Speaker 1: Act one of the School for Husbands by Moliere, translated
Speaker 1: by Henri van Laun. This is a LibriVox recording. All
Speaker 1: LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information
Speaker 1: or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Dramatis Personi
Speaker 1: Saganarel read by.
Speaker 2: Nemo Oresta, His brother read by Todd Valerire.
Speaker 1: Lover to Isabella read.
Speaker 3: By Peter Tucker Ergast Servant to Valaire read by Thomas Peter.
Speaker 4: A Magistrate read by Allan Mastone.
Speaker 3: The Notary read by James Curran.
Speaker 5: Isabella read by Sonya Leonaud.
Speaker 1: Her Sister read by Leagna.
Speaker 6: Lisette Made to Isabella read by Avayll.
Speaker 1: Stage directions read by Sandra Scene. A public place in Paris,
Speaker 1: The School for Husbands les call de Marie Act one,
Speaker 1: seene one Scannarell arrists.
Speaker 7: Pray, brother, let us talk less and let each of
Speaker 7: us live as he likes. Though you have the advantage
Speaker 7: of me in years and are old enough to be wise,
Speaker 7: Yet I tell you that I mean to receive none
Speaker 7: of your reproofs. That my fancy is the only counselor
Speaker 7: I shall follow. Then I am quite satisfied with my
Speaker 7: way of living.
Speaker 2: But everyone condemns it.
Speaker 7: Yes, fools like yourself, brother.
Speaker 2: Thank you very much. It is a pleasant comp lament.
Speaker 7: I should like to know, since one ought to hear everything,
Speaker 7: what these fine critics blame in me.
Speaker 2: That's surely an austere temper, which shuns all charms of society,
Speaker 2: gives a whimsical appearance to all your actions, and makes
Speaker 2: everything peculiar in you, even your dress.
Speaker 7: I ought then to make myself a slave in fashion,
Speaker 7: and not to put on clothes for my own sake.
Speaker 7: Would you not, my dear elder brother, for heaven be
Speaker 7: thanked so you are, to tell you plainly, by a
Speaker 7: matter of twenty years, and that is not worth the
Speaker 7: trouble of mentioning. Would you not, I say, by your
Speaker 7: precious nonsense, persuade me to adopt the fashions of those
Speaker 7: young sparks of yours. Oblige me to wear those little
Speaker 7: hats which provide ventilation for their weak brains, and that
Speaker 7: flaxen hair, the vast curls whereof concealed the form of
Speaker 7: the human face, those little doublets but just below the arms,
Speaker 7: and those big collars falling down to the navel, those
Speaker 7: sleeves which one sees at table trying all the sauces,
Speaker 7: and those petticoats called breeches, those tiny shoes covered with
Speaker 7: ribbons which make you look like feathered legged pigeons, and
Speaker 7: those large rolls wherein the legs are put every morning
Speaker 7: as were into the stalks, and in which we see
Speaker 7: these gallants straddle about, where their legs is wide apart,
Speaker 7: as if they were the beams of a mill. I
Speaker 7: should doubtless please you bedizened in this way I see
Speaker 7: that you wear the stupid ghugaws, which it is the
Speaker 7: fashion to wear.
Speaker 2: We should always agree with the majority, and never cause
Speaker 2: ourselves to be stared at extremes shock. And a wise
Speaker 2: man should do with his clothes as with his speech,
Speaker 2: avoid too much affectation, and without being in too great
Speaker 2: a hurry, follow whatever change custom introduces. I do not
Speaker 2: think that we should act like those people who always
Speaker 2: exaggerate the fashion, and who are annoyed that another should
Speaker 2: go further than themselves in the extremes which they affect.
Speaker 2: But I maintain that it is wrong, for whatever reasons obstinately,
Speaker 2: to chew what every one observes. That it would be
Speaker 2: better to be counted among the fools than to be
Speaker 2: the only wise person in opposition to every one else.
Speaker 7: That smacks of the old man, who, in order to
Speaker 7: impose upon the world, covers his gray hairs with a
Speaker 7: black wig.
Speaker 2: It is strange that you should be so careful always
Speaker 2: to fling my age in my face, and that I
Speaker 2: should continually find you blaming my dress as well as
Speaker 2: my cheerfulness. One would imagine that old age ought to
Speaker 2: think of nothing but death, since it is condemned to
Speaker 2: give up all enjoyment, and that it is not attended
Speaker 2: by enough ugliness of its own, but must needs be
Speaker 2: slovenly and crabbed.
Speaker 7: However that may be, I am resolved to stick to
Speaker 7: my way of dress in spite of the fashion. I
Speaker 7: like my cap so that my head may be comfortably
Speaker 7: sheltered beneath it. A good long doublet buttoned close as
Speaker 7: it should be, which may keep the stomach worn and
Speaker 7: promote a healthy digestion. A pair of breeches made exactly
Speaker 7: to fit my thighs, shoes like those of our wise ancestors,
Speaker 7: in which my feet may not be tortured, and he
Speaker 7: who does not like the look of me may shut his.
Speaker 1: Eyes scene too Leonor, Isabella, Lizette, Arrist and Ganarel conversing
Speaker 1: in an undertone unperceived Leonor to Isabella.
Speaker 8: I take it all myself in case you are.
Speaker 1: Scorded, Lizette to Isabella.
Speaker 6: Always in one room, seeing no one.
Speaker 5: Such is his humor.
Speaker 1: I pity you, sister, Lizette to Leonor.
Speaker 6: It is well for you, madam, that his brother is
Speaker 6: of quite another disposition. Fate was very kind in making
Speaker 6: you fall into the hands of a rational person.
Speaker 5: It is a wonder that he did not lock me
Speaker 5: up to day or take me with him.
Speaker 6: I declare I would send him to the devil with
Speaker 6: his Spanish rough.
Speaker 1: And Gonareel, against whom Lizette stumbled.
Speaker 7: Where are you going? If I may ask, we really
Speaker 7: do not.
Speaker 8: Oh no, I was urging my sister to take a
Speaker 8: walk and enjoy this pleasant and fine weather.
Speaker 1: But is Gannael to Leonor, as.
Speaker 7: For you, you may go wherever you please. To lise
Speaker 7: it you can run off. There are two of you.
Speaker 1: Together, two Isabella.
Speaker 7: But as for you, I forbid you excuse me to
Speaker 7: go out.
Speaker 2: Oh brother, let them go and amuse themselves.
Speaker 7: I am your servant, brother, youth will youth is foolish
Speaker 7: and old age too. Sometimes do you.
Speaker 2: Think there is any harm in her being with leonor
Speaker 2: not so?
Speaker 7: But with me? I think she is still better.
Speaker 2: But but her.
Speaker 7: Conduct must be guided by me. In short, I know
Speaker 7: the interest I ought to take in it.
Speaker 2: Have I less in her sisters?
Speaker 7: By heaven? Each one argues and does as he likes.
Speaker 7: They are without relatives, and their father, our friend, entrusted
Speaker 7: them to us in his last hour, charging us both
Speaker 7: either to marry them or if we declined, to dispose
Speaker 7: of them hereafter, he gave us, in writing the full
Speaker 7: awe authority of a father and a husband over them
Speaker 7: from their infancy. You undertook to bring up that one.
Speaker 7: I charged myself with a care of this one. You
Speaker 7: govern yours at your pleasure, leave me. I pray to
Speaker 7: manage the other as I think best.
Speaker 2: It seems to me.
Speaker 7: It seems to me, and I say it openly. That
Speaker 7: is the right way to speak on such a subject.
Speaker 7: You let your ward go about gaily and stylishly. I'm
Speaker 7: content you let her have footmen in a maid. I agree.
Speaker 7: You let her get about love idleness, be freely courted
Speaker 7: by dandies. I'm quite satisfied. But I intend that mine
Speaker 7: shall live according to my fancy and not according to
Speaker 7: her own. That she shall be dressed in honest surge,
Speaker 7: and wear only black on holidays that shut up in
Speaker 7: the house, prudent and bearing. She shall apply herself entirely
Speaker 7: to domestic concerns, mend my linen in her leisure hours,
Speaker 7: or eltnate stockings for amusement. That she shall close her
Speaker 7: ears to the talk of young sparks, and never go
Speaker 7: out without someone to want. In short, flesh is weak.
Speaker 7: I know what stories are going about. I have no
Speaker 7: mind to wear horns if I can help it. And
Speaker 7: as her lot requires her to marry me, I mean
Speaker 7: to be as certain of her as I am of myself.
Speaker 5: I believe you have no grounds.
Speaker 7: For hold your tongue. I shall teach you to go
Speaker 7: out without us what sir, good heavens madam, without wasting
Speaker 7: any more words. I am not speaking to you, for
Speaker 7: you are too clever.
