The Love-Tiff | Page 2

himself, in a dedication asserts, so ancient that when William the Conqueror came into England, one of his nobles married into it.
He was some time a member of the Middle Temple; but, looking on the dry study of the law as greatly beneath the attention of a man of genius, quitted it. He was an arrant plagiary. Dryden attacked one of his plays, _The Citizen turned Gentleman_, an imitation of Moli��re's _Bourgeois-Gentilhomme_, in the Prologue to The Assignation.
Ravenscroft wrote "_The Wrangling Lovers, or the Invisible Mistress_. Acted at the Duke's Theatre, 1677. London, Printed for William Crook, at the sign of the _Green Dragon_, without _Temple-Bar_, 1677." Though the plot was partly taken from a Spanish novel, the author has been inspired by Moli��re's _D��pit amoureux_. The scene is in Toledo: ��raste is called Don Diego de Stuniga, Val��re Don Gusman de Haro, "a well-bred cavaliere," Lucile is Octavia de Pimentell, and Ascanio is Elvira; Gros-Ren��'s name is Sanco, "vallet to Gusman, a simple pleasant fellow," and Mascarille is Ordgano, "a cunning knave;" Marinette is called Beatrice and Frosine Isabella. The English play is rather too long. Don Gusman courts Elvira veiled, whilst in the French play Ascanio, her counterpart, is believed to be a young man. There is also a brother of Donna Elvira, Don Ruis de Moncade, who is a rival of Don Diego, whilst in _le D��pit-amoureux_. Val��re is not the brother but the husband of Ascanio and the rival of ��raste (Don Diego) as well. The arrangement of the English comedy differs greatly from the French. Though the plot in both plays is nearly identical, yet the words and scenes in The Wrangling Lovers are totally different, and not so amusing. Mascarille and Gros-Ren�� are but faintly attempted; Marinette and Frosine only sketched in outline; and in the fifth act the ladies appear to have nothing else to do but to pop in and out of closets. The scenes of the French play between Albert and Metaphrastus (ii. 7); the very comical scene between Albert and Polydore (iii. 4) and the reconciliation scene between Lucile and ��raste (iv. 3), are also not rendered in the English comedy. There are very few scenes which can be compared with those of _le D��pit amoureux_.

DRAMATIS PERSON?.
��RASTE, in love with Lucile.
ALBERT, father to Lucile.
[Footnote: This part was played by Moli��re himself]
GROS-REN��, _servant to ��raste_.
VAL��RE, son to Polydore.
POLYDORE, _father to Val��re_.
MASCARILLE, _servant to Val��re_.
METAPHRASTUS, a pedant.
LA RAPI��RE, a bully.
LUCILE, daughter to Albert.
ASCANIO, _Albert's daughter, in man's clothes_.
FROSINE, confidant to Ascanio.
MARINETTE, maid to Lucile.

THE LOVE-TIFF.
(LE D��PIT AMOUREUX.)
* * * * *

ACT I.

SCENE I.--��RASTE, GROS-REN��.
ERAS. Shall I declare it to you? A certain secret anxiety never leaves my mind quite at rest. Yes, whatever remarks you make about my love, to tell you the truth, I am afraid of being deceived; or that you may be bribed in order to favour a rival; or, at least, that you may be imposed upon as well as myself.
GR.-RE. As for me, if you suspect me of any knavish trick, I will say, and I trust I give no offence to your honour's love, that you wound my honesty very unjustly, and that you show but small skill in physiognomy. People of my bulk are not accused, thank Heaven! of being either rogues or plotters. I scarcely need protest against the honour paid to us, but am straightforward in every thing.
[Footnote: Du Parc, the actor who played this part, was very stout; hence the allusion in the original, "et suis homme fort rond de toutes les manieres." I have, of course, used in the translation the word "straightforward" ironically, and with an eye to the rotundity of stomach of the actor. Moli��re was rather fond of making allusions in his plays to the infirmities or peculiarities of some of his actors. Thus, in the Miser (_l'Avare_) Act I, Scene 3, he alludes to the lameness of the actor B��jart, "_Je ne me plais point a voir ce chien de boiteux-la_." "I do not like to see that lame dog;" in the Citizen who apes the Nobleman (_le Bourgeois gentilhomme_), Act iii. sc. 9, he even gives a portrait of his wife.]
As for my being deceived that may be; there is a better foundation for that idea; nevertheless, I do not believe it can be easily done. I may be a fool, but I do not see yet why you vex yourself thus. Lucile, to my thinking, shows sufficient love for you; she sees you and talks to you, at all times; and Val��re, after all, who is the cause of your fear, seems only to be allowed to approach her because she is compelled so to act.
ERAS. A lover is often buoyed up by false hope. He who is best received is not always the most