In the following extracts, Molière satirizes, under the name of Trissotin, a contemporary writer, one Cotin. The poem which Trissotin reads for the learned women to criticise and admire, is an actual production of this gentleman. Imagine the domestic _coterie_ assembled, and Trissotin, the poet, their guest. He is present, prepared to regale them with what he calls his sonnet. We need to explain that the original poem is thus inscribed: "To Mademoiselle de Longueville, now Duchess of Namur, on her Quartan Fever." The conceit of the sonneteer is that the fever is an enemy luxuriously lodged in the lovely person of its victim, and there insidiously plotting against her life:-- TRISSOTIN. Sonnet to the Princess Urania on her Fever, Your prudence sure is fast asleep, That thus luxuriously you keep And lodge magnificently so Your very hardest-hearted foe. BÉLISE. Ah! what a pretty beginning! ARMANDE. What a charming turn it has! PHILAMINTE. He alone possesses the talent of making easy verses. ARM. We must yield to _prudence fast asleep_. BÉL. _Lodge one's very hardest-hearted foe_ is full of charms for me. PHIL. I like _luxuriously_ and _magnificently_: these two adverbs joined together sound admirably. BÉL. Let us hear the rest. TRISS. Your prudence sure is fast asleep, That thus luxuriously you keep And lodge magnificently so Your very hardest-hearted foe. ARM. _Prudence fast asleep._ BÉL. _To lodge one's foe._ PHIL. _Luxuriously_ and _magnificently_. TRISS. Drive forth that foe, whate'er men say, From out your chamber, decked so gay, Where, ingrate vile, with murderous knife, Bold she assails your lovely life. BÉL. Ah! gently. Allow me to breathe, I beseech you. ARM.Give us time to admire, I beg. PHIL. One feels, at hearing these verses, an indescribable something which goes through one's inmost soul, and makes one feel quite faint. ARM. Drive forth that foe, whate'er men say, From out your chamber, decked so gay-- How prettily _chamber, decked so gay_, is said here! And with what wit the metaphor is introduced! PHIL. Drive forth that foe, whate'er men say. Ah! in what an admirable taste that _whate'er men say _is! To my mind, the passage is invaluable. ARM. My heart is also in love with _whate'er men say_. BÉL. I am of your opinion: _whate'er men say_ is a happy expression. ARM. I wish I had written it. BÉL. It is worth a whole poem. PHIL. But do you, like me, thoroughly understand the wit of it? ARM. _and_ BÉL. Oh! Oh! PHIL. Drive forth that foe, whate'er men say. Although another should take the fever's part, pay no attention; laugh at the gossips. Drive forth that foe, whate'er men say, Whate'er men say, whate'er men say.