PIERRE DU RYER DRAMATIST BY HENRY CARRINGTON LANCASTER PROFESSOR OF ROMANCE LANGUAGES IN AMHERST COLLEGE WASHINGTON, D. C. PUBLISHED BY THE CARNEGIE INSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON 1913 A PAT? T s \AntoineJeSoininauiltc, en lap is taken to mean that the person referred to lived to be a hundred years old. It should be noted, however, that three of Bayle's four quotations are from this trans- lation of de Thou, which was finished just before the author's death and lacked a careful revision. Sec Bayle, Dictionaire historique, Rotterdam, 1697. 7 The Hague, 1740, p. xxix. 8 Bibliotheque, H, 233. 30 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST car du reste, il prend asses juste le sens de son Auteur. " " Cela est vrai en gendral, " continues Goujet, "mais il Test aussi qu'en bien des endroits M. du Ryer n'a pas rendu exactement ce sens, qu'en d'autres il a passe pardessus les difficultes." Hoffman 1 says of his translation of Herodotus, "Du Ryer magna sua pau- pertate commotus hanc versionem fecit, itaque properavit atque erravit in perplurimis locis; fortasse enim ad versionem Casau- boniam vertebat. " Finally, M. Justin Bellanger 2 considers him laborious rather than excellent, the author of translations that are, with the exception of the Cicero, mediocre. Of these critics, Goujet, it seems to me, has come nearest the truth. There is no doubt that Du Ryer made mistakes which indicate a deficient knowledge of history and linguistics. He admits this frankly in the letter that has been quoted. 3 But it is also true that he worked hurriedly to finish the thirty-odd vol- umes of the translations, many of them in folio, with which he is credited. His work was chiefly that of a popularizer of historians and orators who wrote in Latin and Greek. He made little attempt at reproducing these authors with the accuracy demanded by modern linguists, but this is usually due, not to ignorance, but to his conception of the translator's function, for he sought to adapt to his readers the facts and ideas presented by an author, rather than to reproduce carefully the original expression. He was a better interpreter than grammarian. This is clear from his translation of Cicero's oration against L. Calpurnius Piso. He there not only indulges in simple changes of construction, from passive to active, from a conditional clause to an interrogative, 4 or substitutes one metaphor for another closely allied to it, 5 but he adds phrases for force, clearness, sonority, even to give a moral hint. For instance, he translates "dentes putridi" by "cette bouche puante, ces dents pourries et infectes"; "furia" by "detestable et pernicieuse furie"; "Piso est a populo Romano factus, non iste Piso" by "mais ce fut au vieux Pison & qui le Peuple Romain donna cete charge et non pas 4 ce Pison que nous voyons"; and he inserts "Mes- 1 Lexicon Bibliographicwn, Leipzig, 1833-36, in, 450. ' Histoire de la traduction en France, Paris, 1903, pp. 34, 35. I hope that M. Bellanger is better acquainted with Du Ryer's translations than with his plays, for he says that the latter wrote eighteen tragi-comedies and implies that his Berenice treats the same subject as Racine's. i P. 17. < Edition of Paris, 1650, pp. 96, 101. "lugulis civitatis" becomes "le sein de la Republique, " p. 102. LIFE 31 sieurs" at will. 1 An interesting case of improving upon the text for the reader's sake is found 3 when " maximarum largitionum " is rendered "de toutes ces grandes largesses, qui sont de veri- tables maux et des biens en apparence. " Efforts to adapt his material to his audience are shown in his treatment of Roman military and judicial terms. The forum becomes the barreau; indices, messieurs; centuriones, capitaines. 3 Finally, an indication of his aims in translation can be had from his preface 4 to Vauge- las's Quinte-Curce, in which he praises the translator for bettering the original, and from his preface to his own Herodote, in which he expresses his desire to reproduce, not the exact meaning of the original, but "cette nettete de langage et cette politesse majes- tueuse qui est si digne de 1'Histoire. " Du Ryer's translations helped to keep him classic in subject and manner, while his contemporaries were following Italian and Spanish models. The development of his interest in analysis of character, unity and simplicity of subject, dignity of tone, coincides with the period in which he was devoting an increasing amount of time to translation. His translations helped to spread his fame and win his seat in the Academy. They were his chief means of support after 1640. But his labors in this field grew so greatly that they left him no time for dramatic writing and stifled his interest in creative work. His translations were too hurried to be of lasting value, and the inaccuracies found in them after his death detracted greatly from his reputation. Du Ryer's per- manent contribution to literature is found, not here, but in his plays, the study of which will form the subject of the following chapters. 1 Pages 95, 105, 97, 101. Page 100. Pages 246-248. His usage is not fixed, for he retains cohortes, tribunus militaris, tribus: pp. 248, 256, 277. Page 7 in the edition of Paris, 1681. CHAPTER II. