EText by Dagny
This Etext is for private use only. No republication for profit in print or other media may be made without the express consent of the Copyright Holder. The Copyright Holder is especially concerned about performance rights in any media on stage, cinema, or television, or audio or any other media, including readings for which an entrance fee or the like is charge. Permissions should be addressed to: Frank Morlock, 6006 Greenbelt Rd, #312, Greenbelt, MD 20770, USA or frankmorlock@msn.com. Other works by this author may be found at http://www.cadytech.com/dumas/personnage.asp?key=130
Historic fact
By Moreau and Lafortelle
1806
Translated and adapted by
Frank J. Morlock
C 2003
++++++++++++++++++++++++
CHARACTERS
MLLE NINON DE L'ENCLOS
Mr. AROUET, Notary
AROUET DE VOLTAIRE, his son, aged fourteen
LA MARQUIS DE CHATEAUNEUF, Envoy to the Hague
Mr. DUJARRY, former quartermaster of the College Louis Le Grand
LE POREE, Jesuit
GERVAIS, Ninon's concierge
SUZETTE, his daughter
FIRMIN, a waiter in a cafe
A Servant
++++++++++++++++++++++++
The action takes place in Paris at Ninon's home.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
The stage represents the interior of Ninon's library, a door on each side; a table. At the back of the stage a bust of Plato and a bust of Epicurus.
GERVAIS: Have you prepared the apartment that Madame destines for Mr. Arouet's son?
SUZETTE: Yes, father.
FIRMIN: Sir —listen to me.
GERVAIS: I repeat to you once more, my dear Firmin; I love you; I esteem you, but I cannot grant you the hand of my daughter.
FIRMIN: My parents are known to you; Suzette and I have loved each other since childhood.
SUZETTE: Father —
GERVAIS: My word is given. (to Suzette) The one to whom I destin you is a man of letters. He has some credit, and my promise allowed me to obtain a pension I was soliciting as an old soldier, and that I earned with forty years of service.
FIRMIN: Why didn't you address yourself to Mr. Chateauneuf? He's a distinguished military man.
GERVAIS: It was he who presented me to Mademoiselle Ninon; and he thinks he's done enough for me by procuring me this situation as concierge.
FIRMIN: Well! implore the credit of Mademoiselle Ninon herself.
GERVAIS: Do you want me to importune the one I depend on for my existence? At her age, she cherishes solitude; and besides, I am afraid to talk to her.
SUZETTE: She is so nice!
(sings)
Ninon, despite her white hair,
Has not yet changed her habits
And preserves in her old age
The happy gifts of her youth.
Everywhere spreading benefits,
The desire to oblige inflames her;
Age which respects her features
Hasn't changed her soul.
FIRMIN: If you were to speak to her notary, Mr. Arouet: they say that his house is the rendez-vous of the most celebrated people.
GERVAIS: In literature. Those are not the gentlemen who solicit and obtain pensions for military men.
FIRMIN: Perhaps.
GERVAIS: Anyway, Mr. Arouet has too many occupation, not counting his domestic troubles.
SUZETTE: Troubles, father?
GERVAIS: Yes, troubles. He has a lazy son, mischievous and naughty, that everybody talks about. He doesn't want to hear him mentioned; the young Voltaire, at last.
SUZETTE: Hasn't he come to Madame's?
GERVAIS: No question, and nothing equals the interest she takes in him. There must be some good in that child, since Madame loves him so much.
FIRMIN: The young Voltaire? I've heard a lot about him at the actor's cafe; they boast his cleverness, they are already citing his bon mots; indeed, all the world praises him.
GERVAIS: You will praise him to Madame, for a sure way of making yourself loved is to tell her fine things about her protege.
SUZETTE: Ah, father! Firmin has some merits.
GERVAIS: Not as many as Mr. Dujarry.
FIRMIN: Mr. Dujarry? I know him well; he often comes to the
cafe.
(sings)
You'd think he was a chronicle,
Always citing
And arguing,
He thinks himself a clever pol,
He thinks himself a charming author,
Never gets off poetry,
He reads, comments, as he reads.
This downright loon
Gets very hot
After having rhymed, philosophically,
Takes thirty towns, on the map
But never takes anything off the menu.
GERVAIS: That all may be; but Mr. Dujarry has engaged himself to get me my pension.
(Dujarry enters.)
DUJARRY: I engage myself still: be assured of the ardour of my efforts and of their prompt success. Everything succeeds for me; I have protectors close to the powerful; you will soon be pensioned.
GERVAIS: My daughter is the reward for this; my income will be her dowry.
DUJARRY: Greetings, beautiful Suzette. What do I see? It's the waiter from the cafe. (aside) I've made a bit of an impression on her and I owe her —
GERVAIS: You owe her?
DUJARRY: Much esteem
FIRMIN: That's really the least of it.
