dition as slaves were released from all obligations of honor or
of honesty. In the seventeenth century it might pass in France; for the
line between gentle and simple was so sharply drawn that ladies of rank
saw no greater impropriety in disrobing before their footmen than before
their dogs. But the progress of liberty or of _egalite_ blotted out the
valets of comedy. Even in Regnard's time the inconsistencies of the
character were noticed. Jasmin, in the "Serenade," utters revolutionary
doctrine:--"How can an honorable valet devote himself to the interests
of a penniless master? We grow tricky in waiting upon such fellows. They
scold us; sometimes they beat us. We have more wit than they. We support
them; we are obliged to invent, for their benefit, all sorts of knavery,
in which they are always ready to take a share; and, withal, they are
the masters, and we the servants. It is not just. Hereafter I mean to
scheme for myself, and become a master in my turn."

Scapin has joined his brother pagans beyond the Styx; but Lisette blooms
in evergreen youth. This young French person's theory of woman's rights
is different from the one which obtains in New England; nor does she
trouble herself at all to seek for woman's mission. She found it years
ago. It is to deceive a man. She is satisfied with her condition, and
with the old mental and moral attributes of her sex. When Crispin
disguises himself in her clothes, he exclaims,--

"L'addresse et l'artifice ont passe dans mon coeur;
Qu'on a sous cet habit et d'esprit et de ruse--
Rien n'est si trompeur qu'animal porte-jupe."

This animal is as clever and as cunning in Paris to-day as when Crispin
felt the inspiration of the petticoats.

In 1708, after another period of twelve years, "Le Legataire Universel"
was played at the same theatre. In this piece the author relied entirely
upon the _vis comica_ of his plot and dialogue. Geronte, a rich, miserly
old bachelor, with as many ailments as years,--

"Vieux et casse, fievreux, epileptique,
Paralytique, etique, asthmatique, hydropique,"--

has for a nephew Ergaste, with well-grounded hopes of inheriting, and
that shortly. These are suddenly dashed by the announcement that his
uncle has resolved to marry Isabelle, a girl to whom Ergaste himself is
attached. The nephew keeps his own secret, and judiciously commends the
choice of his uncle. Geronte is delighted with him; even asks his advice
about a present f