The Virtuoso, I, 1 : cf. II

un « Monsieur de Paris » le faisait exprès. Il écorchait l'anglais à dessein, en le prononçant à la française, et surtout en entrelardant ses moindres propos de mots et de phrases étrangères *.

Les comiques ont, à qui mieux mieux, parodié ce langage bigarré. Une pièce de Davenant, The Playhouse to be Let, est écrite tout entière en style macaronique '-. Voici pour donner un exemple une scène d'Etheredge^ :

« Sir Fopling Flutter : Tlie éclat of so much beauty, I confess, ought to haye charmed me sooner. — Emilia : The br illiant of so much good language, sir, has much more power than the little beauty I can boast. — Sir Fop. : I never saw anything prettier than this high work on y oxxv point d Espagne. — Emil. : 'Tisnot so rich as point de Venise, — Sir Fop. : Not altogether, but looks cooler, and is more proper for the season. Dorimant, is not that Medley ? — Dor. : The sa me, sir. — Sir Fop. : Forgive me, sir, in this embarras of civilities I could not come to hâve you in my arms sooner... Hâve you taken notice of the calèche I brought over? — Med. : Oh yes ! it has quite another air than the English makes. — Sir Fop. : Tis as easily known from an English tumbril as an Inns of Court man is from one of us. — Dor. : Truly, there is a bel-air in calèches as well as men. — Med. : But there are îeyv so délicate to observe it. — Sir Fop. : The world is generally very grossierhere^ indeed... — Lady Town. : Hisgloves are wellfringed, large and graceful. — Sir Fop. : I was always eminent for being bien-ganté. — Emil. : He wears nothing but what are originals of the most famous hands in Paris ? — Sir Fop. : You are in the right, madam. — Lady Town. : The suit ? — Sir Fop. : Barrey. — Emil. : The garniture? — Sir Fop. : Le Gras. — Med. : The shoes ? — Sir Fop.: Piccat. — Dor. : The periwig? — Sir Fop. : Chedreux. — Lady Town. and Emil. : The gloves ? — Sir Fop. : Orangerie, you know the smell, ladies ■• » .

D'un bout à l'autre de la pièce, on entend les mots à la plus récente mode de Paris voler sur les lèvres des gentlemen et des ladies. Sir Fop (le snob) est au courant de toutes les nuances : « In