mantic, lofty tone of mind,
will to the end of the world be fascinated by his pages; heroic
resolutions, great deeds, will ever be prompted by his sentiments. But
they are above the standard of common life. They evince a deep knowledge
of human nature, but of human nature in noble and heroic bosoms
only--and that is widely different from what it obtains with ordinary
men. Hence his pieces are little adapted for general representation; and
certainly, even the best translations of them never could succeed in
this country.

Racine is a more general favourite than Corneille, because he paints
feelings more commonly experienced; but he wants his great and heroic
sentiments. No one ever thought of calling him the Great. Less deeply
embued with the lofty spirit of chivalry, less romantic in his
structure, less commanding in his ideas, he is more polished, more
equal, and has a greater command of the pathetic. He is to Corneille
what Virgil was to Homer, what Raphael to Michael Angelo. The anguish of
the human heart was what he chiefly loved to represent, because he felt
that there he excelled; and hence his tragedies are chiefly formed on
the Greek model, and on the subjects already treated by Sophocles and
Euripides. Agamemnon, Achilles, Alcestes, Orestes, Clytemnestra,
Iphigenia, Oedipus, Hermione, Jocasta, Antigone, reappear on his
pages, as in those of the masters of the Greek drama. But they reappear
in a modern dress. They are very different from the inimitable
simplicity of the originals. The refinements, conceits, extravagant
flattery, politeness, and stately manners of the Grand Monarque, shine
through every line. Achilles makes love to Iphigenia as if she were in
the marbled gardens of Versailles; the passion of Phedre for Hippolyte,
is the refined effusion of modern delicacy, not the burning fever and
maniac delirium of Phaedra in Euripides. His Greek heroes and heroines
address each other as if they were in the _Oeil de Boeuf_; it is
"monsieur" and "madame" at every step. Under classical names, and with
the scene laid in distant lands, it is still the ancient _regime_ of
France which is portrayed in all his pieces--it is the passions and
distresses of an old and highly civilized society which are depicted.
Even _Athalie_, his masterpiece, has none of the ancient Jewish spirit
in it; it is the modern priesthood which is represented as resisting
oppression in the temple of Jerusalem. But the beauty of language, the