Chapter IV: Introduction (3)

His ideas on style may be found in the sixth leaflet of the _Cabinet du Philosophe_, in which he answers the accusations of his critics. With him the _idea_ is primary and the _word_ used to express it but secondary. Wherefore, an author should be judged rather by the thoughts which the words express than by the words themselves. If, moreover, the finesse of the writer is such that he can perceive certain shades of meaning, not evident to the more commonplace beholder, how can he make them clear without deviating from the regular forms of expression? A man who understands his language may have poor thoughts, but cannot express his thoughts poorly. "Venons maintenant a l'application de tout ce que j'ai dit. Vous accusez un auteur d'avoir un style precieux. Qu'est-ce que cela signifie?... Ce style peut-etre bien n'est accuse d'etre mauvais, precieux, guinde, recherche, que parce que les pensees qu'il exprime sont extremement fines, et ont du se former d'une liaison d'idees singulieres, lesquelles idees ont du a leur tour etre exprimees par le rapprochement de mots et de signes qu'on a rarement vus aller ensemble." We should have to tell him to think less, or else urge the others to allow him to use the only expressions possible of conveying his thoughts, even should they appear _precieuses_. If, then, his thoughts are understood, the next question is whether they could be formed with fewer ideas, and consequently fewer words, and still convey to the hearer all the necessary finesse, all of the delicate shades of meaning. "Il y a des gens qui, en faisant un ouvrage d'esprit, ne saisissent pas toujours precisement une certaine idee qu'ils voudraient joindre a une autre. Ils la cherchent; ils l'ont dans l'instinct, dans le fond de l'ame; mais ils ne sauraient la developper. Par paresse, ou par necessite, ou par lassitude. ils s'en tiennent a une autre qui en approche, mais qui n'est pas la veritable: et ils l'expriment pourtant bien, parce qu'ils prennent le mot propre de cette idee a peu pres ressemblante a l'autre, et en meme temps inferieure." Montaigne, La Bruyere, Pascal, and all great writers, have had individual ideas, hence a singular style, as it is termed.

In the seventh leaflet of the _Spectateur_ he replies to the accusation that he attempted in his writings to display his wit at the expense of naturalness. "Combien croit-on, par exemple, qu'il y ait d'ecrivains, qui, pour eviter le reproche de n'etre pas naturels font justement tout ce qu'il faut pour ne l'etre pas, et d'autres qui se rendent fades, de crainte qu'on ne leur dise qu'ils courent apres l'esprit! Courir apres l'esprit, et n'etre point naturel, voila les reproches a la mode." What Marivaux sought, above everything else, was naturalness, and he prided himself upon employing more nearly than most writers the language of conversation. Summing up the whole matter, he declares: "J'ajouterai seulement, la-dessus, qu'entre gens d'esprit, les conversations dans le monde sont plus vives qu'on ne pense, et que tout ce qu'un auteur pourrait faire pour les imiter, n'approchera jamais du feu et de la naivete fine et subite qu'ils y mettent."[144]

Although the term of _neologue_ was applied to Marivaux by Voltaire, and has been repeated ever since, he was less of a neologist than a _precieux_ in language.[145] That is to say, he was less inclined to coin new words, or even to use old words with new meanings, than he was to employ unusual and peculiar turns of expression.[146] Marivaux was not the only writer of the time to make use of _expressions precieuses_, and, although he figures rather more prominently than most of the authors ridiculed by Desfontaines in his _Dictionnaire neologique_,[147] he has the company of many others, and among them, of his friends La Motte, Fontenelle, de Houtteville, and even Montesquieu. Some of the expressions which were considered reprehensible by Desfontaines have since been received into common parlance, and so do not appear unnatural or unusual: _sortir de sa coquille_, etc.