DUJARRY: What an honor for you , Miss, to be the spouse of a
man that's going to be crowned today! and what a brilliant prospect for
me!
(singing)
From a double triumph at the Louvre
Where I must be admitted
For a prize that I knew how to win;
From you I am obtaining another prize. (repeat)
Twice the glory I desire
Crowns my head today,
Joining to the mysteries of love
The laurels of the Academy.
SUZETTE: Would you be satisfied to content yourself with laurels?
DUJARRY: What do you mean, Miss?
SUZETTE: Sir, I know quite well you have wit enough for me, but I don't know if I have wit enough for you.
DUJARRY: Don't worry.
(singing)
In forming this charming bond
Through a happy agreement, my darling,
Each of us has his talent.
I'm not the wisest;
I know how to rhyme, you know how to please.
There are so many things between us
That you cannot comprehend;
But as a good spouse
It will be a pleasure for me to instruct you. (repeat)
SUZETTE: Excuse me, sir, I am not curious!
DUJARRY: Adorable innocence!
FIRMIN: (aside) The imbecile!
GERVAIS: What a man, what a man! He talks like nobody else. (ringing) Why, Madame is ringing. I am going to go give her my arm.
DUJARRY: A word, Mr. Gervais: is it true that Miss Ninon consents to give an apartment to the son of Mr. Arouet, in the situation in which his father no longer wishes to keep him?
GERVAIS: I will tell you about all that. (he leaves with Firmin)
DUJARRY: (aside) Will this young man replace me in my functions as librarian? Let's hasten to marry Suzette.
SUZETTE: I am waiting on Madame.
(Enter Ninon, Gervais and Firmin.)
NINON: My dear Gervais, you are a very good guide; but that
doesn't prevent me from regretting your predecessor. (sings)
In my youth
The graces surrounded me,
Cherubs guided me
On my flighty path,
And by frolics led
The enchanting troupe.
Today, it's no longer that way,
Escaping from slavery,
Love, that fickle thing
Is deserting me en voyage,
Laughing at my age,
And Ninon goes
Jogging on.
DUJARRY: (low to Gervais) Head of gold and feet of silver!
NINON: Hello, my little Suzette.
DUJARRY: Does madame allow me to recite my verses to her as her lover?
NINON: In a little bit, my dear Dujarry.
GERVAIS: Shall I dare present my future son-in-law to madame?
NINON: Dujarry is marrying the daughter of my concierge?
DUJARRY: Love makes all equal. Jupiter made himself a swan to please Leda.
SUZETTE: Apparently Jupiter was loved for it.
NINON: And you don't seem to be.
DUJARRY: Modesty!
GERVAIS: Madame, my daughter is prepared to follow my will.
NINON: Ah, my friend! don't ever say such a thing before me. In Friendship I respect only frankness, in love, only liberty.
FIRMIN: (excitedly) Ah! Madame! what!
NINON: (to Gervaise) Here's the preferred. These young folks agree, and you want to thwart the inclination of your daughter? Trust my experience; if marriage comes when called, love comes when it pleases.
DUJARRY: I will observe to Madame —
NINON: We will speak of it again. My mind's preoccupied. I wrote to my Notary, Mr. Arouet; I was surprised not receive any response. Dujarry, do you know his son?
DUJARRY: Well, Madame; I was his quarter-master at the college of Louis Le Grand.
NINON: They presented that child to me; I was astonished by the sprightliness of his repartee, and especially the erudition that he demonstrated to me.
DUJARRY: He has a cleverness that folks take for wit.
NINON: He promises much.
DUJARRY: Nothing astonishing about that: at his age I promised much more.
FIRMIN: (aside) And now—
DUJARRY: Besides, Quintilian says that a pretty dawn never announces a beautiful day.
NINON: Never mind Quintilian.
DUJARRY: Primo, young Arouet doesn't have a good memory.
NINON: So much the better, he won't make references.
DUJARRY: (singing)
If one pretends to glory
From the Greeks seek aid
It necessary to be, and you can take it from me
In a condition of always making references.
NINON: (singing)
My feelings are far from yours.
Here I must stop you,
One is rarely referred to
When he always refers to others
DUJARRY: It's not wise, at fourteen, to compose verses, which reveal a disordered imagination! I'll be much deceived if he ever makes a poet.
NINON: Watch out, he is the man to deceive you.
(A Servant enters.)
SERVANT: Mr. Arouet, and the Marquis de Chateauneuf.
NINON: Show them in. (to Suzette) Leave us; Dujarry, you can stay.
(Enter the Marquis and Arouet.)
MARQUIS: (singing)
Is it a flighty mood?
Is it a savage mood?
Pleasure engages us
To come to Ninon's.
Delightful enchantress!
At her court you receive
Lessons in wisdom
And lessons in love.
