be the decisive factor in the rating of world powers. Interest is therefore greatly detracted from the in- ferior though rapidly developing stretches of Rus- sia, or the loosely-bound kingdoms that adhered to Austria. England occupies the mind of France, France the mind of England. It is not surprising then that there is little space in our plays for minor nationalities, especially those that have had shght relationship in the past with France. There is another interesting reason why Russian, Hungarian, or Bohemian characters, occupy so little room in our spacious foreign gallery. It is to be found in the psychological attitude towards the various countries which lay so distantly eastward, and which, because of their occupation with Oriental conquest, had themselves assumed an Oriental aspect. In Hungary, for example, we find a country which during the seventeenth century had, because of civil and foreign wars, pestilence, and famine, lost all but a paltry three millions of her population. No matter how vast the stretch of territory, mere land does not make a nation. Hence Hungary appears in- significantly concerned in European affairs. Besides, her main efforts were directed against the encroach- ments of the Turks, and even these her people could not repel unaided, as the disasters of 1739 prove. 270 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Were it not for the Pragmatic Sanction of 1723, which attached the land of the Magyars definitely to the fortunes of the Hapsburgs, one might well consider that race beyond the continental pale. Then, in 1740, begins the rule of Maria Theresa, an enlight- ened Austrian, despot with progressive ideas on edu- cational reform. She did a tremendous work toward the consolidation of these lingually separate de- pendencies. She made Vienna a real capital; and the work of Germanization was too well advanced at the time of her death in 1780, for even her son, with his violent methods, to disrupt it absolutely. Yet this process of centralizing power at Vienna was a very slow one, and could not bring the French into much immediate contact with a totally foreign people, whose poets still chose the Magyar language instead of German for their lyrical expression. What is true for Hungary, is naturally true also for Silesia, Bohemia, Croatia, Transylvania, and, to a large extent, even for Austria herself. The latter had come into possession in 1714 of widely scattered European lands, such as the West Netherlands, Naples, Milan, and Sardinia. Though some of these were maintained as Austrian for the whole century and longer, thej^ do not seem, according to our trustworthy dramatic testimony, to have brought their owner into any immediate and vivid contact with western Europe, the sharp contact that is caused by class and struggle. In 1714, Austria had definitely renounced the coveted crown of Spain. The next step eastward was taken when in 1741 she lost Silesia and part of Bohemia and Moravia, through the predatory instincts of her Prussian neighbor. THE MINOR NATIONS 271 Thereafter, in spite of a friendship with France which culminated in the marriage of the archduchess Marie Antoinette to the king of France in 1770, Austria sinks into a relatively non-important posi- tion, that of indifferent ally, before the growing menace of the grasping Frederick of Prussia. In what we have said, we do not seek to give the impression that Austria had lapsed entirely from her world position. She was an ally whose favor was always coveted, a land that had added immense possessions to her eastern and northern borders. It is rather in the examination of Austrian character that we find the clue to the dramatic lack of in- terest concerning it. Even to-day, we search in vain amidst national types for the one we can label Austrian. There seems to be in our minds little that distinguishes or characterizes the members of that nation. This lack in the popular conception may be due to the diversity of races that the name Austrian covers, — Slovak, Pole, Russian, Croatian, Servian, Bulgarian, beside German. These consid- erations make it easier to understand why, in our plays, we have so few Austrian and Hungarian char- acters in comparison with the number obtained from our studies in comedies with other foreigners. Aus- trians and their multiple dependent nationalities are, so to speak, lost before the greater curiosity on the part of our dramatists to know the threatening Prussians on one side, and the resplendent Orien- tals on the other. Indeed, we shall see bow these Slavic nations appear as semi-Orientals in their abstraction from the European present, though they are dramatically far outshone by the magic 272 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA splendor of Turkish and Asiatic sultans and their harems. Poland in the eighteenth century is a pathetic ex- ample of a great country, weakened in its age, and snapped up by the hungry wolves about it. The current of her history in this unfortunate period touched that of France intimately but- for a short time. Charles XII of Sweden, who had helped main- tain Stanislaus Lesczynski on the Polish throne for four years (1705-1709), found himself unable to pro- tect his royal puppet against the candidate favored by the Russians, Frederic Augustus, Elector of Saxony, who ruled till 1733. The exiled Stanislaus became in 1725 the father-in-law of the French king, Louis XV. This naturally enlisted French support for his claim to the Polish throne, and in 1733 he was recalled by certain factions inimical to Russia. France, however, afforded him little ma- terial help, and in 1735, defeated by Austro-Russian forces, Lesczynski abdicated the throne, though not the title. The landless king then went to live in Lorraine as its ruler, a pathetic director of the des- tinies of a miniature principality which was to re- vert to France at his death. In all this historical relationship between France and Poland, the connec- tion surely seems personal, limited to Stanislaus and the French royal family. The masses of the people were -not stimulated to curiosity regarding the Poles, and we find absolutely no dramatic reflection of these events. Poland, then, is to be classed for our pur- poses with these other semi-Oriental dependencies of Austria. Reasons for this dramatic insignificance increased when, in 1772, the first unholy division THE MINOR NATIONS 273 occurred. Within twenty-five years, the Poles had ceased to exist as a nation. As the last of these eastern countries, non-im- portant for our dramatic purposes, we must mention Russia. It would seem as if the tradition of Peter the Great, and his distinctive royal conduct, would have stamped itself indelibly on the minds of the century and made Russia loom up as an interesting land. Yet, though one man may make history, no man can make a nation. It is true that Peter, by his strenuous efforts, had started Russia in her path toward Western civilization. He himself had trav- eled to Konigsberg, Berlin, the Hague, London; and in 1717 he had visited France, taking back with him a for- eign host of engineers and army-makers. He increased Russian territory by his annexation of Baltic provinces filched from the Swedes. Perhaps he was prepared to interfere in continental squabbles when the chance came. But he died suddenly in 1725, and for thirty- seven years afterward Russia remains a land torn by rival factions, with sovereigns following one another in rapid succession, with anarchy in its government and disaffection among its people. Then, in 1762, the quieting, tolerant hand of Catherine assumed control. Under her, there was restored a semblance of order, and she even succeeded in extending the borders of Russia, with the interested connivance of two other royal malefactors, the king of Prussia and the queen of Austria. Under Catherine, French influence in her land grew rapidly, yet not enough to offset the dramatic indifference of our panderers to the public. As La Grande Encyclopedie puts it : " " Tome 28, Article " Russie." 274 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA En somme, la Russie du 18™^ siecle presente k I'Europe h peu prds le meme spectacle que la Turquie. And, of these two, Turkey was to our audiences more alluring with all her Oriental trappings, consisting of amorous sultans, mischievous cadis, and mys- terious ladies of the harems. A rapid glance over the political interminglings of France and the nations of the east will reveal the fact that, generally, the policy of France is either indifferent, or actively counter to that pursued by the others. Poland is a good example of these con- trary currents of policy. This fact, taken with what we have tried to indicate as the historical insignificance for the French of these various lands on the east,^* may serve to explain a little the noticeable lack of interest that we are about to trace in the few char- acters we have culled from those nations. 2. Characters from the Nations to the East of France In 1776 the count of Provence, brother to Louis XVI, gave his sister-in-law, Marie Antoinette, a glorious reception. To mark the occasion, Voltaire was asked to write a divertissement, a request with which he gallantly complied. He got his ideas from a playlet given in Vienna sixty years before. It consisted of a series of songs and lines, bound to- gether in a very artificial way. Voltaire thus de- scribes it: 1^ " With the exception of Austria, of course, in whose case we have tried to suggest another explanation. « In his letter to AI. de Cromot, Sept. 20, 1776. Cf. Correspondance, Vol. 18, No. 9847. Ed. Gamier Freres. THE MINOR NATIONS 275 II y a une fete fort c61ebre a Vienne qui est celle de I'Hole et de I'Hotessc: I'empereur est I'hote et Fimperatrice est I'hotesse; lis regoivent tous les voyageurs qui viennent souper et coucher chez eux et donnent un bon repas a table d'hote. Tous les voyageurs sont habilMs a I'ancien mode du pays; chacun fait de son mieux pour cajoler respe ctueuse- ment son hotesse; apres quoi, tous dansent ensemble. The choice of this Viennese playlet is easily under- stood when we remember that Voltaire, wise old man, was trying to please Marie Antoinette, who had been born in Vienna. Yet the divertissement is evidently the work of a man whose dramatic in- stinct had weakened considerably. His travelers are truly exotic, — Laplanders, Chinese, Tartars; and instead of witty lines, they are made to utter queer grunts which are supposed to represent the sounds of their native tongues. An odd fete it must have seemed to those who were present, an Austrian cele- bration without a single Austrian in it. Yet, in this foreign festival, it is important to notice that the foreigners introduced are in the main from the East; we are entertained by a medley of Chinese, Japanese, Turks, and Tartars. When an author is quite ignorant of the life and customs of a far-away country, it is natural for him to associate with it the characteristics of near-by people, better known. It therefore becomes a sort of habit to confound semi-Eastern nations with the lands that he in that direction. The height of this bewilder- ment is illustrated in a play " by Jean Baptists Rousseau. In one scene there arises in a motley gathering of poets, philosophers, and drunkards, a " Le Caffe (1695). 