The Bores

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Жан-Батист Мольер. The Bores

INTRODUCTORY NOTICE

PREFACE

PROLOGUE

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

ACT I

SCENE I. – ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

SCENE II. – ORPHISE, ALCIDOR, ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

SCENE III. – ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

SCENE IV. – ÉRASTE, alone

SCENE V. – LISANDRE, ÉRASTE

SCENE VI. – ÉRASTE, alone

SCENE VII. – ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

SCENE VIII. – ORPHISE, ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

SCENE IX. – ALCANDRE, ORPHISE, ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

SCENE X. – ALCANDRE, ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

SCENE XI. – ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

BALLET TO ACT I

ACT II

SCENE I. – ÉRASTE, alone

SCENE II. – ALCIPPE, ÉRASTE

SCENE III. – ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

SCENE IV. – ORANTE, CLIMÈNE, ÉRASTE (at the side of the stage, unseen.)

SCENE V. – ORPHISE, ÉRASTE

SCENE VI. – ÉRASTE, alone

SCENE VII. – DORANTE, ÉRASTE

BALLET TO ACT II

ACT III

SCENE I. – ÉRASTE, LA MONTAGNE

SCENE II. – CARITIDÈS; ÉRASTE

SCENE III. – ORMIN, ÉRASTE

SCENE IV. – FILINTE, ÉRASTE

SCENE V. – DAMIS, L'ÉPINE, ÉRASTE, LA RIVIÈRE, and his Companions

SCENE VI. – ORPHISE, DAMIS, ÉRASTE

SCENE VII. – DAMIS, ORPHISE, ÉRASTE, L'ÉPINE

BALLET TO ACT III

Отрывок из книги

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.

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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 who appeared in it, advanced to the front of the stage, and with an heroic air pronounced the following verses which Mr. Pellison had made, and which served as a Prologue.

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