The Bores | Page 2

had no doubt seen the Italian farce, "_Le Case svaliggiate
ovvera gli Interrompimenti di Pantalone_," which appears to have
directly provided him with the thread of his comedy. This is the gist of
it. A girl, courted by Pantaloon, gives him a rendezvous in order to
escape from his importunities; whilst a cunning knave sends across his
path a medley of persons to delay his approach, and cause him to break
his appointment. This delay, however, is about the only point of
resemblance between the Italian play and the French comedy.
There are some passages in Scarron's _Epîtres chagrines_ addressed to
the Marshal d'Albret and M. d'Elbène, from which our author must
have derived a certain amount of inspiration; for in these epistles the
writer reviews the whole tribe of bores, in coarse but vigorous
language.
Molière dedicated The Bores to Louis XIV. in the following words:
SIRE,
I am adding one scene to the Comedy, and a man who dedicates a book
is a species of Bore insupportable enough. Your Majesty is better
acquainted with this than any person in the kingdom: and this is not the
first time that you have been exposed to the fury of Epistles Dedicatory.
But though I follow the example of others, and put myself in the rank
of those I have ridiculed; I dare, however, assure Your Majesty, that
what I have done in this case is not so much to present You a book, as
to have the opportunity of returning You thanks for the success of this
Comedy. I owe, Sire, that success, which exceeded my expectations,
not only to the glorious approbation with which Your Majesty
honoured this piece at first, and which attracted so powerfully that of
all the world; but also to the order, which You gave me, to add a
_Bore_, of which Yourself had the goodness to give me the idea, and
which was proved by everyone to be the finest part of the work.
[Footnote: See Prefatory Memoir, page xxviii. ?] I must confess, Sire, I
never did any thing with such ease and readiness, as that part, where I

had Your Majesty's commands to work.
The pleasure I had in obeying them, was to me more than Apollo and
all the _Muses_; and by this I conceive what I should be able to execute
in a complete Comedy, were I inspired by the same commands. Those
who are born in an elevated rank, may propose to themselves the
honour of serving Your Majesty in great Employments; but, for my part,
all the glory I can aspire to, is to amuse You. [Footnote: In spite of all
that has been said about Molière's passionate fondness for his
profession, I imagine he must now and then have felt some slight, or
suffered from some want of consideration. Hence perhaps the above
sentence. Compare with this Shakespeare's hundred and eleventh
sonnet:
"Oh! for my sake, do you with Fortune chide The guilty goddess of my
harmful deeds, That did not better for my life provide Than public
means which public manners breeds. Thence comes it that my name
receives a brand; And almost thence my nature is subdu'd To what it
works in, like the dyer's hand."]
The ambition of my wishes is confined to this; and I think that, to
contribute any thing to the diversion of her King, is, in some respects,
not to be useless to France. Should I not succeed in this, it shall never
be through want of zeal, or study; but only through a hapless destiny,
which often accompanies the best intentions, and which, to a certainty,
would be a most sensible affliction to SIRE, Your MAJESTY'S _most
humble, most obedient, and most faithful Servant_,
MOLIÈRE.
In the eighth volume of the "Select Comedies of M. de Molière,
London, 1732," the play of The Bores is dedicated, under the name of
_The Impertinents_, to the Right Honourable the Lord Carteret,
[Footnote: John, Lord Carteret, born 22nd April, 1690, twice
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, was Secretary of State and head of the
Ministry from February, 1742, until November 23, 1744, became Earl
Granville that same year, on the death of his mother; was president of
the Council in 1751, and died in 1763.] in the following words:

MY LORD,
It is by Custom grown into a sort of Privilege for Writers, of
whatsoever Class, to attack Persons of Rank and Merit by these kind of
Addresses. We conceive a certain Charm in Great and Favourite Names,
which sooths our Reader, and prepossesses him in our Favour: We
deem ourselves of Consequence, according to the Distinction of our
Patron; and come in for our Share in the Reputation he bears in the
World. Hence it is, MY LORD, that Persons of the greatest Worth are