RACINE 



of his Jansenist friends, to worldly 

 society and pursuits. * He soon 

 attracted attention by some odes, 

 for one of which, on Louis XTV's 



From an engraving by G. delinck 



marriage, he was rewarded with a 

 hundred livres from the royal purse. 



Meanwhile he had become in- 

 timate with Boileau, La Fontaine, 

 and Moliere, the last named of 

 whom produced his first tragedies, 

 La ThebaTde, 1664, and Alex- 

 andre, 1665. At this time he 

 entered into an acrimonious con- 

 troversy with the famous Jan- 

 senist Nicole, on the subject of the 

 drama, which completed his rup- 

 ture with Port-Royal. Between 

 1667 and 1677 he wrote his 

 tragedies Andromaque, Britan- 

 nicus, Berenice, Bajazet, Mithri- 

 date, Iphigenie, and Phedre, to- 

 gether with a comedy, I^es Plai- 

 deurs (a satire on the law), which 

 was only a qualified success. 



By this time he was troubled 

 with growing doubts concerning 

 the stage ; and after reconciliation 

 with the Jansenists he abruptly 

 severed his connexion with it. He 

 then married and was appointed, 

 jointly with Boileau, historian to 

 the king. His only remaining plays 

 were two of a religious character 

 written between 1689 and 1691 at 

 the request of Madame de Main tenon 

 for performance by the ladies of St. 

 Cyr Esther and Athalie, which 

 rank with his best works. There- 

 after he published only four Can- 

 tiques Spirituels and a history of 

 Port-Royal. He died April 2 1,1 699, 

 and was buried at Port-Royal. 



The French regard Racine as 

 " le classique par excellence," and 

 as one of the chief glories of their 

 literature ; and if it is impossible 



6456 



for English readers to share their 

 enthusiasm, they can at least 

 recognize his pre-eminence within 

 his own chosen and restricted 

 field. Far inferior to Corneille in 

 poetic and dramatic power, he was 

 his superior in art ; the severe 

 restraints of the classic form of 

 drama seemed rather to help than 

 to check his genius ; and unlike 

 Corneille, whose inequalities are 

 flagrant, he keeps to a uniform 

 level of excellence. With him 

 incident as such has no impor- 

 tance ; he uses it only as an 

 initial force in the emotional crisis 

 which is always his central theme ; 

 and the interest of his tragedies is 

 purely psychological. While as a 

 result his plays are composed only 

 of endless talk and discussion, his 

 skill as an analyst of passion, and 

 especially of love, is remarkable; 

 while the beauty of his versification 

 deserves the highest praise. See 

 Racine et Shakespeare, M. H. 

 Beyle, 1854 ; Port-Royal, vol. vi, 

 1840 ; Nouveaux Lundis, vols. 

 iii and x, 1863-72, C. A. Sainte- 

 Beuve ; Corneille and Racine, 

 H. M. Trollope, 1898; Racine, 

 G. Larroumet, 1898. Pron. 

 Raseene. w. H. Hudson 



Racine, Louis (1692-1763). 

 French poet. He was born in 

 Paris, Nov. 6, 1692, the younger 

 son of Jean 

 Racine, and, 

 rendered inde- 

 pendent by a 

 prudent mar- 

 riage, devoted 

 his life to re- 

 ligion and 

 literature. His 

 didactic 

 poems, La 

 Grace and La 

 Religion, were inspired by his fer- 

 vent Jansenist faith, and are more 

 remarkable for their piety than for 

 their poetic qualities. His complete 

 works, 6 vols., were published in 

 1808. He compiled a Life of his 

 father which was published in 1747, 

 and translated Paradise Lost into 

 Frenchprose. HediedJan.29, 1763. 



Rack. Former 

 instrument of 

 torture. It con- 

 sisted of an oblong 

 frame of wood on 

 which the victim 

 was stretched and 

 his limbs secured 

 by ropes which 

 could be gradually 

 tautened by 

 pulleys or other 

 devices, till the 

 victim confessed 

 or had his limbs 

 dislocated. 



The rack was 



Louis Racine, 

 French poet 



RACKETS 



known to the Egyptians and 

 Romans. It was extensively used 

 for the torture of Christians to 

 force them to abjure their faith, 

 and in England from the 15th cen- 

 tury. At its greatest vogue during 

 the reigns of Henry VIII and Eliza- 

 beth, its legality was challenged 

 by the judges in 1628, over the 

 attempted racking of John Felton, 

 the murderer of the duke of 

 Buckingham, and it rapidly fell 

 into disuse. See Torture. 



Rack-a-Rpck. Blasting mix- 

 ture in cartridge form consisting 

 of potassium chlorate. The cart- 

 ridges are covered with cotton and 

 then dipped into monitro-benzene 

 so that the cotton absorbs this 

 fluid to the extent of 21 p.c. 



Rackets. Ball game popular in 

 England, India, and the British 

 colonies. It is also played to a 

 considerable extent in the U.S.A. 

 Rackets is played on an asphalted 

 court, 60 ft. by 30 ft. in area, en- 

 closed by four walls. The front and 

 side walls are generally about 30 ft., 

 and the back wall 15 ft., in height. 

 A strip of board 26 ins. in height 

 is carried along the bottom of the 

 front wall, forming the playing line, 

 while a painted line, 9 ft. 6 ins. 

 from the floor level, indicates the 

 service line. 



On the floor of the court, at a 

 distance of 38 ft. from the front 

 wall, a similar line is painted across 

 the floor from side wall to side 

 wall, called the short line. From 

 the middle of this line extending 

 to the centre of the back wall 

 another line divides the space into 

 two halves, termed the fault line. 

 Just above the short line, in the 

 angles formed by it and the side 

 walls, are two spaces 8 ft. square, 

 designated service boxes. The 

 game is played by two or four 

 players, one against one (singles), 

 two against two (doubles). 



The racket consists of a wooden 

 hoop 7 ins. in diameter, stmng 

 as tightly as possible with catgut, 

 with a handle about 30 ins. long. 

 The ball is composed of strips of 

 cloth verv tightly bound together 



Rack. One form of the instrument of torture used in 

 England from the 15th to the 17th century 