Speaker 8: Do you regret to see Asbella with me?
Speaker 7: Yes? Since I must speak plainly, you spoil her for me.
Speaker 7: Your visits here only displease me, and you will oblige
Speaker 7: me by honoring us.
Speaker 8: No more do you wish that I shall likewise speak
Speaker 8: my thoughts plainly to you. I know not how she
Speaker 8: regards all this, but I know what effect mistrust would.
Speaker 9: Have on me.
Speaker 8: Though we are the same father and mother, she is
Speaker 8: not much of my sister if your daily conduct produces
Speaker 8: any love in her.
Speaker 6: Indeed, all these precautions are disgraceful.
Speaker 1: Are we in Turkey?
Speaker 6: That women must be shut up?
Speaker 1: There?
Speaker 6: They say they are kept like slaves. This is why
Speaker 6: the Turks are accursed by God. Our honor, Sir, is
Speaker 6: very weak, indeed, if it must be perpetually watched. Do
Speaker 6: you think, after all, that these precautions are any bow
Speaker 6: to our designs? That when we take anything into our heads,
Speaker 6: the cleverest man would not be but a donkey to us.
Speaker 6: All that vigilance of yours but a fool's notion. The
Speaker 6: best way of all, I assure you, is to trust us.
Speaker 6: He who torments us puts himself in extreme peril, for
Speaker 6: our honor must ever be its own protector. To take
Speaker 6: so much trouble in preventing us is almost to give
Speaker 6: us a desire to sin. If I were suspected by
Speaker 6: my husband, I should have a very good mind to
Speaker 6: justify his fears.
Speaker 1: Is gennerel to arrest.
Speaker 7: This, my fine teacher, is your training, and you endure
Speaker 7: it without being troubled.
Speaker 2: Brother, her words should only make you smile. There is
Speaker 2: some reason in what she says. Their sex loves to
Speaker 2: enjoy a little freedom. They are, but ill checked by
Speaker 2: so much austerity. Suspicious precautions, bolts and bars make neither
Speaker 2: wives nor maids virtuous. It is honor which must hold
Speaker 2: them to their duty, not the severity which we display
Speaker 2: towards them. To tell you candidly, a woman who is
Speaker 2: discreet by compulsion only is not often to be met
Speaker 2: with we pretend in vain to govern all her actions.
Speaker 2: I find that it is a heart we must win.
Speaker 2: For my part, whatever cared my taken, I would scarcely
Speaker 2: trust my honor in the hands of one who, in
Speaker 2: the desires which might assail her, required nothing but an
Speaker 2: opportunity of falling.
Speaker 7: That is all nonsense, have it so?
Speaker 2: But still I maintained that we should instruct youth pleasantly,
Speaker 2: chide their faults with great tenderness, and not make them
Speaker 2: afraid of the name of virtue. Leonor's education has been
Speaker 2: based on these maxims. I have not made crimes of
Speaker 2: the smallest acts of liberty. I have always assented to
Speaker 2: her youthful wishes, and thank Heaven, I never repented of it.
Speaker 2: I have allowed her to see good company, to go
Speaker 2: to amusements, balls plays. These are things which, for my
Speaker 2: part I think are calculated to form the minds of
Speaker 2: the young. The world is a school which, in my opinion,
Speaker 2: teaches them better how to live than any book. Does
Speaker 2: she like to spend money on clothes, linen, ribbons? What?
Speaker 4: Then?
Speaker 2: I endeavor to gratify her wishes. These are pleasures which,
Speaker 2: when we are well off, we may permit to the
Speaker 2: girls of our family. Her father's command requires her to
Speaker 2: marry me, but it is not my intention to tyrannize
Speaker 2: over her. I am quite aware that our years hardly
Speaker 2: suit and I leave her complete liberty of choice. If
Speaker 2: a safe income of four thousand crowns a year, great
Speaker 2: affection and consideration for her may, in her opinion, counterbalance
Speaker 2: and marriage the inequality of our age. She may take
Speaker 2: me for her husband. If not, she may choose elsewhere.
Speaker 2: If she can be happier without me, I do not object.
Speaker 2: I prefer to see her with another husband, rather than
Speaker 2: her hand should be given to me against her will.
Speaker 7: Oh how sweet he is, all sugar and honey.
Speaker 2: At all events. That is my disposition, and I thank
Speaker 2: Heaven for it. I would never lay down these strict
Speaker 2: rules which make children wish their parents dead.
Speaker 7: But the liberty acquired in youth is not so easily withdrawn.
Speaker 7: Later on, All those feelings will please you, but little
Speaker 7: when you have to change her mode of life.
Speaker 2: And why change it?
Speaker 7: Why?
Speaker 2: Yes, I do not know. Is there anything in it
Speaker 2: that offends honor?
Speaker 7: Why? If you marry her she may demand the same
Speaker 7: freedom which she enjoyed as a girl.
Speaker 2: Why not?
Speaker 7: And you so far agree with her as to let
Speaker 7: her have patches and ribbons, Douglas, to let her get
Speaker 7: about madly at every ball and public.
Speaker 2: Assembly, Yes, certainly.
Speaker 7: And the bows will visit at your house?
Speaker 2: What then?
Speaker 7: Who will junk it and give entertainments?
Speaker 2: With all my heart?
Speaker 7: And your wife is to listen to their fine speeches exactly,
Speaker 7: and you will look on at these gallant visitors with
Speaker 7: a show of indifference. Of course, go on, you old idiot.
Speaker 7: Two Isabella, get indoors and hear no more of this
Speaker 7: shameful doctrine.
Speaker 1: Scene three arrist x Ganarelle leonor Lisette.
Speaker 2: I mean to trust to the faithfulness of my wife
Speaker 2: and intend always to live as I have lived.
Speaker 7: How pleased I shall be to see him victimized.
Speaker 2: I cannot say what fate has in store for me,
Speaker 2: but as for you, I know that if you fail
Speaker 2: to be so, Oh, it is no fault of yours,
Speaker 2: for you are doing everything to bring it about.
Speaker 7: La fun giggler, Oh, what a joke it is to
Speaker 7: see a railer of nearly sixty.
Speaker 8: I promise to preserve him against the fate he speak.
Speaker 8: If he is to receive my vows the altar, he
Speaker 8: may rest secure. But I can tell you I would
Speaker 8: pass my word for nothing if I were your wife.
Speaker 6: We have a conscience for those who rely on us.
Speaker 6: But it is delightful, really to cheat such folks as you.
Speaker 7: Hush, you cursed, ill bred tongue.
Speaker 2: Brother, you drew these silly words on yourself. Good Bye
Speaker 2: all to your temper, and be warned that to shut
Speaker 2: up a wife is a bad plan, your servant.
Speaker 7: I am not yours.
Speaker 1: Scene for scannarel alone.
Speaker 7: Oh, they're well suited to one another. What an admirable family.
Speaker 7: A foolish old man with a worn out body who
Speaker 7: plays the fop, a girl mistress and a thorough coquette
Speaker 7: impudent servants. No wisdom itself could not succeed, but would
Speaker 7: exhaust sense and reason trying to amend a household like
Speaker 7: this By such associations, Isabella might lose those principles of
Speaker 7: her honor which she learned amongst us. To prevent it,
Speaker 7: I shall presently send her back again to my cabbages
Speaker 7: and turkeys.
Speaker 1: Scene five. Valerire, scannerel ergust Valerire behind Auguste.
Speaker 9: That is he the argus whom I hate, the stern
Speaker 9: guardian of her whom I adore.
Speaker 1: Scannarel thinking himself alone.
Speaker 7: In short, is there not something wonderful in the corruption
Speaker 7: of manners nowadays?
Speaker 9: I should like to address him, if I can get
Speaker 9: a chance, and try to strike up an acquaintance with him.
Speaker 1: Scannarel, thinking himself alone, instead.
Speaker 7: Of seeing that severity prevail which so admirably formed virtue
Speaker 7: in other days, uncontrolled and imperious youth here about assumes.
Speaker 1: Valerire bows to Scannarel from a distance.
Speaker 9: He does not see that we bow to him.
Speaker 3: Perhaps his blind eye is on this side. Let us
Speaker 3: cross to the right.
Speaker 7: I must go away from this place. Life in town
Speaker 7: only produces in me.
Speaker 1: Vallaire gradually approaching.
Speaker 9: I must try to get an introduction.
Speaker 1: Scannarel. Hearing a noise, I thought someone spoke, thinking himself
Speaker 1: alone in.
Speaker 7: The country, Thank Heaven, the fashionable follies do not offend
Speaker 7: my eyes.
Speaker 1: Ergust to Valaire, speak to him.
Speaker 7: What is it? My ears tingle? There all the recreations
Speaker 7: of our girls are.
Speaker 1: But he perceives Valaire bowing to him.