276 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA discussion on a war with Hungary. Suddenly some one asks the embarrassing question, where is Hun- gary? Our ignoramuses try to place it everywhere. We find it in Constantinople, in Belgrade, and in Babylon. Finally we learn that it is ruled by a grand vizier. This humorous exaggeration certainly contains some basis of fact. It indicates at least an unacquaintance, a strangeness, an uncanny distance in relation and understanding. Such merry jests often reveal a lack of knowledge. As a confession of remoteness from or lack of instruction regarding Hungary, Lesage's Sophie et Sigismond (1732) is a masterpiece. No amount of wilful blundering could bring about the absurd effects we find in this play. Even if Lesage knew better, in order to portray Hungarian life as he does, he must have relied largely upon the consent granted by general ignorance to his perversion, and not alto- gether upon the accepted exaggerative comic mold into which all plays given at the Foires, or Fairs, had to be poured. In this play we meet Sigismond, prince of Hungary, who has fallen in love with Sophie, daughter of Frederic, one of his father's sub- jects. The king, for political reasons, has already arranged a marriage for his son with the princess of Bohemia, who is to arrive momentarily. To solve his sad difficulty, the prince determines to meet Sophie at midnight in her father's garden, and there, with a few trusty friends as witnesses, marry her. This plan fails because of the unexpected appear- ance of Fr^d^ric, Sophie's father, in the fateful gar- den, an event that causes Sigismond to sneak off in a most undignified manner. Fr^d^ric's suspicions THE MINOR NATIONS 277 are aroused; and when he questions Diane, Sophie's sister, he concludes because of her embarrassed si- lence that is it she whom the prince has been court- ing. As a loyal subject he feels it his duty to report the prince to his sovereign. The latter immediately, as a preventive measure, marries Diane off to one of his lords. In the meantime Sophie, with the aid of the usual stock of abettors, Pierrot, Arlequin, and Frontin, has concocted a scheme to outwit her father. She arrives at the king's court in disguise, with her followers dressed up as Bohemians, and claims to be Ellenore, the Bohemian princess so impatiently awaited. Nobody except the prince penetrates her disguise, and the ruse is about to succeed, when the party of the real princess arrives, heralded by Scara- mouche, who j^ells (sc. 17): lo son' corriero della principessa El^onora. Perhaps his Italian was meant to sound like Bohe- mian. The princess is, however, not with her party, for the very good reason that she has been kidnapped on her journey by the prince of Russia, in whose company she has apparently willingly changed her course. The king of Hungary thereupon pardons Sophie's imposture and marries her to his son. The nature of the plot alone might indicate the significant fact that Hungary was still dramatically a land where such improbabilities could occur. But there are, in addition, countless touches in the play, clownish, overdrawn, extravagant, which emphasize this impression still further. The royal family are treated most disrespectfully, Arlequin interrupting even the king with familiar buffooneries. When the 278 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA prince asks Arlequin for his opinion concerning the king's probable attitude toward his clandestine mar- riage with Sophie, the clown replies in his droll way, unabashed by royalty (sc. 14): Je demeure avec vous d'accord Qu'il fera le diable d'abord. Comme tout pere, Dans sa colere, Comme tout pere, II grondera, Piaillera, Pestera, Jurera, Frappera, Puis son courroux s'appaisera. And later, Pierrot has his fling, when as a pretended envoy of the princess of Bohemia, he unblushingly praises her beauty in the minutest detail before the royal assemblage. Last of all comes the surprising turn, when we learn that the princess has scampered off with her preferred suitor, the prince of Russia. This serious breach of royal good faith does not seem here to entail grave international complications. In fact, our minds easily become adjusted to this different atmosphere of life and conduct, and we cease being surprised at the vagaries of Hungarians or others in these plays. Accordingly, in these semi-Oriental surroundings, what inore natural way could there be for arranging marriages than to have, as in the pres- ent case, first, the agreement of the roj-al parents, second, the informing of the bridal parties, and third, the voyage of the princess to her future husband? THE MINOR NATIONS 279 Her parents do not go with her, the prince does not fetch her; custom prescribes that she travel to him with her credentials. In these dispositions, we are reminded of the marriages of old that we have met in our historical plaj's with Spanish characters. There, too, in that mystical atmosphere of the past, royal lovers moved about in the same conventions. Let us cite one more of the Oriental characteristics that might be said generally to distinguish these plays. This is the element of disguise. We have met it above. "We find it again in Boindin's Le Port de Mer (1704). In that ridiculous skit, Brigantin, a French sailor, finds it convenient to disguise him- self as a woman. His purpose is to pose as a vic- tim of the redoubtable Doutremer, a fierce pirate, who, he says, has made him his thirteenth wife. To cause the story to seem more likely, Brigantin claims he is a woman from Slavonia, in Hungary, where he had lived peacefully as a fortune-teller till the horrid Doutremer interfered and took him, alias her, to a harem in Constantinople. This associa- tion of a province in Hungary with this distinctly Oriental plot is perhaps insignificant in itself, yet it adds to the general impression we get that Hungary, as a land of dramatic adventure, has its face turned towards the East rather than towards the West. In all that we have seen so far of Austrian or Hungarian character, we have been transferred to a remote world of improbability. It would be inter- esting to find at least one play that attempted to picture the every-day life of ordinary people, and here Jean Jacques Rousseau comes to the rescue. In his Les Prisonniers de Guerre, we meet martial 280 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA Hungary in its relation to a French prisoner. Do- rante, the captive in question, has naturally used the opportunity of his enforced idleness to entrance the daughter of his guard, a gentleman called Goternitz. The latter, aside from the fact that he has already engaged his daughter to another man, could never consent to her marriage with Dorante, because of his intolerant aversion to Frenchmen, a feeling aroused mainly by rumors of their loose morals. And sud- denly his conversion occurs, as we have seen it hap- pen with other anti-Gallicans. Frederich, his son, an officer in the Hungarian army, who had been cap- tured half-dead by the French and nursed back to health, returns to his land glowing with enthusiasm for his captors. The father is so touched at this noble example of French kindness, that his daughter's insistence finally wins his consent to her marriage with Dorante. In this story we certainly get a reflection of the war-life of the time, for the Hungarians are pictured as a people distinctly inimical to France. Goternitz and his friend Macker, both honest burghers, have violent prejudices against the French. Goternitz voices his thought very crudely when he says (sc. 10) : Enfin, je tiens que c'est une nation avec laquelle 11 est mieux de toute fagon de n'avoir aucun commerce: trop orgueil- leux amis, trop redoutables ennemis, heureux qui n'a rien a d^meler avec eux. Macker too voices his disapproval of Dorante and his ways (sc. 3) : C'est qu'il m'iiuporte k moi que vous appreniez que j e ne suis pas d'avis que ma femme vWe a la frangalse. THE MINOR NATIONS 281 Their antipathy does not seem basic or logical. It plainly has its source in the refined politeness of their enemies, to which they feel rudely superior because they do not understand it. Their prejudice can also be traced to their moral shock at the stories of notorious French conduct. These notions have of course been communicated to the young Sophie, who accordingly distrusts her French lover at first. Says she (sc. 6) : Volages Frani^ais! que les femmes sont heureuses que vos infidelites les tiennent en garde contre vos seductions. St vous etiez aussi constans que vous etes aimables, quels coeurs vous resisteraient? She feels, as many girls of other nations have felt, the irresistible appeal of the attractive young French- man, and she shows the resulting struggle in her heart between her love and her inbred knowledge of her foreign lover's probable characteristics. These three Hungarians, father and daughter and friend, are finally converted to a genuine liking for the French, a feeling as strong as was their former disfavor. The young Frederich, too, comes home healed and well, and praises his generous enemies prodigiously. Finally, when Sophie is married to Dorante, she seems to be inspired to penetration of the meaning of love for the French, as she utters the words at the end of the play: Tant que je plairai a Dorante, je m'estimerai la plus glo- rieuse de toutes les femmes. In this declaration she makes herself a French woman of the eighteenth century in the very essence of her 282 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA love, for she bases her sole glory in her power to please and attract her husband. From all that has been said, it is evident that in Rousseau's play the intention was not primarily to depict Hungarian character, but rather to show how it reacted in contact with the French. Goternitz and Macker can only be rudely estimated as rough, un- refined men of good feeling. Hungarians, whenever referred to, are spoken of as fighters, and very cruel ones. Dorante says of them (sc. 3) : Quoique la vraie valeur soit inseparable de la generosite, je sals, malgr^ la cruaute de la votre ^^ en estimer la bravoure. Goternitz himself admits that in a comparison with French soldiers, those of his own nation would suf- fer somewhat (sc. 10) : On ne saurait nier qu'ils '^ se montrent plus humains et plus genereux que nous. Here we have detached at least one tangible charac- teristic from these plays on Hungarians. We have learned that to the French mind they figure as fierce and merciless fighters. This tallies with the facts of contemporary historj-. The Hungarian regiment of the adventurer Frangois de Trenck, had acquired in the middle of the eighteenth century a terrible reputation for its cruelties in Silesia. The term pandour was finally applied to these