Produced by Delphine Lettau THE JEALOUSY OF LE BARBOUILLÉ. (LA JALOUSIE DU BARBOUILLÉ.) Among the small farces said to have been sketched by Molière during his stay in the provinces, two only which seem genuine have come down to us, and have been published for the last thirty years with his comedies. These are, 'La Jalousie du Barbouillé,' and 'Le Médecin Volant.' Molière has made use of the former in the third act of the comedy called 'George Dandin.' Molière acted the part of Le Barbouillé. PERSONS REPRESENTED. LE BARBOUILLÉ, _husband to_ ANGÉLIQUE. THE DOCTOR. ANGÉLIQUE. VALÈRE, _lover to_ ANGÉLIQUE. CATHAU, _maid to_ ANGÉLIQUE. GORGIBUS, _father to_ ANGÉLIQUE. VILLEBREQUIN. LA VALLÉE. THE JEALOUSY OF LE BARBOUILLÉ. SCENE I.--LE BARBOUILLÉ. BAR. Everybody must acknowledge that I am the most unfortunate of men! I have a wife who plagues me to death; and who, instead of bringing me comfort and doing things as I like them to be done, makes me swear at her twenty times a day. Instead of keeping at home, she likes gadding about, eating good dinners, and passing her time with people of I don't know what description. Ah! poor Barbouillé, how much you are to be pitied! But she must be punished. Suppose you killed her?... It would do no good, for you would be hung afterwards. If you were to have her sent to prison?... The minx would find means of coming out. What the deuce are you to do?--But here is the doctor coming out this way; suppose I ask his advice on my difficulties. SCENE II.--DOCTOR, LE BARBOUILLÉ. BAR. I was going to fetch you, to beg for your opinion on a question of great importance to me. DOC. You must be very ill-bred, very loutish, and very badly taught, my friend, to speak to me in that fashion, without first taking off your hat, without observing _rationem loci, temporis et personæ_. What! you begin by an abrupt speech, instead of saying _Salve_, vel _salvus sis, doctor doctorum eruditissime_. What do you take me for, eh? BAR. Really, doctor, I am very sorry; the fact is that I am almost beside myself, and did not think of what I was doing; but I know you are a gallant man. DOC. Do you know what _gallant man_ comes from? BAR. It matters little to me whether it comes from Villejuif or Aubervilliers. DOC. Know that the word _gallant man_ comes from _elegant_. By taking the _g_ and the _a_ of the last syllable, that makes _ga_; then by taking the two _ll_'s, adding _a_ and the two last letters _nt_, that makes _gallant_; then by adding _man_ you have _gallant man_. But to come back to what I said; What do you take me for? BAR. I take you for a doctor. But let us speak a little of what I have to propose to you. You must know that ...