instance the curt antithetic [Greek: stichomuthia], which was so long characteristic of French plays and plays imitated from them, and which Butler ridicules in his _Dialogue of Cat and Puss_, already appears. There appears also the grandiose and smooth but stilted declamation which came rather from the imitation of Seneca than of Sophocles, and the tradition of which was never to be lost. _Cleopatre_ was followed by _Didon_, which, unlike its predecessor, is entirely in alexandrines, and observes the regular alternation of masculine and feminine rhymes. Jodelle was followed by Jacques Grevin (1540?-1570) with a _Mort de Cesar_, which shows an improvement in tragic art, and two still better comedies, _Les Ebahis_ and _La Tresoriere_ by Jean de la Taille (1540-1608), who made still further progress towards the accepted French dramatic pattern in his _Saul furieux_ and his _Corrivaux_, Jacques, his brother (1541-1562), and Jean de la Peruse (1529-1554), who wrote a _Medee_. A very different poet from all these is Robert Garnier (1545-1601). Garnier is the first tragedian who deserves a place not too far below Rotrou, Corneille, Racine, Voltaire and Hugo, and who may be placed in the same class with them. He chose his subjects indifferently from classical, sacred and medieval literature. _Sedecie_, a play dealing with the capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, is held to be his masterpiece, and _Bradamante_ deserves notice because it is the first tragi-comedy of merit in French, and because the famous confidant here makes his first appearance. Garnier's successor, Antoine de Monchretien or Montchrestien (c. 1576-1621), set the example of dramatizing contemporary subjects. His masterpiece is _L'Ecossaise_, the first of many dramas on the fate of Mary, queen of Scots. While tragedy thus clings closely to antique models, comedy, as might be expected in the country of the fabliaux, is more independent. Italy had already a comic school of some originality, and the French farce was too vigorous and lively a production to permit of its being entirely overlooked. The first comic writer of great merit was Pierre Larivey (c. 1550-c. 1612), an Italian by descent. Most if not all of his plays are founded on Italian originals, but the translations or adaptations are made with the greatest freedom, and almost deserve the title of original works. The style is admirable, and the skilful management of the action contrasts strongly with the languor, the awkward adjustment, and the lack of dramatic interest found in contemporary tragedians. Even Moliere found something to use in Larivey.