ere preserved; the scene
is the temple at Jerusalem; and by its impressive grandeur, and the
awful associations of the place, the spectacle may be said to take
part in the action of the play. Perhaps it would be no exaggeration
to assert that grandeur and beauty are nowhere else so united in French
dramatic art as in _Athalie_; perhaps it might truly be described
as flawless in majesty and grace.

A light disfavour of the King saddened, and perhaps hastened, the
close of Racine's life. Port-Royal was regarded as a centre of
rebellious heresy; and Racine's piety to his early masters was humble
and devout. He had further offended by drawing up a memorandum on
the sufferings of the French people resulting from the wars. Madame
de Maintenon assured him that the cloud would pass; but the favour
of death, accepted with tranquillity, came before the returning
favour of the poet's master. He died in April 1699, soon after he
had entered his sixtieth year.

The highest distinction of the drama of Racine is its truth to
nature--truth, that is, in its interpretation and rendering of human
passion. Historical accuracy and local colour concerned him as far
as they were needful with his courtly spectators for verisimilitude.
The fluctuations of passion he studies to most advantage in his
characters of women. Love, in all its varieties, from the passion
of Roxane or Phedre to the pure devotion of Berenice, Iphigenie, or
Monime; maternal tenderness or the tenderness of the foster-mother
(Andromaque, Clytemnestre, Josabeth); female ambition (Agrippine,
Athalie)--these are the themes of his exposition. His style has been
justly characterised as a continual creation; its audacity underlies
its suavity; its miracles are accomplished with the simplest means.
His vocabulary is singularly small, yet with such a vocabulary he
can attain the rarest effects. From sustained dignity he can pass
suddenly, when the need arises, to the most direct familiarity. The
music of his verse is seldom rich or sonorous; it is at once a pure
vehicle for the idea and a delicate caress to the senses.

CHAPTER VII
BOSSUET AND THE PREACHERS--FENELON

I

"A man set under authority"--these words, better than any other,
define Bossuet. Above him was God, represented in things spiritual
by the Catholic Church, in things temporal by the French monarchy;
below him were the faithful confided to his charge, and those who
would lead the faithful astray from