Comedy plays; French drama -- 17th century -- Translations into English; Molière, 1622-1673 -- Translations into English
which may keep the stomach warm, and promote a healthy digestion; a pair
of breeches made exactly to fit my thighs; shoes, like those of our wise
ancestors, in which my feet may not be tortured: and he who does not
like the look of me may shut his eyes.
SCENE II.--LÉONOR, ISABELLA, LISETTE; ARISTE _and_ SGANARELLE,
_conversing in an under-tone, unperceived_.
LEO. (_To Isabella_). I take it all on myself, in case you are
scolded.
LIS. (_To Isabella_). Always in one room, seeing no one?
ISA. Such is his humour.
LEO. I pity you, sister.
LIS. (_To Léonor_). It is well for you, madam, that his brother is
of quite another disposition; fate was very kind in making you fall into
the hands of a rational person.
ISA. It is a wonder that he did not lock me up to-day, or take me with
him.
LIS. I declare I would send him to the devil, with his Spanish ruff,
and...
[Footnote: The Spanish ruff (_fraise_) was in fashion at the end of
Henri IV.'s reign; in the reign of Louis XIII., and in the beginning of
Louis XIV.'s, flat-lying collars, adorned with lace were worn, so that
those who still stuck to the Spanish ruff in 1661, were considered very
old-fashioned people.]
SGAN. (_Against whom Lisette stumbles_). Where are you going, if I
may ask?
LEO. We really do not know; I was urging my sister to talk a walk, and
enjoy this pleasant and fine weather; but...
SGAN. (_To Léonor_). As for you, you may go wherever you please.
(_To Lisette_). You can run off; there are two of you together.
(_To Isabella_). But as for you, I forbid you--excuse me--to go
out.
AR. Oh, brother! let them go and amuse themselves.
SGAN. I am your servant, brother.
AR. Youth will...
SGAN. Youth is foolish, and old age too, sometimes.
AR. Do you think there is any harm in her being with Léonor?
SGAN. Not so; but with me I think she is still better.
AR. But...
SGAN. But her conduct must be guided by me; in short, I know the
interest I ought to take in it.
AR. Have I less in her sister's?
SGAN. By Heaven! each one argues and does as he likes. They are without
relatives, and their father, our friend, entrusted them to us in his
last hour, charging us both either to marry them, or, if we declined, to
dispose of them hereafter. He gave us, in writing, the full authority of
a father and a husband over them, from their infancy. You undertook to
bring up that one; I charged myself with the care of this one. You
govern yours at your pleasure. Leave me, I pray, to manage the other as
I think best.
AR. It seems to me...
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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