"This misanthrope's despitefulness against bad verses was copied from me; Moliere himself confessed as much to me many a time," wrote Boileau one day.

The indignation of Alceste is deeper and more universal than that of Boileau against bad poets; he is disgusted with the court and the world because he is honest, virtuous, and sincere, and sees corruption triumphant around him; he is wroth to feel the effects of it in his life, and almost in his own soul.

He is a victim to the eternal struggle between good and evil without the strength and the unquenchable hope of Christianity.

The _Misanthrope_ is a shriek of despair uttered by virtue, excited and almost distraught at the defeat she forebodes.

The _Tartuffe_ was a new effort in the same direction, and bolder in that it attacked religious hypocrisy, and seemed to aim its blows even at religion itself.