Tartuffe, or The Impostor, or The Hypocrite first performed in 1664, is one of the most famous theatrical comedies by Molière.  The characters of Tartuffe, Elmire, and Orgon are considered among the greatest classical theatre roles.  Almost immediately following its first performance that same year at the Versailles fêtes, it was censored by King Louis XIV, probably due to the influence of the archbishop of Paris, Paul Philippe Hardouin de Beaumont de Péréfixe, who was the King's confessor and had been his tutor.  As a result of Molière's play, contemporary French and English both use the word "tartuffe" to designate a hypocrite who ostensibly and exaggeratedly feigns virtue, especially religious virtue.  The play is written entirely in 1,962 twelve-syllable lines (alexandrines) of rhyming couplets.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartuffe

Jean Baptiste Poquelin, better known by his stage name of Molière, was born in Paris in 1622.  For a time he studied law, abandoning it for a life spent acting, directing, managing theaters and writing plays.  The Richard Wilbur verse translation of Tartuffe  rhymes "Babylon" with "babbling on."  Find the Wilbur translation at http://www.archive.org/stream/tartuffe02027gut/trtff10.txt and see the entire play at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKm7_CFNIn8  1:36:53

Richard Purdy Wilbur (1921) is an American poet and literary translator.  He was appointed the second Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress in 1987, and twice received the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, in 1957 and again in 1989.   Wilbur was born in New York City and grew up in North Caldwell, New Jersey.  He graduated from Montclair High School in 1938, having worked on the school newspaper as a student there.  He graduated from Amherst College in 1942 and then served in the United States Army from 1943 to 1945 during World War II.  After the Army and graduate school at Harvard University, Wilbur taught at Wellesley College, then Wesleyan University for two decades and at Smith College for another decade.  At Wesleyan, he was instrumental in founding the award-winning poetry series of the University Press.  As of 2009, teaches at Amherst College.  He is also on the editorial board of the literary magazine The Common, based at Amherst College.  When only 8 years old, Wilbur published his first poem in John Martin's Magazine.  His first book, The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems, appeared in 1947.  Since then he has published several volumes of poetry, including New and Collected Poems (Faber, 1989).  Wilbur is also a translator, specializing in the 17th century French comedies of Molière and the dramas of Jean Racine.  His translation of Tartuffe has become the standard English version of the play, and has been presented on television twice (a 1978 production is available on DVD.)  In addition to publishing poetry and translations, he has also published several children's books including Opposites, More Opposites, and The Disappearing Alphabet.  Continuing the tradition of Robert Frost and W. H. Auden, Wilbur's poetry finds illumination in everyday experiences.  Less well-known is Wilbur's foray into lyric writing. He provided lyrics to several songs in Leonard Bernstein's 1956 musical, Candide, including the famous "Glitter and Be Gay" and "Make Our Garden Grow."  He has also produced several unpublished works including "The Wing" and "To Beatrice".  Find lists of his poetry, prose and play translations at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Wilbur

A couplet is a literary device which can be defined as having two successive rhyming lines in a verse and has the same meter to form a complete thought. It is marked by a usual rhythm, rhyme scheme and incorporation of specific utterances.  Find a list of seven types of couplets and examples of couplets in literature at http://literarydevices.net/couplet/

The Hoxne Hoard  is the largest hoard of late Roman silver and gold discovered in Britain, and the largest collection of gold and silver coins of the fourth and fifth century found anywhere within the Roman Empire.  It was found by Eric Lawes, a metal detectorist in the village of Hoxne in Suffolk, England, on 16 November 1992.  The hoard consists of 14,865 Roman gold, silver and bronze coins from the late fourth and early fifth centuries, and approximately 200 items of silver tableware and gold jewellery.  The objects are now in the British Museum in London, where the most important pieces and a selection of the rest are on permanent display.  In 1993, the Treasure Valuation Committee valued the hoard at £1.75 million (today £3.18 million).  

