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TITLE: LE VOYAGE DE MONSIEUR PERRICHON
AUTHOR: EUGENE LABICHE
EBOOK: E05990 (O'Briens Book Cellar)
LANGUAGE: FRENCH

LE VOYAGE DE MONSIEUR PERRICHON

_COMEDIE EN QUATRE ACTES_

PAR EUGENE LABICHE

_De L'Academie Francaise_

ET EDOUARD MARTIN

TO MY 1905 "EXTRA-FRENCH" CLASS

IN THE WILLIAM PENN CHARTER SCHOOL

INTRODUCTION

Because _Le Voyage de M. Perrichon_ is a delightful comedy and
particularly suitable for use in the class room, it does not follow
that the place of its author in the literature of France should be
unduly magnified.

Eugene Labiche's chief claim to fame is that, as a distinguished
critic said of him, "for forty years he kept his contemporaries in
laughter." From 1838, when he wrote his first play, till 1876, when
he voluntarily retired, he produced, generally in collaboration with
writers known mainly through their association with him, over one
hundred and fifty comedies, in each of which is heard the same
dominant note of fun and merriment. But of these plays only a very
small number possess the qualities that alone make for durability;
neither their form--in most cases photographically true to
the looseness of the most familiar conversation--nor their
substance--often grotesquely impossible adventures, situations
supremely laughable because colossally absurd--is calculated to embalm
his plays against the ravages of time. He thought so himself, and
declined for a long time to have them collected into a complete
edition; and when, in 1880, he was proposed for a vacant seat in the
_Academie Francaise_, he doubted whether he would have voted for his
own admission into that illustrious company.

Thus Labiche must stand simply as the most prolific and genial of the
fun-makers for France during almost half a century. This praise would
have satisfied the modest man that he was. Born in Paris in 1815, he
had been destined to the bar; but, preferring literature, early betook
himself to the newspaper and the drama. Here he "found himself," and
from the age of twenty-three until he was over sixty filled the comic
stage with his light and laughable productions. After his retirement
in 1876 the distinctions that were bestowed upon him with no grudging
hand brought him as much surprise as pleasure. His published _Theatre
Complet_ was received by the public with altogether unexpected
enthusiasm; he was elected to the Academy, and his speech on his
reception into that body made a marked sensation. He died in 1888
at his country-place in Sologne, full of years and of wonder at the
gratitude of his contemporaries for the amusement he had so long
afforded them.

Had more of his comedies possessed the qualities of _Le Voyage de M.
Perrichon_, this high esteem would not have been restricted to his
contemporaries. For, underlying the humorous dialogue, there is in
this work a shrewd observation, an analysis of character, that lift it
far above mere farce. Its insight into the ungrateful heart of man,--a
cheerful and reformative, not a gloomy or hopeless, insight,--its
lifelike delineation of the _parvenu_, the self-made man who worships
his maker, and who, because he has been successful in business, thinks
all things are his, culture included: these raise _Le Voyage de M.
Perrichon_ to the plane of true comedy.

Like all Labiche's plays, this one deals with the middle-class, the
_bourgeois_ element in French life, where natural foibles are not
varnished over with the gloss of education and conventionality, but
appear in all their nakedness. M. Perrichon's self-complacency never
once suspects itself; Majorin is mean "all over"; there is no external
hindrance to the exhibition of the weakness within. The feminine
characters, as is invariably the case in his _repertoire_, are but
lightly sketched in. He claimed that "woman is no joke," and got all
his fun out of men. Only in the first Act are the peculiarities of
Madame Perrichon at all brought out: the lack of refinement of her
speech, her crustiness when her personal habits are interfered with,
etc.; while Henriette is the typical passive young girl of French
comedy, if not of French life, with no mind of her own, and a perfect
readiness to accept any husband at her father's hand. But every one of
the men is carefully and consistently drawn, from the fussy, pompous
Perrichon to the well-meaning Jean. The susceptible Major offers the
humorous contrast of his exquisitely smooth speech and manners with
his uncompromising exaction of all that is due himself and his
"beloved compatriot," the French language. Armand and Daniel are both
of them gentlemen and good fellows, yet they are most significantly
distinguished: the former guileless, frank, simple, the latter artful
and ingenious; and such they remain consistently from the opening to
the closing scenes. The contest between them is an open, honorable
one, and the equities are satisfied when simple straightforwardness
wins out over worldly wisdom.

