84 



MASSENET 



MASSINGER 



miule a masterly retreat, to lind himself recalled 

 with ignominy "by his ini|>cnous master. His 

 failure he himself atu-iihcd to tin- disolx-dienoe of 

 hid Kiiliordinatcft, Ney uml Junot. He ottered his 

 services, however, again, when Nni>oleon wn pre- 

 paring fr the Kitmil cuni|>aign, hut wiis en 

 tin-t-l only with the command in I'IUCM.-.-. nml 

 in thin |M.-iti..n lie remained till the lle-toiation, 

 when lie gave in hU adhesion to tlie Bom lions, nml 

 was made a |-er. On Nii|Mileon'8 return from 

 Elba he invit.-.! MaWna to follow him, hut 

 received no response. He refused to sit mi x - 

 court -martini, ami denounced the coiii|M-tencr of 

 tlie court. He ilie<l 4tli A[iril 1817, ami was hurieil 

 in Pen- la Chaise itli the one wonl .l/o-.w /ii on 

 hi- toiulislone. In tactics M;u-sena resembled his 

 m.i-ter in i|iiiekne ami fertility in resource. He 

 wag hrare ami indefatigable in the field, hut a" 

 extortionate as a Koman pnetor. His Mfmuirrt 

 .-.lit.-.! by (icnural Ko<-k i7 vul-. 184950), 

 and there is a Life hy Toselli (1809). 



- : i - l-'ieneh musical composer, 

 was born at Montaud, near St Kticniic, mi I'Jth 

 M.iy IsvJ, and after a ino-t -mv.- nil career as 

 a student at the Paii- conservatory, chietly under 

 Ami-rose Thomas. In- \va- appointed professor of 

 Comi.o-ition at that in-tittition in 187H. He won 

 the I'l-isi/i- /.'../. in 1SI13, was favourably reeeived 

 as the eompo-cr of mei itorious orchestral works and 

 a comic opera, IM (Jrauilr Tnntf i 1S67), liefore the 

 Fi.im-o I'm ian war, and in IS73 took his place 

 nmong-t the fon ..... i-t of the younger composers of 

 France, Ins fame U-ing established hy the comic 

 opcia li'Hi I'l.-nr i/f ISn:iiii (1872), the rla.~sii-.il 

 opera /.c* KriHiii/ei (1873), and the oratorio .Marie 

 Miiili.'fiiif i 1*73 i. The-e weie followed hy the 

 oratoiio- /: l-7">) and firrye ( 1879), the great 

 O|MT . art (1877)J ll<rn,(inilr. (1881), 



M'lntin Letcaut (1884), and Etelarnwnile (1889), 

 besides numeimis pianoforte and orchestral pieces. 



MaMsillon. JKA\ HAPTISTK, one of the m..-t 

 di-tiugiii-hi-d of modern orators, was horn at 

 llv-ie- in Piovcnic. '.Mill June 1663. His father 

 was a notary and had designed him for his own 

 piof. -i.. ii, hut nt length in His I the \<\ olitained 

 I- niii i. .11 to follow his vocati* i and enter the 

 .MVation of the Oratory. Later he suhjeeted 

 himself to a more li^'orou- di-eiplinu in the ahl.i-y 

 -|.t l-'oiils. His preaehin;; [Miwer was soon ilis- 

 covered, and hi- funeral oration on M. Yillars, the 

 Archhi-lio|> of Vii-nne, i-stahlislied his fume, and 

 led to hi- iM'iliK -nmiiione.1 l.y Car.liiml ile Noailles 

 to I'an-. wheie he tirst had the o|.|Kirtunity of 

 hoarinK lionnlaloue. \\ !i-.- -i \ I.- .m.| mamiei {HIWIT- 

 fully inlliieiieiil the yonii^; orator. It is -;ii.| that 

 tin- older pri-aeher -aid when liist he heard him, 



He Ill1l*t inelt'SUM*, hut I Illll-l ileelea.se.' Like 



lloiirdaloiie, he avoided the declamatory manner 

 and theatti'.'il net ion then |>opular in the Krem-h 

 pulpit: and the earnest impri-!.si\ene> of his face 

 nml voice iimn 1 than eoiinterhnlaneed the lack of 

 Mii-h adventitious aid* to etleet. He pi\e a icmark- 

 ahle Mries of h-etnie- in th<< -minaiv ..i St Maj;- 

 loire, and timl preachol before I^mis XIV. in 

 Advent I8U9. It wa- to him that the kin^ said. 

