arly than most writers the language of
conversation. Summing up the whole matter, he declares: "J'ajouterai
seulement, la-dessus, qu'entre gens d'esprit, les conversations dans le
monde sont plus vives qu'on ne pense, et que tout ce qu'un auteur pourrait
faire pour les imiter, n'approchera jamais du feu et de la naivete fine et
subite qu'ils y mettent."[144]

Although the term of _neologue_ was applied to Marivaux by Voltaire, and
has been repeated ever since, he was less of a neologist than a _precieux_
in language.[145] That is to say, he was less inclined to coin new words,
or even to use old words with new meanings, than he was to employ unusual
and peculiar turns of expression.[146] Marivaux was not the only writer of
the time to make use of _expressions precieuses_, and, although he figures
rather more prominently than most of the authors ridiculed by Desfontaines
in his _Dictionnaire neologique_,[147] he has the company of many others,
and among them, of his friends La Motte, Fontenelle, de Houtteville, and
even Montesquieu. Some of the expressions which were considered
reprehensible by Desfontaines have since been received into common
parlance, and so do not appear unnatural or unusual: _sortir de sa
coquille_, etc.

Fleury[148] gives six divisions of the peculiar turns of expression
employed by Marivaux, which constitute that part of the _marivaudage_ most
condemned by his critics:

1. The use of a common expression, in which a word is first taken in a
figurative sense, to be followed by its literal sense:

_Il ne veut que vous donner la main.--Eh! que veut-il que
je fasse de cette main, si je n'ai pas envie de la prendre?_

_Son coeur ne se marie pas, il reste garcon._

2. The use of a metaphor unexpectedly carried out:

_Un amour de votre facon ne reste pas longtemps au berceau: votre
premier coup d'oeil a fait naitre le mien; le second lui a donne la
facon; le troisieme l'a rendu grand garcon. Tachons de l'etablir au plus
vite; ayez soin de lui, puisque vous etes sa mere._

_Monsieur a couru apres moi, je m'enfuyais, mais il m'a jete de l'or,
des nippes et une maison fournie de tous ses ustensiles a la tete; cela
m'a etourdie, je me suis arretee._

3. A metaphor piquant by its oddity:

_Je crois que j'ai laisse ma respiration en chemin.

La vie que je mene aujourd'hui n'est point batarde, elle vient bien en
ligne droite de celle que je menais._

4. A phrase ending in a