Is it a flighty mood?
Is it a savage mood?
Pleasure engages us
To come to Ninon's.
NINON: Always gay, Marquis.
MARQUIS: When I see you.
AROUET: Pardon, Madame, if I made you wait.
NINON: You are bringing me the clauses of my will.
AROUET: Yes, madame.
MARQUIS: (singing)
It's not time for us to leave
Put off this voyage still;
Who would want to profit so soon
From your brilliant legacy?
And when you make a bequest, alas!
Your wit, your light grace,
On honor, you won't be found
With testamentary executors.
NINON: My friend, a woman must leave the world when love leaves her.
MARQUIS: Do you count friendship as nothing?
(singing)
When Olympus used to assemble
Frolics opened their scope for you.
The lovely queen of Cythera
For a guide, gave you a son.
In this pretty pilgrimage
That god led you to happiness.
He is leaving you, it's really a shame
But regret this flight little
For love has charged his sister
With finishing the voyage for him.
NINON: It's really sweet, Marquis, to finish it with you. But Mr. Arouet seems to be dreaming.
MARQUIS: It's nothing, it's nothing. (low to Ninon) The Jesuits have sent back his son.
NINON: I know it.
MARQUIS: But, I'm taking care of it.
NINON: You?
DUJARRY: (to Arouet) If you have troubles, he could distract himself from them, and I have with me —
MARQUIS: This youth is inconceivable. Imagine, that he has two sons; one gives himself up to Jansenist controversies, and the other only dreams of poetry.
AROUET: Yes, madame.
(singing)
In their academic delirium
Scorning my wise lessons
One wants to write an epic poem
The other composes sermons.
MARQUIS: (singing)
Everyone's opposed to his plans
And both of them are at cross purposes;
Still one rants in prose
While the other rants in verse.
NINON: What will become of young Arouet?
MARQUIS: My page. His father has left his instruction to me, and as the king's sending me as an envoy to The Hague, I'm taking him with me.
NINON: La Fontaine was right: every marquis intends to have a page. (To Arouet) And you will consent to separate from him?
AROUET: After his flight from college, I ought no longer to receive him.
NINON: I hear some noise.
AROUET: It's his professor.
(Enter Father Poree.)
AROUET: Ah, sir! you are coming doubtless to inform me of my son's misdeeds, you are coming to accuse him.
POREE: No, I am coming to defend him.
AROUET: But it seems to me that his faults —
POREE: Belong to his mind: his heart is exempt from it. Eh!
who can judge better than I? This young man unites the frivolity of his
age with the maturity of reason; as flighty in his leisure as attentive
in his studies, he comments on the Satires of Horace, and allows
himself one against his masters. At the same time sensitive and
sarcastic, frivolous
and thoughtful, all sciences and all sports have attractions for
him; and to employ one of his expressions myself: “All art has its
homage and every pleasure enflames him.”
NINON: Every pleasure inflames him; I recognize myself in that.
POREE: Nothing can give you a more advantageous idea of our young student than his portfolio.
AROUET: What's it contain?
POREE: The first act of Oedipus.
(singing)
Formerly, deprived of his crown
Banished Oedipus, far from Thebes
Was guided by Antigone;
Voltaire guides him today.
And to still find his path
From the temple that a hero cherished
Doubtless, this illustrious blind man
Could not better be conducted.
DUJARRY: A tragedy at fourteen!
POREE: Also, it contains the plans of a comedy and notes on Mohammed.
MARQUIS: Notes on Mohammed! He will make an excellent soldier.
POREE: And finally, the first stanza of a poem on the League.
NINON: A poem on the League!
AROUET: What! truly, he dares to do it?
POREE: An epic poem, Nothing seems impossible to our scholar.
DUJARRY: An epic poem!
POREE: His audacity pleases me and his progress astonishes me; before him I watch myself, really watching my tongue, this child is too sensitive to praise; but everything leads me to believe that he will someday acquire great celebrity.
AROUET: Can indulgence blind you to this degree?
POREE: No, this is no ordinary young man.
NINON: Ah! sir, deliver yourself to the brilliant hopes that your son offers; don't choke his precocious talents, don't root up a flower which promises such beautiful fruits.
MARQUIS: Flowers; he plants them everywhere.
AROUET: So many other careers are open to him; why not a
useful one! Why not aspire to become an attorney!
(sings)
What fate can be finer!
Why does this bold young man
Sure to succeed at the bar,
Seek to please the muses?
They are little favored
And it's no folly
To flee the palace of Themis
For the antechamber of Thalia.
MARQUIS: My dear Arouet: it's better to win a battle than lose a case, and I will take care of his advancement.
NINON: Someone's coming.
POREE: It's him.
NINON: (singing)
What do I see? It's Voltaire!
Ah! be still my heart.
