to Louis, and it was some insolence of his noble colleagues which is alleged, in a late and improbable though famous story, to have occasioned the incident of his partaking of the king's _en cas de nuit_. The highest point of his genius was shortly reached; _Tartuffe_, the _Festin de Pierre_, and _Le Misanthrope_ being the work of three successive years, 1664-6. _Tartuffe_ brought him some trouble because it was supposed to be irreligious in tendency, or at least to satirise the profession of religion. These, his three greatest comedies, were not all warmly received, and he fell back upon lighter work, producing in rapid succession farce-comedies for the public theatre, and _divertissements_ of divers kinds for the court until his death in February 1673, which happened almost on the stage. The following is a complete list of Moliere's work which has come down to us. During his provincial sojourn he had written many slight pieces half-way in kind between the Italian comedy and the native farce. Of these two only survive, _Le Medecin Volant_ and _La Jalousie du Barbouille_. Both have considerable merit, and Moliere subsequently worked up their materials, as no doubt he did those of the lost pieces. _L'Etourdi_, 1653, is a regular comedy in five acts, still strongly Italian in style and somewhat improbable in circumstances, but full of sparkle and lively action and dialogue. _Le Depit Amoureux_, 1654, is even better and more independent. Nothing had yet been seen on the French stage so good as the quarrels and reconciliation of the quartette of master, mistress, valet, and _soubrette_. But _Les Precieuses Ridicules_, 1659, struck an entirely different note. The stage had been employed often enough for personal satire, but it had not yet been made use of for the actual delineation and criticism of contemporary manners as manners and not as the foibles of individuals. The play was directed against the affectations and unreal language of the members of literary _coteries_ which, with that of the Hotel Rambouillet as the chief, had long been prominent in French society. It has but a single act, but in its way it has never been surpassed either as a piece of social satire or a piece of brilliant dialogue illustrating ludicrous action and character. _Sganarelle_, 1660, relapses into the commonplaces of farce, and has no moral or satirical intention, but is amusing enough. _Don Garcie de Navarre_, 1661, may be called Moliere's only failure. He styles it a _comedie heroique_, and it is in fact a kind of anticipation of Racine's manner, but applied to less serious subjects. The jealousy of the hero is, however, the only motive of the piece, and its exhibition is rather tiresome than anything else. The play is monotonous and unrelieved by action. The genius of the author reappeared in its appropriate sphere in _L'Ecole des Maris_ (same date), where a Terentian suggestion is adapted and carried out with the greatest skill. Then,