Speaker 7: Do you bow to me?
Speaker 1: Ergust to Valaire, go up to him, scannereal not attending
Speaker 1: to Valaire.
Speaker 7: Thither no cocks come comes.
Speaker 1: Valerire again bows to him.
Speaker 7: What the deuce?
Speaker 1: He turns and sees August bowing on the other side.
Speaker 7: Another What a great many bows, sir?
Speaker 9: My accosting you disturbs.
Speaker 7: You, I fear that may be.
Speaker 9: But yet the honor of your acquaintance is so great,
Speaker 9: a happiness, so exquisite a pleasure, that I had a
Speaker 9: great desire to pay my respects to you well, and
Speaker 9: to come and assure you without any deceit, that I
Speaker 9: am wholly at your service.
Speaker 7: I believe it.
Speaker 9: I have the advantage of being one of your neighbors.
Speaker 9: For which I thank my lucky fate.
Speaker 7: That is all right, But sir, do you know the news.
Speaker 9: Going the round at court and thought to be reliable?
Speaker 7: What does it matter to me?
Speaker 9: True, but we may sometimes be anxious to hear it.
Speaker 9: Shall you go and see the magnificent preparations for the
Speaker 9: birth of our Dauphinso.
Speaker 7: If I feel inclined.
Speaker 9: Confess that Paris affords us a hundred delightful pleasures which
Speaker 9: are not to be found elsewhere. The provinces are a
Speaker 9: desert in comparison, how do you pass your.
Speaker 7: Time on my own business?
Speaker 9: The mind demands relaxation and occasionally gives way by too
Speaker 9: close attention to serious occupations. What do you do in
Speaker 9: the evening before going to bed?
Speaker 7: What I please?
Speaker 9: Doubtless no one could speak better. The answer is just,
Speaker 9: and it seems to be common sense to resolve never
Speaker 9: to do what does not please. If I did not
Speaker 9: think you were too much occupied, I would drop in
Speaker 9: on you sometimes after supper.
Speaker 7: Your servant.
Speaker 1: Scene six Valaire, August.
Speaker 9: What do you think of that eccentric fool?
Speaker 3: His answers are abrupt and his reception is chernish.
Speaker 9: Ah, I am in a rage?
Speaker 7: What for why?
Speaker 9: Am I in a rage to see her? I love
Speaker 9: in the power of a savage, a watchful dragon, whose
Speaker 9: severity will not permit her to enjoy a single moment
Speaker 9: of liberty.
Speaker 3: That is just what is in your favor. Your love
Speaker 3: ought to expect a great deal from these circumstances. Know
Speaker 3: for your encouragement that a woman watched is half won,
Speaker 3: and that the gloomy, ill temper of husbands and fathers
Speaker 3: has always promoted the affairs of the gallant. I intrigue
Speaker 3: very little, for that is not one of my accomplishments.
Speaker 3: I do not pretend to be a gallant. But I
Speaker 3: have served a score of such sportsmen, who often used
Speaker 3: to tell me that it was their greatest delight to
Speaker 3: meet with churlish husbands who never come home without scolding,
Speaker 3: downright brutes, who without rye or reason, criticize the conduct
Speaker 3: of their wives in everything, and, proudly assuming the authority
Speaker 3: of a husband, quarrel with them before the eyes of
Speaker 3: their admirers. One no, they would say, how to take
Speaker 3: advantage of this, the lady's indignation at this kind of
Speaker 3: outrage on the one hand, and the considerate compassion of
Speaker 3: the lover on the other afford an opportunity for pushing
Speaker 3: Mautters far enough. In a word, the surliness of Isabella's
Speaker 3: guardian is a circumstance sufficiently favorable for you.
Speaker 9: But I could never find one moment to speak to her,
Speaker 9: and the four months that I have ardently loved her.
Speaker 3: Love quickens people's wits, though it has little effect on yours.
Speaker 9: If I had been, why what could you have done?
Speaker 9: For one never sees her without that brute in the house.
Speaker 9: There are neither maids nor men servants whom I might
Speaker 9: influence to assist me by the alluring temptation of some reward.
Speaker 3: Then she does not yet know that she love her.
Speaker 9: It is a point on which I am not informed.
Speaker 9: Wherever the child took this fair one, she always saw
Speaker 9: me like a shop behind her. My looks daily tried
Speaker 9: to explain to her the violence of my love. My
Speaker 9: eyes have spoken much, but who can tell whether after
Speaker 9: all their language could be understood.
Speaker 3: It is true that this language may sometimes prove obscure
Speaker 3: if it have not writing or speech for its interpreter.
Speaker 9: What am I to do to rid myself of this
Speaker 9: vast difficulty? And to learn whether the fair one has
Speaker 9: perceived that I love her. Tell me some means or other.
Speaker 3: That is what we have to discover. Let us go
Speaker 3: in for a while, the better to think over it.
Speaker 1: End of Act one, Act two of The School for
Speaker 1: Husbands by Moliere, translated by Unri Van laun This is
Speaker 1: a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
Speaker 1: Act two see in one Isabella is Ganael that.
Speaker 7: Will do I know the house and the person simply
Speaker 7: from the descriptions you have given me.
Speaker 1: Isabella aside, Heaven be propitious and favor today the artful
Speaker 1: contrivance of an innocent love.
Speaker 7: Do you say they have told you that his name
Speaker 7: is Belair? Yes, that will do. Do not make yourself
Speaker 7: uneasy about it. Go inside and leave me to act.
Speaker 7: I am going at once to talk to this young mad.
Speaker 1: Cap Isabella as she goes in for a girl.
Speaker 5: I am planning a pretty bold scheme. But the unreasonable
Speaker 5: severity with which I am treated will be my excuse
Speaker 5: to every right mind.
Speaker 1: Scene two scannarell alone.
Speaker 7: Let us lose no time here.
Speaker 1: It is knocks at the door of Valaier's house.
Speaker 7: Who's there? Why I am dreaming? Hello? I say hello,
Speaker 7: somebody Hello. I do not wonder after this information that
Speaker 7: he came up to me just now, so meekly. But
Speaker 7: I must make haste and teach this foolish aspirant.
Speaker 1: Scene three, Valaire Scannarell, Ergust Scannarell to Adust, who has
Speaker 1: come out hastily a.
Speaker 7: Plague on the lubbery acts. Do you mean to knock
Speaker 7: me down? Coming and sticking yourself in front of me
Speaker 7: like a post? Sir?
Speaker 9: I regret it.
Speaker 7: I you are the man I want. I sir, you
Speaker 7: your name is Valaire, is it not?
Speaker 9: Yes?
Speaker 7: I am come to speak to you if you will
Speaker 7: allow me.
Speaker 9: Can I have the happiness of rendering you any service?
Speaker 5: No?
Speaker 7: But I propose to do you a good turn. That
Speaker 7: is what brings me to your house, to my house, Sir,
Speaker 7: to your house? Need you be so much astonished?
Speaker 9: I have good reason for it. I am delighted with
Speaker 9: the honor.
Speaker 7: Do not mention the honor. I beseech you.
Speaker 9: Will you not come in?
Speaker 7: There is no need I pray you enter. No, I
Speaker 7: will go no further.
Speaker 9: As long as you stay there, I cannot listen to you.
Speaker 7: I will not budge.
Speaker 9: Well, I must yield quick, since this gentleman is resolved
Speaker 9: upon it. Bring a chair.
Speaker 7: I'm going to talk standing.
Speaker 9: As if I could permit such a thing.
Speaker 7: What an intolerable delay.
Speaker 9: Such incivility would be quite unpardonable.
Speaker 7: Nothing can be so rude as not to listen to
Speaker 7: people who wish to speak to us. I obey you,
Speaker 7: then you cannot do better.
Speaker 1: They make many compliments about putting on their heads.
Speaker 7: So much ceremony is hardly necessary. Will you listen to me?
Speaker 9: Undoubtedly, and most willingly tell me?
Speaker 7: Do you know that I am guardian to a tolerably
Speaker 7: young and passably handsome girl who lives in this neighborhood,
Speaker 7: and whose name is Isabella? Yes, as you know it, I
Speaker 7: need not tell it to you. But do you know
Speaker 7: likewise that as I find her charming, I care for
Speaker 7: her otherwise than is guardian, and that she is destined
Speaker 7: for the honor of being my wife? No, I tell
Speaker 7: it you then, and also that it is well that
Speaker 7: your passion, if you please, should leave her in peace?
Speaker 9: Who I sir?
Speaker 7: Yes, you let us have no dissembling.
Speaker 9: Who has told you that my heart is smitten by.
Speaker 7: Her, Those who are worthy of belief be more explicit.