irregular troops composed of Hungarians, Croatians, Servians, and Roumanians, all in the service of Austria and all barbarous in their methods of warfare. In Favart's 1' He refers to "nation." " Frenchmen. THE MINOR NATIONS 283 L'Ecole des Amours Grivois (1744), we meet a real live pandour, a deserter from the ranks on the fields of Belgium. He is rough, boorish, unkempt, and is continually in search of a lady-love. One of the women attracted conveys to him in his own language that she is quite amenable:^" JNIa dier modou moy dobri priteli. Later she receives the instruction: {La Bergere chante des paroles Hongroises) ^^ French soldiers are of course here pictured as far superior to these Hungarian boors. The pandour certainly does not shed glory on his nation, when he comes popularly to represent the nature of its jtnili- tary prowess. One does not stop to consider the fact that ever}" army has its pandours; one is so tempted, especially on the stage, to allow certain outstanding traits to represent the mass of a nation's soldiery, indeed the nation itself. There is nothing of real value to be found in our plays concerning Bohemia; only occasional slight references. We have already met Scaramouche as the ambassador of the princess of Bohemia, and we have witnessed her unaccountable preference for a Eussian prince instead of an Hungarian. In Saint Foix's Le Philosophe Dupe de I' Amour (1726), we are introduced to a very general type of woman, one that we meet in other comedies besides those that draw their characters from the eastern nations of Europe. This is the fortune-teller or the bohemienne. As in 20 Scene 4. Some of the words are Hungarian, but the phrase seems to have no sense. 284 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA this case, she often has some necromantic name like Urgantia. Her chief abilities lie in the direction of making money, and her predictions are often frank statements of past fact. Generally speaking, the ho- hemienne, not necessarily a woman from Bohemia, is not to be found in plays that have any pretension to plot, for she is most fond of appearing in nonsen- sical vaudeville acts, called Divertissements. In this way she resembles a host of outlandish properties, like dancing savages, Greek and Roman soldiers. Oriental priests, and gambling Catalans, all of whom modestly prefer to appear in prologues or in epi- logues. They have no intimate dramatic purpose, of course, but serve to heighten the effects of num- bers, and to add to the amusement of the occasion. In all that has been said so far about Hungarians and allied characters, certainly the most obvious fact gathered is the lack of interest in them revealed by our writers. One of the chief causes for this is ignorance regarding these distant lands, and an attendant lack of curiosity. But we must empha- size the fact that this condition was not individual nor restricted. It was true even of travelers, for they rarely wended their way in the northeasterly direction. Yet we might argue that ignorance could be taken as an opportunity by some enterprising writers with a genius for novelty, to exploit oddities and fancies. This is exactly what happens in the plays with Oriental settings, and also with those that have such queer characters as Roman or Greek deities, or such exotic figures as inhabitants of the Congo, or of the Pacific islands. In the case of the plays with Hungarian or similar types, we THE MINOR NATIONS 285 find no such inclination toward the exploitation of fantastic form or plot, except in one play. This occurs in Boissy's La Vie est un Songe (1732). In this Comedie hcroique we learn about the king of Poland and his queer antics. When his son is born, he consults an oracle on the babe's career and discovers to his horror that his offspring is to lead a most criminal life. All this sounds quite Greek. Now comes the romantic medieval element. The king, frightened by these dire predictions, im- prisons his son in a far-away impregnable castle. There Sigismond grows up under the care of a kind governor, all the while violently rebellious at his un- deserved imprisonment. The king, softened in time, journeys to the castle to see his son and to find out, by testing him, whether he is such a bloodthirsty maniac as the oracle had pictured him. To accom- plish his pm-pose, the king administers a sleeping draught, and has" the insensible prince transferred to his palace. When Sigismond awakes, his new-born freedom at first intoxicates him and, in the height of his gladness, he instinctively thirsts for revenge on those who had restrained him all his years in a dungeon. His anger consequently bursts forth fre- quently as he exercises his royal powers. There is only one person at the court who can curb him in his impetuous moments, and that is Sophronie, the king's niece, with whom the unfortunate prince has fallen in love. But alas! The king, disappointed in his son and convinced of the truth of the oracular dictum, has resolved to return Sigismond to his prison. In this highly laudable design he is op- posed by Sophronie, who finally resorts to revolu- 286 EUEOPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA tion, for be it understood that the people of Poland share her indignation at the treatment that their prince has received from his father. All ends well when Sophronie easily overcomes the prince's blood- thirsty inclinations and completely changes his na- ture, so that he now wins the confidence of all by his kindness. The king, too, is touched by his gen- erosity, and obligingly abdicates. One naturally hesitates to call the play silly, first, be- cause it is written in Boissy's facile and stately alex- andrine, and, second, because the plot certainly has possibilities, as Caldehon's La Vida es Sueno elo- quently testifies, and as Grillparzer proves again in his Der Traum ein Leben. But even our short descrip- tion must show its crudities and its improbabilities. It all sounds like an Arabian Night's concoction, and it is very interesting to have it all happen in Poland. In that country, then, we observe a prince shut up in a dungeon for twenty years by his father, on the strength of an oracular assertion. We must also realize that Poland is a land where dreams have significance. No wonder the king is troubled by his queen's dream that a monster would be sent to kill her. What more natural than to believe the boy was the monster, since at his birth his mother died? The one dominating figure in the play is that of the old king. In his august presence, the wild ravings of Sigismond are attenuated, if not entirely silenced. The king, as is usual with royalty, has a sort of halo about him, so that by this alone he is recognizable to sensitive eyes. The prince, who does not know him yet, says (II, 4): THE MINOR NATIONS 287 Je me sens arreter par son air respectable . . . Qui done es-tu! Riponds, 6 vieillard venerable! De qui I'aspect aussi noble que doux, A le pouvoir d'enchalner mon courroux; It might have seemed a httle ridiculous for this venerable monarch to imprison his son in such crazy fashion. Yet he is saved from the ridiculous by his sublime sense of importance and by his tre- mendous devotion to his kingdom. He claims that it is the safety and welfare of his subjects that justify him in his barbarous treatment of the violent prince (II, 10) : Un Roi n'ecoute point Famour ni son caprice, II n'entend, il ne suit que la seule Justice; Yet this Polish potentate is dramatically not free from certain stage requirements, and since the ubiq- uitous Arlequin is the court-jester, the king has to submit for the sake of French audiences to sundry liberties and familiarities. Thus, when he decides to free his son temporarily, Arlequin rushes to the monarch, exclaiming:-^ Papa Roi, pour ce trait ^clatant, Souffrez qu' Arlequin vous embrasse; then he embraces him. Is it that the court-jester at the Polish court enjoj^ed greater liberty than others of his mocking brotherhood? For later, ^^ Arlequin resorts to sterner measures in order to make royalty laugh, and actually tickles the prince, Sigismond, when the latter orders him to be amusing. A little 21 End of Act 1. 22 Act 2, Scene 6. 288 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA act like this" induces a sort of homelike feeling in a court, though it makes the Polish royal circle seem somewhat provincial. Similar to Boissy's play, for its extravagance of imagination and incredibility of plot, is Lesage's Zemine et Almanzor (1730). This play will serve to show us that treatment similar to that of Hungary and Poland is accorded to Russia; for the scene of this extravaganza is in Astrakhan, a southeastern province near the Caspian sea. In the noble capital of "Astracan," we find a king, who, like his Polish prototype cited above, is horribly worried about the character of his heir. To ascertain his true nature, he has had him brought up far from court, as the son of a shepherd. For vague reasons he has adopted as his daughter Zemine, who is really the daughter of Abenazar, the shepherd who is guarding the prince. In the course of years the royal heir, grown up, has joined the army, and distinguished himself so conspicuously that he has risen to the rank of vizder. He has become a great favorite with the king who has even promised him his daughter. Then, into the midst of this bright Oriental atmos- sphere, there breaks a disturbing factor, none other than the prince of Russia, Alinguer. He woos Timur-Can's daughter, and, realizing that his main obstacle is Almanzor, the brave young vizier, he determines to poison the king's mind against him. He accomplishes this easily by telling Timur-Can of certain clandestine visits Almanzor pays to a hidden treasure which he is keeping for himself. The brewing tempest soon blows over when it is discovered that the cache which the vizier visits so THE MINOR NATIONS 289 secretly contains only his old discarded shepherd's clothes. The king then takes him back into favor, reveals his true birth, and also that of his supposed daughter. The play ends with their marriage. It is interesting to trace the similarities between this plot in a Russo-Oriental court and the preceding one which has its scene in a Polish court. We find the same doubt exhibited by the kings regarding their scions; we find that these suspicions are baseless, and that the princes are restored to their rights. These common traits are significant even if BoissY, whose play was given in 1732, had been inspired by Lesage, who wrote his in 1730. As was the case in Hungary, a Russian prince is found in love with a beauty in a far-away province. He is traveling incognito and, except for one servant, has no one with him. It seems almost normal for these royal scions of the East to travel thus among neighboring kingdoms. We are led to think that their majestic parents, feeling it is time for their sons to marry, send them off to find wives. Would that it could be so ! We do not find in our plays the princes of countries nearer to France acting in the same enviably free manner. Our royal Russian gal- lant is pictured as a rather fearless lover, and as not exerting himself too daintily in his words and man- ners. He is spoken of as coming from a neighboring province that is very powerful and to be feared. This might indicate that the time of the action of the play is before 1554, since that is the year when the kingdom of Astrakhan was definitely incorpo- rated as part of the Russian realm. Regarding Russia, the sad lack of dramatic ma- 290 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA terial is a definite assurance of the absence of gen- eral interest in that country. Perhaps our record of such a negative result has in itself some value. We have to report only a single reference to Rus- sia as an existing country, pulsating with modern hfe and progress. This is to be found in a play by Madame de Genlis.