I want to mother
This lovable child.
AROUET: (singing)
After such blundering
Do you dare come to Ninon's?
VOLTAIRE: (singing)
You often see Folly
Admitted to the home of Reason.
TOGETHER
POREE: (singing)
Calm your wrath
Friendship defends him
And I want to return a father
To this lovable child.
MARQUIS: (singing)
I intend to serve as father
To this lovable child.
And make a charming page
Of young Voltaire.
AROUET: (singing)
Let him beware my wrath
They are defending him in vain.
I have to be the father
Of such a miscreant child!
VOLTAIRE: (to his father coaxingly) Unjustly banished by my professors, will I be banished again by my father?
AROUET: Unjustly!
DUJARRY: Unjustly!
VOLTAIRE: (gaily) First of all, they wanted me to be a
Jesuit, and then —
(singing)
A bad tragedy
That they made us put on
Ought, they said, to flatter me
As a work of genius.
This drama, that they found charming
Ought to soften and please me;
They wanted for me to make something of it
And truly, they sent me away
For having made them understand the contrary. (repeat)
DUJARRY: A bad tragedy! A tragedy in Latin verse! Porsenna! I played Horatius Cocles!
AROUET: Ah! what did you make?
VOLTAIRE: The tragedy of Oedipus. Oh! you will see, father.
NINON: Haven't you begun an epic poem?
VOLTAIRE: Yes, no question, Madame, so France will have one.
(singing)
Gabrielle's lover
Fixed all stares;
He never leaves his beauty
Except to go fight on the field of Mars.
In retracing his life,
Frank troubadour
I will depict his genius
And his amour.
AROUET: To sing about Henry The Fourth! what boldness!
NINON: Say rather what noble enthusiasm!
VOLTAIRE: But who told you all this?
POREE: I did.
VOLTAIRE: (with feeling) Ah! I recognize you well in that, my friend; always indulgent to my essays, you enlightened me with your lessons, and guided me with your advice; but if ever Voltaire obtains some success, he will not forget that he owes you a share in it.
NINON: The adorable child!
MARQUIS: The pretty page!
VOLTAIRE: (explosively) Ah, Madame! and, father! By the way, you don't know.
AROUET: What new folly?
VOLTAIRE: I've submitted for the prize of the Academy.
MARQUIS: He doubts nothing.
DUJARRY: The whole world is meddling in it.
VOLTAIRE: Listen —(declaiming)
Happy the king whose crown
Doesn't outshine his splendor;
Who, loyal to what God gave him
Dares to be humble in his grandeur;
Who, giving other kings an example
Raises temples to the Lord;
Gives refuge to the unfortunate,
Whose clairvoyant justice
Demolishes and confounds the roguery
Of shadowy hypocrisy.
POREE: Great, my friend!
NINON: When one makes such poetry at fourteen, what won't he do at forty!
DUJARRY: That's nice, very nice, but I am going to recite for you —
NINON: (to Arouet) Ah, Sir! what a son you have there!
MARQUIS: (singing)
Suspect his success,
It might only be ephemeral;
For to weigh great interests
His scales are very light.
Until one's learned to obey
Can one pretend to command?
Instead of regenerating kings (repeat)
Let him busy himself defending them.
VOLTAIRE: (to Poree) I prefer to sing about them.
DUJARRY: If he had my ways —
MARQUIS: I am leaving you madame.
POREE: (to Voltaire) I am going to the Academy
MARQUIS: And rush to get everything ready for our departure.
NINON: (aside) And as for me, to prevent it. But perhaps he wants to travel; I need to clarify that. (aloud) Mr. Arouet, would you step into my office, you will find the necessary notes there.
AROUET: Yes, Madame.
NINON: (singing)
This boudoir was for a long while
The sole depositary of my secrets.
And when I wrote some letters
I took love for my secretary.
If sometimes, capriciously
I terminated more than one affair there
Now all that takes place there
Are the acts of a notary.
(Exit all but Ninon and Voltaire.)
VOLTAIRE: Ah, Madame! what kindness! and how to express my
gratitude?
(singing)
Against the error of youth
You do not arm your reason.
To admire you is my role
Voltaire is at the feet of Ninon.
(Voltaire kneels.)
NINON: (raising him)
What a difference between us!
A secret voice tells me
That his is a century that's beginning
Before a century that's ending.
VOLTAIRE: One doesn't always replace those that one succeeds.
NINON: (aside) Let's find out if he wants to remain in Paris.
VOLTAIRE: (with feeling) Here I am at Ninon's, this much celebrated woman. What memories are offering themselves to my mind!
NINON: (gaily) Alas! I am also reduced to memories of it
VOLTAIRE: (gaily) Ah! beautiful library! beautiful books! Boileau, La Fontaine!
NINON: All these books were given to me by their authors.