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES. The plays discussed in this chapter are Aretaphile, Clitophon, Argenis et Poliarque, its continuation Argents, and Lisandre et Caliste. While there is little doubt that these are Du Ryer's first plays, the exact dates of their composition are uncertain. As we know that plays of this period were sometimes acted several years before they were published, the dates which appear on the printed title-pages give us only an approximate idea of the years in which the plays were written. On the other hand, we know that an author usually published his plays in the order in which they were composed and acted. Evidence for dating them is found in prefaces, notices, and a study of their structure. The privilege to print Argenis et Poliarque is dated Febru- ary 25, 1630; the acheve d' imprinter, May 10 of the same year. Corresponding dates for Argenis are April 18 and June 15, 1631; for Lisandre et Caliste, July 20 and August 5, 1632. Aretaphile and Clitophon were never published. They are preserved in an eighteenth century manuscript, the title-pages of which declare Aretaphile to be the first of Du Ryer's plays, dated 1618, and Clitophon to be the second, dated 1632. An introductory aver- tissement states that these are his first two plays, but it does not date them. Now these title-pages are evidently erroneous. Even if we admit that Du Ryer wrote Aretaphile at the age of eighteen, six years before the Latin poem to his father, which is his earliest pub- lished production, we can not understand why a man who later wrote many plays in rapid succession waited almost twelve years after his first work before composing a second. As the play fig- ures in the Memoire of Mahelot, it was probably acted about 1633, which means that it must have been written not very long before, 33 34 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST for plays that were not popular enough to be printed did not remain a great while on the boards. 1 The internal evidence of the play is strongly against so early a date as 1618. Moreover, the title-pages are seen to be unreliable when they make the obvious mistake of calling Aretaphile and Clitophon the first two plays by Du Ryer and at the same time date the latter 1632, for Argents et Poliarque and Argents had both been published before this year. On the other hand, the avertissement, which seems to have been composed by one of Du Ryer's contemporaries and is not necessarily from the same pen as the title-pages, is probably correct in its simple statement that these were Du Ryer's first two plays. Indeed, their priority is attested by the extreme irregularity of their structure, the naive manner in which the author orders his events in accordance with the stories he is dramatizing, the preciosite of the style, the fact that they remained in manuscript form while all his other plays were published, and by references in introductory verses before Argents et Poliarque and Argents to Du Ryer's escrits, which suggest that he had written books before Argents et Poliarque.* Therefore, although the exact dates of these five plays can not be determined with certainty, I conclude that they were played as follows: Aretaphile and Clitophon, about 1628; Argenis et Poliarque and Argenis, 3 about 1629; Lisandre et Caliste, in 1630 or 1631. They will be studied in this order. The manuscript which contains Aretaphile and Clitophon dates from the middle of the eighteenth century. It is on paper water- marked with the date I742. 4 It appears to be a copy of one belonging to the marechal d'Estrees that was mentioned by Titon du Tillet, de Beauchamps, and others in the first half of the eighteenth century. It was in the collection of La Valliere 1 1 owe this argument to Monsieur G. Lanson. Cf. also his suggestions in the Revue d' histoire lilteraire de la France, xv, 354. According to Mairet (Epistre dedicatoire to his Galanteries du Due d'Ossonne) Du Ryer began writing after Rotrou, Scudery, and Corneille, and consequently could have produced nothing before the last part of 1629; but the passage in which this statement occurs contains certain wilful distortions of fact that make it untrust- worthy. I agree with Stiefel that it should not be accepted as evidence. Cf. Zeit- schrift fur franzosische Sprache und Literatur, xvi, 9, and Marsan, La Sylv-ie, Paris, 1905, p. viii, seq. * This was probably rewritten in 1630, after the publication of Argenis et Poliarque. See leaves 5, 22, 30, 75, 116, 135 of the manuscript. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 35 and passed thence to the Bibliotheque Nationale. x On the fourth leaf is found the avertissement, which makes interesting statements regarding the success of the two plays and advances a curious theory regarding the structure of the second. It appears to have been written during Du Ryer's life, but after the law of the unities had been established in France. It runs as follows: " Aretaphile et Clitophon sont les deux premieres pieces de Theatre par qui M. Du Ryer s'est a fait admirer; bien qu'elles ne soyent pas comparables a tant d'autres qu'il a faites depuis, elles furent recues toutefois avec un aplaudissement universel du peuple et de la Cour; et particulierement Aretaphile que M. le Due d'Orleans apelloit sa piece; L'une et 1'autre sont irregulieres comme toutes les autres qui parurent en ce terns, mais Clitophon a cet avantage qu'il Test beau- coup moins ; les changemens de Scene et la trop longue dure de terns necessaire a la conduite de la fable y sont entre les Actes; en sorte que chaque Acte separement est dans r&roite rigueur des