The Pretentious Young Ladies | Page 5

Abbey.
In 1682, was performed, at the Theatre, Dorset Garden, her play. _The False Count, or a New Way to Play an Old Game_. The prologue attacks the Whigs most furiously, and the epilogue, spoken by Mrs. Barry, is very indecent. The plot of this play, or rather farce, is very improbable, and the language is more than free. Julia, in love with Don Carlos, afterwards Governor of Cadiz, was forced by her father to marry Francisco, a rich old man, formerly a leather-seller; the latter going with his family to sea on a party of pleasure, are taken prisoners by Carlos and his servants, disguised as Turks. They are carried to a country house, and made to believe they are in the Grand Turk's seraglio. There is also an underplot, in which Isabella, Francisco's proud and vain daughter, is courted by Guilion, a supposed Count, but in reality a chimney-sweep, whose hand she accepts. In the end everything is discovered, and Guilion comes to claim his wife in his sooty clothes.
Thomas Shadwell, a dramatist, and the poet-laureate of William III., who has been flagellated by Dryden in his MacFlecknoe and in the second part of Absalom and _Achitophel_, and been mentioned with contempt by Pope in his _Dunciad_, took from the _Pr��cieuses Ridicules_ Mascarille and Jodelet, and freely imitated and united them in the character of La Roch, a sham Count, in his _Bury-Fair_, acted by His Majesty's servants in 1689. This play, dedicated to Charles, Earl of Dorset and Middlesex, was written "during eight months' painful sickness." In the Prologue Shadwell states:
That every Part is Fiction in his Play; Particular Reflections there are none; Our Poet knows not one in all your Town. If any has so very little Wit, To think a Fop's Dress can his Person fit, E'en let him take it, and make much of it.
Whilst, in The _Pretentious Young Ladies_, Mascarille and Jodelet impose upon two provincial girls, in _Bury-Fair_, La Roch, "a French peruke-maker" succeeds in deceiving Mrs. Fantast and Mrs. Gertrude under the name of Count de Cheveux. The Count is very amusing, and though a coward to boot, pretends to be a great warrior. His description of war is characteristic; he states that "de great Heros always burne and kille de Man, Woman, and Shilde for deir Glory."

DRAMATIS PERSONAE.
LA GRANGE, \ ) repulsed Lovers. DU CROISY, /
GORGIBUS, a good citizen.
[Footnote: Gorgibus was the name of certain characters in old comedies. The actor, L'Epy, who played this part, had a very loud voice; hence Moli��re gave him probably this name.]
THE MARQUIS DE MASCARILLE, valet to La Grange.
[Footnote: Mascarille was played by Moli��re, and has a personality quite distinct from the servant of the same name in the Blunderer and the _Love-Tiff_. The dress in which he acted this part, has not been mentioned in the inventory taken after his death, but in a pamphlet, published in 1660, he is described as wearing an enormous wig, a very small hat, a ruff like a morning gown, rolls in which children could play hide-and-seek, tassels like cornucopise, ribbons that covered his shoes, with heels half a foot in height.]
THE VISCOUNT JODELET, valet to Du Croisy.
ALMANZOR, footman to the pretentious ladies.
TWO CHAIRMEN.
MUSICIANS.
MADELON, _daughter to Gorgibus_, \ ) The pretentious young ladies. CATHOS, _niece to Gorgibus_, /
MAROTTE, maid to the pretentious young ladies.
LUCILE. \ ) two female neighbours. C��LIM��NE. /
SCENE--GORGIBUS' HOUSE, PARIS.

THE PRETENTIOUS YOUNG LADIES. (LES PR��CIEUSES RIDICULES.)

ACT I.

SCENE I.--LA GRANGE, DU CROISY.
DU. CR. Mr. La Grange.
LA. GR. What?
DU. CR. Look at me for a moment without laughing.
LA. GR. Well?
DU. CR. What do you say of our visit? Are you quite pleased with it?
LA. GR. Do you think either of us has any reason to be so?
DU. CR. Not at all, to say the truth.
LA. GR. As for me, I must acknowledge I was quite shocked at it. Pray now, did ever anybody see a couple of country wenches giving themselves more ridiculous airs, or two men treated with more contempt than we were? They could hardly make up their mind to order chairs for us. I never saw such whispering as there was between them; such yawning, such rubbing of the eyes, and asking so often what o'clock it was. Did they answer anything else but "yes," or "no," to what we said to them? In short, do you not agree with me that if we had been the meanest persons in the world, we could not have been treated worse?
DU. CR. You seem to take it greatly to heart.
LA. GR. No doubt I do; so much so, that I am resolved to be revenged on them for their impertinence. I know well enough why they despise us. Affectation has not alone infected Paris, but has also spread into the country, and our ridiculous damsels have