and delicate, he became a voluptuary according to the ideas of
Chapelle, and by devoting himself to the doctrines of Epicurus, he
managed to live until eighty years of age. Chapelle was a drunkard as
has been intimated in a preceding chapter, and although he loved Ninon
passionately, she steadily refused to favor him.

Molière and Ninon were mutually attracted, each recognizing in the
other not only a kindred spirit, but something not apparent on the
surface. Nature had given them the same eyes, and they saw men and
things from the same view point. Molière was destined to enlighten his
age by his pen, and Ninon through her wise counsel and sage
reflections. In speaking of Molière to Saint-Evremond, she declared
with fervor:

"I thank God every night for finding me a man of his spirit, and I
pray Him every morning to preserve him from the follies of the heart."

There was a great opposition to Molière's comedy "Tartuffe." It
created a sensation in society, and neither Louis XIV, the prelates of
the kingdom and the Roman legate, were strong enough to withstand the
torrents of invectives that came from those who were unmasked in the
play. They succeeded in having it interdicted, and the comedy was on
the point of being suppressed altogether, when Molière took it to
Ninon, read it over to her and asked her opinion as to what had better
be done. With her keen sense of the ridiculous and her knowledge of
character, Ninon went over the play with Molière to such good purpose
that the edict of suppression was withdrawn, the opponents of the
comedy finding themselves in a position where they could no longer
take exceptions without confessing the truth of the inuendoes.