PHI. Ah! who can bear it?

BEL. What a horrible solecism!

PHI. It is enough to destroy a delicate ear.

BEL. You are, I must acknowledge, very dull of understanding;
_they_ is in the plural number, and _speaks_ is in the singular.
Will you thus all your life offend grammar? [Footnote: _Grammaire_ in
Moliere's time was pronounced as _grand'mere_ is now. _Gammer_
seems the nearest approach to this in English.]

MAR. Who speaks of offending either gammer or gaffer?

PHI. O heavens!

BEL. The word _grammar_ is misunderstood by you, and I have told
you a hundred times where the word comes from.

MAR. Faith, let it come from Chaillot, Auteuil, or Pontoise,
[Footnote: In Moliere's time villages close to Paris.] I care precious
little.

BEL. What a boorish mind! _Grammar_ teaches us the laws of the
verb and nominative case, as well as of the adjective and substantive.

MAR. Sure, let me tell you, Ma'am, that I don't know those people.

PHI. What martyrdom!