not the King the anointed vicegerent of God, who could
not be too much honoured? He accepted, with Boileau as fellow-labourer,
the position of the King's historiographer, and endeavoured to fulfil
its duties.

Twelve years after his withdrawal from the theatre, Racine, at the
request of Madame de Maintenon, composed his Biblical tragedy of
_Esther_ (1688-89) for her cherished schoolgirls at Saint-Cyr. The
subject was not unaptly chosen--a prudent and devout Esther now helped
to guide the fortunes of France, and she was surrounded at Saint-Cyr
by her chorus of young daughters of Sion. _Esther_ was rendered by
the pupils, with graceful splendours, before the King, and the delight
was great. The confidante of the Persian Queen indeed forgot her
words; at Racine's hasty complaint the young actress wept, and the
poet, weeping with her, wiped away her tears.

_Esther_ is a melodious play, exquisite in its refined style and
delicate versification; but the characters are faintly drawn. Its
novelty lay in its lyrical movements and in the poetical uses of its
finely-imagined spectacle. Madame de Maintenon or her directors
feared that the excitement and ambitions of another play in costume
might derange the spirits of her girls, and when _Athalie_ was recited
at Versailles, in January 1691, it was little of an event; the play
passed almost unnoticed. A noisy reception, indeed, would have been
no fitting tribute to its solemn beauty. All Racine's religious
feeling, all his domestic tenderness are united in _Athalie_ with
his matured feeling for Greek art. The great protagonist is the Divine
Being; Providence replaces the fate of the ancient drama. A child
(for Racine was still an innovator in the French theatre) was the
centre of the action; the interests were political, or rather national,
in the highest sense; the events were, as formerly, the developments
of inward character; but events and characters were under the
presiding care of God. The tragedy is lyrical, not merely through
the chorus, which expresses common emotions of devout joy and fear,
indignation, praise, and rapture. The chorus is less developed here,
and its chants are less impressive than in _Esther_. There is, however,
a lyrism, personal and modern, in the prophetic inspiration of the
High Priest, and Racine anticipated that his boldness in presenting
this might be censured by his contemporaries. The unity of place,
which had been disregarded in _Esther_, is h