tune, he betook himself to a country life and to the practice of
religious duties. His _theatre_ is considerable, extending to twelve
volumes. The great peculiarity of his comedies is that they deal almost
exclusively with the middle class. _Les Bourgeoises de Qualite_ and _Le
Chevalier a la Mode_, perhaps also _Le Galant Jardinier_ and _Les Trois
Cousines_, deserve mention.

The collaboration of Brueys and Palaprat resulted in the modern version
of the famous mediaeval farce, _L'Avocat Pathelin_, and in an excellent
piece of the Moliere-Regnard type, _Le Grondeur_. Some other plays of
less merit were written by the friends, while each is responsible for
two independent pieces. Both were Provencals, David Augustin de Brueys
having been born at Aix in 1640, Jean Palaprat at Toulouse ten years
later. Brueys, who, as an abbe converted by Bossuet and engaged actively
in propagating his new faith, had some difficulty in appearing publicly
as a dramatic author, is understood to have had the chief share in the
composition of the joint dramas.

[Sidenote: Characteristics of Molieresque Comedy.]

The general characteristics of this remarkable comedy are not hard to
define. Based as it was, after Moliere had once set the example, on the
direct study of the actual facts of society and human nature, it could
not fail to appeal to universal sympathy in a very different degree from
the artificial tragedy which accompanied it. It was, moreover, far less
trammelled by rules than the sister variety of drama. Unities did not
press very heavily on the comic dramatist; his choice and number of
characters, his licence of action on the stage, and so forth, were
unlimited; he could write in prose or verse at his pleasure, and, if he
chose verse, he was bound to a much less monotonous kind of it than his
tragic brother. Consequently the majority of the objections which lie
against the masterpieces of Corneille and Racine, and which make the
work of their imitators almost unreadable, leave Moliere and his
followers unscathed. One drawback only remained, the drawback already
commented on in the case of tragedy, and admitted by French critics
themselves in some such terms as that Shakespeare took individuals,
Moliere took types. The advantage of the latter method for enforcing a
moral lesson is evident; its literary disadvantages are evident
likewise. It leads to an ignoring of the complexity of human nature and
to an unnatural prominence of th