H.F. XII I
114 IROIS rORTRMIS LITTÉRAIRES
oftcn becn rcprintcd siiicc undcr thc title Motion Lescaut. His great ilcfcct is 'liât hc lias no plan; hc goes whcrc his imagination leads liim ; hcncc tlierc is a lack of harmony and sobricty in his works. I\Icn of first-rate genins posscss this harmony and sobricty naturally ; tlicy do not constrain thcmscivcs to obey strict and artilicial litcrary rulcs or iaws, and they do not make such obcdience tbe cliicf objcct of tlicir cndeavours (as the poets of the ' studious and polite schools ' do), but thcir instinct allows tlieni to combine in their works thc charm derivcd from spontaneity with that which arises from the perfection of proportions and expressions.
1.40. Despréaux. Boiloau-Despréaux ( 1 636-171 i),the most famous of those ' studious and polite poets ' to whom Sainte- Beuve is alluding. He wrote in verse the Art Poétique, a kind of code in four ' Chants ' of the rules u hich poets should obey when writing poetry. The iaws he formulated were accepted as ' articles of dogma ' for more than a ccntury. He always conformed to them strictiy himself, but he lacks that free inspiration which some other writcrs fsuch as thc Abbé Prévost) do not know how to restrain.
Page 3. 1.4. Vawvenargues (1715-47), a famous Krench moralist, whose style is simple and ciear, often élégant in its clearness. Sainte-Beuve himself said of Vauvenargues that ' il a proprement cette netteté qui est l'ornement de la justesse . . . une énergie sans trace d'effort.' It is interesting to compare this appréciation with the rtwî de Vauvenargues quoted hère.
\. Il- A les bien prendre, les excellents génies . . . Sainte- Beuve gives hère a kind of summary définition of vvhat he means by those ' excellents génies ' ; they are those who hâve still preserved the freedom and the spontaneity of accent which make the charm of early literatures, and hâve already acquired the perfection of outline which characterizes *classical' periods: they continue the first through the second ri. 18).
Pagk 4. 1. 24. Racine (1639-99J, one of the most 'perfect' French classical dramatists ; several of his pilays { Ândromaque, Britannicus, Phèdre, Esther, Âthalie) are considered the finest masterpieces in the French language ; aithough his tragédies hâve classical, historical, or relij<ious subjects, they ail reflect the refined politeness of the Court during the first half of the reign of Louis XIV. See notes on the third portrait.
Bossuet (162 7-1 704), a famous preacher of the same epoch, whose name is equaliy associated with the glories of the ' grand règne.' He delivered before the Court several
Oraisons Funèbres, and wrote theological and historical works of high value.
Pascal (1623-62), the celebrated author of the Pensées and of the Lettres Pro-vinciales, the latter being a satire against the morals of the Jesuits.
1. 32. Bossuet domine ce règne à l'apogée, avant la bigoterie extrême . . . The reign of Louis XIV inay be dividtd into three periods : the first, which is ' young and brilliant,' the second, 'already highiy religious' (1. 34), and the third that of 'extrême bigotry,' when the king, undcr the influence of Madame de Maintenon and his own fears of coming death, repentcd of his former w^rldly bchaviour. Many courtiers followed his example, either sincerely or from interested motives. Bossuet is the most perfect représentative of the second period, and Molière died before the third began. See p. 8, 11. 14 et seqq.
Page 5. 1. 4. Le xvi® siècle . . . Hère begins a summary sketch of what the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries were in France, The former marked the décomposition of the old ' religious, catholic, feudal socicty,' and the birth of a new order ot things through material and intellectual anarchy ; the latter repaired the disorder, and reorganized society and religion. Broadly considered, the sixteenth ccntury is one of libcrty,— and of disorder ; the seventeenth one of order, — and of obédience. During the latter the monarchical principle and religious dogma rcached their highest pitch in France. Thèse tendencies appcar in literature as well as in society.
1. 22. Clément Marot (i 495-1 544), one of the most élégant and graceful of ail French poets ; he is the author of many short fables, some of which — Le Lion et le Rat for instance — will ever rcmain exquisite examples of French ' badinage.' Boileau himself advises the writers of his time to ' imitate the élégant hadmage of Marot,' although there has never been a more unruly and independent poet : ' Suivez de Marot l'élégant badinage.'