regies, bien que pris ensemble ils soyent irreguliers, cette nouvelle me'thode fut admire'e des Doctes, qui temoignerent que s'il toit permis de faire des Poemes dramatiques centre les loix de la Scene ce devoit 6tre de cette sorte ; aussi ce fut un acheminement a les observer, et comme un avantcoureur de tant d'autres ouvrages accomplis qui suivirent Clito- phon, entre lesquels 1'Alcimedon de n6tre auteur fut le premier." The plot of Aretaphile is taken from Plutarch's De Mulierum Virtutibus, xix, 3 in which Aretaphila is represented as the wise and beautiful daughter of ^Eglator and wife of Phaedimus, illus- trious citizens of Cyrene. Nicocrates, the villain of the tale, having put to death ^glator and the priest of Apollo, made himself ruler of the town and forced Aretaphila to marry him. He then showed much love for her, but she, moved by patriotism, sought to make way with him. At first she tried poison, but her plans were discovered by her mother-in-law, who had her imprisoned and tortured. She escaped, however, through her influence over Nicocrates, by whom she was restored to her former position of honor. Then she gave her daughter to Leander, the tyrant's brother, and thus persuaded him to hire a slave to kill Nicocrates. When the deed was done, however, Leander made himself a tyrant like his predecessor. Aretaphila, nothing daunted, stirred up a war with their neighbors and called in the 1 MS. fr. 25496. It contains 138 leaves and is written in an easily legible hand. * In the original si est. See Lancaster, The French Tragi- Comedy, Baltimore, 1907, 121. 36 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST aid of an African chieftain named Anabus, whom she bribed to arrest Leander after she should persuade the latter to go out of the city to confer with him. The plan suceeded. Leander, captured by the Africans and sold to her friends, was tied up in a sack and thrown into the sea, while his mother was burned alive. Aretaphila was offered the government of the town, but she de- clined it and spent the rest of her days at peace in the gynaceum. With the exception of the heroine, the characters are not much more than names. Love plays little part. The principal idea is the painting of the heroine's patriotism, a feeling that makes use of assassination, the prostitution of a daughter, bribery, and the basest treachery, and finally, when successful, obtains its vengeance by drowning one victim and burning another. Now Aretaphila's patriotism would make good tragic material, if its effect were not lost in the horror excited by the acts it occasions. But Du Ryer was not writing tragedy. He saw in the tale the outline of a tragi-comedy in which love would be the principal theme and patriotism altogether subordinate. He saw, too, that, to make the play successful, he must win his audience's sympathy for Aretaphila by removing some of her crimes and softening others. So he made of her a royal precieuse and gave her a lover who combined the functions of Phaedimus and Anabus. Strangely enough, he failed to make a similar combination of Nicocrates and Leander. He has even less unity than Plutarch in his female rdles, for, in order to make Aretaphila young, and to spare her the odium of prostituting her daughter, he changed the latter to a sister and married her to Leander, whom he called Cleandre. The play begins before Aretaphile's marriage, when her hand is being sought with success by Philarque, son of the Libyan king, and unsuccessfully by Nicocrate, who plots to usurp the throne. This first act could be readily omitted. The precious expressions of love, the king's platitudes, the rejected lover's complaints replace suitable characterization and exposition of plot. The intrigue does not begin till after Nicocrate's usurpation, an event which occurs between the first and second acts along with his marriage to Aretaphile, his murder of her father and the king, and the exile of Philarque. There is more characterization in the second act. The usurper brutally avows his policy of heartless egotism: EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 37 "Les Dieux sont Rois au Ciel, je le suis ici has, Qu'ils gouvernent la haut la pluye et le tonnere Pour moy j'aurai le soin de gouverner la terre. " J Melnaipe, sacrificateur, opposes him boldly and is sentenced to death. Next Calvie, his mother, tells him that she has found Aretaphile preparing to poison him. Unable to believe the charge, he first tests the poison on a captive. The scene has no counter- part in Plutarch's account and serves to emphasize simply and forcibly the cruelty of the new king and his cold indifference to the captive's misfortune. "Nicocrate: Viens ca, bois 2 ce breuvage, il me faut satisfaire Ainsi n'en doute point, ton destin rigoureux Cessera de te rendre, ici bas malheureux. Captif : Tu me vois par contrainte en cette obe"issance Cruel, ainsi je bois le fiel de ta puissance Car je me doute bien que ce n'est qu'un poison. Nicocrate: Comme il tremble, je crois que vous avez raison." 