MASC. Ladies, allow me to introduce this gentleman to you. Upon my word, he deserves the honour of your acquaintance.
JOD. It is but just we should come and pay you what we owe; your charms demand their lordly rights from all sorts of people.
MAD. You carry your civilities to the utmost confines of flattery.
CAT. This day ought to be marked in our diary as a red-letter day.
MAD. (To Almanser). Come, boy, must you always be told things over and over again? Do you not observe there must be an additional chair?
MASC. You must not be astonished to see the Viscount thus; he has but just recovered from an illness, which, as you perceive, has made him so pale.
[Footnote: Molière here alludes to the complexion of the actor
Geoffrin.]
JOD. The consequence of continual attendance at court and the fatigues of war.
MASC. Do you know, ladies, that in the Viscount you behold one of the heroes of the age. He is a very valiant man.
[Footnote: In the original un brave à trois poils, literally, "a brave man with three hairs." This is an allusion to the moustache and pointed beard on the chin, then called royale. We have seen the fashion revived in our days by the late emperor of the French, Napoleon III. and his courtiers; of course, the royale was then called impériale.]