Fleury[148] gives six divisions of the peculiar turns of expression employed by Marivaux, which constitute that part of the _marivaudage_ most condemned by his critics:

1. The use of a common expression, in which a word is first taken in a figurative sense, to be followed by its literal sense:

_Il ne veut que vous donner la main.--Eh! que veut-il que
je fasse de cette main, si je n'ai pas envie de la prendre?_

_Son coeur ne se marie pas, il reste garcon._

2. The use of a metaphor unexpectedly carried out:

_Un amour de votre facon ne reste pas longtemps au berceau: votre
premier coup d'oeil a fait naitre le mien; le second lui a donne la
facon; le troisieme l'a rendu grand garcon. Tachons de l'etablir au plus
vite; ayez soin de lui, puisque vous etes sa mere._

_Monsieur a couru apres moi, je m'enfuyais, mais il m'a jete de l'or,
des nippes et une maison fournie de tous ses ustensiles a la tete; cela
m'a etourdie, je me suis arretee._

3. A metaphor piquant by its oddity:

_Je crois que j'ai laisse ma respiration en chemin.

La vie que je mene aujourd'hui n'est point batarde, elle vient bien en
ligne droite de celle que je menais._

4. A phrase ending in a surprise:

_Je gage que tu m'aimes.--Je ne parie jamais, je perds toujours._

5. A metonymy put into action:

_Voyez-vous cette figure tendre et solitaire qui se promene la-bas en
attendant la mienne?_

6. A rough comparison, which will not admit of examination:

_Si j'etais roi, nous verrions qui serait reine, et comme ce ne serait
pas moi, il faudrait que ce fut vous._

Although these divisions are not altogether satisfactory, they, with the examples cited, will serve to convey an accurate enough idea of this side of the _marivaudage_. Such expressions, or, at least, those in which the exaggeration of the figure is most apparent, are usually found in the mouths of servants and peasants, to which class such complicated language is not unnatural.[149]

A very minor phase of the literary activity of Marivaux remains to be considered, and that is his work in criticism. Eulogiums of the tragedies of Crebillon _pere_,[150] of the _Romulus_[151] and the _Ines de Castro_[152] of La Motte, and of the _Lettres persanes_[153] of Montesquieu constitute almost his entire equipment in this line.

That he was not an unbiased critic, this unwarranted praise of his friend La Motte is enough to prove: "Je sortais, il y a quelques jours, de la comedie, ou j'etais alle voir _Romulus_, qui m'avait charme, et je disais en moi-meme: on dit communement _l'elegant Racine_, et le _sublime Corneille_; quelle epithete donnera-t-on a cet homme-ci, je n'en sais rien; mais il est beau de les avoir meritees toutes les deux." His criticism of the _Lettres persanes_ is, after all, the only one worthy of praise. In it he has shown himself a fair and competent judge of this first celebrated work of Montesquieu. I realize that, in thus restricting the critical works of Marivaux, it is taking a narrow view of criticism, and that his works ridiculing the classics, _l'Iliade travestie_ and _le Telemaque travesti_, together with his ideas upon the quarrel of the ancients and moderns, as seen throughout certain of his works, and particularly in _le Miroir_, and lastly his opinion of criticism in general, and his defense of his own style, as embodied in works already mentioned, should be taken into consideration, if we had the time to study him as critic in this broader sense.

If Marivaux, yielding to his sense of etiquette and good breeding, was sparing in his criticism of his contemporaries, he was certainly not spared by them. The circle of his friends was small, but intimate, and his timidity with men, his suspiciousness, his lack of self-assertion, made him an easy prey to such unscrupulous opponents as Voltaire. Fond of the refined society of the salons, and repelled by the less feeling and more boisterous set of the cafes, which he avoided, Marivaux became a convenient object of attack for the cabals set in motion by the latter, and, although, in spite of his general suspiciousness, he refused to give credence[154] to an idea so obnoxious to him, it is not unlikely that the frequent failure of his comedies on their "first night" may be most satisfactorily explained in this way.