^^ Here we meet a young trav- eler just back from his experiences in England, Spain, Italy, and Holland, who is sketching his next trip. He intends to go north, he assures us (II, 3): Oui, je compte faire le voyage du Nord. J'irai d'abord en Russie, parce que je ih^dite un ouvrage sur les progres des Russes dans les arts et dans la politique . . Et puis je veux connaitre la Suede, le Danemarck. This knowledge which he seeks regarding Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, is certainly not commonly possessed by Frenchmen. Neither is his interest. Similarly, little interest is shown for the Scandi- navian-^ group of kingdoms, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. During the eighteenth century, Norway and Denmark formed one monarchy, political^ un- concerned with continental affairs, connected in- directly only by a prospering commercial marine. Sweden, because of the heroic part she had taken in European religious wars under Gustavus Adolphus, had assumed a prominence which reached its cul- mination in 1648. Thereafter, through a mistaken policy which involved her in futile rivalries with her enemies, Russia and Austria, she steadily declined, 2' Le Voijagcur, Thedlrc (rEddcation. '* For the sake of completeness, we include here these few bare comments on the remaining minor nations, though, of course, they cannot be classed as eastern European. THE MINOR NATIONS 291 till she fell into a complete state of anarchy in 1718, after the death of her last great miUtary leader, Charles XII. From this time on, Sweden no longer counts among the armed nations of Europe; and, though she makes up for this military decUne by a steady progress toward civihzation, her relations with the greater powers are not of prime importance, and therefore not likely to enter into the conscious- ness of the people of any particular nation. This decline of power is also explained by the decrease of population in Sweden due to her wars. In 1720 there were only about 1,350,000 inhabitants, and by 1768 there were barely two millions. Sweden was a nation whose great history in the past had cost her her present. Poorest of all then is our dramatic record of Swe- den and Denmark. There is nothing further to say than that there is nothing to say. This may seem at first thought extraordinary. Yet, upon fur- ther reflection, we remark that even upon a stage so international as the modern American, the ap- pearance of Danish or Swedish characters, Ibsenites excepted, is far from frequent. There is an endless succession of Englishmen and Frenchmen, and a copious flow of Germans, Austrians, Italians, Span- iards (a trickling of the latter), and other continen- tals. All of which goes to prove that the tendency of the stage in the matter of foreign characters is to reflect an interest, generally passing in its nature, in some question aroused by the trend of the times. We might add here, in reference to another minor nation, that there is a complete dearth of Portuguese characters. The French, as a nation, had very httle 292 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA to do with that seacoast country. England because of her interest in Gibraltar had practically monopo- lized the political significance of Portugal, and this intimacy aroused a strong interest which is abund- antly reflected in contemporary English drama. In the case of France the law of interest applies nega- tively with Portugal. We can from our study of plays with figures from the minor nations point out very few traits that sound realistic or even indicative of a desire to make closer acquaintance with the originals. Our French audiences did not care, evidently. We did find the German Swiss pictured as drinkers and brawlers, avid for money and riotous living. The Flemish and Dutch seemed in the main similarly gifted, the for- mer having a little more virtuous aspect, the latter a notoriously carefree and immoral existence. In all of these nations we found a slight sprinkling of good honest folk with homely virtues, among which there figured prominently a gigantic admiration for the French. Our labors were least successful in the countries lying to the east of France, Austria, Hun- gary, Bohemia, Poland, Russia. In the main, we found these lands assuming an Oriental character, as if they had ceased their relationship with the Western world and turned their faces toward the East. History tells us that this characterization is not far from correct, since all through the century, and indeed down to the present, these countries have been attracted politically or territorially to the lands of the rising sun. We have detached very few quali- ties that give these nations a contemporary and prac- tical aspect, except those of war. These references THE MINOR NATIONS 293 are naturalh' occasional, tinged with their circum- stances, and therefore possessed of Httle permanent vahie. In the hght of this study we have to con- clude that France has dramatically an insignificant sense of relationship or interest in these countries. FRANCE AND THE OTHER NATIONS OF EUROPE FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS A GLANCE at our chapters will show that in the main we have tried to reveal how foreigners appear in dranaa to French eyes. We have hinted here and there at how Frenchmen thought they appeared to foreign eyes, but, except in the case of Enghshmen where a systematic presentation of this view was necessary, we have made no effort to reflect fully all we have found on the impressions made by French- men upon foreigners. The present chapter is to include a few of the additional aspects of these international relationships. Besides, it is but natural that, at the right dramatic occasion, our authors should stage expressions of thought concerning dif- ferent nations at the same time. An attempt to register opinion regarding European countries they have visited is frequently made by recently returned travelers. Such utterances cannot very well be in- cluded under any particular nation, and they will therefore be presented ' in this chapter of compara- tive study. In general, these returned travelers are young men who have gone off in a spirit of adventure, without too much curiosity regarding ethnological and geo- graphical distinctions. Being Frenchmen, they feel also that they have a peculiar kind of reputation to maintain; and upon their return, many do not hesi- 298 ETJEOPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA tate to give such a detailed list of their fair conquests abroad, that one is tempted to believe that the amorous quest was the sole purpose of their travels. In this way, among our authors, we find rich com- parative studies on love in the different countries, almost convincing in their garb of witty generahza- tion. These, too, we shall include to some extent. The purpose of this chapter then is to give that general point of view regarding the European na- tions that a separate study of divers lands cannot afford. I — Frenchmen ^^'e cannot include here more than a summary of the way authors picture their fellow-countrymen in their relation with the men and women — women need to be mentioned — of other countries. We find almost always in the Gallic gentleman a being full of gay elegance and witty shrewdness. His manners would distinguish him as vastly superior in any com- pany of foreigners, and he eventually becomes the high functionary par excellence ,of all social occa- sions. So he travels to Spain and Italy and is feared because of his heartless sway over the black- eyed damsels of those countries. In Germany, we find him dominating his fellow-oflficers by his shrewd wit and gallant bearing. He is at first shocked in England by the general roughness he meets, a rude- ness, he finds, that is only apparent and not real. There he makes little impression on the girlhood of the country, but a good deal more on the male youth, for the English "bucks" are attracted by his social graces and clever repartee, all of which they FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 299 lack. On many occasions, our traveling Frenchmen meet an indifferent welcome, caused by insistent rumors regarding their loose morals and their reck- less amorous intentions. This character so gener- ally assigned to them arouses distrust, which is always allayed at the end of each play by the French lover proving himself to be as trustworthy as any other gallant. The freedom of French women is greatly admired, especially by the women of coun- tries like Spain and Turkey, where feminine exist- ence seems a kind of serfdom when compared with the astonishing liberties afforded their wives by Frenchmen. These in general are the main facts. For further suggestive touches, outside of those to be presented in the course of this chapter, we can refer to the individual plays mentioned in this study where French characters intermingle with foreign ones. Any such play is likely to contain a great many shrewd observations regarding these relationships. Since the purpose of our study is to emphasize the foreign aspect of things as seen by French eyes, we hasten on to the more comparative study of the nationalities. II — European Nationalities It may be that the countries of Europe were some- times thought unfit by our authors to govern them- selves. Or it may be that such sentiments were expressed in the heat of emotion and in the classic exaggeration that occurs in every well-written di- vertissement. At any rate, we discover quite fre- quently an alarming desire on the part of foreigners 300 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN TRENCH DRAMA to submit to French dominion, even politically. We have already seen how whole-heartedly the Flemish ^ preferred the reign of wine under Louis of France to the beery control of the Austrians. In England, too, we find a marked subservience in matters social and graceful to French mentors. The attitude of Spain and Italy is best reflected by Voltaire in his ditty sung by a Spaniard and a Neapolitan : ^ A jamais de la France Recevons nos rois; Que la meme vaillance Triomphe sous les memes lois. This is indeed a whole shower of bouquets upon one's own compatriots, evidently thrown to please the Bourbons. Yet there is a method beneath this madness that we are beginning to-day to perceive when we speak of the United States of Europe. The sentiment Que la meme vaillance Triomphe sous les m^mes lois should reverberate insistently throughout the armed camps of the continent. This deference on the part of other nations to French political precedence is probably patriotically exaggerated by our enthusiastic writers. Such ref- erences are found mainly in plays written in war- times, when the very atmosphere was tinged with great living and high deeds and when one's heart was keenly attuned to the nobility of one's own land. ' Chapter, The Netherlanders, p. 264. 