



Produced by David Moynihan, D Garcia, Charles Franks and
the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.










L'ETOURDI, OU LES CONTRE-TEMPS.

COMEDIE.

THE BLUNDERER: OR, THE COUNTERPLOTS.

A COMEDY IN FIVE ACTS.

(_THE ORIGINAL IN VERSE_.)

1653. (?)




INTRODUCTORY NOTICE.


_The Blunderer_ is generally believed to have been first acted at
Lyons in 1653, whilst Moliere and his troupe were in the provinces. In
the month of November 1658 it was played for the first time in Paris,
where it obtained a great and well-deserved success. It is chiefly based
on an Italian comedy, written by Nicolo Barbieri, known as Beltrame, and
called _L'Inavvertito_, from which the character of Mascarille, the
servant, is taken, but differs in the ending, which is superior in the
Italian play. An imitation of the classical boasting soldier, Captain
Bellorofonte, Martelione, and a great number of _concetti_, have
also not been copied by Moliere. The fourth scene of the fourth act of
_l'Etourdi_ contains some passages taken from the _Angelica_,
a comedy by Fabritio de Fornaris, a Neapolitan, who calls himself on the
title-page of his play "il Capitano Coccodrillo, comico confidente." A
few remarks are borrowed from _la Emilia_, a comedy by Luigi
Grotto, whilst here and there we find a reminiscence from Plautus, and
one scene, possibly suggested by the sixteenth of the _Contes et
Discours d'Eutrapel_, written by Noeel du