1829.] CorneiUe ; his Life and Writings. 613 



opinion, he incurred the displeasure of Richelieu, who said he found 

 him deficient in what he called un esprit de suite. Corneille felt too that 

 he was wanting in that quality ; and pretending that his office and his 

 family affairs required his presence at Rouen, he took leave of the car- 

 dinal and the court, in order to avoid coming in open collision with a 

 man who, although his favour was almost a degradation, had proved 

 that he possessed both the power and the will of making his vengeance 

 swift and destructive. 



It was however impossible for the poet to renounce the fascinating 

 pursuit in which he had engaged. The first fruit of his retirement 

 appeared in a tragedy on the fable of IMedea. The subject, whatever 

 may be said by the critics, is so detestable and atrocious, that it can 

 never be endured in the shape of scenic representation — and the proof is, 

 that although it has been often essayed by highly-gifted persons, their 

 works remain as poems, but are forgotten as dramas. Corneille's 

 tragedy shared the common fate. The long and unimpassioned declama- 

 tion imitated from Seneca was not suited to the audience of the French 

 metropolis ; and although there are in it some verses which would not 

 be imworthy of his better tragedies, it cannot be denied that the con- 

 demnation was a just one. Mcdee was followed by what Corneille very 

 properly calls " un etrange monstre," under the title of L' Illusion, which 

 was received with absurd enthusiasm, chiefly on account of the intro- 

 duction of the character of a braggart soldier, long well-known in the 

 Italian drama under the title of // Capitcm Spavento, and to which 

 Corneille gave the name of Matamore, on bringing it into the regular 

 comedy. 



Although Corneille's progress hitherto had shewn him far superior to 

 all his cotemporaries, his greatest efforts had not been made. Rouen 

 would have been thought by the wits and critics of that day one of the 

 least likely places in which inspiration was to be found, and yet it was 

 in Rouen, and by a mere accident, that his genius lighted on a subject 

 which was to establish his and his nation's fame in the tragic drama. 

 A IM. de Chalon, who had held the post of secretaire des commandemens 

 to the dowager queen, upon quitting the court had retired to Rouen to 

 pass the remainder of a very protracted life in the retirement of that 

 city. Corneille having met him in company, and the discourse turning 

 on the poet's recent success, ]\I. de Chalon said he thought the comic 

 productions he had hitherto principally devoted himself to were 

 unworthy of his genius, and would procure him only a short-lived fame. 

 '' You will find," he continued, " in the Spanish drama subjects which, 

 treated according to our national taste, and by such hands as yours, 

 could not fail of producing a most extraordinary effect. Learn the 

 language ; it is extremely easy ; I will very gladly render you such 

 assistance as I can, and, until you can read it for yourself, I will trans- 

 late for you some passages from Guillen de Casti'o." Corneille followed 

 this advice ; he took the subject and the plan of the Spanish dramatist, 

 but treated it throughout with a spirit of perfect originality, and the 

 result was the first tragedy, properly so called, that France had ever 

 seen — Le Cid! 



The effect which this tragedy had upon the audience has been 

 described with all tlie eloquence of enthusiasm by M. Victorin Fabre 

 in a passage, quoted in the book before us, from his celebrated Eloge de 

 CorneiUe. After alluding to the degraded state of the tragic drama, of 



