From the PREFACE.
This book is a study of European characters as they were depicted by French dramatists and, therefore, as they appeared to French audiences. The scope of the work can be briefly indicated as follows:
(a) Plays written or presented between 1714 and 1789.
(b) All forms of French drama except tragedy.
(c) Plays presenting characters belonging to all the European nations except the Greeks and the Turks. The limits mentioned have been overstepped here and there when it seemed necessary.
The author takes this opportunity to express, even if inadequately, his appreciation of the inspiring contact he has had with these scholars: Adolphe Cohn, whose erudition and stirring power of diction constitute a memorable influence; Henry Alfred Todd, whose sympathetic scholarship is a beacon to his students; Raymond Weeks, friend and guide, whose words one day suggested the subject of this book; Calvin Thomas, famous scholar and teacher; Charles Alfred Downer, erudite and versatile mind, whose influence stirred in the author the interest that has since dominated his life.
Immeasurable also is the debt to Gustave Lanson, whose fresh insight into vital methods of research aroused in the author new vigor for the pursuit of the beau 'ideal' in literary endeavor.