2 La Princesse de A^amrre (1745). In the dircrtisscment. FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 301 Yet there are countless indications of French pre- cedence in matters of social etiquette that can leave us in no doubt regarding the savoir-vivre so com- pletely monopolized by the gallant nation. We have already included in our previous studies refer- ences which hghtly picture this influence among the peoples of Europe. We seek here only to trace a larger and more worthy influence exerted by the French and for which they give themselves credit only tacitly. This is the transformation wrought in European courts by the influx of the French lan- guage and its sharpening tendencies upon the mind. When we note that French was spoken in all the great royal, literary, and social circles and in many minor ones, we can hardly overestimate the wide- spread effect of French culture upon the civilized world. In the seventeenth century the teachings of the Cartesian philosophy had gone forth; in the eighteenth the gospel of reason and French esprit had wrought its results and had called such dis- ciples as Voltaire to Prussia, Diderot to Russia, and Rousseau to England. In the nineteenth, the channels in which flowed these sweepimg currents widened and the whole world felt itself quiver at the aftermath of the French Revolution. It. is sur- prising then that we find in our plays so few traces of this greater mental influence so wonderfully ex- erted by the French. Yet, when we realize that the comic form of drama can hardly convey such a thought without running the risk of boring its sprightly audiences, our surprise diminishes. Dra- matic writers would so much rather choose the socially graceful antics of their characters as these 302 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA afford an obvious field for comic treatment. BoissY ventures once to note the transformations accom- plished by French esprit, and this he does in a kind of allegory which permits all sorts of allusions : ^ L'Europe maintenant, & qui plus est I'Asie, Presentent a nos yeux un different tableau. Le beau sexe n'est plus esclave en Italie, Et Ton volt du vin en Turquie. Et Ton fait des vers en Russie. Russia turned literary! Can one imagine anything that could ever accomplish that? On the other hand, we must not imagine that France feigns ignorance of or is ungrateful for the lavish gifts she receives from other nations. In the same play, Boissy makes his clever acknowledgment to Englishmen and Italians (so. 4) : Je ne prononce point entre Londre et Florence: J'apprends a chanter d'elle & de vous a penser. C'est ainsi, de vos dons, que j'enrichis la France. Music from Italy and philosophy from London sound characteristic enough. But we find, as we progress in our study of the travel impressions of our gay voyagers, a host of things they bring home. • Let us see, for example, what the Marquis of Florange * has to say regarding his adventures in Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Italy, and England: 3 La FrivoHU (1753), Scene 2. ^ Boissy, Le Mari Garion (1742), Act 1, Scene 6. FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 303 J'ai parcouru sans faire residence, L'Allemagne, la Suisse, oil I'on m'a forcement Enseigne I'art de boire altcmativement En meme pot qui fait la ronde; Et de m'enivrer propreiiaent Pele-mele avec tout le monde. Puis j'ai vu la Hollande, ou I'esprit, I'agr^ment, Ou le plaisir parait un etre imaginaire; Oil le vrai savoir-vivre, oil le grand art de plaire, Est I'art de commereer toujours utilement. J'ai fait le tour de I'ltalie: La, j'ai, pendant dix mois, subsist6 de concert, Ou n'ai vecu que de dessert : En decoration, ou bien en symphonie. On vous y traite, on y fait les honneurs; Un concerto, des fruits, des glaces, des liqueurs, II est vrai d'un gout admirable, Accompagnes de parfums et de fleurs, Composent le repas & remplissent la table: Bref, c'est un pays merveilleux. Oil I'art y sert de nourriture; On n'y soupe jamais, on y dine en peinture, Et Ton n'y mange que des yeux. J'ai termine ma course a Londre. On y salt tous les arts, hors I'art de converser: La parole est un bien qu'on craint d'y depenser. Pour se donner la peine de repondre. On est trop occupe du travail de penser. How well caricatured these countries appear in these lines! How they add to and re-enforce what we have already seen of each individually! The Germans and the Swiss are just heavy drinkers. The Dutch we find again are mainly merchants, too busy for anything else in life but trade. Italians are essen- tially] artists, their air and food consisting entirely of 304 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA painting, sculpture, and music. Finally we renew acquaintance with the taciturn Englishman and redis- cover that he is too busy thinking to do much speaking. The foregoing lecture on nations is certainly the work of an observant author, gifted in expression and richly endowed with that famous French quality they dub esprit. Our plays are full of this in the sharp witty exchange of dialogue and in the keen power of observation displayed. The posses- sion of this sparkling mental faculty must afford huge enjoyment; yet, according to one important writer, Marivaux, who looks about him at the other European nations, there are compensations for those who do not possess it. He says sadly: ^ Pour de I'esprit, nous en avons a n'en savoir que faire; nous en mettons partout, mais de jugement, de reflexion, de flegme, de sagesse, en un mot, de cela {montrant son front), n'en parlons plus. Frenchmen, then, while noting their superiority in quick and ready social repartee, are quite willing to yield the torch of pure thought into the hands of others, usually the English or the Swiss. Madame DE Genlis puts this idea aptly when one of her characters says : ^ En Italie, mes observations n'ont tou16 que sur le materiel; il ne faut la que de la memoire, et des j'eux, on n'y peut rM^chir que sur le pass6; mais c'est en Suisse, en Angleterre, qu'il faut chercher des etres pensans et des tetes bien orga- nist; des id^es d'une profondeur! ... lis ont sur nous Favantage d'une raison g^ometre et m^thodique, et nous ne ' L'Isle de la Raison (1728), Scene 1. ^ Le Voyageur, Thidtre d' Education, Act 2, Scene 5. FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 305 sommes pas en mesure de pouvoir comparer notre logique a la leur. The energetic Swiss and the profound Englishman are thus crowned by our frank dramatic authors with logical powers that transcend those of their own nation. Italians they invest with a tendency toward the development of memory, since that is the faculty which a country whose greatness lies mainly in the past is likely to possess. These interesting international comparisons are carried on in a multitude of ways by our dramatic authors. We have already cited a few. Let us here add another that is extremely amusing and especially up to date. In DezJide's Auguste et Theodore (1789), we find ourselves in a German hotel, presumably Prussian, where the proprietor makes special efforts to attract traveling guests. To help him, he natu- rally employs waiters of different nationalities. He has an Englishman, an Itahan, a Frenchman, and a German. He soon dismisses the first three for rea- sons which we shall let him explain (sc. 3): L'Anglois etoit insolent, meprisant tout ce qui n'est pas de sa nation, & toujours tout pret a faire le coup de poing avec le premier qu'il rencontroit sur son chemin. Can one not easily recognize by these features the battling Tommy with his rough and ready ways, perhaps a little unsuited to the dignified caUing of waiter ? L'ltalien etoit faux, hipocrite et vindicatif, d'ailleurs tres suspect du cote de la fid^lite. See in these few adjectives the summing up of the quaUties of the adventurous Italians who left home 306 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA to win fortune abroad. We have met them plying busily their calling as teachers of art and language, and surreptitiously adding to their income in divers questionable ways. The hotel-proprietor dismissed the Frenchman, alas! can we not guess why? His goings-on with the maids made them entirely undependable in their work. And, let us note that the German waiter survives this general ■ dispersion. We are not left in doubt as to why. Says the proprietor to him (sc. 4): Fidele AUemand, je n'ai pas besoin de te recommander. . . . Answers the waiter (le Gargon Allemand) : Vous me connoissez, Monsieur; sans faire beaucoup de bruit, je fais tout doucement mon devoir. Which is very characteristic of him, if we are to believe our own eyes. Lesage contrives another ingenious way to have us see the world in contrast; and his method is so clever that he can make us travel at will from con- tinent to continent, indeed from planet to planet. He introduces us in his Une J our nee des Parques to the three Parcae or sister Fates spinning, meas- uring, and cutting life threads. Naturally they serve all of mankind and so we gather in their dia- logue many interesting contemporary comments, clothed in Lesage 's inimitable sarcasm. The sis- ters, we find, are bloodthirsty hags who cut life threads merely for amusement, or sometimes for exercise, or again to try out a new pair of scissors. We see with them on the Turkish and Persian fron- FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 307 tier thirty thousand engaged in battle. The Fates slaughter them all. Then we fly back to French,, Piedmontese, and Prussian armies on the river Po. Again the sisters cut fast and furiously. At a siege in Germany, they recklessly determine to kill more of the invaders than the invaded. Suddenly we find ourselves hovering over a Venetian vessel on the Adriatic sea. A tempest arises, the ship is wrecked, and the sisters decree that all perish save one young Frenchman. He reaches shore on a spar. Taken to Constantinople, he becomes a Mussulman, but is im- paled because of his irreverence. Back to Italy we travel, right into the heart of the ruin and desola- tion wrought by an earthquake. Clotho, one of the sisters, objects to the slaughter of more than two thousand. For which humane prompting she is properly admonished by Atropos: ' Vous ne pensez pas a ce que vous dites, Clotho. Quand nous donnerions aujourd'hui la mort a deux cens mille personnes, ce ne feroit pas une nuit de Londres, de Paris et de Pekin. Then breathlessly on to Mexico and Peru, where we see further bloody occurrences perpetrated in the name of religion. In this international display of brutality, we get a little notion of the extent of Lesage's geographical acquaintance and of his perception of the futility of the contemporary clashes and battles. Most of our dramatic writers, however, adopt a directer method when they desire to introduce new figures from distant lands. They generally have a diver- tissement, which consists of a series of witty verses ' Premiere Stance. 