Yesterday afternoon in Sanders Theatre, M. Brunetiere delivered the first of his three lectures on Moliere. Professor de Sumichrast, Chairman of the Department of French, presented Professor Bocher, who introduced the lecturer. M. Brunetiere spoke in a most interesting and forcible manner and held the close attention of his auditors throughout. He dealt with the early life and work of Moliere from his birth until 1661.

Moliere, said he, was in the XVIIth century to France what Shakespeare was to England and Cervantes to Spain. Above all a Frenchman and a Parisian, a bourgeois of Paris, we continually find this vein running through all his work. Like so many other great writers he was a bourgeois, his father being "tapisseir du roi." His parents, being ambitious for their son, sent him to the College of Clermont; but he disappointed their hopes, and at the age of twenty-one took to the stage-a profession at this time of extreme ill repute. Alone in the world, his first efforts at Paris failed, and he was obliged to go into the country at the head of a wandering band of actors.

From 1646 to 1658 Moliere lived the miserable life of a provincial actor. The hardships which he had to undergo embittered him, and this very bitterness taught him to reflect. These twelve years were of incalculable benefit to Moliere, for in them he thoroughly mastered his profession of writer and comedian. His view was greatly broadened. Whereas other writers like Boileau, Feuillet, Bourget and Dumas fils, treat only of Parisian scenes and characters, Moliere by his extensive travel and wide observation was enabled to portray, with a striking reality, the life and the characters of the provinces. Many of his scenes and characters can be localized in some part of provincial France.

The first opportunity of judging the results of Moliere's travels was afforded by his first two comedies-"Les Precieuses Ridicules" and "L'Ecole des Femmes." What strikes one above all in these plays is their national character. They are the first purely national plays which we find in France at this period. Another most noteworthy fact is that these two comedies for the first time introduced the bourgeoisie upon the French stage. Hitherto the drama had dealt merely with the aristocracy. In Moliere the bourgeoisie found its exponent.

Where up to this time such writers as Corneille and Scarron had tried to improve upon nature, Moliere in these two plays represents nature exactly as he sees it. His strict interpretation of nature, his nationality, and his boldness in introducing a new element at once made Moliere one of the influential men of the day.

In the next lecture on Wednesday, M. Brunetiere will treat of Moliere's philosophy.