AU LECTEUR

Yo—Lope de Véga : Carpia Félix Lope de, born in Madrid 1562, d. 1635 ; took part in the expédition of the famous Armada ; after ha\n been twice widower, entered the orders. H was of a prodigious fecundity ; about 300 play sby him hâve been printed — Madrid, 1609- 1647, 25 vols. 4to.

16— le Cid et Pompée : “Le Cid,” a tragedy by Corneille, imitated from the Spanish of Guilhem de Castro. “ The great deeds of the i Cid,’ his rough generosity, his unflinching valour, his

br. &

incorruptible loyalty, his enthusiastic faith, every stroke of this grand poetic picture was,” says M. G-eruzez, “the ancien t héritage of Spain. Gastilian honour couldseeitself reflected in every page. . . . Corneille disengaged and brought into prominence that very idéal action which the Spanish poet had overlooked. The interest of his immortal tragedy lies in the moral combat between honour and love in Rodrigue, and between love and duty in Chimene. The 1 Cid ’ was the subject in which Corneille discovered his own genius and that tragic principle which from henceforth made his power.” — 4 ‘ Pompée,” another of Corneille’s tragédies, represented in 1601 ; the subject of which is the death of Pompée, assassinated by order of Ptolemy, King of Egypt, after the battle of Pharsale. Though there are many beautiful passages, this tragedy, says Voltaire, is not a masterpiece : “ C’est une tentative que Corneille fit de mettre sur la scène des morceaux qui ne formaient pas un tout.” fiowever, Corneille said of this work, “ Pour le style, il est plus élevé en ce poème qu’en aucun des miens, et ce sont, sans contredit, les vers les plus pompeux que j’aie faits.”

Page vi line 18 — Guillem ( Guilhem , or Gislen) de Castro, a Spanish dramatist, contemporary of Lope de Vega, who praises him in his C( Apollo’s Laurel.” His most famous play was “ Le Cid,” which Corneille imitated (see preceding note). His dramas hâve been published at Valence, under the title of “Las Comedias ” (1621 and 1625). vi 18 — Lzicain ( Marcus Annœus lucanus ), the greatest of

the Latin epic poets after Virgil, born at Corduba, 39 a.d., died 65 ; joined a conspiracy against Nero, after having been one of his adulators. He accused his mother in hope to save his life, but ISTero only gave him the choice of the death. His principal motive in joining the plot was very likely more a wounded literary vanity than a genuine patriotism or republican convictions. His “ Pharsale,” chiefly composed since his disgrâce, is full of beautiful passages, rather declamatory against tyranny. Si. Naudet

NOTES

says of him, “ Lucain présente un phénomène moral très -remarquable ; il y avait en lui r homme et le poète ; il avait le caractère pusillanime et l’imagination vigoureuse. Livré aux habitudes vulgaires de la société, c’était un jeune imprudent, avec les faiblesses des esprits légers. Mais lorsque l’enthousiasme le transportait loin d’ici-bas, dans le sanctuaire de la pensée poétique, alors l’homme disparaissait. Un dieu remplissait son âme exaltée, il sympathisait avec les Caton et les Brutus, et tout ce qu’il y a de plus pur, de plus énergique et de plus sublime dans leur dévouement patriotique, dans leur amour de la liberté, dans l’intrépidité de léur vertu, dans leur haine pour la tyrannie, se communiquait à lui. ... Il fut par son imagination ce que Tacite fut par son caractère.” Corneille had a great admiration for Lucan’s style, as may be traced in many passages of his Roman plays.

vi Une 20 J'ai,., dépaysé les sujets : I hâve changed the site

and country where the facts happen. But m so doing Corneille might hâve altered also some details which are quite right when the scene is supposed to be in Spain, but which are less verisimilar when placed in the heart of Paris. For instance, the nautical fete, scarcely possible in Spain, becomes the more incredible and out of season in the French city. The same might almost be said of the scene of the balcony, much more in the Spanish manner than in tbe French.

21— Four les habiller à la française : To clothe them after the French fashion. The fem. word mode is understood in those phrases.

25 Les guerres d'Allemagne : yiz., the War of Thirty

Years, which can be divided into four periods : 1. Palatine Period (1618-1625) ; 2. Danish Period (1625-1629) ; 3. Swedish Period (1630- 1635) ; 4. French Period (1635-1648). When “Le Menteur” was composed (1642) Condé had not yet won his great battles, which prepared the Paix de Westphalie.

26 Dont il fait le nouveau revenu : This phrase is not

satisfactory. We can say le nouveau venu,, but not le nouveau/ xzvenu. Still it is intelligible,

and Corneille likes to coin new words occasionally.