Marivaux was ever ready to accept a criticism that seemed to him deserved. "J'ai eu tort de donner cette comedie-ci au theatre," he says in the preface to his _Ile de la Raison_: "Elle n'etait pas bonne a etre representee, et le public lui a fait justice en la condamnant. Point d'intrigue, peu d'action, peu d'interet; ce sujet, tel que je l'avais concu, n'etait point susceptible de tout cela...." At another time, having been present at the first performance of one of his comedies, and noticing the undissimulated yawns of the parterre, he confessed, upon leaving the theatre, that no one had been more bored than he.[155] However, notwithstanding his readiness to acknowledge his own defects, and to defer to the opinions of others, Marivaux required the criticism to be fair- minded and impersonal.

The seventh leaflet of the _Spectateur_ contains his ideas upon this matter of criticism, which a few selections will suffice to illustrate: "A l'egard de ces critiques qui ne sont que des expressions meprisantes, et qui, sans autre examen, se terminent a dire crument d'un ouvrage _cela ne vaut rien, cela est detestable_, nous serons bientot d'accord la-dessus, et je vous ferai convenir sur-le-champ que ces sortes de raisonnements a leur tour ne valent rien et sont detestables.... Ah! que nous irions loin, qu'il naitrait de beaux ouvrages, si la plupart des gens d'esprit qui en sont les juges, tatonnaient un peu avant de dire, _cela est mauvais_ ou _cela est bon!_ ... mais je voudrais des critiques qui pussent corriger et non pas gater, qui reformassent ce qu'il y aurait de defectueux dans le caractere d'esprit d'un auteur, et qui ne lui fissent pas quitter ce caractere. Il faudrait aussi pour cela, s'il etait possible, que la malice ou l'inimitie des partis n'alterat pas les lumieres de la plupart des hommes, ne leur derobat point l'honneur de se juger equitablement, n'employat pas toute leur attention a s'humilier les uns les autres, a deshonorer ce que leur talents peuvent avoir d'heureux, a se ruiner reciproquement dans l'esprit du public...."[156] When obliged to endure unfair and personal criticism, as he often was, Marivaux met it invariably with contemptuous silence,[157] saying to his friends: "J'aime mon repos et je ne veux point troubler celui des autres."[158]

Among those most bitter and most constant in their attacks upon him was Voltaire, some of whose remarks have come down to us. "C'est un homme," says Voltaire, "qui passe sa vie a peser des riens dans des balances de toile d'araignee" ... or again: "C'est un homme qui sait tous les sentiers du coeur humain, mais qui n'en connait pas la grande route." On June 8, 1732, writing to M. de Fourmont, Voltaire declares: "Nous allons avoir cet ete une comedie en prose du sieur Marivaux, sous le titre _les Serments indiscrets_. Vous comptez bien qu'il y aura beaucoup de metaphysique et peu de naturel."

The strong antipathy felt by Marivaux for Voltaire forced him at times, in the presence of friends, to give vent to his feelings in words quite as spiteful as those of his enemy: "M. de Voltaire est le premier homme du monde pour ecrire ce que les autres ont pense.... M. de Voltaire est la perfection des idees communes.... Ce coquin-la a un vice de plus que les autres; il a quelquefois des vertus." But his retorts never went so far as publication, and when, in 1735, the _Lettres philosophiques_ of Voltaire were condemned to be burned by Parliament, and Marivaux was urged by a publishing house, offering a good round sum, to make the most of Voltaire's discomfiture and write a refutation of the same, he refused, with his characteristic nobility of soul, to advance his own interests at the expense of those of his enemy. As much cannot be said of the latter, who, in letters written at this time, shows a cowardly fear of Marivaux's acceptance of the offer.

Voltaire was not the only rival to show hostility. Destouches, in the _Envieux, ou la Critique du Philosophe marie_ (XII), Le Sage, in _Gil Blas_ (Book VII, chapter XIII), as well as Crebillon _fils_, in the work already mentioned, were among the number.

