Chapter 13

DOC. What! always noise, disorder, dissension, quarrels, strife, disputes, uproar, everlasting altercations? What is it? What can it be? One can have no rest.

VILL. It is nothing, Mr. Doctor, every one is agreed.

DOC. Ah! about being agreed, shall I read you a chapter of Aristotle, where he proves that all the different parts of the universe subsist only through the concord which exists between them?

VILL. Will it be long?

DOC. No, it's not a bit long, only about sixty or eighty pages.

VILL. Thanks, good night, good night!

GOR. It is not necessary.

DOC. Do you wish for it?

GOR. No.

DOC. Good night, then, since it is so--_latine, bona nox_.

VILL. Let us all go and have some supper together.

FOOTNOTES

[1] An Italian game (Latin, _micare digitis_), in which one player suddenly raises the hand of which some fingers are shut, and some are open. The other players have to guess the number of fingers raised.

[2] In most editions we find "_et que tout le monde où serait cette monarchie florissante_," which has no meaning. The correct reading is "_et que tu me donnerais le monde où serait_," &c.

[3] See 'Impromptu de Versailles,' Sc. i.

[4] _Je suis bien tenté de te bâiller une quinte major._ Quinte major is a term of piquet. It is here employed figuratively. Compare its use in 'Les Fâcheux,' Act ii. Sc. ii.

[5] This seems to be the meaning of "_Je dédonne au diable l'escarcelle, si vous l'aviez fait._" _Je dédonne au diable_ is apparently a euphemism for _Je donne au diable._ In French, compare _parbleu, corbleu_, &c., and _deuce, zounds, egad_, &c., in English. _Dédonne_ is not given by Littré. It occurs again in 'Le Médecin Volant,' Sc. x., but does not seem to have been employed elsewhere by Molière.

[6] Compare Sc. iv. 'Le Mariage Forcé.'

[7] DOC. 'Audi, quæso,' aurait dit Cicéron.

BAR. Si ce rompt, si ce brise, &c.

It seems necessary to ascribe the saying to Cæsar, rather than to Cicero, in order to render to some extent this fearful pun.

[8] An enchanted dwarf in the old romance of 'Valentine and Orson,' who manufactured a wooden horse, which could go very fast "_Courir comme le cheval de Pacolet,_" remains as a proverb.