nd the
great Corneille, his own dramatic career was already ended. He was born,
in 1639, at La Ferte-Milon; he had made his first appearance on the stage
in 1664 with the _Freres ennemis,_ and had taken leave of it in 1673 with
_Phedre_. _Esther_ and _Athalie,_ played in 1689 and 1691 by the young
ladies of St. Cyr, were not regarded by their author and his austere
friends as any derogation from the pious engagements he had entered into.
Racine, left an orphan at four years of age, and brought up at Port-Royal
under the influence and the personal care of M. Le Maitre, who called him
his son, did not at first answer the expectations of his master. The
glowing fancy of which he already gave signs caused dismay to Lancelot,
who threw into the fire one after the other two copies of the Greek tale
_Theayene et Chariclee_ which the young man was reading. The third time,
the latter learnt it off by heart, and, taking the book to his severe
censor, "Here," said he, "you can burn this volume too, as well as the
others."

Racine's pious friends had fine work to no purpose; nature carried the
day, and he wrote verses. "Being unable to consult you, I was prepared,
like Malherbe, to consult an old servant at our place," he wrote to one
of his friends, "if I had not discovered that she was a Jansenist like
her master, and that she might betray me, which would be my utter ruin,
considering that I receive every day letter upon letter, or rather
excommunication upon excommunication, all because of a poor sonnet." To
deter the young man from poetry, he was led to expect a benefice, and was
sent away to Uzes to his uncle's, Father Sconin, who set him to study
theology. "I pass my time with my uncle, St. Thomas, and Virgil," he
wrote on the 17th of January, 1662, to M. Vitard, steward to the Duke of
Luynes; "I make lots of extracts from theology and some from poetry. My
uncle has kind intentions towards me, he hopes to get me something; then
I shall try to pay my debts. I do not forget the obligations I am under
to you. I blush as I write; _Erubuit puer, salva res est_ (the lad has
blushed; it is all right). But that conclusion is all wrong; my affairs
do not mend."

Racine had composed at Uzes the _Freres ennemis,_ which was played on his
return to Paris in 1664, not without a certain success; _Alexandre_ met
with a great deal in 1665; the author had at first intrusted it to
Moliere's company, but he was not satisfied and gave