Marivaux's admission to the French Academy had long been a matter of grave doubt to his friends, for he was too honest for intrigue and too proud to sue for favours, and there was much opposition on the part of many members, who declared that their purposes were at war, as they had assumed the task of composing the language, while he seemed to aim at its decomposition; but Mme. de Tencin had set her mind upon making of him an academician, and spared no pains to accomplish her purpose. The influence of this brilliant, scheming, unprincipled, and headstrong woman, aided by Bouhier, president of the parliament of Dijon, and likewise a warm supporter of Marivaux, gained the day, and she had the pleasure of seeing her old friend, upon his fifty-fifth birthday, February 4, 1743, received within the ranks of the forty Immortals. Voltaire, although a dangerous competitor, was not received until three years later; Piron, Le Sage, and Crebillon _fils_, never.

Strangely enough, this painter of gay and brilliant society succeeded to the _fauteuil_ of an ecclesiastic, l'abbe d'Houtteville, and was welcomed by another, Languet de Gergy, archbishop of Sens. At his death his place was filled by still another, a certain abbe de Radonvilliers. The task of the archbishop was not one of the easiest, for it devolved upon him to eulogize an author, many of whose works, by reason of his ecclesiastical position, he was not supposed to have read. The acquaintance that he shows with them, however, is rather too intimate to credit his assertion that his judgment is drawn from hearsay: but with due deference to public opinion and his supposed position, the archbishop lauds rather the character of the man than the excellence of the author, declaring that it is not so much for the multitude of his books, though welcomed by the public with avidity, that Marivaux owes his election, as it is to "l'estime que nous avons faite de vos moeurs, de votre bon coeur, de la douceur de votre societe, et, si j'ose le dire, de _l'amabilite_ de votre caractere."[159]

Along with much praise of the author's ability, with flattering comparisons such as these: "Theophraste moderne, rien n'a echappe a vos portraits critiques.... Le celebre La Bruyere parait, dit-on, ressusciter en vous..." are criticisms upon the immoral influence of certain of his works, particularly the _Paysan parvenu_, which claim to have a moral aim. The archbishop suggests that his descriptions of licentious love are painted in such "naive and tender colors" that they must create upon the reader an impression other than that intended by the author, and that the young may be led to follow the example of the "paysan, parvenu a la fortune par des intrigues galantes," in spite of his recommendations of sobriety.[160]

Nothing, perhaps, could have so wounded Marivaux as this imputation, for few writers have been actuated by purer and more noble motives, and it was with difficulty that he restrained his impulse to call upon the assembled company for justification.[161] This is but another instance of his extreme sensibility, for, despite the criticism more or less just, the spirit of the discourse was both kindly and complimentary, as may be seen from these closing words: "J'ai rendu justice, monsieur, a la beaute de votre genie, a sa fecondite, a ses agrements: rendez-la, je vous prie, de votre part, au ministere saint dont je suis charge; et en sa faveur, pardonnez-moi une critique qui ne deroge point, ni a ce qui est du d'estime a votre aimable caractere, ni a ce qui est du d'eloge a la multitude, a la variete, a la gentillesse de vos ouvrages."[162]

No sooner was Marivaux a member of the French Academy than epigrams, such as this, began to be showered upon him: "Il eut ete mieux place a l'Academie des Sciences, comme inventeur d'un idiome nouveau, qu'a l'Academie Francaise, dont assurement il ne connaissait pas la langue."[163]

From the time of his admission to the French Academy until his death he wrote little of value. A _Lettre a une dame sur la perte d'un perroquet_, in verse, may serve to represent the decline of his genius. His popularity waned and was eclipsed by that of the vigorous writers and philosophical thinkers that followed him. His graceful sketches were soon to be forgotten in those terrible scenes that closed the century, which the most morbid and foreboding mind could scarcely have foreseen or pictured in the lurid colourings that history has painted them. His closing years were embittered by a knowledge of his failing powers and a growing suspiciousness of those about him, and his increasing poverty would have made his sufferings more keen, had it not been for the generous devotion of a friend, Mlle. de Saint-Jean, with whom he lived for the last few years of his life, in her apartments, rue de Richelieu, and whose modest fortune he shared. He died on February 12,[164] "after a rather long illness,"[165] which he bore with fortitude, and "with all the tranquillity of a Christian philosopher"[166] saw the inevitable end approach. His death passed almost unnoticed by his contemporaries.

