the jeunes amoureuses, was the source of considerable annoyance to Marivaux. She would often catch the spirit of these subtle and metaphysical rôles in the first performances, but, encouraged by applause, and to improve, if possible, upon her manner, would so force the action as to become affected in the later representations.[71] At the Théâtre-Italien, however, Marivaux found an actress just suited to these rôles, Giovanna-Rosa Benozzi, the famous Silvia.

It was as a result of the presentation of the first Surprise de l'Amour that Marivaux made the acquaintance of the renowned actress.[72] With that characteristic timidity, which we have already noted, Marivaux had withheld from the public his name as author. Although Silvia had played her part well, she felt that there was still lacking a shade of meaning, which, if she only knew the author, she might grasp. Yielding to the solicitation of a friend of hers, Marivaux consented to pay her his respects, but on condition that he might keep his incognito. Upon being presented to the artist, he congratulated her upon her charming rendition of the play. Silvia was pleased with his appreciation, but, foreseeing possibilities in the piece as yet unattained by her, she said: "It is a charming comedy; but I have a grudge against the author… for not disclosing himself. We would play it a hundred times better, if he had merely deigned to read it to us."

Marivaux took the rôle, and, choosing a few passages, read into them all of their hidden meaning, with the fluent ease and clearness which had gained for him the reputation of a fascinating reader. Silvia listened with ever increasing surprise, and at last exclaimed: "Ah, sir, you are the author of the piece, or else the devil." He assured her with a smile that he was not the latter, and their friendship had begun, a friendship which had in it something akin to that of Racine and la Champmeslé, for, from this time on, Marivaux wrote most of his plays with Silvia in mind; but here the comparison must end, for no closer relation has ever been suggested by any of Marivaux's contemporaries, and it is not likely that so tempting a bit of scandal would ever have been allowed to pass unnoticed by the eighteenth century, "si friand d'indiscrétions de ce genre."[73]

As can be seen by a Compliment in prose and verse, addressed to Mlle. Silvia the same year that the first Surprise de l'Amour appeared. Marivaux joined also in the well-nigh universal chorus of praise which rose on all sides in celebration of the graceful actress. If the author contributed much to the perfection of her talent, she, too, lent no small part to the popularity which many of Marivaux's plays attained.

In the year of the presentation of the first Surprise de l'Amour, and the more speedily and surely to relieve his financial embarrassment, Marivaux turned his mind to journalism, and began the publication of what he termed le Spectateur français, modelled after Addison's Spectator. He adopted a literary fiction to introduce his observations and moral reflections similar to that which gave life to Sir Roger de Coverly, but the whole was carried out with less simplicity, logical development, and power in the creation of types, though, perhaps, with greater subtlety. Strange to say, the Spectateur has never been as much appreciated in France as in England, where Marivaux has been compared not unfavorably with La Bruyère.[74]

Germany was a scarcely less enthusiastic admirer, and even so severe a critic of French literature, as was Lessing, could find words of commendation for Marivaux; but the latter was less prodigal in his admiration of the works of foreign literatures. "and preferred unhesitatingly our writers to those of any nation, ancient or modern," says d'Alembert.[75]

The journal is composed of a series of feuilles or leaflets, more or less closely connected, familiar and conversational in character. Most of the sketches are characterized by that intuitive and feminine delicacy of perception and that subtlety sometimes lacking in Addison, and, while perhaps too often they appear over quintessenced or subtilized, at times they attain an eloquent and virile tone. Aside from their literary value, they are of great interest in the study of the author's character.

The humanity of the man and his sensitiveness to the wrongs of others are manifest in the description of a young girl forced to beg for a mother, sick and in want, or to accept dishonor with the assistance of a rich man, whose aid is offered at so dear a price. The concluding words of this sketch contain a confession of his own weakness, but with an eloquent and vigorous attack upon those who basely sacrifice the happiness of others for the gratification of their own pleasures. "Homme riche, vous qui voulez triompher de sa vertu par sa misère, de grâce, prêtez-moi votre attention. Ce n'est point une exhortation pieuse, ce ne sont point des sentiments dévots que vous allez entendre; non, je vais seulement tâcher de vous tenir les discours d'un galant homme, sujet à ses sens aussi bien que vous; faible, et, si vous voulez, vicieux; mais chez qui les vices et les faiblesses ne sont point féroces, et ne subsistent qu'avec l'aveu d'une humanité généreuse. Oui, vicieux encore une fois, mais en honnête homme, dont le coeur est heureusement forcé, quand il le faut, de ménager les intérêts d'autrui dans les siens, et ne peut vouloir d'un plaisir qui ferait la douleur d'un autre."[76]

Perhaps in no other writing has he attained the eloquence, sustained throughout the description, that characterizes the letter[77] from a father self-impoverished for his son's advancement and then abandoned by that same son.

One is not accustomed to think of Marivaux as a moralist, yet this frilled and powdered representative of the beau monde, this courtly gentleman, this graceful writer, was one of the powers for good of his time. Throughout his plays and novels, and particularly in his journals, may be seen this nobler side of the man's nature. He was a practical moralist, with little love for abstract theories, and a morality far from asceticism, but, with profound unselfishness and pity for his fellow-man, he strove to right the wrongs and correct the abuses of a cruelly indifferent and light-hearted society. He once said of himself: "Je serais peu flatté d'entendre dire que je suis un bel esprit; mais si on m'apprenait que mes écrits eussent corrigé quelques vices, ou seulement quelque vicieux, je serais vraiment sensible à cet éloge."[78] However, he was tolerant, as one who knows the weaknesses that flesh is heir to, and, whether his attack was aimed at the petty foibles or graver weaknesses of the individual, coquetry, ambition, avarice, hypocrisy, vanity, and the like, or at certain social evils, the reprimand was always given with a tone of moderation.

Throughout his writings Marivaux showed himself heartily opposed to the loose ideas then prevalent upon the marriage relation, and, as though to emphasize his convictions in this matter, his comedies all end with "the triumph of love in marriage." In certain ones, as for example le Petit Maître corrigé (acte I, scène XII) and l'Héritier de Village (scène II), this social evil is more directly attacked, as it is also in several portions of the Spectateur français, and particularly in the sixteenth feuille.

He was likewise an opponent of the strained relations that existed in most families between parents and children. Instead of the deplorable custom of making of each household a miniature court, in which the parents reigned over timid but unwilling subjects, he advocated intimate and loving relations. "Voulez-vous faire d'honnêtes gens de vos enfants? Ne soyez que leur père, et non pas leur juge et leur tyran. Et qu'est-ce que