 ' I have heard (Treat orator* in my chapel and have 

 felt natiftfied with them, hut every time I have 

 heard you I have felt <li-*ati>dii-d with myself a 

 Having whicli well expniweii tlie chnnu-tcii-t. 

 the fe;ii|e i-|i H |ueiice of this (.Tent orator, who, 

 more than any of hi- coiitemi.oiaii.--. \\a- iil.le to 

 lay bare the M-cret piin^ of Inimnn action, and 

 to use the feelinx* and the iiaiion- of his audienee 

 M arm* again-i theimielvea. He was ayain 

 appiini<-.l to prearh the. Ixjnt at VerKaille* in 

 l.i4; hut although the kitiK won again e<|iially 

 warnt in his admiration, Ma--ilUn was never after- 



invited to preach in his presence. In 

 1717 Mn-ssillon wo* named ISi-hop of Clermont, 

 anil next year preached In-fore the yoiin^ kinjf, 

 Louis XV.", his celehrated Petit >'<in'inr -a series 

 ..I" ten short Lenten sermon-. It was not till 171'.i 

 that he was eons, i ratol Mi-hop of Cleniiont. in 

 which year also he was elected a member of the 

 Veademy ; and in 1723 he preaehcd the funeral 

 oration i.f the Duchess of Orleans, hi- last public 

 di-eoiuse in I'uris. From this time he lived almost 

 entirely for his diocese, where his charity ami 

 ^ntlem-s gained him the love of all. He died 

 of apoplexy, 'J.sth Septemlx'r 171'-'. l!o-suet and 

 Uounlaloue contest with Ma. illon the palm of 

 oiatory, yet it is not I<KI much to say that he 

 a greater preacher than either. P.y l-'n-nch critic- 

 he has lieen termed the lUcinc of the pulj.il, and 

 the name may pass ac regards the purity and 

 elegance of Mnssillon's lan^ua^e, though it t; 

 no count of his characteristic diieetne-.- and vigour. 

 For impassioned deniineiatioii of vice marks his 

 preaching, no less than gentle persuasiveness to 

 virtue, although it remains true that he is greatest 

 in the latter. His sermons on the Prodigal Son, on 

 the heaths of the .lust and the I'lijnst, for Christ- 

 mas, and for the Fourth Sunday in Advent may be 

 named among his masterpieces. 



lli< sermons were collected hy his nephew (15 voli. 

 1745-48); lat.-r editions are tle.se of Kciiinmnl I 1SIH , 

 tin- AM'.- Cuillnn (111 veils. 1K2K), nml I'.lampign.m (4 

 vola. 18tM>). Se Sainte-Beuve's Cauteriei du J.<n,,t,. 

 vol. ix. 



MassillKcr. PHILIP, dramatist, liaptised nt St 

 Thomas's, Salisbury, '24th NovcmU-r I.'.V). \\a- a 

 win of Arthur -Miis-ingei. a retainer of the Karl of 

 IVmhroke. In a dedicatory epistle to Philip 

 Herlieit, Karl of Montgomci y, ]nelixed to The 

 liniiiliiKiii ( Iti'-'l). he mentions that his father spent 

 many Years in the service of the Herbert family, 

 'amf died a servant to it.' On 14th May li;n-J 

 Ma-singer entered St All.an's Hall, Oxford, and 

 lie left tin- university without a degree in 1606. 

 (iill'ord supposed that during his rc-idcnce at 

 Oxford he became a convert to the Koman Catholic 

 faith ; nml the plays all'ord some evidence in support 



of I hi- V lew. 



Ma-singer was writing for the thentre during the 

 lifetime of the stage-manager Philip Henslowe, 

 who died in January 1615- Hi. At Dulwich Co': 

 i- preserved an undated letter (rin-n I(il3--14) to 

 Henslowe from Nathaniel Field, Daborn, and Mas 

 singer. The three playwrights were in linanci.il 

 distress and begged for nn advance of live pounds 

 ('without which we cannot be hailed') on a piny 

 which they were preparing. Their petition was 

 granted. On 4th July llil'i Dnlioui and Massinger 

 Borrowed from Henslowe the sum of three pounds. 

 In later years Mo-ssinger wrote many plays single- 

 handed : I. ut much of his work i- mixed up with 

 the work of other men, particularly Fletcher. His 

 friend Sir Aston Cokayne, in an ' Kpitnph on Mi- 

 John Fletcher and Mr Philip Massinger,' expn---ly 

 state-. ' Playes they did write together, weie great 

 friends.' Iteaiimont had a shaie in only a few of 

 the plays ascribed to ' Ileaumont and Fletchei :' 

 but Ma.-singer and Fletcher continued to work 

 together long alter Meaiimoiit s death. Fletcher 

 was buried in St Sa\ iimr's Church, Sonthwark, '-".Hh 

 August }(,>:> : and Massiii'jer as laid ill the same 

 gia\e. isth March H13S ll'.l. 



Probably the earliest of .Ma--inger's extant jilnys 

 IK Tin I limit iirnl I 'inn/nit, a repulsive tragedy, 

 printed in Hi.'t'.l. The first in order of publication 

 I- '/'/. I'iri/iii Miir/i/r (lti'."2), partly written by 

 I>ekker, who doubt less contributed the henutifnl 

 colloipiy between Dorothea and Angclo (II. i.). In 

 HU.'t was published Tin- l>tikr iij Milan, a fine 

 tragedy, but too rhetorical. The Bondman, Tk 



