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LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC MEN.

wrote his “ Essays on the Theatre,” which contain muchacute and admirable criticism; though, like all French writers on that subject, he misses the real subject ofdiscussion. He translated, also, the “ Imitation of JesusChrist” into French — being persuaded to this design bythe jesuits. He fails, as our poets are apt to fail, whenthey versify the psalms ; the dignified simplicity of theoriginal being lost in the frippery of modern rhyme.

It had been happy for Corneille had he adhered tohis resolves to write no more for the theatre. But M.Fouquet, the celebrated and unfortunate minister offinances to Louis XIV. , caused him to break it. Fouquetbegged him to dramatise one of three subjects whichhe mentioned. Corneille chose CEdipus, “ Its suc-cess,” he writes, “ compensated to me for the failure ofthe other; since the king was sufficiently pleased tocause me to receive solid testimonials of his satisfaction ;and I took his liberality as a tacit order to consecrate tothe amusement of his majesty all the invention andpower which age and former labours had spared.” Thiswas a melancholy resolve — his subsequent plays werenot worthy of their predecessors. They contain finescenes and eloquent passages ; but a hard dry spiritcrept over him, which caused him to mistake exagge-rated sentiments for nobleness of soul. The plots, also,were bad; the conduct enfeebled by uninterestingepisodes, or by the worse expedient of giving the herohimself some under amatory interest that lowered himentirely. Voltaire remarks, “ Corneille’s genius wasstill in force. He ought to have been severe on himself,or to have had severe friends. A man capable of writingfine scenes might have written a good play. It was agreat misfortune that no one told him that he chose hissubjects badly.” It is sad to be obliged to make excusesfor genius. No doubt Corneille failed in invention as hegrew older. His former power of boldness and felicity ofexpression often shed rays of light upon his feebler works;but he could no longer conceive a whole, whose parts