VOLTAIRE: A Moliere!
NINON: It was here, in my presence, that with Boileau he
composed
the burlesque reception of the Imaginary Invalid.
VOLTAIRE: And Corneille! (standing on the table)
NINON: Clumsy, what are you doing?
VOLTAIRE: All that I can to reach Corneille.
NINON: Give yourself time.
VOLTAIRE: How many illustrious authors! O my masters! when will I be able to walk in your paths?
NINON: (singing)
Ah! if our century has seen the birth
Of these dazzling phenoms
How much one should cherish the master
Who knew how to protect their talents!
This hero of the century we live in
Will be cited as a model;
Supported by these great men
He offers himself to posterity.
VOLTAIRE: What do I see! Plato! Epicurus! It's the first time they've been so near each other.
NINON: (singing)
Plato enthralls me despite myself
He's virtuous but wild.
Epicurus cherished the law;
If he is more tender, he is less wise.
As for me, on the field of reason
Love directs culture.
By the side of Plato's banquet
Nature makes Epicurus's flowers sprout.
VOLTAIRE: You ought to be satisfied to be the gardener.
NINON: Let's talk reasonably, child. They wanted to make a Jesuit of you, and now they want to make a page of you.
VOLTAIRE: Yes, Madame; I was fleeing monk's robe, they want to put a military uniform on my back.
NINON: And you want?
VOLTAIRE: Neither the one nor the other.
NINON: The trip to Holland has no attractions for you.?
VOLTAIRE: I'd prefer to make a trip to the Bastille.
(singing)
If you become famous through war
You can also become famous through art.
And the god that Pindar worshipped
Promised as many laurels as Mars.
No question glory awakens me
But I am more determined
To serve under the Grand Corneille
Than under the Grand Conde.
NINON: What do you hope to achieve?
VOLTAIRE: I intend to obtain by my pen the honor others
obtained by their sword.
(singing)
Burning desire, torture of the soul
What divine fire is coming to set me alight!
In the noble passion that inflames me
I feel myself ready to dare everything.
I observe the asylum of the Muses
Where the profane dare not enter;
But the more difficult the access
The more lovely it is to penetrate it.
NINON: No one can have such desires without having the touch of genius.
VOLTAIRE: (looking at the library) Those there have penetrated, and your advice —
NINON: Say my attachment: I owe them my happiest days.
(singing)
Dragging love pitilessly
In the course of a long voyage —
To that god I was capricious
But faithful to friendship
When Lachatre, Labruyere
Gourville and Lasabliere,
Villeceaux, Conde, and Moliere,
Left for other places,
Friendship which concerns me
Came to warn me that I dallied
And to rejoin my friends.
VOLTAIRE: Fine! Madame; ought you to think of all that?
(singing)
I notice on your path
Spring roses;
And the Graces, for you
Have made time slumber.
NINON:
Employing a contrary method
To hatch talent
Apollo made Voltaire
Advanced for his years.
TOGETHER:
VOLTAIRE:
I notice on your path
Spring roses;
And the Graces for you
Have made time slumber.
NINON:
I thinks observing your path
Talents attach themselves
And the troupe of Graces
Urge on time's chariot.
NINON: Every word of this child confirms me in the high opinion I have of him. Let's go find his father and if I can prevent his departure, I will take to the grave the idea that I have preserved a great man for France.
(Exit Ninon.)
VOLTAIRE: (alone) What a nice plan! to want to make a soldier of me! I, who have a tragedy and an epic poem in my head; to send a muse to camp! Truthfully, I don't know what my father's thinking of. Yet if I could find a way to prove to him that a poet can be useful —
(Enter Suzette.)
SUZETTE: There he is alone. If I dared —Oh, yes, I must dare, he seems so sweet!
VOLTAIRE: A young girl! What are you looking for, miss?
SUZETTE: A young soldier, the page of the Marquis de Chateauneuf.
VOLTAIRE: Ah, they've already given me that occupation.
SUZETTE: It's you, sir? Pardon if I've interrupted you, but it's to beg you to do me a service.
VOLTAIRE: A service! everyone will ask one of you.
SUZETTE: My father wants to marry me to a certain Mr.
Dujarry; because he promised to get him his pension as a soldier.
(singing)
To take a husband that one doesn't love
Such a marriage offers no charms
And over the fate that awaits me, alas!
I'm secretly shedding tears.
VOLTAIRE:
Each would like to see them, cease
And eyes like yours
That have been made to weep
Can avenge themselves on many another.
SUZETTE: If you were kind enough, you who they say are so witty, to write a little request from me to The Dauphin.
VOLTAIRE: Well!
SUZETTE: Perhaps, I could by this means outreach Mr. Dujarry, and obtain the pension.
VOLTAIRE: Right! Now there's the opportunity I was looking for. (aside)
SUZETTE: (aside) He pondering.
