I have allowed her to see good company, to go to
amusements, balls, plays. These are things which, for my part I think
are calculated to form the minds of the young; the world is a school
which, in my opinion, teaches them better how to live than any book.
Does she like to spend money on clothes, linen, ribands--what then? I
endeavour to gratify her wishes; these are pleasures which, when we are
well-off, we may permit to the girls of our family. Her father's command
requires her to marry me; but it is not my intention to tyrannize over
her. I am quite aware that our years hardly suit, and I leave her
complete liberty of choice.
[Footnote: _The School for Husbands_ was played for the first time,
on the 24th of June, 1661, and Moli?re married Armande B?jart (see
Prefatory Memoir), on the 20th of February, 1662, when he was forty, and
she about twenty years old. It is therefore not unreasonable to suppose
that the words he places in the mouth of Ariste are an expression of his
own feelings.]
If a safe income of four thousand crowns a-year, great affection and
consideration for her, may, in her opinion, counterbalance in marriage
the inequality of our age, she may take me for her husband; if not she
may choose elsewhere. If she can be happier without me, I do not object;
I prefer to see her with another husband rather than that her hand
should be given to me against her will.
SGAN. Oh, how sweet he is! All sugar and honey!
AR.
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