Je perds le goût de la Satire ; Je vis éloigné de la France J'aime la Vertu sans rudesse, J'aime le Plaisir sans molesse, J'aime la Vie, et n'en crains pas la fin. NOT 66 VI LA MOTHE LE VAYER OT the least interesting article in Bayle's colossal Dictionary is that under the heading Vayer." It is true there is an intolerable deal of notes to a poor halfpennyworth of text, but anyone who knows Bayle knows that his notes are more important than his text. And how was it possible for the artful sceptic of the republic of Letters to overlook this patriarchal affinity? Bayle has written of La Mothe Le Vayer with more than usual interest, and though he gets diverted in his notes upon a long and characteristic paper-chase about "les obscénitez," he gives us an agreeable picture of the old sceptic. And after enumerating all the real and imaginary advantages enjoyed by La Mothe Le Vayer, his commentator expresses surprise that the old man said he would not wish to live his life over again, and reflects that he is "un grand exemple du peu de bonheur que l'on goûte dans cette vie." To which we might add that he is also a great example of the caprice and fragility of literary and philosophical fame. Sceptic though La Mothe Le Vayer was, and no unworthy predecessor of the immortal Jérôme Coignard, even his ataraxia might have been disturbed could he have foreseen how completely his reputation would dwindle to a bare mention in learned compilations, how utterly his works would be neglected by all save a few curious researchers. The last edition of La Mothe Le Vayer's "Euvres" was in 1759; and the reprint of the "Hexaméron Rustique " in 1875 by Lisieux was certainly due to "les obscénitez " contained in that otherwise worthy performance. Yet we have omitted a most slender and yet most durable link with fame; one of those accidents by which a man's name is preserved and nothing more, which was Cardan's idea of immortality. Thousands of people have read Le Vayer's name once in their lifetime, probably without attaching any individual to the print; and that is when they read Molière's famous sonnet Aux larmes, le Vayer, laisse tes yeux ouverts, Ton deuil est raisonnable, encor qu'il soit extrême; etc. In the pious labour of reviving the memory of the forgotten great we have not often so useful a peg as this connection with Molière; let us make the most of it. La Mothe Le Vayer not only has the honour of being addressed by Molière in a sonnet, he shares with Gassendi (in the conjectures which form so large a part of modern historical criticism) the honour of having “influenced," perhaps partly educated, that great dramatist. It is certain that Molière knew and respected the old philosopher; it is certain that when the dramatist died the "huissier sergent à verge au châtelet " found among his very small library "Deux tomes in-fo. du sieur de La Mothe Le Vayer." Unhappily there is no proof that Molière ever read them-and do we not all possess presentation volumes from learned friends which we carefully preserve, but never open? Busy actor-dramatists have little time to read large philosophical folios; whatever sceptical doctrines Molière professed were no doubt picked up in conversation, in the same way that Shakespeare learned everything that was worth knowing. There is one additional proof of Molière's connection with the Le Vayer household. M. Émile Magne has proved that the female to whom Molière read his comedies (a thousand-times-repeated anecdote) was not his housekeeper but Honorée de Bussy, a niece of the sceptic philosopher. And since Le Vayer's son, the abbé, was an intimate friend of Molière's, it is, perhaps, not straining conjecture overmuch to say that he owed a good deal to this household of cultivated people. François de La Mothe Le Vayer belonged to an old Breton family. An ancestor, who married a niece of the great Du Guesclin, settled in Maine in 1871. His father was Félix Le Vayer, Sieur de la Mothe (born 1547), avocat au Parlement de Paris, then magistrate, then substitut des avocats et procureurs généraux. François was the eldest of nine children; he was born in Paris on August 1, 1583; not 1588, as is still commonly given by English authorities. Nothing seems to be known of his childhood. M. Tisserand (his biographer) skips the whole period 1588-1605; but he might have noted that Bayle says Le Vayer was educated by his father. This might account not only for his rare scholarship but for some of his peculiarities. In his youth he is reported to have indulged in "la débauche"; he also suffered from "l'ambition de paraître " and "l'amour des richesses." The last two counts are his own admission; his Latin poems and certain parts of the "Hexaméron Rustique" might be cited in support of the former, were it not for the "Lasciva pagina, vita proba," with which Bayle makes such play. But these were momentary errors of youth; a "bon génie " led him into the company of the learned and revealed to him true philosophy. A "Socratic demon" ordered him to travel, and he appears to have indulged freely in that delightful occupation. He is known to have visited Spain, Italy, and England. He is very |