308 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA with music, sung at the end of the regular comedy. This, in a way, corresponds to a modern interna- tional ballet. It makes no difference about the place where the action of the play, to which the di- vertissement is attached, occurs, any bizarre and striking figures can be used. So Houdart de La MoTTE, in his Le Magnifique * which has its scene in Florence, presents to us a wonderful array as the glittering gifts of his magnificent hero. Enter in the divertissement: Un Mexiquain & une M^xiquaine apportent des petits Coffres d'Or. Un Armenien et une Armenienne apportent des Ecrins de Pierreries. Un Persan, une Persane, un Chinois et une Chinoise appor- tent des Corbeilles remplies de riches etoffes. This splendid festival in all its gorgeous brilliance sounds a little prosaic in comparison with others we find that fetch their imagined characters from the corners of the globe, and indeed beyond. We thus have an opportunity of meeting Hurons, Iroquois, Australians, operatic performei's from the Congo, gorillas, Amazons, Olympic deities, and the galaxy of Greek and Roman heroes. No matter how ex- otic their nature, they all join hands and sing the poet's verses amicably. The divertissement always ends with a direct appeal to the audience, ask- ing them wittily to like the play or begging them humbly to do so. This musical epilogue is generally found after comic operas, after plays given by the Italian troupe or by other theaters, except the dig- s About 1705. TRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 309 nified Comedie Frangaise, and it makes an interesting study in its multitudinous ways of appeal to the ex- acting listeners. Because of the too foreign nature of the figures most frequently used, we cannot here include a study of them. It is rarely that we find an ordinary European conglomerate. Such is almost the case in Piron's La Robe de Dissention (1726), which has its scene in Spain. Here French, Spanish, Swiss, and Turkish figures sway side by side in their clownish and often lascivious enunciations of the moral of the play. In their songs there is nothing dis- tinctive about the singer's nationality, and so, from the point of view of our study, there can be little of profit in a further examination of them. There is one more opportunity afforded by our plays for an international display of characteristics, and this one is rather universal. After all, there can hardly be a play without a pair of lovers, and hardly a lover who would limit the extent of his pas- sion to the mere confines of this terrestrial atmosphere. Love being so peculiarly universal, it offers a rare opportunity then to our dramatic writers to describe its vagaries in other lands. For this reason a good part of our discussion in preceding chapters has dealt with the amorous manifestations of each na- tion. Yet we are not lacking in passionate disquisi- tions upon love and its ways in different lands. A few of these we present here. 310 EUROPEAN CHAKACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA III — Love in the European Countries To begin with, we must produce some evidence to prove that our authors knew whereof they were talking when they pictured dramatically the phe- nomena of love in the countries of their continent. Certainly no writer could pretend to an inclusive knowledge who was unfamiliar with the attributes of his female characters, the qualities in women that attract the men of their nation. Let us then hasten to dispel all doubt regarding the capabilities of our writers, by indicating what Palissot, a writer inferior to many we have met, has to say. In his Les Tuteurs (1754), Damis, a widely traveled lover, thus delineates the international traits of his "chere Julie" (III, 1): Elle a cet enjouement qui plait en Italic; Ce port majestueux qui charme en Circassie; Ces traits fins, delicats, ce brillant colons, Cet ceil vif, anim^, qu'on recherche a Paris; Cet air de liberty, rornement des Francoises; Cet eclat de blancheur naturel aux Angloises; Un pied qui dans P6kin n'auroit pas de rival: Here then is the ideal beauty who garners in her treasury all the loveliest features of her sisters on this globe, gayety from Italy, bearing and form from Circassia, animation and freedom from France, lily- whiteness from England, and the crowning touch, tiny feet from China. Let any one dispute in the face of this delicious display the rare capabilities of our dramatists. With this important fact established, let us now FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 311 produce our first contrast, love in France and in Spain. We have already seen how the amorous pur- suit in the home of the Spaniard assumes almost professional proportions. It becomes a constant pre- occupation which soon tinges the atmosphere with a pecuhar aroma of mysterious passion. No wonder then that the susceptible Frenchman becomes imme- diately aware of this refined pungency and presently submits to it. It is in vain that Arlequin remon- strates with his most typical of masters, Leandre, at the exuberance of his passion: ^ Quoi! vous donnez dans ces exces? Vous, aimer de la sorte! Yoilk qui n'est guSre Frangais; Ou le diable m'emporte. An even higher authority than Arlequin concurs in this sage opinion. This is Hebe,^° the cup-bearer of the gods, who has been retained by Cupid to decide which nation produces the best lovers. Un- fortunately, most of the contestants for the Cythe- rean prize are Asiatics or savages. The European entries in this worthy competition are a Dutch pair," a French pair, and a lone Spaniard, and it is in the latter that we are most interested now. The Span- iard comes in before the fair judge and recites his pitiful story. Once, after serenading the lovely Isa- belle, he had found her door open. Entering, he had seen her asleep, and so he had patiently waited hours till she awoke. Fired by her beauty he had ' PiRON, La Robe de Dissention (1726), Act 1, Scene 2. 1" Favart, Le Prix de Cythere (1742). " Chapter, The Netherlanders, p. 267. 312 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA fallen on his knees and begged her to be his. She quivered, but only with anger at his having dared to enter her room. Our timid lover immediately retreated, whereat she boldly followed him and has- tened his exit by throwing him out of the window. Since that untoward event, this patient lover has nightly serenaded the unyielding Isabelle. Twenty years have passed in this manner, and our lover still hopes. " This, Hebe comments, is certainly rare constancy, but after all, constancy alone does not make love. The Spaniard apparently has nothing else to offer and so he loses the prize. In this sad tale, we must recognize the twinkling fun that Favart is poking at the unendurable languors of Spanish love-making. The charming contrast be- tween this listless product and the alluring energetic brand the French produce, is playfully brought out by Hebe, who proclaims (sc. 4) : Quand I'Espagnol, plaintif amant, Soupire et pleure son tourment. On sommeille. J'aime mieux un Frangois actif, Quoique souvent un peu trop vif ; Cela reveille. We find in one play credit as well as discredit given to Spain for its influence upon the manner in which courtship is carried on in France. Tontine,^- an expe- rienced opera star, expresses her satisfaction because the relationship between men and women in France has changed. No more meaningless mannerisms; but instead a frank and friendly courtship that comes straight to the point. She explains (II, 16) : "^ AuTREAtr, Le Port-ii-V Anglois (1718). FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 313 Cela s'est fait en retranchant de I'amour ce qu'il avoit d'inu- tile et d'incommode; en abolissant cette politesse surann^e que vous nommez galanterie: elle 6toit devenue a charge: on I'a renvoy6e aux Espagnols et aux Maures d'Afrique, d'oil elle etoit venue, avec ses f^tes galantes, ses tournois et ses carrousels. Tout cela s'en est retourn^ de compagnie. This is an interesting reference of some importance, since it indicates clearly that in the mind of one keen contemporary observer, Autreau, the thousand meaningless flatteries and insincerities that accom- panied wooing had had their origin in Spain and among the Moors. In this belief he is certainly borne out by the many conventions and forms which, we have found, hood and shroud the freest of the passions in Spain. These forms must have been the outcome at first of heartfelt expressions of love, and they finally assumed definite and general use till they gradually shared the fate of all forms when outgrown. We see then that French writers are not at all backward in meting out due praise to the indigenous kind of love-making. In our previous citations we have already included many which tend to prove this amorous superiority on the part of the gay Gaul. We find him preferred wherever he goes, except possibly in England; for English girls are "different." Let us not attribute this failure to supersede the Englishman in the hearts of his fair, to the power or ability of milord as a wooer. We have in fact dis- covered that in this fine art he was woefully lacking in many essentials. The true reason for the French- man's lack of success in England is to be found in English girls. 