These plays remained unpublished, at first owing to the disfavor of circumstances, but subsequently because the author's ripening critical faculty made him withhold them from the world. The first, entitled _Orsino_, was written at Rome in 1890. Next, in the halcyon clime of Sicily, he composed _Empedocles_, uninfluenced by Hölderlin's ambitious draft, of which Rolland heard first from Malwida von Meysenbug. In the same year, 1891, he wrote _Gli Baglioni_. His return to Paris did not interrupt this outpouring, for in 1892 he wrote two plays, _Caligula_, and _Niobé_. From his wedding journey to the beloved Italy in 1893 he returned with a new Renaissance drama, _Le siège de Mantoue_. This is the only one of the early plays which the author acknowledges to-day, though by an unfortunate mischance the manuscript has been lost. At length turning his attention to French history, he wrote _Saint Louis_ (1893), the first of his _Tragédies de la foi_. Next came _Jeanne de Piennes_ (1894), which remains unpublished.... _Aërt_ (1895), the second of the _Tragédies de la foi_, was the first of Rolland's plays to be staged. There now (1896-1902) followed the four dramas of the _Théâtre de la révolution_. In 1900 he wrote _La Montespan_ and _Les trois amoureuses_. Thus before the era of the more important works there were composed no less than twelve dramas, equaling in bulk the entire dramatic output of Schiller, Kleist, or Hebbel. The first eight of these were never either printed or staged. Except for the appreciation by his confidant Malwida von Meysenbug in _Der Lebens Abend einer Idealistin_ (a connoisseur's tribute to their artistic merits), not a word has ever been said about them. With a single exception. One of the plays was read on a classical occasion by one of the greatest French actors of the day, but the reminiscence is a painful one. Gabriel Monod, who from being Rolland's teacher had become his friend, noting Malwida von Meysenbug's enthusiasm, gave three of Rolland's pieces to Mounet-Sully, who was delighted with them. The actor submitted them to the Comédie Française, and in the reading committee he fought desperately on behalf of the unknown, whose dramatic talent was more obvious to him, the comedian, than it was to the men of letters. _Orsino_ and _Gli Baglioni_ were ruthlessly rejected, but _Niobé_ was read to the committee. This was a momentous incident in Rolland's life; for the first time, fame seemed close at hand. Mounet-Sully read the play. Rolland was present. The reading took two hours, and for a further two minutes the young author's fate hung in the balance. Not yet, however, was celebrity to come. The drama was refused, to relapse into oblivion. It was not even accorded the lesser grace of print; and of the dozen or so dramatic works which the dauntless author penned during the next decade, not one found its way on to the boards of the national theater.