It may be noticed that nothing has here been said about Edouard
Martin, whose name appears on the title-page with that of Labiche. It
is generally agreed, and indeed obvious from internal evidence, that
whatever aid Labiche may have received in the suggestion of plot,
management of scenes, etc., from his many collaborators, the qualities
that made his plays so uniformly successful are properly his own.
Edouard Martin had produced a few light plays, now absolutely unknown,
before his association with Labiche. With him he wrote not only _Le
Voyage de M. Perrichon_, but also _La Poudre aux Yeux_, _Les Vivacites
du capitaine Tic_, which have rescued his name from oblivion. He died
in 1864, at the age of thirty-six.

As a text for class-room reading, _Le Voyage de M. Perrichon_ can
hardly be surpassed, where familiarity is sought with the vivacity of
French conversation. The dialogue is throughout simply and frankly
natural. It is, as ever in France, profusely sprinkled with
expletives. These exclamations have a very definite force which
no careful student of the language can afford to overlook. For
convenience they have here been collected into a separate alphabetical
list, where they can be readily referred to and reviewed.

As this play is easy reading and may well be taken up early in the
study of French, the Notes are somewhat fuller than an advanced class
would require. They are at some pains to prevent the missing of
humorous points. They also endeavor to keep before the mind of the
student the fact that a correct understanding of the text is not
enough. He should strive to render the French into equivalent English
idiom, as racy and as real as the original. In fact, he should not be
satisfied until he has produced an "acting version."

The Exercises for Composition, based upon very nearly each scene of
the play, serve a twofold purpose. It too often happens that a word
or an idiom is forgotten as soon as understood; to translate these
Exercises the student must lift the French from the printed page and
make it his own. Secondly, the English of the Exercises often throws
additional light on the expressions that occur in the text, and
thereby serves to secure for them a fuller, wider understanding.

Lastly, the Questions for Conversation, similarly founded on definite
small portions of the comedy, will afford a measure of the real
mastery that the student has acquired of the lesson for each day.
Whether answered orally, or, as may very well be done, in writing,
they will help him to "mobilize" his vocabulary, accidence, and
syntax.

I.H.B. SPIERS.
PHILADELPHIA,
October, 1905.

PERSONNAGES

PERRICHON
LE COMMANDANT MATHIEU
MAJORIN
ARMAND DESROCHES
DANIEL SAVARY
JOSEPH, domestique du Commandant
JEAN, domestique de Perrichon
MADAME PERRICHON
HENRIETTE, sa fille
UN AUBERGISTE
UN GUIDE
UN EMPLOYE DU CHEMIN DE FER
UN FACTEUR
COMMISSIONNAIRES, VOYAGEURS, ETC.

ACTE PREMIER

Gare du chemin de fer de Lyon[1], a Paris.--Au fond, de face, barriere
ouvrant sur les salles d'attente[2]. Au fond, a droite, guichet pour
les billets. Au fond, a gauche, bancs. A droite, marchande[3] de
gateaux; a gauche, marchande de livres.

SCENE PREMIERE

MAJORIN, UN EMPLOYE DU CHEMIN DE FER, UN FACTEUR, VOYAGEURS,
COMMISSIONNAIRES[4]

Majorin, _se promenant avec impatience_.--Ce Perrichon n'arrive pas!
Voila une heure que je l'attends... C'est pourtant bien[5] aujourd'hui
qu'il doit partir pour la Suisse avec sa femme et sa fille... (_Avec
amertume_.) Des carrossiers[6] qui vont en Suisse! Des carrossiers qui
ont quarante mille livres de rentes! Des carrossiers qui ont voiture!
Quel siecle! Tandis que moi, je gagne deux mille quatre cents
francs... un employe laborieux, intelligent, toujours courbe sur son
bureau... Aujourd'hui, j'ai demande un conge... j'ai dit que j'etais
de garde[7]... Il faut absolument que je voie Perrichon avant son
depart... je veux le prier de m'avancer mon trimestre... six cents
francs! Il va prendre son air protecteur... faire l'important[8]!...
un carrossier! ca fait pitie[9]! Il n'arrive toujours[10] pas! on
dirait qu'il le fait expres! (_S'adressant a un facteur qui passe
suivi de voyageurs_.) Monsieur... a quelle heure part le train direct
pour Lyon?

LE FACTEUR, _brusquement_.--Demandez a l'employe[11], (_Il sort par la
gauche_[12].)

MAJORIN.--Merci... manant! (_S'adressant a l'employe qui est pres du
guichet_.) Monsieur, a quelle heure part le train direct pour Lyon?

L'EMPLOYE, _brusquement_.--Ca ne me regarde pas! voyez l'affiche. (_Il
designe une affiche a la cantonade, a gauche_.)

MAJORIN.--Merci... (_A part_.) Ils sont polis dans ces

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