Le Legs, a comedy in one act, was produced at the Theatre-Francais, January 11, 1736.  Its reception was rather cold the first night, but enthusiastic on subsequent performances.  Lenient says of it:  “Le Legs est entre toutes ses oeuvres le specimen de la bluette reduite a sa plus simple expression, joignant la finesse et la tenuite de la trame a l’exiguite de la donnee.  Tout cela tiendrait dans une coquille de noix, et finit par remplir un acte.  Les personnages, aussi legers, aussi volatils que le sujet lui-meme, s’appellent le Marquis, la Comtesse, le Chevalier; ils representent, comme nous l’avons dit, des especes plus encore que des individus."[120]

A relative has left the Marquis six hundred thousand francs on condition that he marry Hortense, and if not, that he pay over to her two hundred thousand.  The Marquis, in love with the Comtesse, to whom, through excessive timidity,—­and here we have the motive of the play,—­he dares not declare his passion, although encouraged in every way, is in business matters of a decidedly less timid nature, and seeks to secure all of the property, and at the same time preserve his heart for the one he loves.  Hortense, likewise in love with another, the Chevalier, whose fortune is not large, seeks naturally to come into her inheritance without sacrificing herself to an odious marriage.  In order to deceive the other into renouncing his share of the property, each feigns willingness to enter into the marriage as stipulated in the will.

The servants, as is usually the case in Marivaux’s comedies, play an important role, and seek to further their own selfish interests.  Lepine, un Gascon froid, with a genius for intrigue, urges on the marriage of the Marquis with the Comtesse, the more readily to secure for himself the hand of Lisette, who, in turn, opposes artfully the marriage of her mistress to further her own interests and to retain her freedom.

The play ends with the renunciation of the two hundred thousand francs on the part of the Marquis, who has at last become bold enough to declare himself, after manifold hints on the part of the Comtesse; and love triumphs.  Thus with apparently little to work upon has been wrought out an entire comedy, interesting from beginning to end.  Alfred de Musset has made over this comedy in his l’Ane et le Ruisseau, but has come far short of the original.

Les Fausses Confidences, a comedy in three acts, was brought out at the Comedie-Italienne, March 16, 1737.  This piece has sometimes vied with le Jeu de l’Amour et du Hasard for the title of Marivaux’s chef-d’oeuvre.  Without doubt, it is one of the most charming of the author’s works.  The Mercure for March, 1737, informs us that the play “was received with favor by the public.”  Although it may be fittingly classed in the number of the Surprises de l’amour, it contains as well elements of the Prejuge vaincu, the prejudice overcome being that of wealth and position, which held a place, not only in the foolish vanity of Madame Argante, but even in the tender reserve of Araminte.