3 The last line, addressed to his mother, shows the tyrant en- tirely absorbed in testing the poison, with no care for the man's life. When he sees that the latter is dying, he ironically pardons him. The scene exhibits a restraint and directness absent from most of the play. The rest of the act depicts the arrest of the heroine and a visit from the exiled Philarque, who comes for news of Aretaphile and makes a narrow escape from his rival's guards. The third act begins with a long rhetorical monologue from Aretaphile in prison, followed by a similar soliloquy, delivered by the disguised Philarque. Next there is a love scene with a few comic passages, interrupted by the arrival of soldiers and the flight of Philarque. Aretaphile, brought before Nicocrate, pleads that the poison was intended as a love potion and that its fatal properties were unknown to her. He does not believe her, but is forced by his love to pardon her, in spite of the correctness of his suspicions. Du Ryer exhibits in the scene a knowledge of the human heart that indicates the kind of work he was later to do. Philarque now reappears as a shepherd and amuses the audience by misdirecting the soldiers who pursue him. He tells Aretaphile that a band of followers is collecting about him and 1 II, I. The original has boit. II, 5. 38 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST that he is getting aid from neighboring powers. After he leaves, Aretaphile plans to win over Cleandre, brother of Nicocrate, by giving him her sister, Belise, in marriage. With the beginning of the fourth act, Nicocrate has forgotten his love for Aretaphile and is seeking to win the favor of Belise, now married to his brother. She shows his letter to her husband and then lures Nicocrate to a rendezvous, in order to have him put to death. He comes, as she has directed, disguised as a certain Aniser, whom Cleandre has engaged a courtier to kill. In the dark the courtier is deceived by Nicocrate 's disguise and strikes him dead. He cries only " je suis mort. " A soldier soon stumbles over the dead body, draws it into the moonlight, and recognizes the king. A picturesque setting is furnished by the night, the moonlight, and the going and coming of the various persons connected with the crime. The author has succeeded in keeping Aretaphile innocent of this murder, planned by her sister and Cleandre, but in doing so he has allowed her to fall into the background. She reappears after Cleandre has succeeded his brother on the throne, when, in spite of Belise 's advice, he, too, has determined to reign despoti- cally. He has not long to do so, as Philarque comes against Cyrene with an army and Aretaphile joins him outside the walls. Philarque plans with a conseiller to capture Cleandre by proposing to parley with him half-way between the two armies. When Cleandre hears of this, he is cast into great perplexity until he is shamed by Aretaphile into venturing to meet Philarque. His fears are soon realized, for he is seized by his enemies ; but, instead of being put to death, as in Plutarch, he is pardoned by the new king, who is unwilling to mar the joy of his restoration to the throne and his marriage to Aretaphile. This analysis shows the structural weakness of the play. The author has preferred a romance to a story of brutal patriotism and has accordingly softened his characters and reduced their crimes. There is no longer a central figure planning to bring about the denouement. There is a series of events, caused by different persons, which do not necessarily lead up to each other and most of which might be omitted without affecting the ending of the play. The unity of action is violated by digressions also and by the fact that too much of importance takes place between the acts. The time involved is many months, perhaps years. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 39 The place is within the walls of Gyrene and a short distance outside them. It is described in Mahelot's Memoire 1 as follows: "II faut, au Milieu du theatre, Vn Palais cache", ou il y ayt Vn torn- beau et des Armes, de la bougie, des larmes, du Soucy, deux piramides Ardantes; au deuant de ce palais, Vn autre palais, pour Vn Roy. A Vn des costez du theatre, Vne grande tour, et de lautre coste* Vne chambre ferme'e; Des tableaux, Vne table, des flambeaux, dedans La chambre ; au troisiesme Acte, il se faict Vne nuict ; il faut deux Menottes ou chaisnes, deux fiolles, Vn chapeau de fleurs, Vne ficelle, ou Ion attache Vne Lettre. " The properties here indicated show how little attention is paid to local color. The flowers and trees mentioned* and the customs depicted are French rather than African. The desert is of no importance. Indeed, some proper names, an occasional reference to a plurality of gods, and a "demon tutelaire" 3 are the only means used to give the piece an African setting. Plutarch's gynceceum and his use of a sack for drowning the usurper are not imitated. While the chief interest is in the situations, some of which have considerable dramatic power, the study of character has not been altogether neglected. Aretaphile has lost the ferocity which distinguished her in Plutarch, and with it much of her force and ingenuity. She now accomplishes little besides her own pardon from the charge of poisoning, and the marriage of her sister to Cleandre. She uses her powers in insipid soliloquies on love and sorrow, and in devising means of reuniting herself to Poliarque. Belise appears little, except in the fourth act, where her outraged virtue rouses her to bring about the murder of Nicocrate. The latter is the chief male figure. As a rejected lover, a usurping tyrant, a man who allows himself to be deceived by the woman who has attempted to murder him, he plays an interesting rdle of some complexity. Since fickleness is hardly consistent with the rest of his character, his love of Belise is not convincing. As I have said, it seems unfortunate for the unity of interest that Nicocrate and Cleandre are not merged, but something is gained by the actual arrangement, for the murder of Nicocrate and its attendant scenes of plotting are made possible, while the author has an opportunity to show his talent by the manner in 1 Folio 35 v and 36. * III, 12. II, 10. 