[154] After the outrageous reception of his Serments indiscrets by the public, Marivaux contented himself by saying:  “Au reste, la representation de cette piece-ci n’a pas ete achevee; elle demande de l’attention; il y avait beaucoup de monde, et bien des gens ont pretendu qu’il y avait une cabale pour la faire tomber; mais je n’en crois rien:  elle est d’un genre dont la simplicite aurait pu toute seule lui tenir lieu de cabale, surtout dans le tumulte d’une premiere representation.  D’ailleurs, je ne supposerai jamais qu’il y ait des hommes capables de n’aller a un spectacle que pour y livrer une honteuse guerre a un ouvrage fait pour les amuser.  Non, c’est la piece meme qui ne plut pas ce jour-la.” Les Serments indiscrets:  Avertissement.  Marivaux. Oeuvres, tome II, pp. 7- 8.

[155] D’Alembert, Eloge, pp. 248-249.  The play was l’Amour et la Verite.  See Larroumet, Marivaux, p. 37, note 1.

[156] Marivaux, Oeuvres, tome IX, pp. 55, 56, 59.

[157] The one exception is in the case of Crebillon, already noted.

[158] De La Porte, p. 8.  D’Alembert, Eloge, p. 298, note 25.

[159] See Marivaux, Oeuvres, tome X, p. 547.

[160] Ibid., pp. 550-551.

[161] D’Alembert, Eloge, pp. 295-296, note 23.

[162] Marivaux, Oeuvres, tome X, p. 552.

[163] D’Alembert, Eloge, p. 239.

[164] The registers of the French Academy (see Larroumet, Marivaux, p. 629) and d’Alembert (Eloge, p. 261) assign as the date of his death February 12; but l’Abbe de La Porte, p. 10), Lesbros de la Versane (p. 40), and Colle (Journal historique, tome II, p. 288) give the date as February 11.

[165] D’Alembert, Eloge, p. 261.

[166] Colle, Journal historique, tome II, p. 288.

[167] De La Porte, p. 10.

LE JEU DE L’AMOUR ET DU HASARD.

[1] SILVIA.  The ‘ideal type’ of Marivaux’s women.  “Young, alert, lively, yet compliant, already competent, reasonable, and energetic, without her reason, deliberative as it is, excluding for a moment wit, sprightliness, and charm.  Give her more reserve, more dignity, more tender kindliness, and also more indulgent experience and you will have, scarcely any older, and already a widow, Araminte of les Fausses Confidences” (Henri Lion, in Histoire de la langue et de la litterature francaise Petit de Julleville, tome VI, p. 587).

[2] ARLEQUIN.  One of the brightest and merriest of roles.  In passing to the Comedie-Francaise, this role, which at the Comedie-Italienne was played by Harlequin, was introduced under the name of Pasquin.  It is possible that the personage of Harlequin has descended from the Greek plays, in which there appeared an actor filling a similar role and dressed in the skin of a goat or a tiger; but so early an origin, even if it could be proved, would not serve to explain the costume in which he now appears, and which is itself a modification of that worn by Harlequin in the sixteenth century.