The Cimetière du Père Lachaise is a city within a city, a necropolis teeming with Paris's most celebrated dead, and with the living visitors who stop there to pay their respects. A scattering of cellophane around the tomb of Abelard and Heloise betrays the roses that have been threaded through the iron fence surrounding the lovers' effigies. On Chopin's grave, one may encounter a single leaf of blank sheet music held in place by a candle. And the art deco monument marking Oscar Wilde's resting place is dotted with the imprint of a hundred pairs of lips, the legacy of countless adoring fans who have kissed the writer's tomb.

Somewhat less accessible is the sarcophagus of Molière, France 's famed playwright, who lies interred beside the writer La Fontaine. Or does he? The two graves stand-Molière's raised atop small columns, La Fontaine's on a plinth-within a fenced enclosure that discourages trespassers. Nevertheless, flowers and other small offerings still find their way to the two stone sarcophagi, left by well-wishers and patrons. But Molière himself is not there. Nor is La Fontaine.

The circumstances surrounding Molière's burial are shrouded by time and ill-kept records, but most sources agree that he was interred in a churchyard in the parish of St. Eustache. How the current occupant of Molière's tomb-whoever he may be-came to be buried at Père Lachaise is a matter of mistaken identity, as well as shrewd salesmanship on the part of Nicolas Frochot, founder of Père Lachaise. After Molière's remains had lain undisturbed for more than a century, it was decided to move his body from the churchyard to a section of Paris recently renamed in honor of Molière and La Fontaine. When records of Molière's precise location proved impossible to find, two anonymous corpses were exhumed, renamed for the authors, and dispatched in their place. The fame of the false Molière and his equally dubious companion reached such a height that it eventually caught the attention of Frochot, who opened his vast cemetery in 1804 and was looking for impressive tenants to fill it, the better to tempt wealthy Parisians into purchasing burial plots. Frochot acquired both sets of remains in 1817, and since that time they have stood as a monument-albeit a misleading one-to two of France 's celebrated writers.

The perfidy of the two stone sarcophagi has not diminished their popularity with visitors to the cemetery, nor has it harmed the memory of the men there celebrated. Molière has entertained many generations with his theatrical wit, and perhaps this, a final joke, is not entirely unsuited to the character of the comedic playwright.

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