above all others. Yet this very perfection of form robs him of some of the rough, wholesome vigor, which makes Corneille's plays the most healthy reading in the French language. Corneille speaks by the mouths of heroes, Racine speaks by the mouths of men.

Voltaire is only to be placed by their side for the extraordinary skill, amounting to genius, with which he followed in their footsteps. We must not look to him for new departures, nor indeed for the lofty authority of the one, or the harmonious richness of the other. Yet in each particular he succeeds, by the force of art, in getting within measurable distance of his models: his Zaïre (1733) and Mérope (1743) would hardly have been disowned by either.

After Voltaire, new times demanded new methods. The nineteenth century reacted against the portraiture of character alone, and required more complete representation of the action; it called for deeds enacted on the stage, and not in the slips. Hence, a new form, with a new name, le drame, has taken exclusive possession of the French tragic stage.

3. PRODUCTION OF "ESTHER."

In the year 1687, Mme. de Maintenon had founded at St. Cyr, in the vicinity of the royal residence of Versailles, an establishment for the education of two hundred and fifty girls, belonging to noble families in reduced circumstances. To this institution she devoted much of her time and care.

It was usual, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, to consider the acting of plays a valuable aid to liberal education, suitable pieces being often written by the heads of the institutions in which they were to be performed. Dissatisfied with the compositions of Mme. de Brinon, the first superior of St. Cyr, and objecting to the love-making that held such a large place in the works written for the public stage, Mme. de Maintenon applied to Racine, requesting him to write a play that should be entirely suitable for performance by very young ladies. The courtier poet could not refuse, and the result was the play of Esther, performed in January, 1689, by pupils of St. Cyr, not one of whom was over seventeen years of age.

The success of the play was startling. The king witnessed it repeatedly, and insisted that all his court and guests should do likewise. The performances of Esther, at St. Cyr, became great events for the fashionable society of the day. This unlooked-for result was not slow to alarm Mme. de Maintenon: their very success became a danger for the youthful actresses. Accordingly, Mme. de Maintenon discountenanced the resumption of Esther after the first series of performances was concluded, and she entirely withheld from public representation the second play, Athalie, written by Racine in the following year for the same purpose. Subsequently Mme. de Maintenon banished dramatic performances altogether from St. Cyr; she concluded it was better to train the reason[1] by the solid[1] truths of philosophy than the imagination by the unrealities of dramatic literature.

4. THE PLAY OF "ESTHER."

The subject of Esther is admirably chosen for the purpose Racine had in view. The story of Esther, owing mainly to the noble character of the queen, is as touching as it is lofty. The poet found it entirely in the Bible, which should be read side by side with the play from beginning to end. Several inspirations, notably that of the beautiful prayer in the first act, are drawn from the "Rest of the Book of Esther," i.e., those chapters which being found only in the Greek, and neither in the Hebrew nor in the Chaldee MSS., are relegated to the Apocrypha.

Racine follows the theory of the Abbé de Saci, and takes the Ahasuerus of Scripture to be the Darius of secular history. Modern criticism, however, inclines to see in him neither Darius, nor, as has been proposed on the authority of the "Rest of the Book of Esther" (xii. 2), Artaxerxes Longimanus, but Xerxes, the immediate successor of Darius.

The idea of a Chorus is borrowed from the Greeks, as Racine expressly declared in his preface. In this play, as in Greek tragedy, the Chorus comments upon the action as it unfolds itself, and the great interests at stake lift the poet to lofty heights of lyrical inspiration. The lyrics of the chorus, far from being a relapse into the pernicious practice, prevalent before the time of Corneille, of providing such passages for the mere display of the actor's ability, are pure chants and hymns, like the Cantiques Spirituels which Racine composed subsequently in detached form, and are a highly appropriate ornament to religious plays such as Esther and Athalie.

Of the form into which the poet has cast his materials, it is impossible to speak too highly. It is adequate praise to say that the language, in its perfect simplicity and exquisite beauty, is in keeping with the elevation of the thought, which is that of the Scriptures themselves. Nor should the constructive skill be unnoticed with which the dramatist has filled in the characters sketched by the Bible; the humility and grace of Esther's account of her own triumph (ll. 31-80), the art with which Haman betrays his cruel nature by the very offer of services he makes to the queen (ll. 1151-4), the adroitness of the court he pays to the king (ll. 593-7), and his readiness of resource in adversity (ll. 1142-67).

The subjoined chronological table will enable the student to follow the events referred to in the play.

B. C. 718 Shalmaneser takes the kingdom of Israel captive. 606 Nebuchadnezzar takes the kingdom of Juda captive. 606-536 Captivity of the Jews under the Assyrians. 587 Nebuchadnezzar captures Jerusalem and destroys the temple. 536 Cyrus, King of Persia, conquers Balthasar, King of Babylon, and suffers the Jews to return to their own country. 529-522 Cambyses II. reigns over Persia. 522-521 Pseudo-Smerdis " " 521-485 Darius " " 485-465 Xerxes " " 465-425 Artaxerxes Longimanus "

[1]These words recur most frequently in her later correspondence with St. Cyr.

PROLOGUE.

LA PIETE.

  Du séjour bienheureux de la Divinité
  Je descends dans ce lieu, par la Grace habité.
  L'Innocence s'y plaît, ma compagne éternelle,
  Et n'a point sous les cieux d'asile plus fidèle.
  Ici, loin du tumulte, aux devoirs les plus saints 5
  Tout un peuple naissant est formé par mes mains.
  Je nourris dans son coeur la semence féconde
  Des vertus dont il doit sanctifier le monde.
  Un roi qui me protége, un roi victorieux,
  A commis à mes soins ce dépôt précieux. 10
  C'est lui qui rassembla ces colombes timides,
  Éparses en cent lieux, sans secours et sans guides.
  Pour elles à sa porte élevant ce palais,
  Il leur y fit trouver l'abondance et la paix.

  Grand Dieu, que cet ouvrage ait place en ta mémoire. 15
  Que tous les soins qu'il prend pour soutenir la gloire
  Soient gravés de ta main au livre où sont écrits
  Les noms prédestinés des rois que tu chéris.
  Tu m'écoutes. Ma voix ne t'est point étrangère.
  Je suis la Piété, cette fille si chère, 20
  Qui t'offre de ce roi les plus tendres soupirs.
  Du feu de ton amour j'allume ses desirs.
  Du zèle qui pour toi l'enflamme et le dévore
  La chaleur se répand du couchant à