So much has been said of Corneille's tragedies in the preceding pages that we need scarcely revert to them. He originated the French theatre. It was yet in the block when he took up his artist-tools. We grieve at the mistakes he made--mistakes, as to the structure of the drama, confirmed by subsequent writers, which mark classic French tragedy as an artificial and contracted offspring of a school, instead of being the free and genuine child of nature and genius. Corneille's originality, however, often bursts through these trammels: he has more truth and simplicity than any of his successors, and, as well as being the father of the French drama, we may name him the most vigorous and sublime poet that France has produced. [Footnote 12: "J'ai brûlé fort longtemps d'une amour assez grande, Et que jusqu'au tombeau je dois bien estimer, Puisque ce fut par-là que j'appris à rimer. Mon bonheur commença quand mon ame fut prise. Je gagnai de la gloire en perdant ma franchise. Charmé de deux beaux yeux, mon vers charma la cour; Et ce que j'ai de nom je le dois à l'amour. J'adorai donc Phylis, et la secrète estime Que ce divin esprit faisait de notre rime. Me fit devenir poète aussitôt qu'amoureux: Elle eut mes premiers vers, elle eut mes premiers feux, Et bien que maintenant cette belle inhumaine Traite mon souvenir avec un peu de haine, Je me trouve toujours en état de l'aimer; Je me sens tout ému quand je l'entends nommer; Et par le doux effet d'une prompte tendresse, Mon cœur, sans mon aveu, reconnaît sa maîtresse. Après beaucoup de vœux et de soumissions, Un malheur rompt le cours de nos affections; Mais tout mon amour en elle consommée, Je ne vois rien d'aimable après l'avoir aimée; Aussi n'aimé-je plus, et nul objet vainqueur N'a possédé depuis ma veine ni mon cœur."] CORNEILLE.--Poésies Diverses.] [Footnote 13: See Voltaire's preface to his Commentary on the Cid, and also the admirable account of Guillen de Castro, by Lord Holland.] [Footnote 14: Voltaire says that he gives the cardinal credit for good faith in this remark, since he saw and felt the defects of the "Cid." Voltaire was himself accused of envy on account of the mass of criticism he accumulated on Corneille, and was glad to show toleration for that which he desired to be tolerated. Both, probably, were sincere in their blame. The question is, how far covert envy (unacknowledged even to themselves) opened their eyes to defects, which otherwise had passed unnoticed.] [Footnote 15: Fontenelle.]