Although at the time of his death he was seventy-five years of age, as Colle records in his journal, "he did not seem to be fifty-eight."[167] He had that gift, which none but his own light-hearted time has known, of warding off, if not old age itself, at least the appearance of it. And from that first half of the eighteenth century, that period of perennial youth, have come down to us those ever fresh and rose-hued creations, which are our charm to-day, recalling, as they do, a society long past, a brilliancy of wit, of conversation well-nigh forgotten, a gayety, a thoughtlessness, which we of the money-loving, practical, and scientific twentieth century may long for, but not know.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORKS OF MARIVAUX.

(_Taken from the third appendix of Larroumet's "Marivaux", edition of 1882, pp. 592-596._)

[Note: T.I. indicates the _Theatre-Italien_ and T.F. the _Theatre- Francais_.]

1706. _Le Pere prudent et equitable, ou Crispin l'heureux fourbe_,
comedy in one act, in verse, printed in 1712.

1712. _Pharsamon, ou les Folies romanesques_, novel in ten parts,
printed in 1737.

1713-1714. _Les Aventures de..., ou les Effets surprenants de la
sympathie_, novel in five volumes.
_La Voiture embourbee_, novel in one volume.

1715. _Le Triomphe du Bilboquet, ou la Defaite de l'Esprit, de l'Amour
et de la Raison._

1717. _L'Iliade travestie_, in twelve books and in verse,
_Le Telemaque travesti_, in three books, printed in 1736.

1717-1718. Five _Lettres contenant une aventure_, four _Lettres a
madame..., contenant des reflexions sur la populace, les bourgeois
et les marchands, les hommes et les femmes de qualite,--et les
beaux esprits_, in _le Mercure_ for August, September and
October, 1717, March and June, 1718.

1717. _Portrait de Climene, ode anacreontique_ in _le Mercure_ for
September,
_Lettre ecrite a l'auteur du Mercure_ (October), to object to the
agnomen of _Theophraste moderne_.

1719. _Pensees sur divers sujets: sur la clarte du discours, sur la
pensee sublime_, in _le Mercure_ for March.

1720. March 4. _L'Amour et la Verite_, comedy in three acts, in
collaboration with the Chevalier de Saint-Jory. T.I.
_Prologue_ inserted in _le Mercure_ for March.
October 19. _Annibal_, tragedy in five acts and in verse, T.F.
Four representations, one of which at the court.
October 20. _Arlequin poli par l'Amour_, comedy in one act. T.I.
Twelve representations.

1722. May 3. The first _Surprise de l'Amour_, comedy in three acts. T.I.
Sixteen representations.
_Compliment_, in prose and verse, to Mlle. Sylvia.
_Reflexions sur le_ Romulus _de la Motte_, pamphlet.

1722-1723. _Le Spectateur francais_, journal in twenty-five leaflets.

1723. April 6. _La Double Inconstance_, comedy in three acts. T.I.
Number of representations unknown: break in the registers of the
theatre, from March to June.

1724. February 5. _Le Prince travesti_, comedy in three acts. T.I.
Sixteen representations.
July 8. _La Fausse Suivante_, comedy in three acts. T.I. Thirteen
representations.
December 2. _Le Denouement imprevu_, comedy in one act. T.F. Six
representations.

