By
that time he must have got tired of his desert and she of her coquetry.'
'We know,' I said, 'that Moliere was always in love with his wife,
notwithstanding her _legerete_. What makes me think the tradition that
Celimene was Mademoiselle[1] Moliere true, is that Moliere was certainly
in love with Celimene. She is made as engaging as possible, and her worst
faults do not rise above foibles. Her satire is good-natured. Arsinoe is
her foil, introduced to show what real evil-speaking is.'
'All the women,' said Ampere, 'are in love with Alceste, and they care
about no one else. Celimene's satire of the others is scarcely
good-natured. It is clear, at least, that they did not think so.'
'If Celimene,' said Minnie, 'became Madame Alceste, he probably made her
life a burthen with his jealousy.'
'Of course he was jealous,' said Madame de Beaumont, 'for he was
violently in love. There can scarcely be violent love without jealousy.'
'At least,' said Madame de Tocqueville, 'till people are married.
'If a lover is cool enough to be without jealousy, he ought to pretend
it.'
[Footnote 1: Under the _ancien regime_ even the married actresses were
called Mademoiselle.
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