3-011-581 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

"Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme", by the late C. R. Leslie, R.A., in the Sheepshanks Collection, South Kensington Museum, 1864. Engraving of a painting. A rich retired woollen-draper is learning to fence. '...after a long involuntary fit of laughing at the strange aspect of her master in a new and fashionable morning reception suit... Nicole, the saucy housemaid...has been joined by her mistress, the sensible and unpretending Mdme. Jourdain...to convince the maid of her impertinence in owning to a special grudge against the fencing-master for filling the house with dust (notice the broom so aptly placed in Nicole's hand), he calls for a pair of foils..."There, push at me a little, to try." "Well, how?" says the maid, thrusting at him...and giving him, notwithstanding his awkward attempts to parry, several hits...to the unconcealed delight of the wife. "Very good! But hold! Oh! gently. The deuce take the hussy!" cries M. Jourdain, smarting under the humiliation. "Why, you told me to push," says Nicole...Poor M. Jourdain! he is slow to apprehend...[that] in fencing, an untaught but nimble and determined person generally gets at least the first hits out of a person less naturally adroit, though aided by a knowledge of the rules of the art'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.