Bonaventure (end of the fifteenth century, 1544), one of the poets who surrounded Marguerite de Navarre, sisler of King Francis I. His poems, written inthesame vein as those of Marot, are of far less literary value.
Rabelais. See note to p. 2, 1. 12.
Régnier (1573-1613), a French satirist who possessed some of the qualities of a first-rate poet. He was a shrewd observer of the ridiculous sides of human nature and described them in a powerful and humorous style. Boileau said of him in his Réflexions sur Longin, ' Le célèbre Régnier est le poète fran- I 2
Il6 TROIS PORTRAITS LITTÉRAIRES
çais qui, du coiisontcnicnt de tout le monde, ;i le mieux connu, avant IMolièrc, les mœurs et le caractère des hommes.' But thèse qualities arc too often overshadowcd in his poems by his lack of application and reserve ; his admirable portraits and fine verses are spoiied by négligence, incorrcctness and coarsencss of language.
I, 23. Romard (1524-85), onc of the Frcnch poets who advocated the imitation of Greek and Latin writers so as to enrich the poetry of his timc. Himsclf a strong admirer of classical literatures, of which hc had a thorough knowledgc, he borrowed from them many new forms which he successfully introduced in his own works, and soon became the chief of a new school, the ' Pléiade,' of which Baïf and Jodelle were also mcmbers. Their inspirât i:)n, as Sainte- Beuve hère points out, was purcly ' pagan, Greck, and Epicurean,' and in this respect opposed to the Christian spirit of the IMiddle Ages, and to that of the foUowing century.
1. 24. Montaigne (1533-92). The most sceptical of ail French phiiosophical writers. In his monumental work. Les Essais, under pretence of painting his own portrait, he raises doubts as to the truth of ail hiiman opinions, shows their inconsistency or their futility, and enjoys this destruction of ail accepted beliefs ; his favourite phrases are ' Que sais-je? ', ' Peut être.'
1. 25. Charron (i 541-1603), a French moralist, whose chief work. Le Iraité de la Sagesse, is in its main lines an abstract of Montaigne's Essais. He displays in it the same scepticism, but does so in a more methodical manner.
1. 26. Malherbe, homme de forme . . . Malherbe (1555- 1628) has generally been considered as opposed in every way to Ronsard. But in fact his endeavours were directed more against the inferior followersof Ronsard than against Ronsard himself. He was the first to advocate the 'style noble,' which prevailed for more than a century after him. He regarded a poem as a technical work, to be composed in conformity to immutable rules, and had, in this respect, a great influence on his contemporaries. He was long considered as the 'Apollo,' the creator of French poetry. Modem critics — Sainte-Beuve being the first — havc given to some of his predecessors, to Ronsard in particular, a fairer share in the growth of French classical poetry.
1. 30. Corneille, le père de Polyeucte et de Pauline. Corneille (1606-84), the famous dramatist. One of his best tragédies, Polyeucte, is of thoroughiy Christian inspiration. Polyeucte and Pauline are the two chief characters of this
NOTES, PAGES 5-6 UJ
play, Polyeucte being Christian from the very first, and Pauline growing so under the influence of her husband's faith and martyrdoin. See notes on the second portrait.
1, 31. D'Urfë (1568-1625), a tamoiis noveiist whose main work, VAitrée^ athough artificial and unreai, enjoyed for a long tiiiie an immense réputation.
1. 35. Pascal (1623-62), see note to p. 4, 1. 24. He reconsidered many ot the prublems raised by Montaigne, but, instead of concluding in universal doubt, shows that they can only be solved by a strong faith in Christian doctrine. (See p. 8, 11. 21 et Jeqq.)
1, 36. Boisrobert, Ménage, Cojfar, Conrart, d''Assoucy, Saint- Amant, affected and often licentious poets of the reign of Louis XIII. See notes to p. 7, 1. 7.
Page 6. 1. i. Despréaux. See note to p. 2, 1. 40. Racine, Bossuet. See notes to p. 4, 1. 24.
1. 2. La Fontaine . . . tout du XVI^ sièc/e qu'il est . , . La Fontaine (1621-95), the famous French fabulist, stands in the middle of the sixteenth century as an independent writer ; his simplicity often recalls the non-classical charm of the best poems of Clément IMarot, several of which he borrowed and re-\vrote in a similar inspiration {Le Liou et le Rat). His 'fits' of religion, to which Sainte-Beuve refers hère to strengthen his thesis, were very rare indeed.