4O PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST which he distinguishes the brave tyrant from his timid brother. Cleandre's cowardice serves to differentiate the two men and suits well the r61e he plays at the end. Philarque is a color- less hero, possessed of the usual virtues and fashionable wit of Du Ryer's time. There are minor characters worthy of men- tion, especially the virtuous and platitudinous king, the sturdy priest of Apollo, the attendant who follows Nicocrate faithfully through his crimes, only to be dismissed without cause, and Ariste, a politic friend to Philarque, the furnisher of his disguises and his representative at Cyrene during his exile. There are sixteen persons besides a number of soldiers. They provide the tragi-comedy with movement and variety, contrast- ing with the small cast used by Du Ryer in his classic tragedies. The later psychological plays are predicted by occasional conflicts of emotions, acted or described. 1 The dialogue is sometimes concise and forcible, but often it is marred by concetti, mixed metaphors, and chevilles. The soliloquies are too long. Indeed, much in both style and structure indicates that this is a first play, but the author already shows freedom in the treatment of his source, the ability to characterize certain persons, and to create situations of dramatic power. Clitophon, the other play found in this manuscript, was cer- tainly acted, as it appears in Mahelot's Memoire and was adver- tised to be played at the H6tel de Bourgogne during the Carnival fortnight of the year i634. 2 The play is based on a Greek romance, the Clitophon and Leucippe of Achilles Tatius. 3 The original story, an erotic Odyssey, stuffed with remarkable adven- tures and insipid sentimentality, has been closely followed by the dramatist, except in a few events, omitted for the sake of decency or probability. Like Aretaphile the play begins too soon and introduces into the first act persons of seeming importance who do not appear again. The dramatist relates few of the adven- tures that in the original precede the elopement of the lovers. He omits the lengthy dissertations on various forms of love, the tirade against women, and a number of descriptions. When the play begins, Lucipe is living with her mother at Tyre, where See IV, 2, 5. ' See Fournier, Varietes historiques, Paris, 1855, n, 345-355, and p. 62 below. ' See Erotici Scriptores, 27, seq., Paris, 1885. Cf. Lancaster, The French Tragi- Comedy, 125. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 41 Clitophon has fallen in love with her. Pirates come to carry her off, but by mistake they seize another girl. Her mother, frightened by the incident, insists upon leaving town, and thus forces her daughter to elope with Clitophon. The lovers are accompanied by Satire, a faithful servant, who persuades them to go to his father's house at Alexandria. On the way they are shipwrecked and separated. Satire is found by his father, Menelas, who has been forced by pirates in the Egyptian Delta to make for them their human sacrifices. The lovers fall into the hands of these pirates and Menelas is ordered to sacrifice them. But the troops of Charmide, King of Alexandria, attack the pirates with such success that Clitophon escapes. He is well received by the Alexandrians, but is soon horrified to see that Lucipe is about to be sacrificed by the pirates on a "montagne" in sight of both armies. He sees the knife plunged into her bosom, and falls fainting to the earth when prevented by his new friends from going to her rescue. The third act begins with his lamentations. He has found Lucipe 's tomb and is about to kill himself on it, when he is sur- prised by Satire and Menelas and learns from them that Lucipe is alive. The fact that the sacrifice was performed at some dis- tance from the pirates had enabled Menelas to open a bag of blood, placed for this purpose on Lucipe's breast, and thus appear to kill her. He had put her in a coffin, where she remained till night. They now all escape to the Alexandrians, and the lovers, passing for brother and sister, are protected by Charmide. But a new difficulty arises. As in the case of Abraham and Sarah, the ruler seeks to marry the woman who has represented herself as her lover's sister. Fortunately, however, Charmide is killed in a duel with Busire, leader of the pirates. The lovers are about to be united, when a certain Cheree, follower of Charmide, succeeds in carrying off Lucipe in a boat and eludes Clitophon's pursuit by pretending to behead Lucipe and throw her body into the water. I With the fourth act we come upon elements of a domestic comedy. Clitophon, mourning Lucipe, has arrived at Ephesus, where his grief is intensified by his meeting Clinias and receiving 1 This event is not represented on the stage; for Hardy's different treatment of the same situation, drawn from the same source, cf. Lancaster, Two Lost Plays hy Alexandre Hardy, Modern Language Notes, May, 1912. 