Speaker 7: She herself, she she is not that enough, like a
Speaker 7: virtuous young girl who has loved me from childhood, she
Speaker 7: told me all just now. Moreover, she charged me to
Speaker 7: tell you that, since she has everywhere been followed by you,
Speaker 7: her heart, which your pursuit greatly offends, has only too
Speaker 7: well understood the language of your eyes, that your great
Speaker 7: desires are well known to her, and that to try
Speaker 7: more fully to explain a passion which is contrary to
Speaker 7: the affection she entertains for me is to give yourself
Speaker 7: needless trouble.
Speaker 9: She you say, if her own accord makes.
Speaker 7: You, yes, makes me come to you and give you
Speaker 7: this frank and plain message. Also that having observed the
Speaker 7: violent love wherewith your soul is smitten, she would earlier
Speaker 7: have let you know what she thinks about you. If
Speaker 7: perplexed as she was, she could have found anyone to
Speaker 7: send this message by, But that at length she was
Speaker 7: painfully compelled to make use of me in order to
Speaker 7: assure you, as I have told you, that her affection
Speaker 7: is denied to all save me, that you've been oggling
Speaker 7: her long enough, and that if you have ever so
Speaker 7: little brains. You will carry your passions somewhere else. Farewell
Speaker 7: till our next meeting. That is what I had to
Speaker 7: tell you.
Speaker 1: Valerire Aside, how ghast?
Speaker 9: What do you say to such an adventure?
Speaker 1: Gennarel Aside retiring.
Speaker 7: See how he is taken aback.
Speaker 1: Ergust in a low tone to Valerire.
Speaker 3: For my part, I think that there is nothing in
Speaker 3: it to displease you, That a rather subtle mystery is
Speaker 3: concealed under it. In short, that this message is now
Speaker 3: sent by one who desires to see the love end
Speaker 3: which she inspires in you.
Speaker 1: Gnarel Aside, he takes it as he ought. Valerire in
Speaker 1: a low tone to August.
Speaker 9: You think it a mystery?
Speaker 3: Yes, but he is looking at us. Let us get
Speaker 3: out of this sight.
Speaker 1: Scene four Scannarel alone.
Speaker 7: How his face showed his confusion. Doubtless he did not
Speaker 7: expect this message. Let me call Isabella. She is showing
Speaker 7: the fruits which education produces on the mind. Virtue is
Speaker 7: all she cares for, and her heart is so deeply
Speaker 7: steeped in it that she is offended if a man
Speaker 7: merely looks at her.
Speaker 1: Scene five Isabella Scannarel Isabella aside as she enters.
Speaker 5: I fear that my lover, full of his passion, has
Speaker 5: not understood my message rightly. Since I am so strictly guarded,
Speaker 5: I must risk one which shall make my meaning clearer.
Speaker 7: Here I am returned again. Well, your words wrought their
Speaker 7: full purpose. I have done his business. He wanted to
Speaker 7: deny that his heart was touched, but when I told
Speaker 7: him I came from you, he stood immediately dumbfounded and confused.
Speaker 7: I do not believe he will come here any more.
Speaker 5: Ah, what do you tell me? I much fear the contrary,
Speaker 5: and that he will still give us more trouble.
Speaker 7: And why do you fear this?
Speaker 5: You had hardly left the house. When going to the
Speaker 5: window to take a breath of air, I saw a
Speaker 5: young man at yonder turning, who first came most unexpectedly
Speaker 5: to wish me good morning on the part of this
Speaker 5: impertinent man, and then threw right into my chamber a box,
Speaker 5: and closing a letter sealed like a love letter. I
Speaker 5: meant at once to throw it after him, but he
Speaker 5: had already reached the end of the street. I feel
Speaker 5: very much annoyed at it.
Speaker 7: Just see his trickery and rascality it is my.
Speaker 5: Duty quickly to have this books and letter sent back
Speaker 5: to this detestable lover. For that purpose I need someone
Speaker 5: for I dare not venture to ask yourself.
Speaker 7: On the contrary, Darling, it shows me all the more
Speaker 7: your love and faithfulness. My heart joyfully accepts this task.
Speaker 7: You oblige me in this more than I can tell you.
Speaker 5: Take it.
Speaker 7: Then, well, let us see what he has dared to
Speaker 7: say to you.
Speaker 5: Heavens, take care not to open it. Why so will
Speaker 5: you make him believe that it is I? A respectable
Speaker 5: girl ought always to refuse to read the letters a
Speaker 5: man sends her. The curiosity which she does betrays, shows
Speaker 5: a secret pleasure in listening to gallantries. I think it
Speaker 5: right that this letter should be peremptorily returned to Valier, unopened,
Speaker 5: that he made the better learn this day the great
Speaker 5: contempt which my heart what feels for him, so that
Speaker 5: his passion may from this time lose all hope and
Speaker 5: never more attempt such a transgression.
Speaker 7: Of a truth. She is writing this, well, your virtue
Speaker 7: charms me as well as your discretion. I see that
Speaker 7: my lessons have borne fruit in your mind. You show
Speaker 7: yourself worthy of being my wife.
Speaker 5: Still, I do not like to stand in the way
Speaker 5: of your wishes. The letter is in your hands.
Speaker 7: And you can open it no far from it. Your
Speaker 7: reasons are too good. I go to equip myself of
Speaker 7: the task you impose upon me. I have likewise to
Speaker 7: say a few words quite near, and will then return
Speaker 7: hither to set you at rest.
Speaker 1: Scene six, scannarel alone.
Speaker 7: How delighted I am to find her such a discreet girl.
Speaker 7: I have in my house a treasure of honor to
Speaker 7: consider a loving look treason. To receive a love letter
Speaker 7: as a supreme insult, and have it carried back to
Speaker 7: the gallant by myself. I should like to know, seeing
Speaker 7: all this, if my brother's ward would have acted thus
Speaker 7: on a similar occasion upon my word, Girls are what
Speaker 7: you make them.
Speaker 1: Hulloa Knox at Valaire's door. Scene seven, is Gnarl Ergust,
Speaker 1: who is there?
Speaker 7: Take this and tell your master not to presume so
Speaker 7: far as to write letters again and send them in
Speaker 7: gold boxes. Say also that Isabella is mightily offended at it.
Speaker 7: See it has not even been opened. He will perceive
Speaker 7: what regard she has for his passion, and what success
Speaker 7: he can expect in it.
Speaker 1: Scene eight Valaire, August, what has that.
Speaker 9: Surly brute just given you?
Speaker 3: This letter is, Sir, as well as this box, which
Speaker 3: he pretends that Isabella has received from you, and about
Speaker 3: which she says she is in great rage. She returns
Speaker 3: it to you unopened. Read it quickly, and let us
Speaker 3: see if I am mistaken.
Speaker 9: Valaire reads this letter, will no doubt surprise you. Both.
Speaker 9: The resolution to write to you and the means of
Speaker 9: conveying it to your hands may be thought very bold
Speaker 9: in me. But I am in such a condition that
Speaker 9: I can no longer restrain myself. Well founded. Repugnance to
Speaker 9: a marriage with which I am threatened in six days
Speaker 9: makes me risk everything, and in the determination to free
Speaker 9: myself from it by whatever means, I thought, I had
Speaker 9: rather choose you than despair. Yet do not think that
Speaker 9: you owe all to my evil fate. It is not
Speaker 9: the constraint in which I find myself that has given
Speaker 9: rise to the sentiments I entertain for you, but it
Speaker 9: hastens the avowal of them, and makes me transgress the
Speaker 9: decorum which the proprieties of my sex require. It depends
Speaker 9: on you alone to make me shortly your own. I
Speaker 9: wait only until you have declared your intentions to me
Speaker 9: before acquainting you with the resolution I have taken. But
Speaker 9: above all, remember the time presses and the two hearts
Speaker 9: which love each other. Ought to understand even the slightest hint.
Speaker 3: Ill say, it is not this contrivance original for a
Speaker 3: young girl. She is not so very ignorant. Would one
Speaker 3: have thought her capable of these love stratagems.
Speaker 9: Ah, I consider her altogether adorable. This evidence of her
Speaker 9: wheat and tenderness doubles my love for her and strengthens
Speaker 9: the feelings with which her beauty inspires me.
Speaker 3: Here come the dupe, Think what she will say to him?
Speaker 1: Scene nine Scannarel valerire Auguste Scannarel, thinking himself alone.
Speaker 7: Oh, thrice and four times, blessed be the law which
Speaker 7: forbids extravagance and dress. No longer will the troubles of
Speaker 7: husbands be so great. Women will now be checked in
Speaker 7: their demands. Oh, how delighted I am with the King
Speaker 7: for this proclamation. How I wish for the peace of
Speaker 7: the same husbands that he would forbid coquetry as well
Speaker 7: as lace and gold or silver embroidery. I have bought
Speaker 7: the law on purpose, so that Isabella may read it aloud,
Speaker 7: and by and by, when she is at leisure, it
Speaker 7: shall be our entertainment after.