1. 22. Gassendi (i 592-1 665), a French plùlosopher whose physical, metaphysical, and ethical System is strongly opposed to that of Descartes. Against the latter's spiritualism he défends a sensualist and epicurean idéal. He was followed by a large number of 'libertins* and gay writers such as Chapelle, Bernier, Cyrano de Bergerac, the poet Jean Hesnault, and Molière, who had been with Chapelle one of Gassendi's piipiis. Sainte-Beuve says elsewhere that of his master ' il prend surtout l'esprit, non le système, non les atomes ; et il croit, suivant son propre aveu, et malgré Chapelle qui prend tout (en glouton indigeste qu'il est), que d'Épicure et de Gassendi il n'y a de bon que la morale.' The plays of Molière bear many marks of the teachings of Gassendi, e. g. the speech of Chrysale to Bélise, in Les Femmes Sa-vantes, where Chrysale stands for common sensé against Bélise's extravagant intellectualism. ' Oui, mon corps est moi-même, et j'en veux prendre soin ; guenille si l'on veut, ma guenille m'est chère.' Thèse lines recall the polemics between Gassendi and Descartes, standing respectively for body and soûl. On Bernier, Chapelle, Hesnault, see note to p. II, 11. 33 and 39.
II» TROIS rORIRAITS LITIERAIRES
On Cyrano de Bergerac, sec note to p. 12, 1. 20.
I. 29. Larii'ey ( 1 540 ?-i6 1 2), Frcnch author, who pnblishcd ninc coiindies in prose, in wliicli Molière and Rcgnard t'ound the germs of some ot thcir bcst scènes.
I. 30. Les autetin de la 'Satyre Ménippée.' IMénippée was the namc given about the end of tlic sixtecnth ccntury to a celebrated collection of pamphlets dirccted against ihc ' Ligue,' to which it gave the coup de grâce.
I. 31. Lamotbe-le-fayer (1588-1672), a philosopher uhose best known work, Cinq Dialogues à Pimitation des Anciens, ends with thèse two Spanish verses : —
De las cosas m;is seguras
La mas segura es dudar.
(Of ail most sure things, the surcst is doubt.) Lamothe-le-
Vayer was for a fewycars tutor of the young king Louis XIV.
1. 32. Naudé (1600-53), Guy Patin (1602-72), two Iriends, the former a bibliographer, the latter a doctor, both sceptics after the manner of Montaigne.
I. 34. Ninon de Lenclos (16 16-1706), a charming lady who was brought up by her father on Epicurean lines, and whose free ways and exquisite wit attracted to her saloti a number of writers of the time. Molière was one of them.
Madame de La Sablière (1636-93), best known by the hospitality which she accorded to La Fontaine for twenty years ; she was converted after having been abandoncd by her lover, La F^are, and ended her life in religious and charitable Works.
1. 35. Des Barreaux (1602-1673), another Epicurean poet, who led a life of pleasure and wTote many licentious songs and irréligions verses.
Page 7. 1. 3. rAnste pour les bienséances. Ariste, the brother of Chrysale in Les Femmes Savantes.
1. 5. Philinte, the friend of Alceste in the Misanthrope. He is an easy-going man who puts up quietly with the faults of othcrs owing to the necessity of living with them. He présents a happy contrast to Alceste.
Lélius. Caius Laelius, surnamed Sapiens, lived about 140 B.c. He was a Roman orator and philosopher, and a friend of the younger Scipio Africanus. He isone of thechief characters in Cicero's De Senectute and De Amicitia.
1.6. jé'rrtjwf (1467-1536). Erasmus, the famous Dutch theological scholar and satirist. His chief work was an édition of the New Testament in Greek with a Latin translation. Besides this his most notable publications are his Colloquies and Encomium Moriae.
Atticus (109-32 B.C.), a Roman scholar and historian. He was the iiitimate friend of Cicero and is best known froni the letters addressed to him by the great orator.
I. 7. Saint-ÂmatU (1594-1661) devoted much of his life to haunting taverns in nierry Company, and wrote amidst their joyfiil surroundings many of his best Bacchic poems.
Boisrobert (i592-i662),a priest of whom Guv Patin said : * C'est un prêtre qui vit en goinfre, fort déréglé et fort dissolu.' His life was publicly licentious, and brought him the disfavour of Cardinal Richelieu.