1725. March 5. _L'Ile des Esclaves_, comedy in one act. T.I. Twenty-one
representations.
August 19. _L'Heritier de Village_, comedy in one act. T.I. Six
representations.

1727. September 11. _Les Petits Hommes, ou l'Ile de la Raison_, comedy
in three acts. T.F. Four representations. Received August 3.
December 31. The second _Surprise de l'Amour_, comedy in three
acts. T.F. Fourteen representations. Received January 30.

1728. April 22. _Le Triomphe de Plutus_, comedy in one act. T.I. Twelve
representations.
_L'Indigent philosophe ou l'Homme sans souci_, journal in seven
leaflets.

1729. April 18. _La Nouvelle Colonie, ou la Ligue des Femmes_, comedy
in three acts. T.I. Number of representations unknown. Reduced
later to one act, to be played in the _theatres de societe_;
published in this form in _le Mercure_ for December, 1750.

1730. January 23. _Le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard_, comedy in three
acts. T.I. Fourteen representations.

1731-1741. _La Vie de Marianne, ou les Aventures de Madame la comtesse
de..._, novel in eleven parts.

1731. November 5. _La Reunion des Amours_, comedy in one act, T.F. Nine
representations. Received October 4.

1732. May 12. _Le Triomphe de l'Amour_, comedy in three acts. T.I.
Number of representations unknown.
June 8. _Les Serments indiscrets_, comedy in five acts. T.F. Nine
representations. Received March 9, 1731.
July 26. _L'Ecole des Meres_, comedy in one act. T.I. Fourteen
representations.

1733. June 6. _L'Heureux Stratageme_, comedy in three acts. T.I.
Eighteen representations.

1734. _Le Cabinet du Philosophe_, journal in eleven leaflets.
August 6. _La Meprise_, comedy in one act. T.I. Three
representations.
November 6. _Le Petit-Maitre corrige_, comedy in three acts. T.F.
Two representations. Received September 21.

1735. May 9. _La Mere confidente_, comedy in three acts, T.I. Seventeen
representations.

1735. _Le Paysan parvenu_, novel in five parts.

1736. January 11. _Le Legs_, comedy in one act. T.F. Seven
representations. Received April 20, 1735.

1737. March 16. _Les Fausses Confidences_, comedy in three acts. T.I.
Number of representations unknown.

1738. July 7. _La Joie imprevue_, comedy in one act. T.I. Number of
representations unknown.

1739. January 13. _Les Sinceres_, comedy in one act. T.I. Number of
representations unknown.

1740. November 19. _L'Epreuve_, comedy in one act. T.I. Twenty
representations.

1743. February 4. _Discours de reception_ to the French Academy.

1744. August 24. _Reflexions sur les progres de l'esprit humain_, read
before the French Academy; inserted in _le Mercure_ for June,
1755, under the title of _Reflexions sur Thucydide._
October 19. _La Dispute_, comedy in one act. T.F. One
representation.
December 29. _Reflexions sur les differentes sortes de gloire_,
read before the French Academy; printed in _le Mercure_ for March,
1751, under the title of _Reflexions sur les hommes_.

1746. August 6. _Le Prejuge vaincu_, comedy in one act. T.F. Seven
representations.

1748. April 4. _Reflexions sur l'esprit humain_, in the form of a
letter read before the French Academy.

1749. August 24. _Reflexions sur Corneille et sur Racine_, read before
the French Academy; inserted in _le Mercure_ for April, 1755,
under the title of _Reflexions sur l'esprit humain a l'occasion de
Corneille et de Racine_.
September 24. Continuation of the same reading.

1750. August 25. Continuation of the same reading.
December 27. _Compliment_ addressed in the name of the French
Academy to the Chancellor de Lamoignon; inserted in _le Mercure_
for March, 1751.

1751. January 8. _Compliment_ addressed in the name of the French
Academy to the _garde des sceaux_.
August 24. _Reflexions sur les Romains et sur les anciens Perses_,
read before the French Academy; inserted in _le Mercure_ for
October, 1751.

