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CONGREVE
55

tribute of exact and final definition conveyed in that perfect phrase which salutes at once and denotes him—'ce moqueur pensif comme un apôtre.' Only perhaps in a single part has Congreve half consciously touched a note of almost tragic depth and suggestion; there is something wellnigh akin to the grotesque and piteous figure of Arnolphe himself in the unvenerable old age of Lady Wishfort, set off and relieved as it is, with grace and art worthy of the supreme French master, against the only figure on any stage which need not shun comparison even with that of Célimène.