Philippe Quinault. Sa vie et son œuvre. by Etienne GrosReview by: H. Carrington LancasterModern Language Notes, Vol. 42, No. 8 (Dec., 1927), pp. 551-552Published by: The Johns Hopkins University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2914035 .

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REVIEWS 551

more than willing, in their pioneering days, to monopolize their field as long as possible.

And there is still another motive, insufficiently recognized in this monograph, for company opposition to publication. Miss Albright has demonstrated that the printing of plays did not techini- cally abrogate acting rights-but does it not remain true that to keep a live acting play out of print was the most rudimentary, the most obvious protection affainst infringement of such rights? The fact that printing did not legalize the infringement of acting rights does not alter the fact that printing removed the greatest practical obstacle against infringement, nor the fact that damages for in- fringement were all but uncollectable (cf. p. 220, n.). A chemist who has discovered a valuable formula or process, even though he has legally protected his property rights therein and is free to sue invaders of these rights, is none the less likely to put his formula into his safe-deposit box rather than into the hands of the reporters. Of course, as MNiss Albright observes, there were many " loop-holes of escape." "The retention of manuscripts " was doubtless not " the sole, or even chief, safeguarding of theatrical companies' rights in plays." No doubt-but why not the most simple and, after all, in some cases the most practical? If so, may there not have been something of fact now and then in "that fiction of the close guarding of the manuscript " (p. 290) ?

To emphasize these points is not to play the devil's advocate, since it is worth while to remember that some of these questions are not altogether closed. But the essential fact remains that this study in the large will help to dispose of many fictions which have too long been allowed to masquerade as fact. Its interpretations in the main are sound and valuable. And it is full of information from which students may independently deduce truth as they see it.

University of Tennessee. ALWIN THALER.

Philippe Quinault. Sa vie et son ceuvre. Par ETIENNE GRos. Paris, Champion; Aix-en-Provence, editions du "feu," 1926. xii, 827 pp.

Although one of the most important among French dramatists of the seventeenth century, Quinault had not received much atten- tion from contemporary scholars before the appearance of this exhaustive work. For this neglect M. Gros has amply atoned. He has collected, in the first place, all the details about his remarkable life, distinguishing as far as possible between fact and legend. The son of a baker and beginning his career as a valet, this " bonne pate d'homme " was able to become a favorite at the aristocratic court

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552 M. L. N., XLII, 8 (DECEMBER, 1927)

of Louis XIV, a frequenter of exclusive salons, a prominent dramat- ist, the leading author of opera librettos. He espoused a wealthy bourgeoise, married one of his daughters to the nephew of the cele- brated artist, Le Brun, grew rich, was received into the Chambre des Comptes, the French Academy, the Academy of Inscriptions. Ever soft and pliable as the paternal dough, he resisted hostile thrusts more effectively than if he had been composed of better ingredients. Even Boileau was unable to deprive him of success, for whatever "la raison" might suggest, his rimes continued to charm throughout the eighteenth century and Voltaire was one of his most enthusiastic admirers.

He wrote 31 plays and librettos. In comedy he made much use of his French predecessors and helped develop the genre in Moliere's direction. His Mere coquette, a critical edition of which has been made by M. G. as his subordinate dissertation,1 and his Come6die sans come'die hold an honorable place in the history of comedy. In tragedy aand tragi-comedy he was inspired by the con- temporary novel with its emphasis upon love and its reflection of the aspirations and manners of court society. M. G. compares these plays to

ces 6toffes anciennes, dont le temps a fletri les couleurs trop vives, et qui ont pris, avec un charme un peu vieillot et un peu fanC, une teinte plus harnionieuse et plus discrete.

He believes that one must read them in order to appreciate the value of Racine's reform and to account for the survival in the lat- ter's tragedies of some of the same characteristics. Finally, M. G makes a careful study of Q. as the first important author of libret- tos and shows that, while imitating his Italian predecessors in their choice of ancient mythology and of modern legend as a subject and in their efforts to appeal to the eye, he also adapted the opera, as they had not done, to the taste of audiences who had been accus- tomed, through the influence of tragedy, to demand greater unity and simplicity and a less illogical plot than one finds in earlier operas.

M. G. shows himself to be a master of his subject and to have an unusually good knowledge of the seventeenth century stage. His presentation is clear and interesting. There is an enormous amount of information in his book. It would, it is true, be more effective if it were not so long, but it is somewhat ungracious of the reader to make this criticism when the author has devoted himself so gen- erously to his task. The mistakes noted below are not of great importance. They concern details rather than essentials and are remarkably few if one considers the fact that the volume contains some 400,000 words.2 H. CARRINGTON LANCASTER.

'Paris, Champion, 1926. 3 ln spite of the corrections in the Errata, a few misprints remain,

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