1754. _L'Education d'un prince_, dialogue, in _le Mercure_, first
volume for December.

1757. _Les Acteurs de bonne foi_, comedy in one act, published in _le
Conservateur_ for November, 1757.
March 5. Reading and reception at the Comedie-Francaise of
_Felicie_, comedy in one act, not played; published in _le
Mercure_ for March, 1757.
Date unknown. _Lettre a une dame sur la perte d'un perroquet_
(in verse).

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE.

[Footnote: The first biographical and literary study upon Marivaux is that of the Abbe de la Porte, published four years before the former's death in the _Observateur litteraire_ of 1759, vol. 1, p. 73, etc., reprinted with additional details in the edition of the _Oeuvres diverses_ de Marivaux, published in 1765 by Duchesne, and again in the edition of the _Oeuvres completes_, published in 1781 by the widow Duchesne. It is to this last- named text that I refer in the introduction. This essay by De la Porte is quite fair and trustworthy. It is particularly interesting as being the first. It is followed by an Eloge, or, rather, a contemptuous sketch, for it is anything but a eulogy, published by Palissot (and de Sivry) in the _Necrologe des hommes celebres_ of 1764. In 1769 Lesbros de la Versane published _l'Esprit de Marivaux ou Analectes de ses ouvrages_, preceded by an _Eloge historique de cet auteur_, "a panegyric without reservation upon the man and the writer." It is to a reprint of this _Eloge_, published by Gogue et Nee de la Rochelle, Paris, 1782, that I make my references. These are the sources from which d'Alembert drew most of the matter for his _Eloge_, which is characterized by a kindly criticism, that, though sometimes too severe, does not offend. These four are the principal early sources from which Marivaux's biographers have drawn, and, if we add Desfontaines' _Dictionnaire neologique_, published in 1726 (and several times reprinted), Grimm's _Correspondance litteraire_ (1753-1790), Colle's _Journal et memoires_ (1748-1772), Marmontel's _Memoires_, published in 1804, those of the President Henault, published by the Baron de Vigan, Paris, 1854, those of the Abbe de Trublet, published in Amsterdam, 1759, and La Harpe's _Cours de litterature ancienne et moderne_ (see edition by Buchon, Paris, 1825-1826), we shall have almost covered the ground of early sources. Much of the first part of this note is taken from Larroumet's _Marivaux_, p. 14, note 2.]

COLLECTIVE EDITIONS.

MARIVAUX: Les Comedies de Monsieur de Marivaux, jouees sur le Theatre
de l'Hotel de Bourgogne, par les Comediens Italiens ordinaires du Roy.
Paris, Briasson, 2 vol. in-12, 1732.

MARIVAUX: Oeuvres de theatre de M. de Marivaux. A Paris, chez Prault pere,
4 vol. in-12, 1740.

MARIVAUX: Oeuvres de theatre de M. de Marivaux, de l'Academie francoise.
Nouvelle edition. A Paris, chez N.B. Duchesne, rue S. Jacques,
au-dessous de la Fontaine S. Benoit, au Temple du Gout; 5 vol. in-12,
avec portrait grave par Chenu d'apres Garand, 1758.

MARIVAUX: Oeuvres completes. Paris, chez Gogue et Nee de la Rochelle,
12 vol. in-8, 1781-1782.

MARIVAUX: Oeuvres completes de Marivaux de l'Academie Francaise
(Duviquet). Paris, Haut-Coeur et Gayet jeune, P.J. Gayet et
Dauthereau, 10 vol. in-8, 1825-1830.

WORKS CONSULTED OR REFERRED TO IN THE INTRODUCTION.

BIBLIOTHEQUE FRANCAISE, ou _Histoire litteraire de la France_. Tome XXII,
derniere partie. Amsterdam, H. du Sauzet, 1736.