VOLTAIRE: Yes, my child, I promise you —But this Mr. Dujarry displeases you greatly.
SUZETTE: I would be really vexed to marry a poet —I don't say that for you.
VOLTAIRE: Oh! that doesn't vex me.
SUZETTE: I don't like authors—at least if they don't resemble you. This Mr. Dujarry would force me to listen to his verse; he would like me to make some. But, I would never hear of it, except maybe with Firmin.
VOLTAIRE: (sings)
Firmin is not an author?
SUZETTE:
He deserves my tenderness
All his talent is in his heart;
His heart belongs completely to his mistress;
To love forever, that's his motto
Which is a happy omen for me
He's not smarter than I am
And I thank nature for that.
VOLTAIRE: She's very naive. But time presses; let's set to work. (to Suzette) This is to The Dauphin?
SUZETTE: Yes, for Milord.
VOLTAIRE: (sitting at the table) We've got to praise him for
praise is the way to the heart. But how to celebrate him properly?
(singing)
The favorable kindness of gods
Formerly took care to beget
After an admirable hero
A poet to sing his praises
This century, fertile in miracles,
Is not yet ruined for us
Since we are finding an Achilles
That Homer will give us.
(speaking) The motif encourages me, let's write.
(singing)
To serve beauty, innocence,
To disarm a wrathful person
Arts show the power.
For me this hope is really attractive.
SUZETTE: (aside)
Look how he scribbles!
The author is not very jealous of women
Always running after a rhyme
And not running after us.
VOLTAIRE: To serve beauty, etc.
SUZETTE:
If I could, with his power
Disarm a wrathful father
Firmin would have preference
Ah, how sweet my fate would be.
VOLTAIRE:
When today from old age
Childhood reclaims its rights
The great prince to whom I'm writing
Could he hear my voice?
(giving her the note, speaking) Here, miss.
SUZETTE: (after having perused the letter) Ah! sir! how
obliged I am —
(refrain)
To serve beauty, etc.
(Suzette leaves.)
DUJARRY: Suzette and the young Voltaire. (aside) Let's not forget that I am the envoy of the Marquis de Chateauneuf.
VOLTAIRE: (aside) It's Dujarry, my former quartermaster; let's take my revenge.
DUJARRY: Ah! there you are, my little friend; they talk a lot about you here: they say you are a poet.
VOLTAIRE: They say that you think you are.
DUJARRY: Do you dare to compare yourself to me? Have you forgotten that I've been crowned twice by the Academy?
VOLTAIRE: You've had that misfortune, I know it.
DUJARRY: Mr. de la Mothe distinguishes me.
VOLTAIRE: He's a man who sees afar.
DUJARRY: He esteems my poems.
VOLTAIRE: I believe it, he only loves prose.
DUJARRY: Sir, Mr. de la Mothe is the author of the most recent translation of Homer, and if it is not found to be good, it's not his fault.
VOLTAIRE: Oh! no question it's the fault of the original.
DUJARRY: Besides, he's just replied to his critics.
Wishing, by his complete works
To solidify his reputation,
He has, with his secret letters,
Published a first edition.
VOLTAIRE: They are indeed his secret letters.
So secret that, for the reader,
They have only their printer's stamp
And that of the gentleman who made them.
DUJARRY: (aside) This young man is good at repartee; but let's
fulfill my mission. (aloud) My friend, if you listen to me you will
renounce letters, the flowers that grow on Parnassus are surrounded by
thorns.
VOLTAIRE: It reassures me that you have passed through 'em.
DUJARRY: Sir, are you trying to ridicule me?
VOLTAIRE: Me, sir! I leave that to you.
DUJARRY: That tone surprises me —but —she's only a child. My good friend, the two of us ought to take a different path.
VOLTAIRE: I really hope so.
DUJARRY: The career of letters belongs to me, that of arms is open to you; The Muses call me; Mars reclaims you.
VOLTAIRE: And we are not answering, either one of us.
DUJARRY: By Jove! you can prove the contrary, I want to recite my latest effort to you.
VOLTAIRE: Sir, sir, I've left school. They can no longer put me in penitence.
DUJARRY: Once you hear it —Listen up. (reads) From icy poles to tropic poles —
VOLTAIRE: (laughing) From tropic pole to tropic pole —
DUJARRY: Ah my god! what a mistake! he's right; but after all it's only an error of geography; that's the concern of the Academy of Sciences, and I am competing only for the Academy Francaise.
VOLTAIRE: I bet they don't have burning poles there either.
DUJARRY: He even outrages the Academy.
(singing)
This satirical kid
Has his talents boasted everywhere
And his caustic humor
Is loved for its sarcasm.
This fault
In a word
Makes Ninon proclaim
His fame
If ever he becomes a great man.