314 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA One more interesting contrast is sketched for us by the inexhaustible Favart, this time between love in his country and in Holland. We have already learned why the fair goddess Hebe has denied the Cytherean prize to the Spanish applicant. Similarly she refuses to grant it to the Dutch pair, in spite of their sturdy arguments. To help them to see the reasonableness of her decision, she says: ^' Les Fran5ois raisonnent plus juste: Chex eux Famour est d^licat. To which the Dutch woman responds: Si d^licat, Qu'un rien I'abat. Chez nous, pie fort, pie robuste, L'y etre tou jours en meme etat. It is certainly hard to decide between these two kinds of affection; neither can be called ideal. It is interesting, nevertheless, to penetrate these char- acterizations of French love as delicate, of Dutch love as robust and lasting, even though mercenary. We need not dwell further on this decided superi- ority, except to mention once more the unpopularity of the young Frenchman when he travels in a for- eign land. His reputation haunts him. We can now perceive a solid basis for the antagonistic feeling of his hosts, for what man would not resent being forced to dwindle in the hearts of the ladies of his native land? Frenchmen, we learn, are feared be- cause of their affectionate propensities and many a man prays for the safety of his daughter or his wife •" Favart, Le Prix dc Cythbre (1742), Scene 2. FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 315 when the joyous gallant is near. Piron verses it quite plainly when his Arlequin says of Frenchmen: " On ne peut les h^berger, Sans danger, Dans le pays stranger; C'est la leurs grandes manies, De planter (bis) des colonies. These impressions, received from many, many plays, go to make up a sum total of opinion that is to be respected. Instinctively, the young French traveler pictured in drama turns to love-making as part of the necessary education to be obtained from his for- eign experiences. On his return, he recounts his adventures with the frankriess that comes from the assurance that he has done well. There is the marquis of Florange,^' for example, who relates with gusto how in Milan he tried to attract a girl secretly but was defeated in his high purposes by a watchful dragon of a mother. Again in Florence, he managed by bribing the woman-in-waiting to enter a lady's room, but was driven off by an unreasonable and jealous husband. But the Frenchman, as we have seen, takes his disappointments quite as lightly as his successes. In England, however, he is forced to take things more seriously and his new attitude is abundantly reflected in his changed manners. He is no longer the gay flaunting reveler, but is turned into a sober wooer, who succeeds generally on his real merit. We have already seen the queer effects of this trans- it Piron, La Robe de Dissenlion (1726), Act 1, Scene 11. 15 BoissY, Le Mari Gargon (1742), Act 1, Scene 6. 316 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA formation," for love in England is a more thoughtful exchange and loses largely the volatile coloring with which it is pictured in other countries. An English widow, Eliante, puts it thus:" Oui, en France, ou Ton n'aime que par air, ou Ton n'aspire a etre aime que pour avoir la vanity de le dire, ou I'amour n'est qu'un simple badinage, qu'une tromperie continuelle, et ou celui qui trompe le mieux passe tou jours pour le plus habile. Mais ce n'est pas ici de m^me; nous sommes de meilleure foi, nous n'aimons uniquement que pour avoir le plaisir d'aimer, nous nous en faisons une affaire serieuse, et la tendresse parmi nous est un commerce de sentimens, et non pas un trafic de paroles. Consequently in such a land, where women reason so ably and perceive truths so clearly, the give and take of man and woman must be on a higher plane. The gallant Frenchman who enters upon this dif- ferent atmosphere perceives it as surely as he sensed the romantic aroma of Spain. A marriage with an English girl — there can be little talk of anything less — assumes important aspects, reflects, as it were, the union of two great countries. One English girl re- veals this attitude so clearly, that we cannot refrain from quoting the passage: ^^ Et je croirai servir la France et I'Angleterre, Si je puis par mes soins, faire voir k la terre, Uni d'un meme sort, ce que toutes les deux Ont produit de plus rare et de plus vertueux. This magnificent outburst over the possibility of an intermarriage is sufficient testimony of its importance. " Chapter, The English, page 210. " BoissY, Le Francois a Londres (1727), Scene 2. 18 BoissY, Le Coiiite Jv XcuiUi (1736), Act 1, Scene 5. FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 317 A witty resume of all we have said and more is to be found in a play by Axjtreau." In it, an Italian girl, Flaminia, just out of the convent, voices her opinions regarding amorous phenomena as they appear in the various lands she has never seen, Spain, Germany and France, and in her native land, Italy. This delicious continental comparison is surely a-propos here (I, 6): . . . Tamour en France me paroit un jeu, un amusement; en Espagne, une folie; en Italie, une fureur, une maladie; en Allemagne, un remede . . . L'Espagnol a I'amour dans la tete, dans I'imagination; Fltalien, dans le coeur et dans le fiel; TAUemand dans I'estomac et dans le foie; le Frangois, un peu partout; il tient de tons les autres . . . L'amour en Italie occupe des le matin; c'est la principale affaire: en France, on y donne, I'apres-midi, les momens destines aux jeux ou k roisivet^: en Espagne, on y emploie le soir et la nuit; c'est le tems du mystere, des aventures, des chimeres, des voisins: en Allemagne, on aime le lendemain matin, quand la digestion est faite. Which might mean that Germans never love. But we need not content ourselves with simple discussions about European lovers. Our French audiences evidently did not, for we find served to them in more or less artistic fashion the lovers themselves. To bring together these passionate wooers from separated lands in order comically to illustrate their differences, is no simple task. One writer finds the natural solution in having a Norman, a Gascon, and an Enghshman fall in love with the same woman in Paris.^" The Gascon naturally hes i» Le Port-a-l'Anglois (1718). " KoMAGNESi, L'Amant ProtSe (1739). 318 EUROPEAN CHARACTERS IN FRENCH DRAMA his way into her graces, the Norman makes love more timidly, and the Englishman is generally occupied challenging his rivals. The three are asked what they would do for their lady in order to prove the sincerity of their passion. Says the tricky Gascon (III, 6): J'irois pour elle, affronter aux enfers, La triple tete de Cerbere. Says the thoughtful Norman: Pour elle on me verroit voltiger dans les airs, Si la chose pouvoit se faire. Says the blustering Enghshman: Moi, j'irois au-del4 des Mers Lui conqudrir une terre etrangere. The cunning Lesage finds a much more ingenious and imaginative way of bringing his foreign lovers together. He creates a wonderful island called the Island of the Amazons. ^^ Many years ago, the women of the place had concerted an attack upon their sleeping husbands and had murdered them all. Since then|they had been free. According to the wise provisions of the constitution, no men who happen to come to the island are allowed to remain permanently. Every woman pays her due to the State by living with a man for three months only, during which time she supports him in idleness. Daughters born are kept, sons are exchanged for daughters at neighboring settlements. Sometimes, men are captured and forced to come to the island, ^' L'lle des Amazones. FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 319 but after three months, thej^ invariably have to leave, for the law provides that the same man can- not marry a second Amazon. Into this atmosphere of woman-made law we are suddenly thrust upon a day when three husbands are to depart, having finished their quarterly residence. One is the Baron de Brutemberg, a Swiss. During his marital period he has wallowed in sloth and content, eating, drinking, smoking, and making love. He is naturally loth to go and in their efforts to get rid of him, "ein querelle" almost ensues. The baron has found his life too pleasing for him to suffer this abrupt interruption of it. Yet he must go, and with him the inconsolable Don Carlos, a Spaniard. To the latter, the year's quarter has been a period of intense love-making. He has taken his relationship with his Amazon very seriously and he does not want to go from her. He is terribly romantic in his whole bearing and he shows abundantly that he takes his departure tragically. Bradamante, his ex- wife, chides him sarcastically for his over-attentive- ness to her (sc. 7): Vous m'obsedez depuis trois mois, vous m'assassinez de dou- ceurs castillanes. Cela amuse d'abord; mais cela ennuie bientot. As might be expected, the French husband departs quite gayly, without a single regret at the prospec- tive change. In his case, it is the Amazon who coyly pursues. We have by this time seen some of the most in- teresting manifestations of love among the European 320 EUKOPEAN CHAKACTEKS IN FRENCH DRAMA nations as presented by our clever dramatists. We have had an opportunity to study some of the con- trasts afforded by such a comparative picture; and we have been aided in our natural mental tendency in the construction of types of affection and their association with particular nations. Let us, in con- clusion, not overlook the fact that our French writ- ers, with all their light-hearted and deft treatment of Cupid's vocation, still realize in many ways the grandeur of the passion and its deep significance among the nations. If we sought deep in their hearts, we should realize from them that love is universal, that it is the greatest inspiration of mankind, that it constitutes among lovers a republic of men and women who, just because they love, cannot truly belong to factitious political boundaries. Dormant, a most patient and faithful wooer, puts it well,^^ when his logic, sped by his devotion to his lady, enables him to see far beyond the restricted realm of the immediate. He calls out to the nations of Europe: FranQois, Anglois, Espagnol, Allemand, Vont au devant du noeud que le cceur leur denote; lis sont tous rassemblfe par ce lien charmant, Et quand on est sensible, on est compatriote. Love is the great bond of mankind, and if the deeper note suggested by this thought is rarely struck by our authors, it is mainly because they are trying to be funny. In the hands of inferior dramatists the comic and the thoughtful are incompatible elements. Besides, the message of the truth of love cannot be '''' Favart, L'Anglois a Bordeaux (1763), Scene o. FRANCE AND OTHER NATIONS 321 conveyed in comic terms. Let it therefore remain that in our plays we have seen a suggestion that in friendUness and love lies the ultimate unity of human nature. Let it also be permitted us to state that though, in our dramatic exploration, we have waded through a mass of unrealistic writing, we have nevertheless encountered in our study so many moving and living forms that the eighteenth century has become ani- mate to us in an almost uncanny manner. We bear away as lasting impressions the flashing marvels of a dying monarchy and the labored groans of a nation in travail. We glimpse in wonder the notions that stirred in French minds concerning their neighbors. We perceive as the years roll on how these notions develop into expression and action. Is it too much to say that the French Revolution was half English? We see how in this gigantic national interplay of forces, there are almost unconscious attractions and repulsions. And finally, — for the realization cannot be avoided, — we feel with enraptured appreciation the entrancing beauty of that most perfect of thought mediums, the French language. Even though wielded, in the field covered by this book, almost exclusively by inferior writers, it has revealed a scintillating charm that must certainly have filled the reader with delight and admiration. APPENDIX Of the plays referred to in the chapter on the EngHsh, the following short Ust includes those worth reading for reasons as indicated. 