42 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST through him his father's consent to his marriage. We learn that the hero is now pursued by the attentions of a wealthy widow called Melite, whose husband has been recently lost at sea: "Elle se de"sespere elle accuse les Cieux Elle veut arracher et son coeur et ses yeux Enfin elle parut tellement desole"e Qu'en moins de quatre jours elle fut console." 1 Melite sends her maid, and then conies in person, to implore Clitophon's favor, but he still thinks only of Lucipe and refuses to accept her proposals. Lucipe, of course, is not dead. Any- one who has followed the history of her previous escapes is not surprised to learn that it was another woman whom Cheree killed in the sight of Clitophon and that Lucipe was preserved spotless on her abductor's boat, till she made her escape while the men who carried her off were fighting over her. She is living as an attendant at the house of one of Melite's farmers and is ordered by Melite to intercede for her with Clitophon. She thus learns that Clitophon still loves her, though his failure to recognize her has made her doubt it. New complications are caused by the arrival of Tersandre, husband of Melite, who has escaped from the shipwreck in which he was supposed to have perished. Clitophon is immediately arrested for adultery and thrown into prison, where his lament forms the subject of stanzas that suggest those in Polyeucte. Tersandre next seeks to seduce Lucipe, who escapes to the Temple of Diana. He then hires a man to pretend to have been arrested for the murder of Lucipe. Clitophon, hearing the man's confes- sion, wishes to die also, and represents himself as her murderer, in order that he may be put to death. The court, having acquitted Clitophon of the charge of adultery, is in doubt how to act in the matter of his confession and is about to leave the decision to the gods, when certain Byzantines come to offer thanks to the goddess for their deliverance from civil war. Among them is Lucipe's father, who execrates Clitophon when he learns of Lucipe's fate. At this moment, however, Lucipe enters and everything is explained. Tersandre, induced to confess his part in the matter, is pardoned at Melite's request, while the hero and heroine are at last united. 'IV, 5. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 43 Du Ryer has not yet acquired constructive power. He bewilders us by the number of his characters and the rapidly changing, loosely joined scenes. The dramatic struggle is between the lovers and fate. Interest in their marriage is the only thing that unifies the play, for there is no unity of action, the place includes localities in Syria, Egypt, and Asia Minor, and the time covers several months at least. The complexity of the setting is shown by Mahelot's 1 requirements: "Au Milieu du theatre Vn temple fort superbe qui sert au 5 me Acte est le plus beau du theatre, enrichy de lierre, dor clinquant balustres, termes ou colomnes, Vn tableau de Diane; au Milieu de lautel deux chandeliers garnis de chandelles. A vn cost du theatre il faut vne prison en tour ronde; que la grille soit fort grande et basse pour voir trois prisonniers. A cost de la prison il faut Vn beau lardin spacieux orn.6 de ballustres, de fleurs, et de pallissades. de lautre cost6 du theatre il faut Vne Montaigne esleue"e. Sur ladicte montagne Vn tombeau, Vn pilier, Vn carquan, et Vn Autel boccager de Verdure et Rocher, ou Lon puisse monter sur ledict rocher deuant le peuple. A cost du Rocher Vn Antre, Vne mer, Vn demy vaisseau. Sous le rocher faire paraistre Vne prison pour deux personnes, qui soit Cache"e. il faut du Sang, des esponges, Vne petite peau pour faire la feinte du cou du sacrificateur, Vn chapeau de fleurs, vn flambeau de Cire ; il se fait Vne Nuict Si Ion veut ; il faut des turbans pour des turcs, des dards, des lavelots, tambours, trompettes, des chesnes, des clefs, vne robe de conseiller, deux bourguinottes, de la Verdure, Vne lanterne gourde et Vne chandelle dedans." The Turks are Mahelot's own naive addition, but the mountain in the Egyptian Delta is due to Du Ryer, for there is no mention of it in the Greek original. Its introduction makes the scene more picturesque and helps to explain why the sacrificer's fraud was not perceived. The geographical absurdity of it probably dis- turbed the audience as little as it did Du Ryer. There is almost no character study. The lovers are devoted, chaste, unintelligent; their friends, faithful and resourceful; the villains are differentiated from one another, though little devel- oped. Busire is a despot; Cheree, a traitor; Tersandre, a jealous husband and sensual lover. The most interesting personality is that of Melite, the amorous widow, sentimental, self-seeking, kindly, and ineffective. The character is repeated in the Rodope of Alcimedon. 1 Memoire, fol. 47 v and 48. 44 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST The proprieties are more carefully preserved than in the Greek romance. Blood replaces entrails in the sack attached to Lucipe. As M elite does not marry Clitophon, nor accompany him from Egypt to Ephesus, she is not guilty of adultery or polyandry. The oracular test of virtue is omitted. Other elements of pre- ciosite are found in references to the rules of love and in Lucipe's punning as she is taken from the coffin. Indeed the subject seems to have appealed to the precieux, for Clitophon was the fashionable name given the abbe Cotin. 