Théâtre-Français and the Théâtre- Italien, but also by the Opéra itself, they saw themselves obliged by the Court to abandon, in turn, dialogue and even monologue, and to depend upon placards as a means of expressing the plot to the audience. However, in spite of difficulties and opposition the Théâtre de la Foire maintained its ground.

Among the authors writing for the Théâtre-Français were such celebrities as Crébillon père,[59] Voltaire, Destouches, etc. No lesser names than those of Lesage and Piron were the support of the Théâtre de la Foire. It remained for Marivaux to render illustrious the Italian stage[60].

Here it was, then, on the fourth of March, 1720, that he made his début before the public with a comedy in three acts, l'Amour et la Vérité. It may be recalled that Crispin l'heureux fourbe had been presented only in private. Perhaps to give himself confidence in a line as yet almost untried, and which, after his boasting of fourteen years before and his rather unsuccessful attempt, he had come to consider as not so "easy" after all, he may have sought the aid of one of his co-workers on the Mercure. At any rate, the play was written in collaboration with the Chevalier de Saint-Jory, and was the only piece in which Marivaux accepted similar aid, "except for the musical diversions of his plays."[61] L'Amour et la Vérité failed to please the public, but, as it was never printed, we cannot judge of its merits.

However, that same year, Marivaux amply retrieved himself in the exquisite fairy-play of Arlequin poli par l'Amour, a comedy in one act, presented at the Théâtre-Italien, October 20, and which Jules Lemaître characterizes as perhaps of all his plays "the most purely poetical, in spite of the excess of esprit, and the one in which fancy is the freest."[62] It was greeted by the public with enthusiasm, and even such severe critics of Marivaux as La Harpe could find little to say against it,—that it "lacked intrigue" and had a "weak dénouement " possibly, but after all that he had made of Harlequin, "of that ideal personage, who up to that time had only known how to provoke laughter," an "interesting" character "by making him in love."[63]

The plot of the play is as follows: A fairy, enflamed with love for Harlequin, on account of his beauty, has caused him to be brought to her realm, but, in spite of all her charms and graces and her assiduous attentions, she cannot awaken love in him, nor change him from the rude and clownish fellow that he is; and it is not until he meets with Silvia, the shepherdess, that love is seen to be more potent than all the charms of fairy-land to make of simple Harlequin, as of Hawthorne's Faun, a man. The developing influence of love is the theme of the comedy, and, although the development is rapid, as befits a play, it is nevertheless by graduated stages. Each meeting of the lovers fans the flame, and the need of secrecy but stimulates their wit, until, at last, by a cunning wile, Harlequin gains possession of the fairy's wand and with it, of her power. This, of course, brings about the natural dénouement, and the play ends to the satisfaction of the lovers.

Many of the scenes are characterized by an artlessness and grace that recall Florian's les Deux Billets or Musset's A quoi rêvent les jeunes Filles. It is the poetry of an epoch of prose. "All the poetry of the first half of the eighteenth century is in Marivaux, as all the poetry of the second half is in Jean-Jacques Rousseau and in Bernardin de Saint- Pierre."[64] The first two plays of Marivaux presented to the public were performed upon the stage of the Théâtre-Italien, and throughout his life he showed a marked preference for that theatre.

His success was brilliant, and Arlequin poli par l'Amour had twelve representations. At last Marivaux appears to have found his true sphere; but no, he has still to feel his way, and to experience another check, before entrusting himself to the promptings of his genius. His was not a talent to blossom in a night, and only an over-zealous friend could say of him: "Il ne se décida point pour les lettres, il fut entraîné par elles. Il ne chercha point à devenir auteur, il fut étonné de l'être devenu."[65]

At this time tragedy still held sway over the hearts of the French, although the period of its glory was past. As nearly every writer of the century had produced his tragedy, not to mention the immediate friends of Marivaux, Fontenelle with his Aspar and La Motte with his Oedipe and Romulus, it is not strange that Marivaux felt tempted to try his wings in this upper sphere. His Annibal, a tragedy in five acts and in verse, was produced at the Théâtre-Français on December 16, 1720. In this play the very qualities, destined later to procure for the author such splendid successes in his comedies, were either lacking or out of place. It survived four representations, three at the Théâtre-Français and one at Court, and then disappeared from the repertory, not to be taken up again until Marivaux was an academician, and as such, in the minds of many, of course worthy of applause.

Marivaux had the good judgment to abandon a style of composition for which he was in no way fitted, and, on May 3, 1722, returned to the Théâtre- Italien with la Surprise de l'Amour, a comedy in three acts, and a decided success. His predilection for the Théâtre-Italien was such that he gave to it twenty of his plays, while only ten were brought out at the Théâtre-Français. "Of the six plays of our author which were to remain in the repertory, only one, le Legs, was first played at the Comédie- Française; the five others, la Surprise de l'Amour, le Jeu de l'Amour et du Hasard, l'École des Mères, les Fausses Confidences, l'Épreuve, appeared for the first time at the Théâtre-Italien."[66]

L'abbé de La Porte declares, moreover, that, had it not been for his support, through lack of spectators the actors would have been obliged to give up their theatre.[67]

Why was this preference of Marivaux for the Théâtre-Italien? In the first place, because he found the Italian actors better fitted to interpret him with that "brillante et abondante volubilité" of the Italian nature, which his plays seem to require, masterpieces, as they are, of dialogue and conversational style. Moreover, the Italians were performing in a foreign language and in a country in which they had a reputation yet to gain, and, consequently, were willing to accept suggestions from the author. At the Théâtre-Français, on the contrary, both actors and audience were under the ban of certain traditions, which hindered the one from performing with the requisite natural grace and the other from accepting without criticism that which at the Théâtre-Italien they might have received with enthusiasm.[68]

The prestige enjoyed by the members of the Comédie-Française was not calculated to make them readily accept advice, and Marivaux was often heard lamenting over their intractability. The beauty of his plays depends upon the artless grace with which they are rendered. "Il faut … que les acteurs ne paraissent jamais sentir la valeur de ce qu'ils disent, et qu'en même temps les spectateurs la sentent et la démêlent à travers l'espèce de nuage dont l'auteur a dû envelopper leurs discours."[69] Such were the recommendations of Marivaux, but all to no purpose. "J'ai eu beau le répéter aux comédiens, la fureur de montrer de l'esprit a été plus forte que mes très humbles remontrances; et *iis ont mieux aimé commettre dans leur jeu un contre-sens perpétuel, qui flattait leur amour-propre, que de ne pas paraître entendre finesse à leur rôle."[70]

Mlle. Lecouvreur, of the Comédie-Française, who played the rôles of