VI INTRODUCTION

corne to the peasant's house for food, and in answer to the wife^s inquiries tell her that they are on their way to England in search of a physician for the king's daughter, in whose tliroat a fishbone has lodged. The wife replies: " You need not go so far as you think, for my husband is, I warrant you, a good doctor; indeed he knows more of medicines than ever Hippocrates knew. . . . But he is of such a nature that he will do nothing for any one unless he is well beaten first." The messengers find the peasant, and are obliged to resort to their cudgels to make him accompany them to the king's castle. There he meets the princess, and by his antics makes her laugh so hard that the fishbone is dislodged. The peasant wishes to go home, but af ter a Sound thrashing he consente to continue in the king's service. The sick people of the country flock to the court to be cured by the wonderf ul physician. The peasant assembles the patients in a hall, builds a large lire, and invites the sickest among them to throw himself into the fire, that the others may "drink his ashes'^ and be healed. Ail, completely recovered, immcdiately arise and leave the room. The king heaps costly présents on the supposed doctor, and grants him permission to go home. Now rich, the peasant settles down to a life of ease, and no longer beats his wife.

In le Médecin malgré lui^ Molière, influenced by Rabelais (cf. Notes, page 41 , note i), substitutes a dumb girl for the princess with the fishbone in her throat. He also créâtes several new characters, and makes many other changes necessary to

and later longer plays, V Etourdi (1653 ^^ 1^55) ^i^d le Dépit amoureux (1656). Returns to Paris (Cet., 1658). Protected by the Duke of Orléans and by Louis XIV. In 1659, ^^ ^he théâtre du Petit-Bourbon^ near the Louvre, he produces Us Précieuses ridicules, After the démolition of the théâtre du Petit-Bourbon^ Louis XIV turns over to Molière the fine playhouse built by Richelieu in the Palais-Royal. Sganarelle (1660). Don Garciede Navarre^ VEcoU des marisy tes Fâcheux (1661). At the âge of forty Molière contracts an unhappy marriage with Armande Béjart, aged twenty. V Ecole des femmes (1662), which arouses much adverse, criticism. La Critique de P Ecole des femmes ^V Impromptu de Versailles (1663), both in reply to hostile critics. Le Mariage forcée la Princesse d ^Elide ( 1 664) . First three acts of le Tartuffe

INTRODUCTION Vil

convert the Bxnusing /aâlt'au of four hundred Unes into one of the merriest farces in ail literature.

Although wrîtten primarily to fumish amusement for the patrons of his theater, it also aiïorded Molière an excellent opportunity to satisfy somewhat a long-standing grudge against the médical profession which, in his day, was "characterized by a profound révérence for antiquity, a taste for spéculation and theory rather than for practice, a disdain for the accessory sciences, and a hatred of innovation and new discoveries."^ For several years a sufïerer f rom the malady that finally brought about his death, Molière became disgusted with the absurdly antiquated methods of doctors, and satirized them in no less than five plays: /e Médecin volant^ V Amour médecin^ le Médecin malgré luiy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac^ and le Malade imaginaire.

Le Médecin malgré lui was first pérformed on the 6th of August, 1666, and has ever since been one of the most popular comédies on the French stage. Nor has its popularity been confined to France alone ; it has been translated into nearly ail the languages of Europe, including Danish, Servo-Croatian, Russian, Czech, Polish, Dutch, Greek, Turkish, and Magyar. It has been imitated in English literature in Lacy's The Dumb Lady^ or the Farriermadea Physician (1672), Mrs. Centlivre's Z^^'^'J Contrivance (1703), Henry Fielding's The Mock Doctor^ or the Dumb Lady cured^ a Comedy done from Molière (1732), and George Wood's The Irish Doctor^ or the Dumb Lady cured(\ 844).

(May, 1664) ; on account of opposition the entire play is not produced until 1669. Molière's company becomes the troupe du roi (Aug., 1665). Don Juan, V Amour médecin (1665). Le Misanthrope, le Médecin malgré lui, (an eariier sketch of which bore various titles, le Fagotier, le Fagoteux, le Médecin par force), Mélicerte (1666). Molière's health begins to fail. Le Sicilien (1667). Amphitryon, George Dandin, P Avare (1668). Monsieur de Pourceaugnac (1669). Les Amants magnifiques, le Bourgeois gentilhomme {idjo). Psyché, in collaboration with Corneille, Quinault, and Lulli, les Fourberies de Scapin, la Comtesse d ^ Escarbagn a/ ( 1 67 1 ) . Les Femmes savantes ( 1672) . Le Malade imaginaire (1673). Seized with hemorrhage of the lungs during the fourth performance of le Malade imaginaire, Molière died Feb. 17, 1673. 1 E. W. Olmsted, Molière's le Malade imaginaire, Introduction.

Sganarelle. Que maudit soit le bec cornu ^ de notaire l qui me fit signer ma ruine !

Martine. C'est bien à toi, vraiment, à te plaindre de cette affaire ! Devrais-tu être un seul moment sans rendre 5 grâces au ciel de m'avoir pour ta femme? et méritais-lu d'épouser une personne comme moi ?

Sganarelle. Il est vrai que tu me fis trop d'honneur. . . . Hé ! morbleu ! ^ ne me fais point parler là-dessus. Je dirais de certaines choses. ...

10 Martine. Quoi? Que dirais-tu?

• Sganarelle. Baste! laissons là ce chapitre. Il suffit que nous savons ce que nous savons, et que tu fus bien heureuse de me trouver.

Martine. Qu'appclles-tu bien heureuse de te trouver? 15 Un homme qui me réduit à Phôpital, un débauché, un traître,* qui me mange* tout ce que j'ai.

Sganarelle. Tu as menti, j'en bois une partie.

Martine. Qui me vend, pièce à pièce, tout ce qui est dans le logis.

20 Sganarelle. C'est vivre de ménage.'

Martine. Qui m*a ôté jusqu'au lit que j'avais.

Sganarelle. Tu t'en lèveras plus matin.

Martine. Enfin, qui ne laisse aucun meuble dans toute la maison.

25 Sganarelle. On en déménage plus aisément.

Martine. Et qui, du matin jusqu'au soir, ne fait que jouer et que boire.

Sganarelle. C'est pour ne me point ennuyer.

Martine. Et que veux-tu, pendant ce temps, que je 30 fasse avec ma famille?

Sganarelle. Tput ce qu'il te plaira.