DECLARES MOLIERE IS GREATEST FRENCH WRITER

That Moliere ranks as the greatest of all French writers, as does Shakspere of English and Goethe of German, was the contention of Professor C. H. C. Wright '91, yesterday afternoon in the fourth lecture of the series on five great authors. Further comparison, Professor Wright pointed out, was futile because each nation thinks its own greatest writer to be supreme over all others.

The knowledge of life that Moliere had, according to Professor Wright, helped him to achieve this position, in spite of the fact that Racine, a finer and more impressive poet, was his contemporary. From the time that he went on the stage because, as some will have it, of a very pretty young actress, to his death "in harness" on the stage of the Comedie Francaise, his life was a long struggle against the critics and dogma of his time. "The knowledge". Professor Wright said, "that his career gave him of the weaknesses and foibles of his day, is one of the most significant reasons for the affection in which the French people hold him."

It was not so, however, while he lived. His satire was too keen to be appreciated by these at whom it was aimed. Professor Wright told a story of a great noble who said to the king of France, who was wondering why Moliere's play "Le Tartuffe" should have been banned while a seemingly more sacrilegious play, "Scaramouche", was countenanced.

"'Scaramouche only ridicules Heaven, in which these prelates are not interested, while 'Le Tartuffe' satirises the prelates themselves."