the duels , the vaunts , the ribaldries are little more than playground tiffs . But when they finally reach an age to settle down and act mature , then they ’ re wearied-out old men wooing us with coughs and moans . Then they recognize virtue and treat the fair sex gallantly with their broken teeth , bald pates and crumpled backs with seizing aches . Oh , Mascarille , when will you learn to be a man instead of boy ? Please don ’ t wait until you ’ re gray and hobbling come wedding day .
ACT IV — OUTSIDE THE ESTATE OF CLUTTERBUCK , NIGHTFALL .
SCENE I — CLUTTERBUCK DISGUISED AS SGANARELLE [ OUTSIDE THE MAID ’ S WINDOW ].
CLUTTERBUCK ( DISGUISED AS SGANARELLE ): I want to be a connoisseur of ribaldry and roguery . I aspire to be a scholar of waggery and waywardness . Yes ! I ’ ll be a professor of infamy and decadence ! Thus I take on the raiment of Sganarelle , that paragon of learnèd vice and lechery ! Let him foil my robbery , have him exploit my fractious wife , I ’ ll one-up him in this wild plot and have the maid as escapade . And if she tattles contumeliously the spleen will fall on him , not me . Ah , here I go , with cloak of dark into her window , for a lark . [ CLIMBS INTO MAID ’ S WINDOW .}