Licence: In copyright
Credit: Moliere and the physician / by Max Kahn. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![distasteful. The attraction of the streets, where gay things [344j were to be seen, was more to him than the disgusting monotony of the upholsterer’s shop, where success depended upon order- liness, punctuality and lacquey-like fawning upon noble cus- tomers. Moliere was never punctual nor strictly orderly, and certainly he never could toady, and lacking tliese qualities there was naught in his ancestor’s business to please him. The smell of glue in his father’s shop could not satisfy the poet who loved the odors of sweet smelling flowers and the beauty of the flelds and the sunshine and the forests. The streets of Paris, though very narrow and very dirty in those days, were quite gay. Swashbuckling musketeers haughtily strutted about and were very happy in provoking duels. They fought for insults to the king or their regiment, or to prove the superiority of certain sweethearts, or for the honor of chastising peasants. It is said that the redoubtable [345] Cyrano de Bergerac, whom Eostand has made the hero of his best drama, fought a dozen times and killed ten adversaries in order to defend the honor of his own elephantine proboscis. Grisettes, wenches and quacks traversed all the thoroughfares, and accosted all passers-by who seemed capable of spending some sous. In certain main streets, it was especially inter- esting. ^In the rue de Pont Neuf, the comedians of the day used to perform for the benefit of the public. Here young Jean Baptiste was Bellerose and Mondory and Gros Guillaume, all famous artists of that time, who set the audiences roaring at their coarse jests and phantastic contortions. Here, also, he saw Guillot Gorju, the actor quack, who ridiculed les medecins, and whose sharp witticisms Moliere incorporated later into his dramas. At the age of fourteen Moliere was sent to the Jesuit College at Clermont near Paris, where he associated with sons of the nobility. Here he undoubtedly saw Prince Armand de Conti who later became his patron. There is no evidence, however, that this prince ever so much as talked to the low born Poquelin. Little else is known of Moliere’s student life. He studied for some time under Gassendi. He especially admired Lucretius and Terence among the ancients and Eabelais among the moderns. He left the above named institution, after a course of study of several years, for the law school at Orleans,](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2804051x_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