VOLTAIRE: (aside) I wish one was as certain as the other.
(Arouet enters.)
DUJARRY: Come, sir, come, your son is laughing at my advice. Truly, one would say he has more wit than I do; perhaps you will be more successful. (aside) Let's go obtain Ninon's consent to my marriage. (to Voltaire) Goodbye, sir, I won't forget your epigrams. (he leaves.)
AROUET: Epigrams! My son, abjure that genre!
VOLTAIRE: I abjure it with you.
AROUET: Be careful to do so, the most clever wit is also the most dangerous. But let's speak of more important matters. Miss Ninon take a very great interest in you.
VOLTAIRE: I am rushing to thank her for it.
AROUET: Stay put. Think my son, how many fine wits, wanted to become another Corneille, and have only been a Pradon. It could happen to you, too. And besides, who told you, sir, that you were a poet? At fourteen does one —
VOLTAIRE: It's true, I am young —
AROUET: It's impossible to talk sense to him.
VOLTAIRE: Hold on, father.
(sings)
Let's no longer walk with a timid step
Child of Mars and Apollo;
It's by taking rapid flight
That you get to make your name.
Full of hope and audacity
Let's rush without hesitating.
Time is lost measuring the space
That would have sufficed to cross it.
AROUET: (aside) He astonishes me despite myself.
(Ninon and Dujarry enter.)
NINON: My young friend, I have got your father to delay your departure.
VOLTAIRE: Ah, madame, then I will see more of you.
DUJARRY: (aside) I wish he was already far away.
NINON: Reassure yourself, he will go far.
AROUET: I can refuse nothing to you, Madame, but as soon as the Academy has awarded the prize —
VOLTAIRE: May it never award it.
DUJARRY: One moment, I am not renouncing my rights —
NINON: Voltaire has his too.
DUJARRY: Him, who mocks Mr. de Lamothe, who teases the director of the Academy?
NINON: That won't prevent him from being part of it one day.
(singing)
When an Agnes becomes a victim
Of a very hardened seducer,
The Law, to repair his crime
Forces him to be her husband.
Same with the Academy;
Some are pleased to gloss on it
But the one who slanders it
Often finds he's married to it.
DUJARRY: Madame, none can make good verse when they are mocking the Academy.
NINON: No, but you can mock the Academy when you make good verse.
AROUET: I notice the Marquis de Chateauneuf is coming.
(Enter the Marquis.)
DUJARRY: No question he's coming to take me to the Louvre.
MARQUIS: I'm leaving momentarily.
NINON: Well! What news?
MARQUIS: The arrival of the Dauphin forced the Academy to hold its meeting early.
DUJARRY: I wasn't there!
MARQUIS: And they announced the winner.
ALL: Who?
MARQUIS: Mr. Dujarry.
ALL (except Dujarry) Dujarry!
MARQUIS: I left the session to come inform you.
DUJARRY: (in a conceited way) Number three.
NINON: (to Dujarry) You don't appear very sensible of this honor.
DUJARRY: I'm accustomed to glory; this was the third crown Mr. de Lamothe gave me, and I accept it.
VOLTAIRE: As used to such gifts.
DUJARRY: Mr. de Lamothe owes it to me; I praised him everywhere.
VOLTAIRE: And you are being rewarded for it.
AROUET: The result, Madame, has deceived your expectation.
POREE: (entering) Hug me, my dear Voltaire; they refused you the prize but you have obtained the first honorable mention.
ALL: The first honorable mention.
AROUET: My son!
VOLTAIRE: A mention; I have a mention! It's really a shame that he got the prize.
POREE: Reassure yourself, after the reading of the two works,
the applause unanimously avenged you.
(singing)
If you had only half
Such a fine success
It's because they awarded from friendship
Because they refused merit.
But if by mistake, Dujarry
With a talent far beneath yours
Obtains the prize and the favor
The public has given you its.
DUJARRY: What are you saying? What! the reading of my work?
POREE: Your burning poles froze the auditors.
MARQUIS (aside) This could mess up my plans; let's hasten our departure. (aloud) Come my friend, my carriage is ready, let's leave, in a week at The Hague, we will be travelling on the canals of Holland: that's less dangerous than riding Pegasus.
POREE: Eh, what! Madame! —
VOLTAIRE: Father!
NINON: (to Arouet) Sir!
DUJARRY: (aside) Great! he's leaving —
VOLTAIRE: Ah! Madame! must I leave you?
NINON:
Don't worry, my dear Voltaire
Wherever your path leads
This glory that is so dear to you
Won't abandon you.
In exile and in retreat
Talent is productive everywhere
And glory is a flirt
Who attaches herself to whoever flees her.
POREE: (to Arouet) Can nothing soften you, sir? you want to deprive your country and your century of one of its luminaries.
AROUET: Eh, Sir! what good can there be in being a poet?