Hne 1 Je ne trouve à mon gré rien qui lui soit comparable :

Corneille has often such fits of pride. . He was conscious of his merit and did not shrink from confessing it. But we must not forget tliat he had to defend himself against a swarm of envious poetasters who tried to roh him of his glory even after the appearance of “Le Cid.’ In his celebrated “ Epître à Aristée,” Corneille has expressed in an immortal form this legitimate self-esteem which comforted him :

Je sais ce que je vaux, et crois ce qu’on m’en dit.

Pour me faire admirer, je ne fais point de ligue :

J’ai peu de voix pour moi, mais je les ai sans brigue ; Et mon ambition pour faire plus de bruit,

Ne les va point quêter de réduit en réduit.

Mon travail sans appui monte sur le théâtre ;

Chacun en liberté, l’y blâme ou l’idolâtre.

Et mes vers en tous lieux sont mes seuls partisans.

Par leur seule beauté ma plume est estimée ;

Je ne dois qu’à moi seul toute ma renommée,

Et pense toutefois n’avoir point de rival A qui je fasse tort en le traitant d égal.

Here is a sample of the style in which Corneille’ s detractors insulted him. In his tf Quatrième Dissertation,” dedicated to Madame la Duchesse de Retz, the Abbot d’Aubignac thus addresses Corneille : “ Vous êtes poète et poète de théâtre; vous êtes abandonné à une vile dépendance des histrions, votre commerce ordinaire n’est qu’avec leurs portiers ; vos amis ne sont que des libraires du Palais. Il faudrait avoir perdu le sens aussi bien que vous pour être en mauvaise humeur du gain que vous pouvez tirer de vos veilles et de vos empressements auprès des histrions et des libraires .... Défaites vous, monsieur de Corneille, de vos mauvaises façons de parler, qui sont encore plus mauvaises que vos vers. J’avais cru, comme plusieurs, que vous étiez le poète de la Critique de V Ecole des Femmes , et que Licidas était un nom déguisé comme celui de M. de Corneille, car vous êtes sans doute le Marquis de Mascarille qui piaille toujours^ qui ricane toujours, qui parle toujours et qui ne dit jamais rien qui vaille.”

NOTES

Fage vii line 6 — N' approuver pas la conduite : Notice the place of pas. The most usual construction is ne pas en approuver la conduite. Ne and pas are placed together before an infinitive.

vii 14 — M. de Zuylichem : Father of the celebrated

astronomer, Christian Huyghens de Z. See in the édition Kegnier two letters of Corneille to M. de Zuylichem.

vii 15 — Monseigneur le Frince d' Orange : Henri Frédéric

de Nassau, prince d’Orange, succeeded his brother, Maurice de Nassau, in 1625, aa stadhouder of the fifteen western provinces of the Netherlands ; captain and general of the Union ; took Maëstricht, 1632 ; and contributed to hasten the independence of Netherland. He died one year before this happy event, 1647.

vii 15 — MM. Heinsius et Balzac : Heinsius (Daniel),

Dutch linguist, born 1580, d. 1655, had for masters Scaliger and Douza ; he professed history at Leyde, and has published, with coirmentaries, the principal works of Aristotle, Hesiod, Horace, Livy, &c. ; also a Latin poem in four books. His quarrels with Balzac, and especially Saumaize, hâve been very celebrated. The quarrel with Balzac had for subject the “ Herodes Infanticida,” a tragedy of Heinsius. The discussion lasted several years, and is related in a sériés of pamphlets.

Balzac , Y. Louis Guez de (1596 — 1655) : One of the writers who contributed most to the formation of the French language. His principal works are : “ Letter to Courart

Chapelain, &c.,” “Entretiens ou dissertations littéraires,” “ Aristippe, ou la Cour, le Prince, le Socrate Chrétien also some French and Latin verses. Voltaire and La Harpe reproached him for having taken more care of the words than of the ideas.

vii 16 — Ont pris comme pour arbitre : Comme here is ex-

pletive, i.e ., not necessary to the sense.

vii 19 — Deux épigrammes , Vun français , Vautre latin :

Epigramme is now only used as a féminine noun. “ Ce mot,’’ says Littré, “a été longtemps d’un genre incertain.” (Cf. Montaigne iii.,

104), “Il y a un épigramme en Martial qu’est des bons.”

Page vii Une 20 — Les Elzévier s à Leyden : Elzevirs or Elzeviers, Lat.

Elzeverius, celebrated family of Dutch printers and booksellers, which flourished in the 16th and 17th century; tbe most known are — Bonaventure Elzevir, Leyden (1618 — 1653), and Abraham, his brother and partner. Their éditions, almost every one of small size, are masterpieces of typography. Mr. Brunet has given a good notice on their éditions. (. Manuel du Libraire .)