1 In short, this is the least artistic of Du Ryer's plays. The success it met must have been due to its varied incidents and its complex setting, unless the insipid dialogue, the mechanical characters, the surprises of the plot had attractions for a seven- teenth century audience that are not apparent now. For the plots of his first two plays Du Ryer had gone to Plutarch's semi-historical narrative and to a Greek romance. For the next he turned to a contemporary novel which had some likeness to his previous sources by its use of an ancient tongue, its variety of romantic adventures, its superficial psychology, its happy ending in spite of the efforts of a series of villains. John Barclay published his Latin novel, Argenis, at Paris in 1621 and at least six editions had appeared by 1630. The length of the story forced Du Ryer to divide his play into two five-act divisions or journees, a one of which, called Argenis et Poliarque ou Theocrine, was published in 1 630 and the other, called A rgenis, in 1 63 1 . A preface to the first of these praises Barclay's work and explains that the first journee treats the birth of the lovers' passion, while "bien tost une seconde iournee vous fera voir la suitte de leurs aduentures." In his two previous plays Du Ryer commenced to dramatize the stories near their beginnings, so that most of the exposition is acted. In his later plays he began, like other classicists, in the middle of his story, leaving the exposition to conversations in which his actors refer to past events. Argenis et Poliarque and Argenis show the transition from one method to the other in an interesting way. Barclay himself began in the middle of the story and ac- quainted his reader with what had already happened, partly by 1 Livet, Dictionnaire des Pretieuses, i, 61. 2 An occasional custom of the time. Cf. Mareschal's Genereuse Allemande in two journees and Hardy's Theagene et Cariclee in eight. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 45 relation in the first book, more largely by the secret interview be- tween Radirobanes and Selenissa in the third and the narrative told by Gobrias in the fourth. Du Ryer followed him closely in the second journee, where he made Selenisse relate the events that had formed the subject of the first. Thus this secondjournee forms a complete play, while the first does not. When the two plays were acted together, the story was dramatized from the begin- ning, after the manner of Aretaphile or Clitophon, but if the second journee were given alone, there would be a nearer approach to the classic arrangement and at the same time a closer following of Barclay. It is probable that the two plays were first written to be given together, but that the author, finding that this arrange- ment produced too long a play, later introduced into the second journee speeches that told what had happened in the first, and thus made it possible to play this second part alone. The repre- sentation of the second journee without the first may be indicated by Mahelot, for he refers to the properties used only in the second journee, and mentions nothing that is found in the first and not in the second. The first journee concerns the beginning of the love-affair between Poliarque and Argenis. It is based chiefly on Selenisse's narrative in the third book of Barclay's work, partly on narra- tives in his first and fourth books. Meleandre, King of Sicily, has shut up his daughter in a castle, where Selenisse must keep her from the sight of men. Licogene, a Sicilian prince, and Poliarque, King of France, seek to win her hand, the first using force, the second strategy. The two resulting plots are developed in turn and do not meet till the second scene of the fourth act. Poliarque, who had fallen in love with the portrait of Argenis, left his kingdom and, taking a girl's disguise and the name Theo- crine, prevailed upon Selenisse to admit him into the castle, where he soon established himself in the favor of Argenis. One night Licogene attacked the castle and would undoubtedly have carried off Argenis and killed Meleandre, then on a visit to the house, had not Poliarque, in spite of his disguise as a woman, seized a sword and put the intruders to flight. The affair re- sulted in Poliarque's leaving the castle after he had revealed his sex to Argenis and told her of his love. Barclay states merely that the heroine was astonished at this information, but Du Ryer, 46 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST seeing in it an opportunity to describe a conflict of passions in a soul, makes Argenis hesitate between love and indignation at the liberty which her lover has taken. The latter gives her a sword, saying, "Si ie suis criminel, tenez voila dequoy Me punir d'vn forfaict commis soubs vostre loy." Argenis prefers to await "vn iuste foudre, " but she soon relents and allows her love and gratitude to prevail. The scene is thoroughly precious, interesting as a forerunner of the struggle of emotions in a single breast, so dear to classic writers. The resemblance between this scene and the Cid, ill, 4, is apparent. There is, however, no direct influence on Corneille, for the latter states in his Examen that he drew this episode from the Mocedades. The fifth act recounts Poliarque's return to the Sicilian court in man's attire, his friendly reception by the king, and his victory over Licogene, who, after his failure to abduct Argenis, has stirred