PREFACE. THIS HIS volume, which may by the public favour prove the first of a series, is, like the corresponding Oxford volume, 'not intended to advocate any particular set of opinions.' Each contributor, by signing his name, becomes answerable for his own work. We are thus spared the affectation of a perfect conformity of views, which does not, and cannot, exist; though the nearest possible approximation to it is most likely to be found among men whose youth has been subject to the same influences, and passed within the same walls. Lest the title, Cambridge Essays, should attract or deter readers, by suggesting astronomical calculations and transcendental analysis, it is necessary to state that no scientific subjects are treated of in our pages, except such as may made intelligible and interesting to the general public of educated men. be CAMBRIDGE ESSAYS. THE LIFE AND GENIUS OF MOLIÈRE. THAT are the authentic facts in the life of Jean Baptiste Poquelin, alias Molière? What are the elements and characteristics of that genius which his works bewray? To what extent are those elements and characteristics, on the one hand the produce of that spirit by which the whole literature of his age was governed, or, on the other, the true and genuine manifestation of the man's own soul? The vices and foibles he so greatly dares to ridicule, do they change their nature and their name, when stripped of point-lace and peruke? are they like clocks and ruffles à la Louis Quatorze? has mankind outgrown them, like measles or hooping-cough, or are they a chronic disease, affecting every age and condition of society? Such are the main inquiries towards the solution of which the writer of these pages would fain hope, in his measure and degree, to contribute something, were it but a mite. As regards the events in Molière's life, we plume ourselves less on the facts narrated than on the fictions omitted -fictions at which most biographers, we allow, are prone to sip, but which Molière's swallow at a gulp. In like manner, as regards our criticisms, we have no desire to be original at the risk of being wrong, holding it sorry wisdom to act in such matters after the fashion of those birds of whom old Fuller speaks, who cannot take wing except the wind be contrary. At the same time, we are determined to think for ourselves, firmly believing, with Molière, that 'la bonne façon de juger d'une pièce, est de se laisser prendre aux choses, et de n'avoir ni prévention aveugle, ni complaisance affectée, ni délicatesse ridicule.' (La Critique de l'Ecole des Femmes, Scene vi.) B |