La comédie à l’époque d'Henri III: Deuxième Série, Vol. 8 (1580–1589). Mariangela Miotti, Jean Balsamo, Charles Mazouer, Anna Bettoni, Nerina Clerici Balmas, Concetta Cavallini, and Eugenio Refini, eds. Théâtre français de la Renaissance. Florence: Olschki, 2017. 684 pp. €68

Amboise thus passes up an opportunity to exploit linguistic variation for comic effect. When compared to works like Pathelin, Les Napolitaines would appear to be written in that sort of comic style (distinct from farce and found in the works of Corneille, amongst others) that fits in with what Claude Favre de Vaugelas, in his 1647 Remarks on the French Language, deemed “good usage.” The collection thus raises questions as to what type and amount of linguistic variation best creates a high-quality comic work that illustrates the French language.