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Updated: June 21, 2025
The tragic dramatists, Corneille and Racine, now appeared on the literary horizon. Racine's language and versification was said to be far superior to either Milton in English or Virgil in Latin.
Corneille did not boldly abandon himself to the guidance of his genius; he feared criticism, although he defied it. His success proved the signal for envy and detraction; he became angry at being obliged to fight his way, and therefore withdrew from the path in which he was likely to meet enemies. His decline was as rapid as his success had been brilliant.
This is the situation of Chimene and Rodrigue in "The Cid" of Pierre Corneille, which is undeniably in point of intrigue the masterpiece of the tragic stage. Honor and filial love arm the hand of Rodrigue against the father of her whom he loves, and his valor gives him the victory.
She knew that after Rochez had attained his heart's desire and carried off the lady of his choice which he had successfully done half an hour before I myself made my way up the Passage Corneille I would pass out of her life for ever. This she could not endure. Life at once would become intolerable.
"You have a great name; if you don't obtain the fortune that name requires you'll end your days in the uniform of a cavalry-sergeant. 'We have seen the fall of nobler heads," he added, declaiming the line of Corneille as he took Savinien's arm. "About six years ago," he continued, "a young Comte d'Esgrignon came among us; but he did not stay two years in the paradise of the great world.
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.
There was Lulli in music; Beauchamp in ballets; Corneille and Racine in tragedy; Moliere in comedy; La Chamelle and La Beauval, actresses; and Baron, Lafleur, Toriliere, and Guerin, actors. Each of these persons was excellent in his way.
Hence it is not strange that this new order of things resulted in many crudities and exaggerations. It is not worth while to criticize too severely the plumed knights who took the heroes of Corneille as models, played the harmless lover, and paid the tribute of chivalric deference to women.
The entrance is approached by a flight of steps, which have witnessed some sanguinary scenes, when Napoleon poured forth the iron hail of his artillery upon the opposing force which was there posted; again, in 1830, on the same spot, the people made a firm resistance against the gendarmerie of Charles X. The portal has two ranges of columns of corinthian and doric orders, the interior, although plain, has a fine appearance, heightened by the effect produced by many handsome monuments to illustrious characters who have been buried here, amongst the rest, Corneille; painting as well as sculpture has lent its aid in decorating this church, as it contains some fine pictures.
The man of genius amidst many a circle may exclaim with Themistocles, "I cannot fiddle, but I can make a little village a great city;" and with Corneille, he may be allowed to smile at his own deficiencies, and even disdain to please in certain conventional manners, asserting that "wanting all these things, he was not the less Corneille."
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