(Enter Gervais, Suzette, and Firmin.)
GERVAIS: Ah, Gentlemen, Madame, ah! admiration —joy, Daughter let's fall at his knees.
DUJARRY: What are you doing, Gervais?
AROUET: Old age is at childhood's knees!
GERVAIS: Gratitude at the feet of its benefactor.
NINON: What do I hear?
MARQUIS: Explain yourself.
GERVAIS: The Dauphin was leaving the Academy, his guards were
surrounding him; the name of Voltaire that had just been proclaimed was
useful to me as a passport to get to him; as soon as I delivered to him
the petition that this young man had composed for me, and recited to
him the verses that my heart retained:
Worthy son of the greatest king,
His love and our hope
You who, without reigning over France
Reign in the heart of the French
Suffer that my old vein
By an ambitious effort
Dare to give you a gift
You who receive them only from the hands of the gods
They say that at your birth
Mars gave you valor
Minerva wisdom, Apollo beauty
But a god more powerful than I implore in my troubles
Also wants to give me a gift
By giving you liberality.
ALL: (singing)
Ah! these verses are charming
And offer a faithful image
Of our feelings.
These are really the features of a hero
They paint everything with success
When one admires the model.
GERVAIS: Milord, ordered that I be taken forthwith to the bureau of pensions, and they counted me out twenty crowns in advance.
AROUET: Come, my son, I applaud myself for having given you life.
VOLTAIRE: (kissing his father) You see plainly that verses are good for something.
DUJARRY: (aside) This is going badly for me.
NINON: (to Arouet) Sir, don't resist such evident proofs any longer. Let him follow the impulse of his genius; already the Muses await him. From the height of Parnassus they are extending palms and crowns to him; this is literature, this is all France demanding him from you in my voice.
MARQUIS: My dear Arouet, I release you from your word and return your son to you; he appears to me more fit to march in the steps of Sophocles than Alexander.
NINON: Mr. Notary, you've redrawn my will; you will add testamentary clauses, that I bequeath to Voltaire the books which compose my library, and moreover two hundred francs to add to it.
AROUET: Ah, Madame! how kind! (to his son) So be a poet, I consent to it.
GERVAIS: (to Voltaire) Sir, you have assured the dowry of my daughter; but it remains to you to choose her spouse.
DUJARRY: (to Suzette) Miss, I dare hope that perfumed by the incense of Pindar —(to Voltaire) Protect your comrade.
SUZETTE: (to Voltaire) Sir, I beg you, don't let it be the verse maker.
VOLTAIRE: Leave it to me; I know who's preferred. Children, I unite you.
SUZETTE AND FIRMIN: Father —
GERVAIS: I ratify his choice.
DUJARRY: What, Mr. Gervais, you who promised me —
GERVAIS: There's nothing I cam refuse to Mr. de Voltaire.
MARQUIS: My dear Voltaire, here you are disengaged from me. but don't forget that you are contracting the obligation to Ninon of becoming a great man.
VOLTAIRE: I will try to acquit my debt.
NINON: I'm not worried. He won't die insolvent.
POREE: (singing) (to Voltaire)
You are going to strike all onlookers
But to spread your light
In the career of the fine arts
Let taste guide you and enlighten you.
Glory is opening its way to you
And your talent which has just hatched
Will shine until your decline
If I am to judge by your dawning.
MARQUIS:
In the last century I saw
The star of Turenne eclipsed.
In our days a young warrior
Is replacing this great captain
Everything is foreseen by destiny.
And when in secret I deplore
The decline of the past century
I admire the dawn of ours.
SUZETTE:
They say that by more than one success
Voltaire will obtain the vote
He must place his good deeds
At the head of his works.
He has fixed our fate;
And our marriage which honors him
Will be remembered in his decline
As the good deed that began his dawn.
AROUET:
One can still, on the return
Fix very flighty pleasures.
Happiness is like love
It belongs to all ages.
Night, for us, is better than day.
When a cherished son honors us
And reheats our declining years
With the brilliant fire of his dawn.
VOLTAIRE:
Ninon, by a lucky agreement
With a clever look, a sweet smile
Unites a thousand precious gifts
To fix us under her sway.
Possessing the divine secret
Of enchaining all hearts still;
In her decline, she surpasses
More than one beauty in her dawn.
DUJARRY:
I hoped that in the sacred vale
Phoebus would name me his brother,
The learned sisters would nourish them
Venus, his first secretary
The mistake only lasts for one morning.
And my glory, alas, is evaporating.
Why must my decline
Be so near my dawning?
NINON: (to the public)
Only to friends of song
Does our author aspire to please.
Near the great age of Ninon
Place the youth of Voltaire.
Applaud his plan
And sometimes come again
Near a beauty in her decline
See a great man at his dawning.
CURTAIN