of a considerable
number of the Psalms; there are odes, madrigals, sonnets, stanzas,
addresses to the king. Then there are discourses in prose on dramatic
poetry, on tragedy, and on the three unities. Add to these, elaborate
appreciations by himself of a considerable number of his own plays,
prefaces, epistles, arguments to his pieces, and you have, what with the
notes, the introductions, the eulogies, and other such things that the
faithful French editor knows so well how to accumulate, matter enough of
Corneille to swell out eleven, or, in one edition,--that issued under
Napoleon as First Consul,--even twelve, handsome volumes of his works.

Corneille and Bossuet together constitute a kind of rank by themselves
among the _Dii Majores_ of the French literary Olympus.

XI.

RACINE.

1639-1699.

Jean Racine was Pierre Corneille reduced to rule. The younger was to the
elder somewhat as Sophocles or Euripides was to AEschylus, as Virgil was
to Lucretius, as Pope was to Dryden. Nature was more in Corneille, art
was more in Racine. Corneille was a pathfinder in literature. He led the
way, even for Moliere, still more for Racine. But Racine was as much
before Corneille in perfection of art, as Corneille was before Racine in
audacity of genius. Racine, accordingly, is much more even and uniform
than Corneille. Smoothness, polish, ease, grace, sweetness,--these, and
monotony in these, are the mark of Racine. But if there is, in the
latter poet, less to admire, there is also less to forgive. His taste
and his judgment were surer than the taste and the judgment of
Corneille. He enjoyed, moreover, an inestimable advantage in the
life-long friendship of the great critic of his time, Boileau. Boileau
was a literary conscience to Racine. He kept Racine constantly spurred
to his best endeavors in art. Racine was congratulating himself to his
friend on the ease with which he produced his verse. "Let me teach you
to produce easy verse with difficulty," was the critic's admirable
reply. Racine was a docile pupil. He became as painstaking an artist in
verse as Boileau would have him.

It will always be a matter of individual taste, and of changing fashion
in criticism, to decide which of the two is, on the whole, to be
preferred to the other. Racine eclipsed Corneille in vogue during the
lifetime of the latter. Corneille's old age was, perhaps, seriously
saddened by the consciousness, which he could not but have, of being