he pedant, the extravagant poet, the amorous old man, the designing
woman, the knavish valet, the garrulous nurse--play their mirthful
parts. If the types are studied from real life rather than adopted
from Italian or Spanish models, they are exaggerated to absurdity.
Corneille alone is distinguished by delicacy of imagination and the
finer touch of a dexterous artist.

JEAN-BAPTISTE POQUELIN, who, when connected with the stage, named
himself MOLIERE, was born in January 1622, in Paris, the son of a
prosperous upholsterer, Jean Poquelin, and Marie Cresse, his wife.
Educated at the College de Clermont, he had among his fellow-pupils
the Prince de Conti, Chapelle, the future poet Hesnault, the future
traveller Bernier. There seems to be no sufficient reason to doubt
that he and some of his friends afterwards received lessons in
philosophy from Gassendi, whose influence must have tended to loosen
him from the traditional doctrines, and to encourage independence
of thought. A translation by Moliere of the great poem of Lucretius
has been lost, but a possible citation from it appears in the second
act of the _Misanthrope_. Legal studies followed those of philosophy.
But Moliere had other ends in view than either those of an advocate
or of the hereditary office of upholsterer to the King. In 1643, at
the age of twenty-one, he decided to throw in his lot with the
theatrical company in which Madeleine Bejart and her brothers were
leading members. The _Illustre Theatre_ was constituted, but Paris
looked askance at the illustrious actors; debt, imprisonment, and
release through friendly aid, formed the net result of Moliere's first
experiment.

The troupe decided at the close of 1645 or in the early days of the
following year to try their fortune in the provinces. It is needless
to follow in detail their movements during twelve years--twelve years
fruitful in experience for one who observed life with keenest eyes,
years of toil, in which the foundations of his art were laid. At Lyons,
probably in 1655, possibly in 1653, a comedy, founded on the Italian
of Nicolo Barbieri, _L'Etourdi_, saw the light, and Moliere revealed
himself as a poet. Young Lelie, the _Etourdi_, is enamoured of the
beautiful Celie, whom the merchant Trufaldin, old and rich, has
purchased from corsairs. Lelie's valet Mascarille, who is the life
of the play, invents stratagem on stratagem to aid the lover, and
is for ever foiled by his master's indiscretions,