Monime, in Mithridate

Phèdre, m Phèdre {1677).

Bérénice, in Bérénice (1670).

NOTES. PAGES gj-lOZ l8l

1. 32. La Champmeslé (Marie Desmares) (1644-98), granddaughter of a président of the Parlement of Normaady, but poor, because disinherited by her father, she started her theatrical career on the stage at Rouen, and married Champmeslé, who was himself an actor in that town. She '.vent to the * Théâtre du Marais,' Paris, in 1669, whence she passed to the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and ultimately to the Théâtre of the Rue Guénégaud (referred to in preceding notes). She was the mistress of Racine, who gave her lessons, thanks to whxh she became the first tragical actress of the time ; she piaycd the leading female parts in Mithridate (Monime), Bajazet (Roxane), Iphigaûe (Iphigénie), Phèdre (Phèdre) ; and Madame de Sévigné was not far from the truth w hen •^he wrote : ' Racine fait des comédies pour la Champmeslé ; ce n'est pas pour les siècles à venir.' Racine was succeeded in La Champmeslé's affections by the Comte de Clermont-Tonnerre, which caused people to say that her passion had been ' déracinée par le tonnerre.' She left the stage four years only before her death. ,

1. 35. V Elégie à la -voix gémissante, Au ris, etc., from André Chénier's Élégies, xxxii.

Page 100. 1. 4. Port-Royal, alors persécuté. During the last part of Louis XIV's reign, the Jansenists of Port-Royal were very cruelly persecuted, the persécution culminating in the officiai suppression of the monastery by a bull of Pope Clément IX (1708), the dispersion of its abbesses (1709), and the entire destruction of the very buildings in which the Jansenists had known such prospérons years (17 10).

1. 34. Madame de Caylus (1673-1729), the daughter of a fervent Protestant, was brought up at Saint-Cyr by her aunt, Madame de Maintenon, as a Catholic. She recited the Unes of Esther and Jthalie delightfully, and it was for her that Racine wrote his prologue to Esther : La Piété. She wrote, in a very simple though malicious style, very interesting Sowvenir s, whxch Voltaire published in 1770, and which hâve been reprinted several times since, on account of the true light they throw on the history of the latter years of Louis XIV's reign.

1. 37. Boyer. See note to p. 85, 1. 18. Page 101. 1. 17. One of the great innovations of £j^>6d>r was the introduction of musical choruses as dramatic éléments in tragedy.

Page 102. 1. 20. Rollin. See note to p. 96, 1. 19.

1. 24. Port-Royal-des-Champs. See note to p. 78, 1. 12. 1. 30. Champmeslé. See note to p. 99, I. 32.

iSz IROIS PORTRAITS LITIÉRAIRES

Pag K 103. I. ir. Lui-même il dut payer sa dette. Allusi(^n to the ' profession ' of thc younger daughter.

Page 105. 1. 14. Si le coupable prend le change, -à mcVà\>\\i>r takcn l'rom the hunting-field— to be thrown oit the scent, i. e. to allow oneself to be deceived, to be taken in, to bc niist;;ken. ' Je sais l'affaire et ne prends point le change' — Molière, Tartufe, iv, 3. Compare donner le change à quelqu'un, to put on the wrong scent, to mislead, deceive. ,* A cet amour naissant il faut donner le change.' — Molière, L'Etourdi, i. 9.

1. 19. cantique sur la Charité. The first * cantique ' composed for Saint-Cyr in 1694.

I. 30. Sainte-Beuve has already expressed his prcfererce for Esther, and given the reasons for this préférence (see p. 94, 1. 8, and notes).

Page 106. 1. 16. Cinna, Act V, Scène i. Augustus very calmly accuses Cinna of bctraying the trust he had put in him : several tinies Cinna tries to justify himself, but Augustus reminds him that he promised to listen to thewhole of his accu- ■^ations without interrupting him.

Prête, sans me troubler, l'oreille à mes discours ; D'aucun mot, d'aucun cri n'en interromps le cours. In spite of his promise Cinna cannot help cxclaiming : — Aloi, Seigneur ! moi, que j'eusse une âme si traîtresse ! Qu'un si lâche dessein . . .

To which Augustus replies : —

Tu tiens mal ta promesse.

Sieds-toi, je n'ai pas dit encor ce que je veux ; Tu te justifieras après, si tu le peux. Écoute, cependant, et tiens mieux ta parole. It was this reply which the 'jeu de Talma ' emphasized, as Sainte-Beuve dcscribes it.

On Talma, see note to p. 33, 1. 2.