1. An heroic comedy of five acts, with noble characters and Cornelian diction. Le Comte de Neuilly (1736), Boissy. 2. A one-act comedy, swift and sharp, cleverly setting off Frenchmen against Englishmen. Le Frangois d Londres (1727), Boissy. 3. A one-act comedy, very amusing, with a cosmopolitan set of characters. Le Patagon, Carmontelle. 4. A three-act play, a perfect example of insipid plot and dragging dialogue. Le Chevalier Franqois d Londres (1778), DoEAT. 5. A five-act drama, with the most significant revolution- ary tendencies. L'Ecole des Mceurs (1776), Falbaire. 6. A one-act farce that reflects vividly the war-excitement of 1756. Le Mariage par Escalade (1756), Favaet. 7. A play affording a basis of comparison between an Enghsh original and its conversion or perversion into French. Le Tambour Nocturne (written 1736, played 1762), Destouches. The Drummer, Addison (English original). 8. A three-act drama with revolutionary significances. L'Orphelin Anglois (1769), Longueil. 9. A three-act comedy full of biting sarcasm about Euro- peans. L'Isle de la Raison (1728), Marivaux. 10. A five-act drama illustrating the queer changes neces- sary in adapting an English play to French audiences. Beverlei (1768), Sauein. The Gambler (1753), Moore. (English original.) 324 APPENDIX 11. A three-act musical comedy, jolly, modern, sparkKng. Le Roi et le Fermier (1762), Sedaine. The King and the Miller of Mansfield, Dodsley. (English original). 12. A five-act comedy, giving a full-length portrait of the EngMsh merchant of the eighteenth century. L'Ecos- saise (1760), Voltaire. INDEX TO WRITERS AND PLAYS (References to Minor Nationalities are also included) Addison, 41, 125, 127, 140, 244 AUainval, L'Abbe d', 150 Avians Ignorans, les, 28 Amante Romanesque, Z', 39 AmantProtee,l\ 157, 217, 237, 246, 317, 318 Ambitieux et I'Indiscrete, V, 53, 54, 55 Amitie a I'Epreuve, V , 177, 208, 209, 219, 221, 226 Amour CasiiUan, I', 58, 66, 68 Amour Precepteur, V ,12, 38 Amours Degnises, les, 258 Angleterre, Xotes sur V , 133 Anglois, V, 186, 240 Anglois a Bordeaux, I', 144, 153, 154, 161, 162, 165, 168, 169, 176, 178, 185, 200, 204, 205, 210, 320 Anglomanie, V, 129, 170, 171, 180, 237, 241 Arleguin Deucalion, 27 Arnaud, d', 214 Aucour d', 214 Auguste et Theodore, 92, 94, 103, 305, 306 Austrians, 269, 270, 271, 275 Autreau, 23, 28, 31, 34, 39, 97, 98, 312, 313, 317 Aveitnle de Spa, V, 179, 209, 262, 263 Bal de Strasbourg, le, 89, 111, 255 Barbier de Seville, le, 60, 74, 77, 83 Barneveldt, 243 Bavarians, 93 Beaumarchais, 24, 60, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 83, 235 Beverlei, 129, 175 Biancolelli, 13, 39 Bienfait Anonym.e, le, 102 Bisoayans, 84 Bohemians, 268, 269, 277, 283, 284 Boindin, 23, 28, 40, 279 Boissy, 14, 92, 98, 102, 109, 112, 113, 141, 142, 149, 152, 153, 155, 160, 172, 174, 175, 182, 189, 201, 205, 20o, 208, 214, 217, 219, 222, 224, 231, 238, 240, 246, 254, 285, 286, 288, 289, 302, 315, 316 Boissy, Louis de, 141 Bolingbroke, 133, 149 Caffe, le, 275 Calderon, 286 Calendrier des Vieillards, le, 29 Caprice Amoureux, le, 32 Carmontelle, 22, 93, 94, 100, 101, 107, 108, 109, 111, 112, 113, 143, 160, 171, 194, 241, 258, 265 Catalonians, 83 Cato, 125 Chanteur Italien, le, 23 Chevalier Frangois a Londres, le, 145, 150, 209, 210, 215, 228, 229 Chevalier Francois a Turin, le, 33, 34 Claperman, le, 266 326 INDEX CoU6, 139, 158, 239, 240 Colman, 189 Columbine-NMtis, 257 Comediens Corsaires, les, 17 Commedia dell' arte, 26 Comte de Neuilli, le, 142, 152, 201, 202, 206, 207, 222, 223, 316 Condorcet, 132 Congreve, 127, 133 Courtisane Amoureuse, la, 108 Credit est Mart, 256 Croatians, 282 Danes, 291 Debuts, les, 259 Delices de la Svisse, les, 2.53 Dent, la, 100, 112, 113 Deserteur, le, 100, 104, 106, 114 Desesperes, les, 84 Desfourcherets, 199 Desportes, 18 Destouches, 36, 40, 41, 53, 54, 55, 140, 244 Deux Anglais, les, 143 Dezede, 92, 94, 103-, 305 Diderot, 73, 128, 129, 301 Diderot and English Thought, 128 Dodsley, 140 Dominique, 259 Dorat, 23, 31, 33, 34, 145, 146, 149, 150, 209, 215, 228, 246 Drummer, The, 140, 244 Dryden, 125, 127, 132 Dumaniant, 71, 80, 82 Dutchmen, 260, 261, 266, 267 Du Vaure, 17, 41 Ecole des Amours Griwis, V , 89, 263, 264, 283 Ecole des Bourgeois, V , 150 Ecole des Moeurs. V , 146, 179, 197, 198, 229, 230, 246 Ecossaise, I', 170, 187, 188, 200, 212, 213, 245 Eleve de la Nature, V, 193, 194 Engel, 92 English Merchant, The, 189 Eniretiens des Cheminees de Madrid, 64 Epoux par Supercherie, I', 175, 210 Etranger, V, 101 Eugenie, 73, 235 F , Madame de, 165, 180, 202, 208, 220, 244, 247 Fabricant de Londres, le, 144, 191, 195, 196, 200, 211, 226, 247 Falbaire, 144, 147, 148, 179, 191, 195, 197, 200, 211, 226, 229, 231, 232, 246, 247 Fausse Prude, la, 13 Fau^ses Apparences, les, 57, 5S. 66, 68, 80 Faux Savant, les 17, 41 Favart, 13, 14, 16, 20, 32, 33, 41, 49, 50, 57, 62, 83, 89, 90, 110, 111, 112, 123, 124, 144, 153, 154, 161, 163, 164, 165, 168, 176, 177, 178, 183, 184, 200, 204, 208; 210, 219, 221, 226, 237, 242, 255, 261, 263, 265, 267, 282, 311, 312, 314, 320 Favart, Madame, 160 Fee Urgele, la, 20 Femmc Jalouse, la, 34, 38 Finot, 119, 120, 247 Flemish, 260, 261, 262, 263, 264, 265 Florian, 19 Foirc de Guibrny, la, 17 Fou Raisonnable, le, 144 Francois a Londres, le, 141, 155, 172, 173, 174, 182, 189, 190, 205, 206, 238, 316 Fr^ron, 188 INDEX 327 FrivoUU, la, 109, 160, 208, 217, 254, 302 Fuzelier, 15 Genlis jMadame de, 20, 179, 209, 216, 262, 290, 304 Goldoni, 13 Gresset, 174, 175, 212 Grillparzer, 286 Grimm, 79, 110 Gueulette, 22, 38, 102 Gulliver's Travels, 166 Hele, d', 57, 58, 66, 68, SO Henriade, la, 117, 261 Hessians, 93 Hote et I'Hotesse, V, 275 Lettres sur les Anglais, les, 126, 132 Longueil, 191, 227 Magnifiqm, le, 23, 308 Mart, le, 107 Mariage de Figaro, le, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 83, 235 Mariage par Escalade, le, 49, 57, 90, 123, 124, 164, 183, 184, 237, 242 Mariage Secret, le, 199 Mari Gargon, le, 302, 303, 315 Marivaux, 7, 13, 51, 166, 168, 304 Maupertuis, 111 Mayeur de St. Paul, 193 Medecin par Occasion, le, 102 Menuet et V Allemande, le, 110 Houdart de la Motte, 23, 29, 30, Mercier, 100, 104, 105, 106, 114 37, 308 Metromanie, la, 30 Hungarians, 268, 269, 276, 277, Minutolo, 30 279, 280, 281, 282 Moissy, 110 M mus Exile, 15 lie de la Raison, V, 7, 166, 167, 304 Moncrif, 125 lie des Amazons, I', 318, 319 Impertinent malgre lui, I', 98, 113, 246 Irishmen, 239 JoUy, 34, 38 Journee des Parques, une, 21, 106, 109, 178, 262, 306, 307 Jumeaux de Bergame, les, 19 King and the Miller of Mansfield, The, 140 La Harpe, 38, 79, 110, 243 Laplanders, 275 Lesage, 13, 16, 17, 21, 64, 84, 106, 107, 109, 177, 178, 257, 262, 276, 288, 289, 306, 307, 318 Le Toumeur, 130 Lettres Philosophiques, les, 132 Montesquieu, 92, 118, 133, 134, 135, 155, 174, 175 Montezuma, 125 Musicomanie, la, 15, 96 Nanine, 214 New York Times, 119, 247 Nivelle de la Chauss^e, 58, 66, 68, 214 Norwegians, 291 Nuit aux Aventures, la, 71, 80, 82 Oberkirch, la Baronne d', 79 Orphelin Anglois, I', 191, 192, 227, 228 Otway, 127 Page, der, 92 Palissot, 310 Pamela, 128 328 INDEX Pamela en France, 214 Retour de la Paix, le, 92 Parodie au Parnasse, la, 14, 41 Riccoboni, 13, 34 Partie de Chasse d'Henri IV, la, Richard-Cceur-de-Lion, 137, 236 139 Palagon, le, 194, 195, 241 Patrat, 144, 186, 240 Patu, 140 Pennant, 234 Philosophe Dupe de V Amour, le, 283 Philosophe sans le Savoir, le, 268 Pilhes, 102 Piron, 13, 27, 30, 64, 65, 66, 67, Roumanians, 282 81, 83, 218, 256, 257, 266, 309, Rousseau, J. B., 275 311, 315 Plain Dealer, The, 243 Poles, 268, 272, 285, 286, 287 Pope, 125, 133, 134, 149 Pope, Life of, 134 Port-dL-VAnglois, le, 23, 31, 34, 39, Sacd'Avoine, le, 160, 171 Richardson, 128, 214 Richardson, Eloge de, 128 Rival par Amitie, le, 165, 180, 181, 202, 203, 208, 220, 244, 247 Rohe de Disseniion, la, 64, 65, 66, 67, 81, 83, 218, 309, 311, 315 Roi et le Fermier, le, 138 Romagnesi, 13, 157, 217, 237, 246, 257, 259, 317 Rousseau, J. J., 135, 251, 252, 255, 279, 282, 301 Russians, 268, 269, 273, 278, 288, 289, 290 97, 312, 313, 317 Port de Mer, le, 28, 40, 279 Portuguese, 292, 293 Provost, 214 Saint Foix, 283 Saurin, 129, 170, 175, 180, 237, 241 Saxons, 93 Scots, 151, 211, 239 Prince de Wourtsberg, le, 93, 94, Sedaine, 129, 137, 138, 139, 141, 95, 112, 113 Prince Travesti, le, 51 Princesse de Navarre, la, 48, 52, 56, 76, 300 Prisonnier, le, 265 236, 268 Servians, 282 Shakespeare, 126, 127, 139, 140 Shaw, 150, 219 Sidnei, 174, 175, 212 Prisonniers de Guerre, les, 255, 279, Soiree des Boulevards, la, 83 280, 281, 282 Sophie et Sigismond, 276, 277, 27S Prix de Cythh-e, le, 267, 311, 312, Spectator, 125 314 Prude, la, 243 Prussians, 93 to 114 Quaire Semblables, les, 24, 39 Regnard, 13, 28 Reine du Barostan, la, 107 Remouleur d' Amour, le, 257 Ressource des TheiVres, la, 16 Stael, Madame de, 253, 261 Suisse Malade, le, 258 Suites du Libertinage, les, 147, 231 Surprise de la Haine, la, 14, 149, 224, 225, 231, 240 Swedes, 290 Swift, 125, 132, 133, 149 Talisman, le, 37 Tambour Nocturne, k, 140, 244 INDEX 329 Tarare, 24 Temple de la Verile, le, 257 Traiim ein Leben, der, 286 Trisor Suppose, le, 102 Trois Commies, les, 177 Trois Sidtanes, les, 62 Tuteurs, les, 310 V^te dans le Yin, la, 158, 159, 240 Veuve Coquette, la, 18 Vida es Siieno, la, 286 Vie est un Songe, la, 285, 286, 287 Vindicatif, le, 36 Voltaire, 48, 49, 52, 56, 76, 82, 111, 117, 118, 126, 132, 133, 134, 168, 170, 187, 188, 189, 200, 212, 214, 234, 243, 244, 245, 261, 274, 275, 300, 301 Voltaire in England, 134 Voyageur, le, 20, 216, 290, 304 Welshmen, 236, 239 Wlirtembergers, 93 Young, 127, 129, 133 Zemine et Almanzor, 288, 289 COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS Columbia University in the City of New York The Press was incorporated June 8, 1893, to promote the pubHoa- tion of the results of original research. 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COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS Lemcke i\: BiECHXER, Agents, :?() :V2 W(\st 27{h St,, New York COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STUDIES IN ROMANCE PHILOLOGY AND LITERATURE Edited by Adolphe Cohn and Henry Alfred Todd FREDERIC MISTRAL, POET AND LEADER IN PROVENCE. By Charles Alfbed Downer, Ph.D. ]2mo, cloth, pp. x+267. Price, .SI. 50 net. CORNEILLE AND THE SPANISH DRAMA. By ,1. B. Segall, Ph.D. 12mo, cloth, pp. ix + 147. Price, $1.50 net. DANTE AND THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. By Richard Thayer Hol- BROOK, Ph.D. 12mo, cloth, pp. xviii + 376. Illustrated. 'Price, HI. Oi) net. THE INDEBTEDNESS OF CHAUCER'S TROILUS AND CRISEYDE TO GUIDO DELLE COLONNE'S HISTORIA TROJANA. By George L. Hamilton, A.M. 12mo, cloth, pp. vi+1.59. Price, .si. 25 net. THE ANGLO-NORMAN DIALECT. A Manual of its Phonology and Morphology, with illustrative specimens of the literature. By Louis Emil Mengeh, Ph.D. >Svo, cloth, pp. xx+ 167. Price, .SI. 75 net. CORNEILLE AND RACINE IN ENGLAND. 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