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ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR

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Oxford French Series
By AMERICAN SCHOLARS
General Editor: RAYMOND WEEKS, Ph.D.
PROFESSOR OF ROMANCE PHILOLOGY, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

ADRIENNE LECOUVREUR

BY
SCRIBE AND LEGOUVÉ

EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES

BY
THEODORE ELY HAMILTON, Ph.D.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES
OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY


NEW YORK
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
AMERICAN BRANCH: 35 West 32nd Street
LONDON, TORONTO, MELBOURNE & BOMBAY
HUMPHREY MILFORD
1917
All rights reserved
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Copyright, 1917
by Oxford University Press
AMERICAN BRANCH
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INTRODUCTION

Scribe and Legouvé

Augustin Eugène Scribe was born at Paris, December 24th, 1791. Hestudied law but manifested early in life a strong inclination toward thedrama. The first of his plays to be favored with the full approval ofthe public was Une nuit de la garde nationale, written in 1816, incollaboration with Delestre-Poirson. Thereafter, his success was greatand continued. He produced plays in rapid succession for two and eventhree theaters at the same time. Many of them were written jointly withsome collaborator. In 1816 appeared also Le nouveau Pourceaugnac andLe solliciteur, highly praised by Schlegel.

In 1820 Scribe was engaged to write exclusively for a new theaterestablished by his friend Poison, under the patronage of the Duchesse deBerri. In less than ten years (1821-30) he produced over one hundredplays. Among the best of these are: Le mariage enfantin, Le colonel,La loge du portier, Le baiser au porteur, La reine de seize ans,La marraine, Le diplomate, Le plus beau jour de la vie, and Lemariage de raison.

For the Théâtre-Français he supplied the following plays: Valérie<