The hoard was buried as an oak box or small chest filled with items in precious metal, sorted mostly by type with some in smaller wooden boxes and others in bags or wrapped in fabric.  Remnants of the chest, and of fittings such as hinges and locks, were recovered in the excavation.  The coins of the hoard date it after AD 407, which coincides with the end of Britain as a Roman province.  The owners and reasons for burial of the hoard are unknown, but it was carefully packed and the contents appear consistent with what a single very wealthy family might have owned.  Given the lack of large silver serving vessels and of some of the most common types of jewellery, it is likely that the hoard represents only a part of the wealth of its owner.  The Hoxne Hoard contains several rare and important objects, including a gold body-chain and silver-gilt pepper-pots (piperatoria), including the Empress pepper pot.  The Hoxne Hoard is also of particular archaeological significance because it was excavated by professional archaeologists with the items largely undisturbed and intact.  The find has helped to improve the relationship between metal detectorists and archaeologists, and influenced a change in English law regarding finds of treasure.  See descriptions and pictures at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoxne_Hoard

Prelude  Middle French, from Medieval Latin praeludium, from Latin praeludere to play beforehand, from prae- + ludere to play   Interlude  Middle English enterlude, from Medieval Latin interludium, from Latin inter- + ludus play  "Postlude" is the lesser-known counterpart to "prelude" -- and in fact, "postlude" was created based on the example of "prelude," substituting "post-" for "pre-."  At the root of both terms is the Latin verb "ludere" ("to play"), and a postlude is essentially "something played afterward."   http://www.merriam-webster.com/

"It's All In The Game" by Carl Sigman (lyrics written in 1951)  and Charles Gates Dawes (his "Melody in A Major" was written in 1911 before he became Vice-President under Calvin Coolidge.)  Link to a 2:39 performance by Tommy Edwards at http://www.oldielyrics.com/lyrics/tommy_edwards/its_all_in_the_game.html

A federal appeals court on December 4, 2015 challenged regulators to defend a series of strict new rules for Internet providers, asking them why it should allow the controversial regulations to stand in spite of an industry lawsuit that's become the centerpiece of a highly-charged battle over the future of the Internet.  Dozens of court-watchers began lining up before dawn to hear the case, with some having spent the night in frigid temperatures outside the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.  Inside the courtroom itself, a three-judge panel peppered agency and industry lawyers with probing questions in a roughly three-hour debate.  The stakes for the Federal Communications Commission are high.  This is  the third time the agency has appeared before the court in recent years to justify regulating Internet providers more heavily.  At issue is the FCC's net neutrality rules — which prevented Internet providers from slowing down or blocking Web content that they do not like, or even charging Web sites a fee for reaching Internet users faster.  Led by several industry associations, broadband providers argued the FCC had abused its authority when it approved those rules in February.   In response, the FCC — backed by a number of tech companies and advocacy groups — said Congress had given it sufficient powers to implement the regulations it had written.  Brian Fung  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-switch/wp/2015/12/04/net-neutrality-just-went-to-court-heres-how-it-did/

During a weekly meeting with librarians, we have discussed that people with mobile devices often ignore the person they are with and communicate with someone else electronically, losing the comfort of face-to-face conversation.  Two comic strips in our local December 6, 2015 newspaper illustrated the point:  one character mentions visiting the grandchildren and the other character doesn't listen but sends a listicle to a friend (Doonesbury)--one character cannot get eye contact with the other until sending her image by satellite (Zits).

THINK BEFORE YOU TWEET  Shortly after Michigan State's 16-13 win over Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game on December 5, 2015, this tweet was sent out by the Twitter account of Iowa Senator Joni Ernst:  Congrats @hawkeyefootball on the big win!   #big10 #B1GFCG #iowa  http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/eye-on-college-football/25402697/iowa-senator-accidentally-tweets-congratulations-to-hawkeyes

Pearl Harbor 74th anniversary:  7 facts about December 7, 1941, a 'date that will live in infamy' by Leada Gore  The National Park Service will air a live video stream of commemorative events on December 7, 2015.  The ceremony will begin at 7:30 a.m. Hawaii Standard Time, 11:30 p.m. CST, with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Kennedy as the keynote speaker.   http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/12/pearl_harbor_74th_anniversary.html

http://librariansmuse.blogspot.com  Issue 1389  December 7, 2015  On this date in 1873, Willa Cather, American novelist, was born.  On this date in 1879,  Rudolf Friml, Czech-American pianist, composer, and academic, was born.