Speaker 1: Supper, perceiving Valaire, Well.
Speaker 7: Mister Sandy, here would you like to send again love
Speaker 7: letters and boxes of gold? You doubtless thought you had
Speaker 7: found some young flirt, eager for an intrigue, and melting
Speaker 7: before pretty speeches. You see how your presents are received.
Speaker 7: Believe me, you waste your powder and shot. Isabella is
Speaker 7: a discreet girl. She loves me, and your love insults her.
Speaker 7: Aim at someone else and be off.
Speaker 9: Yes, yes, your merits, to which everyone yields, are too
Speaker 9: great an obstacle, sir, Though my passion be sincere, it
Speaker 9: is folly to contend with you for the love of Isabella.
Speaker 7: It is really folly.
Speaker 9: Be sure I should not have yielded to the fascination
Speaker 9: of her charms. Could I have foreseen that this wretched
Speaker 9: heart would find a rival so formidable as yourself?
Speaker 7: I believe it now.
Speaker 9: I know better than to hope. I yield to you, sir,
Speaker 9: And that too, without a murmur.
Speaker 7: You do well.
Speaker 9: Reason will have it so, for you shine with so
Speaker 9: many virtues that I should be wrong to regard with
Speaker 9: an angry eye, the tender sentiments which Isabella entertains for you.
Speaker 9: Of course, yes, yes, I yield to you. But at
Speaker 9: least I pray you. And it is the only favor, sir,
Speaker 9: begged by a wretched lover of whose pangs this day
Speaker 9: You are the sole cause I pray you. I say
Speaker 9: to assure Isabella that if my heart has been burning
Speaker 9: with love for her these three months, that passion is
Speaker 9: spotless and has never fostered a thought at which her
Speaker 9: honor could be offended. Ay that, relying solely on my
Speaker 9: heart's choice, my only design was to obtain her for
Speaker 9: my wife. If destiny had not opposed an obstacle to
Speaker 9: this pure flame in you, who captivated her heart. Very good,
Speaker 9: That whatever happens, she must not think that her charms
Speaker 9: can ever be forgotten. That to whatever decrees of heaven
Speaker 9: I must submit, My fate is to love her to
Speaker 9: my last breath, And that if anything checks my pursuit,
Speaker 9: it is the just respect I have for your merits.
Speaker 7: That has wisely spoken. I shall go at once to
Speaker 7: repeat these words, which will not be disagreeable to her.
Speaker 7: But if you will listen to me, try to act
Speaker 7: so as to drive this passion from your mind.
Speaker 1: Farewell to Valerire, excellent dupe. Scene ten is gnnael alone.
Speaker 7: I feel a great pity for this poor wretch, so
Speaker 7: full of affection, But it is unfortunate for him to
Speaker 7: have taken it into his head to try to storm
Speaker 7: a fortress which I have captured.
Speaker 1: Gannarel knocks at his door. Scene eleven scannerell Isabella.
Speaker 7: Never did Lover display so much grief for a love
Speaker 7: letter returned unopened. At last he loses all hope and retires.
Speaker 7: But he earnestly entreated me to tell you that at
Speaker 7: least in loving you, he never fostered a thought at
Speaker 7: which your honor could be offended, and that, relying solely
Speaker 7: on his heart's choice, his only desire was to obtain
Speaker 7: you for a wife, if destiny had not opposed an
Speaker 7: obstacle to his pure flame through me who captivated your heart.
Speaker 7: That whatever happens, you must not think that your charms
Speaker 7: can ever be forgotten by him. That to whatever decrees
Speaker 7: of heaven he must submit, his fate is to love
Speaker 7: you to his last breath, and that if anything checks
Speaker 7: his pursuit, it is the just respect he has for
Speaker 7: my merits. These are his very words, and far from
Speaker 7: blaming him, I think him a gentleman. Then I pity
Speaker 7: him for loving.
Speaker 1: You, Isabella.
Speaker 5: Aside, his passion does not contradict my secret belief, and
Speaker 5: his looks have always assured me of its innocence.
Speaker 7: What do you say that it is.
Speaker 5: Hot that you should so greatly pity a man whom
Speaker 5: I hate like death, and that if you loved me
Speaker 5: as much as you say, you would feel how he
Speaker 5: insults me by his addresses.
Speaker 7: But he did not know your inclinations, and from the
Speaker 7: uprightness of his intentions, his love does not deserve.
Speaker 5: Is it good intentions? I ask to try and carry
Speaker 5: people off? Is it like a man of honor to
Speaker 5: form designs for marrying me by force and taking me
Speaker 5: out of your hands, as if I were a girl
Speaker 5: to live after such a disgrace?
Speaker 7: How?
Speaker 5: Yes, yes, I have been informed that this base lover
Speaker 5: speaks of carrying me off by force. For my part,
Speaker 5: I cannot tell by what secret means he has learned
Speaker 5: so early that you intend to marry me in eight
Speaker 5: days at the latest, since it was only yesterday you
Speaker 5: told me so. But they say that he intends to
Speaker 5: be beforehand with you, and not let me unite my
Speaker 5: lot to yours.
Speaker 7: That is a bad case.
Speaker 5: Oh, pardon me. He is eminently a gentleman who only
Speaker 5: feels towards me.
Speaker 7: He is wrong. This is past joking.
Speaker 5: Yes, your good nature encourages his folly. If you had
Speaker 5: spoken sharply to him just now, he would have feared
Speaker 5: your rage and my resentment. For even since his letter
Speaker 5: was rejected, he mentioned this design, which has shocked me.
Speaker 5: As I have been told his love retains the belief
Speaker 5: that it is well received by me. That I dread
Speaker 5: to marry you, whatever people may think, and should be
Speaker 5: rejoiced to see myself away from you.
Speaker 7: He is mad before you.
Speaker 5: He knows how to disguise, and his plan is to
Speaker 5: amuse you. Be sure the wretch makes sport of you
Speaker 5: by these fair speeches. I must confess that I am
Speaker 5: very unhappy, after all my pains to live honorably and
Speaker 5: to repel the addresses of a vile seducer, I must
Speaker 5: be exposed to his vexatious and infamous designs against me.
Speaker 7: There fear nothing for my part.
Speaker 5: I tell you that if you do not strongly reprove
Speaker 5: such an impudent attempt, and do not find quickly means
Speaker 5: of ridding me of such bold persecutions. I will abandon
Speaker 5: all and not suffer any longer the insults which I
Speaker 5: receive from him.
Speaker 7: Do not be so troubled, my little wife. There. I
Speaker 7: am going to find him to give him a good
Speaker 7: blowing up.
Speaker 5: Tell him at least plainly, so that it may be
Speaker 5: in vain for him to gainsay it that I have
Speaker 5: been told of his intentions upon good authority, that after
Speaker 5: this message, whatever he may undertake, I defy him to
Speaker 5: surprise me. And lastly, that without wasting any more size
Speaker 5: or time, he must know what are my feelings for you,
Speaker 5: That if he wishes not to be the cause of
Speaker 5: some mischief, he should not require to have the same
Speaker 5: thing told twice over.
Speaker 7: I will tell him what is right, but all this.
Speaker 5: In such a way as to show him that I
Speaker 5: really speak seriously.
Speaker 7: There I will forget nothing. I assure you.
Speaker 5: I await your return impatiently. Pray, make as much haste
Speaker 5: as you can. I pine when I am a moment
Speaker 5: without seeing you.
Speaker 7: There, Ducky, my heart's delight, I will return immediately.
Speaker 1: Scene twelve Sgnarel alone.
Speaker 7: Was there ever a girl more discreet and better behaved. Oh,
Speaker 7: how happy I am, and what a pleasure it is
Speaker 7: to find a woman just after my own heart. Yes,
Speaker 7: that is how our women ought to be, and not
Speaker 7: like some I know, downright flirts who allow themselves to
Speaker 7: be courted and make their simple husbands to be pointed
Speaker 7: at all over.
Speaker 1: Paris Knox at Valaire's door.
Speaker 7: Hulloa, my enterprising fine gallant.
Speaker 1: Scene thirteen Valerire Sgennarel aergust, Sir?
Speaker 9: What brings you here again?
Speaker 7: Your follies? How you know well enough what I wished
Speaker 7: to speak to you about to tell you plainly? I
Speaker 7: thought you had more sense. You've been making fun of
Speaker 7: me with your fine speeches and secretly nourish silly expectations.
Speaker 7: Look you, I wished to treat you gently, but you
Speaker 7: will end by making me very angry. Are you not
Speaker 7: ashamed considering who you are to form such designs as
Speaker 7: you do, to intend to carry off a respectable girl
Speaker 7: and interrupt a marriage on which her whole happiness depends.
