The Bores | Page 4

an error, though never so
gross," is a very good character, and an epitome of all the Bores into
one.
The prologue of The Sullen Lovers begins thus:--
"How popular are Poets now-a-days! Who can more Men at their first
summons raise, Than many a wealthy home-bred Gentleman, By all his
Interest in his Country can. They raise their Friends; but in one Day
arise 'Gainst one poor Poet all these Enemies."

PREFACE.
Never was any Dramatic performance so hurried as this; and it is a
thing, I believe, quite new, to have a comedy planned, finished, got up,
and played in a fortnight. I do not say this to boast of an _impromptu_,
or to pretend to any reputation on that account: but only to prevent
certain people, who might object that I have not introduced here all the
species of Bores who are to be found. I know that the number of them
is great, both at the Court and in the City, and that, without episodes, I
might have composed a comedy of five acts and still have had matter to
spare. But in the little time allowed me, it was impossible to execute

any great design, or to study much the choice of my characters, or the
disposition of my subject. I therefore confined myself to touching only
upon a small number of Bores; and I took those which first presented
themselves to my mind, and which I thought the best fitted for amusing
the august personages before whom this play was to appear; and, to
unite all these things together speedily, I made use of the first plot I
could find. It is not, at present, my intention to examine whether the
whole might not have been better, and whether all those who were
diverted with it laughed according to rule. The time may come when I
may print my remarks upon the pieces I have written: and I do not
despair letting the world see that, like a grand author, I can quote
Aristotle and Horace. In expectation of this examination, which perhaps
may never take place, I leave the decision of this affair to the multitude,
and I look upon it as equally difficult to oppose a work which the
public approves, as it is to defend one which it condemns.
There is no one who does not know for what time of rejoicing the piece
was composed; and that fete made so much noise, that it is not
necessary to speak of it [Footnote: _The Bores_, according to the
Preface, planned, finished, got up, and played in a fortnight, was acted
amidst other festivities, first at Vaux, the seat of Monsieur Fouquet,
Superintendent of Finances, the 17th of August, 1661, in the presence
of the King and the whole Court, with the exception of the Queen.
Three weeks later Fouquet was arrested, and finally condemned to be
shut up in prison, where he died in 1672. It was not till November,
1661, that The Bores was played in Paris.] but it will not be amiss to
say a word or two of the ornaments which have been mixed with the
Comedy.
The design was also to give a ballet; and as there was only a small
number of first-rate dancers, it was necessary to separate the _entrées_
[Footnote: See Prefatory Memoir, page xxx., note 12] of this ballet, and
to interpolate them with the Acts of the Play, so that these intervals
might give time to the same dancers to appear in different dresses; also
to avoid breaking the thread of the piece by these interludes, it was
deemed advisable to weave the ballet in the best manner one could into
the subject, and make but one thing of it and the play. But as the time
was exceedingly short, and the whole was not entirely regulated by the
same person, there may be found, perhaps, some parts of the ballet

which do not enter so naturally into the play as others do. Be that as it
may, this is a medley new upon our stage; although one might find
some authorities in antiquity: but as every one thought it agreeable, it
may serve as a specimen for other things which may be concerted more
at leisure.
Immediately upon the curtain rising, one of the actors, whom you may
suppose to be myself, appeared on the stage in an ordinary dress, and
addressing himself to the King, with the look of a man surprised, made
excuses in great disorder, for being there alone, and wanting both time
and actors to give his Majesty the diversion he seemed to expect; at the
same time in the midst of twenty natural cascades, a large shell was
disclosed, which every one saw: and the agreeable Naiad