The Bores | Page 8

not to know me! What can I think? What do you say? Speak if you will.
LA M. Sir, I say nothing, lest I bore you.
ER. And so indeed you do, if you say nothing to me whilst I suffer such
a cruel martyrdom. Give me some answer; I am quite dejected. What
am I to think? Say, what do you think of it? Tell me your opinion.
LA M. Sir, I desire to hold my tongue, and not to set up for being
indispensable.

ER. Hang the impertinent fellow! Go and follow them; see what
becomes of them, and do not quit them.
LA M. (_Returning_). Shall I follow at a distance?
ER. Yes.
LA M. (_Returning_). Without their seeing me, or letting it appear that
I was sent after them?
ER. No, you will do much better to let them know that you follow them
by my express orders.
LA M. (_Returning_). Shall I find you here?
ER. Plague take you. I declare you are the biggest bore in the world!

SCENE IV.--ÉRASTE, alone.
Ah, how anxious I feel; how I wish I had missed this fatal appointment!
I thought I should find everything favourable; and, instead of that, my
heart is tortured.

SCENE V.--LISANDRE, ÉRASTE.
LIS. I recognized you under these trees from a distance, dear Marquis;
and I came to you at once. As one of my friends, I must sing you a
certain air which I have made for a little Couranto, which pleases all
the connoisseurs at court, and to which more than a score have already
written words.
[Footnote: See Vol. I., page 164, note 14.]
I have wealth, birth, a tolerable employment, and am of some
consequence in France; but I would not have failed, for all I am worth,
to compose this air which I am going to let you hear. (_He tries his
voice_). La, la; hum, hum; listen attentively, I beg. (_he sings an air of
a Couranto_). Is it not fine?
ER. Ah!
LIS. This close is pretty. (_He sings the close over again four or five
times successively_). How do you like it?
ER. Very fine, indeed.
LIS. The steps which I have arranged are no less pleasing, and the
figure in particular is wonderfully graceful. (_He sings the words, talks,
and dances at the same time; and makes Éraste perform the lady's
steps_). Stay, the gen-man crosses thus; then the lady crosses again:

together: then they separate, and the lady comes there. Do you observe
that little touch of a faint? This fleuret? These coupés running after the
fair one.
[Footnote: A fleuret was an old step in dancing formed of two half
coupées and two steps on the point of the toes.]
[Footnote: A coupé is a movement in dancing, when one leg is a little
bent, and raised from the ground, and with the other a motion is made
forward.]
Back to back: face to face, pressing up close to her. (_After finishing_).
What do you think of it, Marquis?
ER. All those steps are fine.
LIS. For my part, I would not give a fig for your ballet-masters.
ER. Evidently.
LIS. And the steps then?
ER. Are wonderful in every particular.
LIS. Shall I teach you them, for friendship's sake?
ER. To tell the truth, just now I am somewhat disturbed ....
LIS. Well, then, it shall be when you please. If I had those new words
about me, we would read them together, and see which were the
prettiest.
ER. Another time.
LIS. Farewell. My dearest Baptiste has not seen my Couranto; I am
going to look for him. We always agree about the tunes; I shall ask him
to score it.
(_Exit, still singing_.)
[Footnote: Jean Baptiste Lulli had been appointed, in the month of May
of 1661, the same year that The Bores was first played, Surintendant et
Compositeur de la musique de la chambre du Roi.]

SCENE VI.--ÉRASTE, alone.
Heavens! must we be compelled daily to endure a hundred fools,
because they are men of rank, and must we, in our politeness, demean
ourselves so often to applaud, when they annoy us?

SCENE VII.--ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE.
LA M. Sir, Orphise is alone, and is coming this way.

ER. Ah, I feel myself greatly disturbed! I still love the cruel fair one,
and my reason bids me hate her.
LA M. Sir, your reason knows not what it would be at, nor yet what
power a mistress has over a man's heart. Whatever just cause we may
have to be angry with a fair lady, she can set many things to rights by a
single word.
ER. Alas, I must confess it; the sight of her inspires me with respect
instead of with anger.

SCENE VIII.--ORPHISE, ÉRASTE,