The Blunderer | Page 3

when an honest man can congratulate a patriot on his becoming minister," and expresses the hope, that "the temper of the times will suffer your Lordship to be instrumental in saving your country by a reformation of the general manners."]
Dryden has imitated The Blunderer in _Sir Martin Mar-all; or the Feigned Innocence_, first translated by William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, and afterwards adapted for the stage by "glorious John." It must have been very successful, for it ran no less than thirty-three nights, and was four times acted at court. It was performed at Lincoln's Inn Fields by the Duke of York's servants, probably at the desire of the Duke of Newcastle, as Dryden was engaged to write for the King's Company. It seems to have been acted in 1667, and was published, without the author's name, in 1668. But it cannot be fairly called a translation, for Dryden has made several alterations, generally not for the better, and changed double entendres into single ones. The heroine in the English play, Mrs. Millisent, (Celia), marries the roguish servant, Warner (Mascarille), who takes all his master's blunders upon himself, is bribed by nearly everybody, pockets insults and money with the same equanimity, and when married, is at last proved a gentleman, by the disgusting Lord Dartmouth, who "cannot refuse to own him for my (his) kinsman." With a fine stroke of irony Millisent's father becomes reconciled to his daughter having married a serving-man as soon as he hears that the latter has an estate of eight hundred a year. Sir Martin Mar-all is far more conceited and foolish than Lelio; Trufaldin becomes Mr. Moody, a swashbuckler; a compound of Leander and Andr��s, Sir John Swallow, a Kentish knight; whilst of the filthy characters of Lord Dartmouth, Lady Dupe, Mrs. Christian, and Mrs. Preparation, no counterparts are found in Moli��re's play. But the scene in which Warner plays the lute, whilst his master pretends to do so, and which is at last discovered by Sir Martin continuing to play after the servant has finished, is very clever. [Footnote: According to Geneste, _Some Accounts of the English Stage_, 10 vols., 1832, vol. i., p. 76, Bishop Warburton, in his Alliance of Church and State (the same work is mentioned in Note 2), and Porson in his Letters to Travis alludes to this scene.] Dryden is also said to have consulted _l'Amant indiscret_ of Quinault, in order to furbish forth the Duke of Newcastle's labours. Sir Walter Scott states in his introduction: "in that part of the play, which occasions its second title of 'the feigned Innocence,' the reader will hardly find wit enough to counterbalance the want of delicacy." Murphy has borrowed from The Blunderer some incidents of the second act of his _School for Guardians_, played for the first time in 1767.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE
[Footnote: Moli��re, Racine, and Corneille always call the dramatis personae _acteurs_, and not personnages.]
LELIO, son to PANDOLPHUS.
LEANDER, a young gentleman of good birth.
ANSELMO, an old man.
PANDOLPHUS, an old man.
TRUFALDIN, an old man.
ANDR��S, a supposed gipsy.
MASCARILLE, servant to Lelio.
[Footnote: Mascarille is a name invented by Moli��re, and a diminutive of the Spanish _mascara_, a mask. Some commentators of Moli��re think that the author, who acted this part, may sometimes have played it in a mask, but this is now generally contradicted. He seems, however, to have performed it habitually, for after his death there was taken an inventory of all his dresses, and amongst these, according to M. Eudore Souli��, _Recherches sur Moli��re_, 1863, p. 278, was: "a ... dress for _l'��tourdi_, consisting in doublet, knee-breeches, and cloak of satin." Before his time the usual name of the intriguing man-servant was Philipin.]
ERGASTE, a servant.
A MESSENGER.
Two Troops of Masqueraders.
CELIA, slave to TRUFALDIN.
HIPPOLYTA, daughter to ANSELMO.
Scene.--MESSINA.

THE BLUNDERER: OR, THE COUNTERPLOTS.
(_L'��TOURDI, ou LES CONTRE-TEMPS_.)

ACT I.

SCENE I.--LELIO, alone.
LEL. Very well! Leander, very well! we must quarrel then,--we shall see which of us two will gain the day; and which, in our mutual pursuit after this young miracle of beauty, will thwart the most his rival's addresses. Do whatever you can, defend yourself well, for depend upon it, on my side no pains shall be spared.

SCENE II.--LELIO, MASCARILLE.
LEL. Ah! Mascarille!
MASC. What's the matter?
LEL. A great deal is the matter. Everything crosses my love. Leander is enamoured of Celia. The Fates have willed it, that though I have changed the object of my passion, he still remains my rival.
MASC. Leander enamoured of Celia!
LEL. He adores her, I tell you.
[Footnote: In French, _tu, toi_, thee, thou, denote either social superiority or familiarity. The same phraseology was also employed in many English comedies of that time, but sounds so stiff at present, that the translator has everywhere used "you."]
MASC. So much the worse.
LEL. Yes, so much the worse, and that's what annoys me. However, I should be wrong to