Second Hyde Lecture Yesterday

Professor Abel Lefranc, Hyde lecturer for the current year, delivered the second lecture of the series of four on "Moliere" in the New Lecture Hall yesterday afternoon. The special subject of the lecture was "The Relations of 'Le Tartuffe' to the Controversy over Renaissance Paganism."

Professor Lefranc traced the growth of the Renaissance revival of paganism, as opposed to the Christianity of the Middle Ages. The works of D'Urfee, de Scudery, Descartes and others who preceded Moliere are thoroughly pagan in spirit. The great bishop Fenelon wrote from a point of view almost diametrically opposed to that of the mediaeval ascetic Christianity.

The history of the drama in France showed this leaning toward paganism to such a marked degree that by 1630 the clergy was unequivocally opposed to it. With the production of Moliere's "L'Ecole des Femmes" in 1662, the long-maturing conflict between the clergy and the new literature broke forth. Louis XIV was compelled to banish this comedy for a time from the stage.

The bitter opposition of generations of clergy, culminating in this explosion, forced Moliere into open conflict with the church. Professor Lefranc advanced the interesting theory that Moliere wrote "Le Tartuffe," not as an attack against religious hypocrites as a group,. but against religion in general. It was a defence of the legitimate existence of the drama, in the form of an attack on all those who wished to see the realization of the ideals of ascetic Christianity. "Le Tartuffe" is a turning point in the history of this revived paganism that culminated in Voltaire.

The third lecture in the series will be given next Friday afternoon at 4 o'clock in the New Lecture Hall. It will treat of Moliere and the social conditions of the times.