mporaries in borrowing
the plot for _The Busie Body_. The three sources for the play are: _The
Devil Is an Ass_ (1616) by Jonson; _L'Etourdi_ (1658) by Moliere; and
_Sir Martin Mar-all or The Feigned Innocence_ (1667) by Dryden. From
_The Devil Is an Ass_, Mrs. Centlivre borrowed minor details and two
episodes, one of them the amusing dumb scene. This scene, though a close
imitation, seems more amusing in _The Busie Body_ than in Jonson's play,
perhaps because the characters, especially Sir Francis Gripe and
Miranda, are more credible and more fully portrayed. From the second
source for _The Busie Body_, Moliere's _L'Etourdi_, I believe Mrs.
Centlivre borrowed the framework for her parallel plots, the theme of
Marplot's blundering, and the name and general character of Marplot. But
she has improved what she borrowed. She places in Moliere's framework
more credible women characters than his, especially in the charming
Miranda and the crafty Patch; she constructs a more skillful intrigue
plot for the stage than his subplot and emphasizes Spanish customs in
the lively Charles-Isabinda-Traffick plot. Mrs. Centlivre concentrates
on Marplot's blundering, whereas Moliere concentrates on the servant
Mascarille's schemes. Marplot's funniest blunder, in the "monkey" scene,
is entirely original as far as I know (IV, iv). But her greatest change
is in the character of Marplot, who in her hands becomes not so much
stupid as human and irresistibly ludicrous. Mrs. Centlivre's style is
of course inferior to that of Moliere. In the preface to _Love's
Contrivance_ (1703), in speaking of borrowings from Moliere, she said
that borrowers "must take care to touch the Colors with an English
Pencil, and form the Piece according to our Manners." Of course her
touching the "Colors with an English Pencil" meant changing the style
of Moliere to suit the less delicate taste of the middle-class English
audience.

A third source for _The Busie Body_ is Dryden's _Sir Martin Mar-all_
(1667). Since Dryden followed Moliere with considerable exactness, it
would be difficult to prove beyond doubt that Mrs. Centlivre borrowed
from Moliere rather than from Dryden. Yet I believe, after a careful
analysis of the plays, that she borrowed from Moliere. She made of _The
Busie Body_ a comedy of intrigue based on the theme and plot used by
both Moliere and Dryden, but she omitted the scandalous Restoration
third plot which Dryden had added to Moliere. Her character