1. 32. Juliette, au balcon— iamous scène in Romeo and Jk/;W (Act III, Se. v). ^

1. 39. Desdemona, émue du vagtu pressentiment de sa fin, re^'ient toujours, sans savoir pourquoi, à une chanson de saule . . . Othello, Act IV, Se. iii :—

The poor soûl sat sighing by a sycamore tree,

Sing ail a green willow ; Her hand on her bosom, her head on her knee,

Sing w illow, willow, willow :

The fresh streams ran by her, and murmur'd her moans ;

Sing willow, willow, willow ; Her sait tears fell from her, and soften'd the stones, &c....^

Page 107. 1. n. Macbeth, Act I, Scène vi.

Banquo : This guest of summer,

The temple -haunting martlet, does approve, By his lov'd mansionry, that the heaven's breath Sniells wooingly hère : no jutty, frieze, Buttress, nor coign of vantage, but this bird Hath made his pendent bed and procréant cradie : Where they most breed and haunt, I hâve observ'd, The air is délicate.

I. 35. Il y a datis ' Bdjazet' un passage . . ., i, e. Baj'azet, Act I, Scène i.

Page 108. 1. 12. Monime a woulu s'ctrangler avec son bajideau. Cf. Mithridate, Act V, Scène i .

Mon'ime : Et toi, fatal tissu, malheureux diadème. Instrument et témoin de toutes mes douleurs, Bandeau que mille fois j'ai trempé de mes pleurs, Au moins en terminant ma vie et mon supplice. Ne pouvais-tu me rendre un funeste service ? A mes tristes regards, va, cesse de t'offrir ; D'autres armes sans toi sauront me secourir : Et périsse le jour et la main meurtrière Qui jadis sur mon front t'attacha la première !

1. 23. Chamfort (1741-94), an ardent supporter of thc ideas the spreading of which led to the outburst of the French Révolution. He is said to hâve given Sieyès the title, and formula of his famous paniphlet : Qu'est-ce que le Tiers État ? (1789) {Que doit-il être/ Tout. Qii est-il ? Rien.) From a purely literary standpoint, Chamfort is chiefly known for his tragedy of Mustapha et Zéatigir (1776), and better still for his innumerable botis mots.

1. 30. Arcas is one of the servants of Agamemnon, in Iphigénie.

1. 31. M. Fillewain {1790-1870), a famous French critic, may be considered as the immédiate predecessor of Sainte- Beuve in the évolution of French criticism (see Brunetière's L'Évolution de la Critique depuis la Renaissance Jusqu'à nos jours). Among his numerous works, the foUowing may be mentioned : Cours de Littérature française, including a Tableau de la Littérature au moyen âge en France, en Italie, en Espagne et en Angleterre : Histoire de Cromwell, d'après les Mémoires du temps et les recueils parlementaires ; a translation of La République de Cicéron ; a study on Lascar is, ou les Grecs du a'"^ siècle.

184 TROIS rORTRAIIS LITTÉRAIRES

1. 3J. The subject of Iphigénie is mainly drawn from Euripidcs' Iphigenia in Âulis.

Page 109. 1. 9. Iphigénie, Act I, Scène i. 1. 18. Tulma. See note to p. 33, 1. 3. 1. 31. Moni>7ie, in Mithridate ; one of the most délicate féminine figures in Racinc's drama.

Page 110. \. 2. La Princase de Cl'ei'es, a novel by Madame de La Fayette (1634-92) — one of the first French novels (in the modem sensé ot the word), dealing with pure, fresh, and simple feelings, and written in an exquisitc though unaffected style.

1. 6. Rubem (1577-1640), the famous master of the Flemish School of painters ; Ingres, a French painter of the last cenlury. Opposed to each other by Sainte-Beuve as représentatives, the former of exubérance and brilliancy of colour and life, the latter of sobriety of colour and movement, but of dclicacy and refinement in the expression of détail.

1. 25. Les Plaideurs (1668) is the only comedy which Racine ever wrote, and it has remained dovvn to our own days one of the most successful of ail classical comédies acted on the stage of the ' Théâtre-Français.'

Page 111. 1. 4. The criticism of Fénelon on Molière's style has already been touched upon by Sainte-Beuve in his Portrait of Molière. (See p. 21, 1. 18, and corresponding note.)

1. 34. Nul n'a su mieux que lui la valeur des mots. Only a careful and minute study of the tragédies of Racine can disclose his wonderful power of using words in their précise meaning, and to their best advantage— a power so justly praised by Sainte-Beuve in his conclusion.

Oxford : Printed at the Clarendon Press by Horace Hart, M. A.

PQ Sainte-Beuve, Charles 2391 Augustin T76 Trois portraits

littéraires