FERDINAND BRUNETIERE: Nouvelles critiques sur l'histoire de la
litterature francaise. Paris, Hachette et Cie., 1882.

CHARLES COLLE: Journal et memoires sur les hommes de lettres, les ouvrages
dramatiques et les evenements les plus memorables du regne de Louis
XV (1748-1772), (edition Honore Bonhomme). Tome II. Paris,
Firmin-Didot Freres, Fils et Cie., 1868.

D'ALEMBERT (Jean Le Rond, dit): Eloge de Marivaux. Contained in his
Oeuvres philosophiques, historiques et litteraires. Tome X. Paris,
Jean-Francois Bastien, An XIII (1805).

GASTON DESCHAMPS: Marivaux (in les Grands ecrivains de la France).
Paris, Hachette et Cie., 1897.

L'ABBE PIERRE-FRANCOIS GUYOT DESFONTAINES: Dictionnaire neologique
a l'usage des beaux esprits du siecle. Amsterdam, Michel-Charles
le Cene, 1731.

JEAN FLEURY: Marivaux et le marivaudage. Paris, E. Pion et Cie., 1881.

LEON FONTAINE: Le Theatre et la philosophie au XVIIIe siecle. Versailles,
Cerf et Fils, 1879.

BERNARD LE BOVIER DE FONTANELLE: Eloge de Mme. de Lambert. Contained in
his Oeuvres. Tome VII. Paris, J.F. Bastien et J. Serviere, 1792.

EDOUARD FOURNIER: Etude sur la vie et les oeuvres de l'auteur. Preceding
the Theatre complet de Marivaux. Laplace et Sanchez, 1878.

EMILE GOSSOT: Marivaux moraliste. Paris, Didier et Cie., 1881.

FREDERIC-MELCHIOR GRIMM ET DENIS DIDEROT: Correspondance litteraire,
philosophique et critique ... depuis 1753 jusqu'en 1790. Tomes I
(1753-1756), III (1761-1764), and IV (1764-1765). Paris, Furne et
Ladrange, 1829.

LE PRESIDENT CHARLES-J.-F. HENAULT: Memoires (edition Le Baron de
Vigan). Paris, 1854.

ARSENE HOUSSAYE: Galerie du XVIIIe siecle. Premiere serie. Paris, Hachette
et Cie., 1858.

JEAN-FRANCOIS DE LA HARPE: Cours de litterature ancienne et moderne.
Tomes XIII, XIV, XVI. Paris, P. Dupont et Ledentu, 1825.

L'ABBE JOSEPH DE LA PORTE: Essai sur la vie et sur les ouvrages de M. de
Marivaux. Contained in the Oeuvres completes de M. de Marivaux.
Tome I. Paris, la Veuve Duchesne, 1781. [References in the
introduction are to this edition of De la Porte, unless otherwise
stated.]

L'ABBE JOSEPH DE LA PORTE: Lettre IV, concerning the Nouvelle edition
du Theatre de M. de Marivaux. In the Observateur litteraire for
1759. Tome I. Amsterdam, 1759.

GUSTAVE LARROUMET: Marivaux, sa vie et ses oeuvres d'apres de nouveaux
documents. Paris, Hachette et Cie. The editions of 1882 and 1894.
[References in the introduction are to the former, unless otherwise
stated.]

LESBROS DE LA VERSANE: Eloge historique. In the Esprit de Marivaux.
Paris, Gogue et Nee de la Rochelle, 1782.

RENE LAVOLLEE: Marivaux inconnu (extrait de la Revue de France). Paris,
Imprimerie de la societe anonyme de publication, periodiques, 1880.

JULES LEMAITRE: Impressions de theatre. Deuxieme et quatrieme series.
Paris, H. Lecene et H. Oudin, 1888 and 1890.

CHARLES LENIENT: La Comedie en France au XVIIIe siecle. Tome I. Paris,
Hachette et Cie., 1888.