Le Paysan, Soldat Malgré Lui

Le Paysan, Soldat Malgré Lui is the title of a French one-act play by an anonymous author.

The original text

Nothing of substance is known about this text, this title only occurs in a production done in Cape Town in 1805 (see below). F.C.L. Bosman (1928: p. 91) suggests that what we have is an adaptation by Monsieur Delémery of a 1668 one act comedy by either Chevalier or Rosimond (he calls him "Rosigmond"), performed under the new title for performance on his tour, and more specifically for the performance in in Cape Town.

There seem to be a number of candidates for the source text - an anonymous author, Chevalier or Rosimond (Bosman has Rosigmond):

François Parfaict and Claude Parfaict (Dictionnaire des Théâtres de Paris, 1756:p.194[1]) do mention a one-act verse play called Le Soldat Poltron (1668)[2], also known as Soldat Malgré Lui, ou l'Epreuve Amoreuse, written by Chevalier (pseudonym of Jean Simonin).

However, the text is also given as Argument de Le Soldat Poltron, ou Le Soldat Malgré Lui by Chevalier in Google Books.[3], though M. Antoine de Léris (Dictionnaire portatif historique et littéraire des théatres , 1763: p. 408 - Google E-book[4]), mentions that a play by this same name was performed at the Theatre de Marais, Paris, in 1668, but that he believes it to be by Rosimond. (F.C.L. Bosman, 1928: p. 91) suggests it may be a play by either Chevalier or Rosigmond)

B. Babault (Annales dramatiques: ou, Dictionnaire général des théâtres Vol 8, 1811: p. 352 - Google E-Book [5], and a number of other sources, have Le Soldat Poltron, ou Le Soldat Malgré Lui a one act comedy by an anonymous author, written and performed in 1668.

F.C.L. Bosman (1928: p. 91) suggests that Chevalier or Rosigmond's text may have been the original, and that Monsieur Delémery did an adaptation of it under the new title, for performance on his tour and more specifically in Cape Town.

The title Le Soldat Malgré Lui also occurs in a number of books, with the same uncertainty about authorship.