Speaker 9: Who told you this strange piece of news? Suh?
Speaker 7: Do not let us dissimulate. I have it from Isabella,
Speaker 7: who send you word by me for the last time,
Speaker 7: that she has plainly enough shown you what her choice is,
Speaker 7: that her heart, entirely mine is insulted by such a plan,
Speaker 7: that she would rather die than suffer such an outrage,
Speaker 7: and that you will cause a terrible uproar unless you
Speaker 7: put an end to all this confusion.
Speaker 9: If she really said what I have just heard, I
Speaker 9: confess that my passion has nothing more to expect. These
Speaker 9: expressions are plain enough to let me see that all
Speaker 9: is hinded. I must respect the judgments she has passed.
Speaker 7: If you doubt it, then, and fancy all the complaints
Speaker 7: that I have made to you on her behalf are
Speaker 7: mere pretenses. Do you wish that she herself should tell
Speaker 7: you her feelings to set you right? I willingly consent
Speaker 7: to it. Follow me, you shall hear if I have
Speaker 7: added anything, And if her young heart hesitates between us?
Speaker 1: Two goes and knocks at his own door. Scene fourteen
Speaker 1: Isabella Sganarelle Valaire August.
Speaker 5: What you bring Valere to me? What is your design?
Speaker 5: Are you taking his part against me? And do you
Speaker 5: wish wish charmed by his rare merits to compel me
Speaker 5: to love him and endure his visits?
Speaker 7: No, my love your affection is too dear to me
Speaker 7: for that. But he believes that my messages are untrue.
Speaker 7: He thinks that it is I who speak and cunningly
Speaker 7: represent you as full of hatred for him and of
Speaker 7: tenderness for me. I wish, therefore, from your own mouth, infallibly,
Speaker 7: to cure him of a mistake which nourishes his love.
Speaker 5: Isabella to valerire, What is not my soul completely bare
Speaker 5: to your eyes? And can you still doubt whom I love?
Speaker 9: Yes, all that this gentleman has told me on your behalf, Madam,
Speaker 9: might well surprise a man. I confess I doubted it.
Speaker 9: This final sentence, which decides the fate of my great love,
Speaker 9: moves my feelings so much that it can be no
Speaker 9: offense if I wish to have it repeated.
Speaker 5: No, No, such a sentence should not surprise you. Scannereal
Speaker 5: told you my very sentiments. I consider them to be
Speaker 5: sufficiently founded on justice to make their full truth clear. Yes,
Speaker 5: I desire it to be known, and I ought to
Speaker 5: be believed. That fate here presents two objects to my eyes, who,
Speaker 5: inspiring me with different sentiments, agitate my heart, one by
Speaker 5: just choice, in which my honor is involved has all
Speaker 5: my esteem and love, and the other, in return for
Speaker 5: his affection, has all my anger and aversion. The presence
Speaker 5: of the one is pleasing and dear to me, and
Speaker 5: fills me with joy, But the side of the other
Speaker 5: inspires me with secret emotions of hatred and horror. To
Speaker 5: see myself the wife of the one is all my desire,
Speaker 5: and rather than belong to the other, I would lose
Speaker 5: my life. But I have sufficiently declared my real sentiments
Speaker 5: and languished too long under this severe torture. He whom
Speaker 5: I love must use diligence to make him whom I hate,
Speaker 5: lose all hope and deliver me by a happy marriage
Speaker 5: from a suffering more terrible than death.
Speaker 7: Yes, darling, I intend to gratify your wish.
Speaker 5: It is the only way to make me happy.
Speaker 7: You shall soon be so.
Speaker 5: I know. It is a shame for a young woman
Speaker 5: so openly to declare her love.
Speaker 7: No.
Speaker 5: No, But seeing what my lot is, such liberty must
Speaker 5: be allowed me. I can, without blushing, make so tender
Speaker 5: a confession to him whom I already regard as a husband.
Speaker 7: Yes, my poor child, darling of my soul.
Speaker 5: Let him think then, how to prove his passion for me.
Speaker 7: Yes, here kiss my hand.
Speaker 5: Let him, without more sighing, hasten a marriage, which is
Speaker 5: all I desire, and accept the assurance which I give him.
Speaker 5: Never to listen to the vows of another.
Speaker 1: She pretends to embrace Gnarel and gives her hand to
Speaker 1: Valerire to kiss.
Speaker 7: Oh, oh, my little pretty face, my poor little darling.
Speaker 7: You shall not pine long, I promise you to Valerire.
Speaker 7: There say no more. You see, I do not make
Speaker 7: her speak. It is me alone she loves well.
Speaker 9: Madam, Well, this is sufficient explanation. I learn by your
Speaker 9: words what you urge me to do. I shall soon
Speaker 9: know how to rid your presence of him who so
Speaker 9: greatly offends you.
Speaker 5: You could not give me greater pleasure, For to be brief,
Speaker 5: the sight of him is intolerable. It is odious to me,
Speaker 5: and I detest it so much. Ah, do I offend
Speaker 5: you by speaking? Thus?
Speaker 1: Do I?
Speaker 7: Heavens? By no means, I do not say that, But
Speaker 7: in truth I pity his condition. You show your aversion
Speaker 7: too openly.
Speaker 5: I cannot show it too much on such an occasion.
Speaker 9: Yes, you shall be satisfied in three days. Your eyes
Speaker 9: shall no longer see the object which is odious to you.
Speaker 1: That is right. Farewell, is Gennarel to Valerire.
Speaker 7: I pity your misfortune, but.
Speaker 9: No, you will hear no complaint from me. The lady
Speaker 9: assuredly does us both justice, and I shall endeavor to
Speaker 9: satisfy her wishes.
Speaker 7: Farewell, poor fellow, his grief is excessive. Stay embrace me.
Speaker 7: I am her second self.
Speaker 1: Embraces Valaire. Scene fifteen. Isabella is Gonnerel.
Speaker 7: I think he is greatly to be pitied, not at
Speaker 7: all for the rest. Your love touches me to the quick,
Speaker 7: little darling, and I mean it shall have its reward
Speaker 7: eight days or two long for your impatience. Tomorrow I
Speaker 7: will marry you and will not invite tomorrow. You modestly
Speaker 7: pretend to shrink from it, but I well know the
Speaker 7: joy these words afford you. You wish it were already over.
Speaker 7: But let us get everything ready for this marriage.
Speaker 5: Isabella aside Heaven inspire me with a plan to put
Speaker 5: it off. End of Act two, Act three of The
Speaker 5: School for Husbands by Moliere, translated by Henri van laun.
Speaker 5: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
Speaker 5: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
Speaker 5: visit LibriVox dot org. Act three, Scene one Isabella alone. Yes,
Speaker 5: death seems to me a hundred times less dreadful than
Speaker 5: this fatal marriage into which I am forced. All that
Speaker 5: I am doing to escape its horrors should excuse me
Speaker 5: in the eyes of those who blame me. Time presses.
Speaker 5: It is night, and let me fearlessly entrust my fate
Speaker 5: to a lover's fidelity.
Speaker 1: Scene two is Gannarel Isabella Scannarel speaking to those inside
Speaker 1: the house.
Speaker 7: Here I am once more tomorrow they are going in
Speaker 7: my name?
Speaker 5: Oh heaven is it you?
Speaker 7: Darling? Where are you going? So late? You said when
Speaker 7: I left you, that, being rather tired, you would shut
Speaker 7: yourself up in your room. You even begged that on
Speaker 7: my return I would let you be quiet till tomorrow morning.
Speaker 5: It is true, But but what you see? I am confused.
Speaker 5: I do not know how to tell you the reason why?
Speaker 7: Whatever?
Speaker 5: Can it be a wonderful secret? It is my sister
Speaker 5: who now compels me to go out, and who, for
Speaker 5: a purpose for which I have greatly blamed her, has
Speaker 5: borrowed my room in which I have shut her up.
Speaker 5: What could it be believed? She is in love with
Speaker 5: that suitor whom we have discarded.
Speaker 7: With Valaire desperately.
Speaker 5: Her passion is so great that I can compare it
Speaker 5: with nothing. You may judge of its violence by her
Speaker 5: coming here alone at this hour to confide to me
Speaker 5: her love, and to tell me positively that she will
Speaker 5: die if she does not obtain the object of her desire.
Speaker 5: That for more than a year a secret intercourse has
Speaker 5: kept up the ardor of their love, and that they
Speaker 5: had even pledged themselves to marry each other when their
Speaker 5: passion was new.
Speaker 7: Oh the wretched girl.
