and an intimate friend of his. In her
artlessness Angelique concludes from his description that he means
himself. In her joy she confides the matter to Lisette.

LISETTE.
He bien! Mademoiselle, etes-vous instruite? A qui vous marie-t-on?

ANGELIQUE.
A lui, ma chere Lisette, a lui-meme, et je l'attends.

LISETTE.
A lui, dites-vous? Et quel est donc cet homme qui s'appelle lui par
excellence? Est-ce qu'il est ici?

A charming bit of dialogue, and but another proof of Marivaux's insight
into a young girl's heart. What is her chagrin, therefore, when he
presents his valet, Frontin, disguised as the rich Parisian! She refuses
his offer, and in desperation is about to consent to marry the peasant
farmer Blaise, who had long sighed for the five thousand _livres_ which
are her marriage portion. This character is the amusing factor of the
play, Lucidor urges him to win her hand, but offers, as a compensation, if
he loses, twelve thousand _livres_. This, of course, is sufficient to turn
the tide and to enlist the interest of Blaise to fail, if possible, in his
forced suit of Angelique. The trial proves Angelique superior to money
considerations, and love triumphs.

Why does the money question occupy so important a place in the works of
Marivaux? Is it not, as some one has suggested, because in his own life he
constantly felt the lack of it? Lesage's _Turcaret_ and Sedaine's _le
Philosophe sans le savoir_ indicate, likewise, the new importance of
wealth in the eighteenth century, which Marivaux could not have failed to
notice or to incorporate in his works.

I cannot pass over in silence _la Mere confidente_, which, as Sainte-Beuve
claims, is of an "ordre a part" among his comedies, and in which "il a
touche des cordes plus franches, plus sensibles et d'une nature
meilleure."[122] Like so many of his best plays, it was first presented at
the Comedie-Italienne, May 9, 1735. This too was one of the plays, the
reception of which was favorable. The lesson that it intended to teach,
for it has a lesson, was one that we have already seen emphasized, by
Marivaux, the rights of children, the duty of parents to respect them, and
the advisability of gaining their love and confidence.

In Madame Argante of _la Mere confidente_ we have the counterpart of the
arrogant mother of the same name of _les Fausses Confidences_, indifferent
to her daughter's real welfare, but powerless to control her will. Madame
Argante of _la Mere confident