Speaker 5: That, being informed of the despair into which I had
Speaker 5: plunged the man whom she loves to see, she came
Speaker 5: to beg me to allow her to prevent the departure
Speaker 5: which would break her heart, to meet this lover to
Speaker 5: night under mine name in the little street on which
Speaker 5: my room looks, where counterfeiting my voice, she may utter
Speaker 5: certain tender feelings, and thereby tempt him to stay in short,
Speaker 5: cleverly to secure for herself the regard which it is
Speaker 5: known he has for me.
Speaker 7: And do you think this?
Speaker 5: I I am enraged at it? What said I, sister?
Speaker 5: Are you mad? Do you not blush to indulge in
Speaker 5: such a love for one of those people who change
Speaker 5: every day, to forget your sex and betray the trust
Speaker 5: put in you by the man whom Heaven has destined
Speaker 5: you to marry.
Speaker 7: He deserves it richly. I am delighted by it.
Speaker 5: Finally, my vexation employed a hundred arguments to reprove such
Speaker 5: baseness in her and enable me to refuse her request
Speaker 5: for to night. But she became so importunate, shed so
Speaker 5: many tears, heaved so many sound eyes, said so often
Speaker 5: that I was driving her to despair if I refused
Speaker 5: to gratify her passion. That my heart was brought to
Speaker 5: consent in spite of me, and to justify this night's intrigue,
Speaker 5: to which affection for my own sister made me assent.
Speaker 5: I was about to bring Lucretia to sleep with me,
Speaker 5: whose virtues you extolled to me daily, but you surprised
Speaker 5: me by your speedy return.
Speaker 7: No, No, I will not have all this mystery at
Speaker 7: my house as my brother. I might agree to it,
Speaker 7: but they may be seen by some one in the street.
Speaker 7: And she whom I am to honor with my body,
Speaker 7: must not only be modest and well born, she must
Speaker 7: not even be suspected. Let us send the miserable girl
Speaker 7: away and let her passion.
Speaker 5: Ah, you would overwhelm her with confusion, and she might
Speaker 5: justly complain of my want of discretion. Since I must
Speaker 5: not count and her design at least wait till I
Speaker 5: send her away. Well, do so, but above all conceal yourself.
Speaker 5: I beg of you and be content to see her
Speaker 5: depart without speaking one word to her.
Speaker 7: Yes, for your sake, I will restrain my anger. But
Speaker 7: as soon as she is gone, I will go and
Speaker 7: find my brother without delay. I shall be delighted to
Speaker 7: run and tell him of this business.
Speaker 5: I entreat you, then not to mention my name good night,
Speaker 5: for I shall shut myself in at the same.
Speaker 7: Time till tomorrow. Dear, how impatient I am to see
Speaker 7: my brother and tell him of his plight. The good
Speaker 7: man has been victimized, while all his bomb best I
Speaker 7: would not have this undone for twenty.
Speaker 1: Crowns Isabella within.
Speaker 5: Yes, sister, I am sorry to incur your displeasure, but
Speaker 5: what you wish me to do is impossible. My honor,
Speaker 5: which is dear to me, would run too great a risk. Farewell,
Speaker 5: go home. Before it is too late.
Speaker 7: There she goes, fretting. Finally, I warrant let me lock
Speaker 7: the door for fear she should return.
Speaker 1: Isabella going out disguised, Heaven abandon me?
Speaker 5: Not in my resolve.
Speaker 7: Whither can she be going? Let me follow her?
Speaker 1: Isabella Aside, Knight at least favors me in my distress.
Speaker 1: Is gannarel Aside.
Speaker 7: To the gallant? Else? What is her design?
Speaker 1: Scene three, Valerire, Isabella Sganarelle Valerire coming out quickly.
Speaker 9: Yes, yes, this night I will make some effort to
Speaker 9: speak to who is there?
Speaker 1: Isabella too, Valerire.
Speaker 5: No noise, Valier, I have forestalled you.
Speaker 1: I am Isabella gennarel Aside.
Speaker 7: You lie, Minx. It is not she. She is too
Speaker 7: stanched to those laws of honor which you forsake. You
Speaker 7: are falsely assuming her name and.
Speaker 1: Voice Isabella to Valerire.
Speaker 5: But unless by the holy bonds of matrimony, yes.
Speaker 9: That is my only purpose. And here I make you
Speaker 9: a solemn promise that to morrow I will go wherever
Speaker 9: you please, to be married to you.
Speaker 1: Gennareil Aside, poor deluded fool into with confidence, I now
Speaker 1: defy the power of your duped argus.
Speaker 9: Before he can take you from my love, this arm
Speaker 9: shall stab him to the heart a thousand times.
Speaker 1: Scene four gonneril alone.
Speaker 7: Oh, I can assure you I do not want to
Speaker 7: take from you a shameless girl so blinded by her passion.
Speaker 7: I am not jealous of your promise to her. If
Speaker 7: I am to be believed you shall be her husband. Yes,
Speaker 7: let us surprise him with his bold creature, the memory
Speaker 7: of her father, who is justly respected, and the great
Speaker 7: interest I take in her sister, demand that an attempt
Speaker 7: at least should be made to restore her honor. Hullo.
Speaker 1: There knocks at the door of a magistrate. Scene five
Speaker 1: scannarel a magistrate, a notary attendant with a lantern.
Speaker 7: What is it, your servant, your worship, your presence? An
Speaker 7: official garb is necessary here? Follow me, please with your
Speaker 7: lantern bearer.
Speaker 4: We were going.
Speaker 7: This is a very pressing business. What is it to
Speaker 7: go into that house and surprise two persons who must
Speaker 7: be joined in lawful matrimony. It is a girl with
Speaker 7: whom I am connected, in whom under a promise of marriage,
Speaker 7: a certain valaire has seduced and got into his house.
Speaker 7: She comes of a noble and virtuous family.
Speaker 4: But if that is the business, it was well you
Speaker 4: met us. Since we have a notary here.
Speaker 9: Sir, yes, a notary royal, and what is.
Speaker 4: More, an honorable man.
Speaker 7: No need to add that. Come to this doorway, make
Speaker 7: no noise, but see that no one escapes. You shall
Speaker 7: be fully satisfied for your trouble. But be sure and
Speaker 7: do not let yourself be bribed.
Speaker 4: What do you think that, an officer of justice?
Speaker 7: What I said was not meant as a reflection on
Speaker 7: your position. I will bring my brother here at once,
Speaker 7: only let the lantern bearer accompany me.
Speaker 1: Aside, I am going.
Speaker 7: To give this placable man a treat.
Speaker 1: Hello knocks at a wrist's store, Scene six arrist is gnael?
Speaker 7: Who knocks?
Speaker 2: Why what do you want? Brother?
Speaker 7: Come, my fine teacher, my super annuated buck. I shall
Speaker 7: have something pretty to show you. How I bring you
Speaker 7: good news?
Speaker 4: What is it?
Speaker 7: Where is your leonor? Pray?
Speaker 2: Why this question? She is, as I think, at a
Speaker 2: friend's house at a ball ah?
Speaker 7: Oh, yes, follow me, you shall see to what ball?
Speaker 7: Missy is gone?
Speaker 2: What do you mean you have.
Speaker 7: Brought her up very well? Indeed, it is not good
Speaker 7: to be always finding fault. The mind is captivated by
Speaker 7: much tenderness and suspicious precaution. Bolts and bars make neither
Speaker 7: wives nor maids virtuous. We cause them to do evil
Speaker 7: by so much austerity. Their sex demands a little freedom
Speaker 7: of a verity. She has taken her fill of it,
Speaker 7: the artful girl, and with her virtue has grown very complaisent.
Speaker 2: What is the drift of such a speech.
Speaker 7: Oh, my elder brother, It is what you richly deserve.
Speaker 7: I would not for twenty pistoles that you should have
Speaker 7: missed this fruit of your silly maxim. Look what our
Speaker 7: lessons have produced in these two sisters. The one avoids
Speaker 7: the gallants, the other runs after them.
Speaker 2: If you will not make your riddle clearer.
Speaker 7: The riddle is that her ball is at Valaire's, that
Speaker 7: I saw her go to him under cover of night,
Speaker 7: and that she is at this moment in his arms.
Speaker 7: Who Leonor, hey truce to jokes?
Speaker 2: I beg of you, I.
Speaker 7: Joke he is excellent with his joking, Poor fellow, I
Speaker 7: tell you, and tell you again, that Valaire has your
Speaker 7: Leonor in his house, and that they have pledged each
Speaker 7: other before he dreamed of running after Isabella.
Speaker 2: This story is so very improbable.
Speaker 7: He will not believe it even when he sees it.
Speaker 7: I am getting angry upon my word. Old age is
Speaker 7: not good for much when brains are.
Speaker 1: Wanting, laying his finger on his forehead, What brother.
Speaker 7: You mean to I mean nothing upon my soul. Only
Speaker 7: follow me. Your mind shall be satisfied. Directly. You shall
Speaker 7: see whether I am deceiving you, and whether they have
Speaker 7: not pledged their troth for more than a year past.
Speaker 2: Is it likely she could thus have agreed to this
Speaker 2: engagement without telling me me? Who, in everything from her infancy,
Speaker 2: ever displayed towards her a complete readiness to please, and
Speaker 2: who a hundred times protested I would never force her inclinations.
Speaker 7: Well your own eyes, I shall judge of the matter.
Speaker 7: I have already brought here a magistrate and a notary.
Speaker 7: We are concerned that the promised marriage shall at once
Speaker 7: restore to her the honor that she has lost. For
Speaker 7: I do not suppose you are so mean spirited as
Speaker 7: to wish to marry her with its stain upon her,
Speaker 7: unless you have still some arguments to raise you above
Speaker 7: all kinds of ridicule.
Speaker 2: For my part, I shall never be so weak as
Speaker 2: wish to possess a heart in spite of itself. But
Speaker 2: after all, I cannot believe.
Speaker 7: What speeches you make come. This might go on forever.
Speaker 1: Scene seven is gnael Arrist, a magistrate, a notary.
Speaker 4: There is no need to use any compulsion here, gentlemen.
Speaker 4: If you wish to have them married, your anger may
Speaker 4: be pleased on the spot. Both are equally inclined to it.
Speaker 4: Valaire has already given under his hand a statement that
Speaker 4: he considers her who is now with him as his wife.
Speaker 4: The girl is within and will not come out unless
Speaker 4: you consent to gratify their desires.
Speaker 1: Scene eight Valerire, a magistrate, a notary, Scannarel Arrist Valaire
Speaker 1: at the window of his house.
Speaker 9: No, gentlemen, no man shall enter here until your pleasure
Speaker 9: be known to me.
Speaker 7: You know who I am.
Speaker 9: I have done my duty in signing the statement which
Speaker 9: they can show you. If you intend to approve of
Speaker 9: the marriage, you must also put your names to this agreement.
Speaker 9: If not prepare to take my life before you shall
Speaker 9: rob me of the object of my love.
Speaker 7: No, we have no notion of separating you from her. Beside,
Speaker 7: he has not yet been undeceived in the manner of Isabella.
Speaker 7: Let us make the most of his mistake.
Speaker 1: Arrist tou Valaire, But is it Leonor hold your tongue,
Speaker 1: but be quiet.
Speaker 7: I want to know again. Will you hold your tongue?
Speaker 9: I say, to be brief, whatever the consequence. Isabella has
Speaker 9: my solemn promise. I also have hers. If you consider everything,
Speaker 9: I am not so bad a match that you should
Speaker 9: blame her.
Speaker 2: What he says is not be quiet.
Speaker 7: I have a reason for it. You shall know the
Speaker 7: mystery to Valaire, Yes, without any more words, we both
Speaker 7: consent that you shall be the husband of her, who
Speaker 7: is present in your house.
Speaker 4: The contract is drawn up in those very terms, and
Speaker 4: there is a blank for the name, as we have
Speaker 4: not seen her sign. The lady can set you all
Speaker 4: at ease. By and bye.
Speaker 9: I agree to the.
Speaker 7: Arrangements, and so do I with all my heart.
Speaker 1: Beside we will have a good laugh presently allowed.
Speaker 7: There, Brother, sign yours the honor to sign first?
Speaker 2: But why all this mystery?
Speaker 7: The deuce? What hesitation? Sign you, simpleton?
Speaker 2: He talks of Isabella and you of Leonora.
Speaker 7: Are you not agreed? Brother? If it be she to
Speaker 7: leave them to their mutual promises?
Speaker 2: Doubtless?
Speaker 7: Sign, then I shall do the same.
Speaker 2: So be it I understand nothing about it.
Speaker 7: You shall be enlightened.
Speaker 1: We will soon return exioned magistrate and notary into Valaire's house.
Speaker 1: Scannarel to our wrist.
Speaker 7: Now, then I will give you a cue to this intrigue.
Speaker 1: They retire to the back of the stage. Scene nine
Speaker 1: leonor scannarell arrist Lisette.
Speaker 8: Ah, what a strange martyrdom? What bores all those young
Speaker 8: fours appear to me? I have stlen away from the
Speaker 8: ball on account of them.
Speaker 6: Each of them tried to make himself agreeable to you,
Speaker 6: and I.
Speaker 8: Never endured anything more intolerable. I should prefer the simplest
Speaker 8: conversation to all the babblings of these saying nothings. They
Speaker 8: fancy that everything must give way before their flags and wigs,
Speaker 8: And think they have said the cleverest witticism when they
Speaker 8: come up with their silly, chafing tone and rally, is
Speaker 8: stupidly about the love of an old man. For my part,
Speaker 8: I value more highly the affection of such an old
Speaker 8: man and all the giddy raptures of a youthful brain.
Speaker 8: But I do not see is.
Speaker 1: Gnnarel to arrist Yes, So the matter stands perceiving leonor Ah.
Speaker 2: There she is and her maid whither Leonor without being angry,
Speaker 2: I have reason to complain. You know whether I have
Speaker 2: ever sought to restrain you, and whether I have not
Speaker 2: stated a hundred times that I left you full liberty
Speaker 2: to gratify your own wishes. Yet your heart, regardless of
Speaker 2: my approval, has pledged its faith as well as its
Speaker 2: love without my knowledge. I do not repent of my indulgence,
Speaker 2: but your conduct certainly annoys me. It is a way
Speaker 2: of acting which the tender friendship I have borne you
Speaker 2: does not merit.
Speaker 8: I know not why you speak to me thus, but
Speaker 8: believe me I am as I have ever been. Nothing
Speaker 8: can all to my esteem for you love. Any man
Speaker 8: would send me a crime. If you will satisfy my wishes,
Speaker 8: a holy bonchall unoi us tomorrow.
Speaker 2: On what foundation, then, have you? Brother?
Speaker 7: What did you not come out of Vlair's house? Have
Speaker 7: you not been declaring your passion this very day? And
Speaker 7: have you not been for a year passed in love
Speaker 7: with him who has.
Speaker 8: Been painting such pretty pictures of me, who has been
Speaker 8: at the trouble of inventing such falsehoods?
Speaker 1: Scene ten Isabella Valerire leonor Arist Scannarell, Magistrate, Notary Lizette Ergust, Sister,
Speaker 1: I ask you generously to pardon me, if, by the
Speaker 1: freedom I have taken, I have brought some scandal upon
Speaker 1: your name. The urgent pressure of a great necessity suggested
Speaker 1: to me some time ago this disgraceful stratagem. Your example
Speaker 1: condemns such an escapade. But fortune treated as differently to
Speaker 1: Gennerreil as for you, Sir, I will not excuse myself
Speaker 1: to you. I serve you much more than I wrong you.
Speaker 1: Heaven did not design us for one another. As I
Speaker 1: found I was unworthy of your love and undeserving of
Speaker 1: a heart like yours. I vastly preferred to see myself
Speaker 1: in another sense, Valerire to Gnarel for me.
Speaker 9: I esteem it my greatest glory and happiness to receive her, sir,
Speaker 9: from your hands.
Speaker 2: Brother, you must take this matter quietly. Your own conduct
Speaker 2: is the cause of this. I can see. It is
Speaker 2: your unhappy lot that no one will pity you, though
Speaker 2: they know you have been made a fool of.
Speaker 1: Upon my word.
Speaker 6: I am glad of this. This reward of his mistrust
Speaker 6: is a striking retribution.
Speaker 8: I do not know whether the trick ought to be commanded,
Speaker 8: but I am quite sure that I at least cannot
Speaker 8: blame it.
Speaker 3: Her star condemns him to be a cuckold. It is
Speaker 3: lucky for him he is only a retrospective.
Speaker 1: One Scannerel, recovering from the stupor into which she had
Speaker 1: been plunged.
Speaker 7: No, I cannot get the better of my astonishment. This
Speaker 7: faithlessness perplexes my understanding. I think that Satan in person
Speaker 7: could be no worse than such a jade. I could
Speaker 7: have sworn it was not in her unhappy he who
Speaker 7: trust a woman. After this, the best of them are
Speaker 7: always full of mischief. They were made to damn the
Speaker 7: whole world. I renounce the treacher sex forever and give
Speaker 7: them to the devil with all my heart.
Speaker 2: Well said, let us all go to my house, come,
Speaker 2: monsieur Valere tomorrow we will try to appease his wrath.
Speaker 1: Lisette to audience.
Speaker 6: As for you, if you know any childish husbands, by
Speaker 6: all means, send them to school with us.
Speaker 1: End of Act three and of the School for Husbands
Speaker 1: by Moliere, translated by Henri van laun