up a rebellion and led his army against Meleandre. On the eve of the battle, Argenis recites stanzas to Minerva, which she in- tends to be understood by Poliarque as an assurance of her love for him. After the battle, Licogene and his followers determine to lay down their arms. The journee ends with the probability of peace, but with no assurance as to the result of the love affair that is its principal theme. Argenis, the second journee, begins with the arrival in Sicily of Arcombrotte, the disguised son of the Queen of Mauretania. He has come seeking adventure, which he finds by helping Poli- arque fight the assassins sent against him by Lycogene. After the enemy have been put to flight, he learns who Poliarque is and what has been going on in Sicily. Poliarque has left court because peace is about to be granted to Lycogene. They soon learn that the men who attacked Poliarque are the latter's ambassadors and that charges are being brought against Poliarque for having slain some of them. The latter accordingly takes refuge in a cave, while his friends spread a report that he is dead. Two troops of peasants, seeking Poliarque, arrest in his stead Arcom- brotte and an insane man. Both are taken to court, where the former is entertained hospitably while the latter causes much amusement by his masquerading. Shortly after, Poliarque, dis- guised as a painter, succeeds in seeing Argenis before he leaves the EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 47 country. She tries in vain to prevent the confirmation of peace with Lycogene; the latter is pardoned and received into favor by the king. New complications are caused by the arrival of Radirobane, King of Corsica and Sardinia, another victim to the charms of the heroine's portrait. Combining his forces with those of Meleandre, he succeeds in defeating Lycogene, whose head is brought to the stage on a lance by Arcombrotte. Radirobane is received as a suitor for the hand of Argenis and bribes Selenisse until she relates to him the events of the first journee and promises to win the princess for him. But Argenis remains faithful to Poliarque and soon learns that he is leaving for France to gather an army and return for her. Radirobane now lures Argenis to the seashore by a pyrotechnic display, x but his plot for carrying her off is disclosed. The heroine feigns sickness, precipitating a Molieresque dispute between two physicians, and thus escapes her suitor, who seeks revenge by slandering her in a letter to Meleandre. But Sele- nisse exculpates her, and the king decides to marry her to Arcom- brotte as soon as the latter obtains his mother's consent. Meanwhile Poliarque and his sister, Francinee, sailing with an army for Sicily, are separated by a storm, which drives him to Mauretania, her to Sicily. Welcomed by Hyanisbe, queen of the former country, Poliarque protects her against the invasion of Radirobane, whom he slays in single combat. 2 He now meets Arcombrotte, who is really Hyempsal, a Mauretanian prince. Their love for Argenis is about to bring them to blows, when Hyanisbe makes them promise to remain at peace till they return to Sicily. In that country Francinee has been hospitably re- ceived, Selenisse has committed suicide from remorse over her treachery, and all the court is eagerly awaiting the return of Poliarque and Arcombrotte. These princes arrive in the last scene and present the king with a letter from Hyanisbe, which informs him that Arcombrotte is his son by her sister, to whom he had been secretly married in his youth and who had died at the birth of his son. This discovery puts a stop, of course, to the rivalry of Arcombrotte, who solaces himself for the discovery 'The stage direction is, "feux d'artifice paroissent sur la mer. " 2 Poliarque, taunted in this scene (IV, 8) with having disguised himself as a painter, replies, "1'espee est mon pinceau"; the occurrence, in the Pelerine amoureuse, V, 3 (represented 1633-1634), of a similar disguise for the hero and exactly the same retort suggests that Rotrou is there imitating Du Ryer. 48 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST that Argenis is his sister by accepting the hand of Francinee, while Poliarque is finally united to the heroine. The first journee is based on narratives that occur here and there in the novel. The greater part of the first three acts consists of preparatory interviews. The action scarcely begins before the second scene of the fourth act. There, indeed, is plenty of life and movement, a night attack for abduction and murder, a rescue by a man in woman's attire, who overcomes a whole band of ruffians, a declaration of love in which the hero gives his sword to his lady and bids her slay him if he has offended her. The fifth act contains little save a combat without result. The play remains distinctly introductory, serving chiefly to rouse our interest in the lovers and to explain the relation that exists between them at the beginning of the second journee. Little attempt to follow the original verbally is made in this play, and many conversations are introduced which Barclay barely suggests. The song in the first scene of the second act is developed from the statement that Argenis was amused in various ways. Lycogene's encouraging remarks to his soldiers and Poliarque's curses in the fourth act are among Du Ryer's additions. Perhaps the nearest approach to direct imitation is the translation of "Ego inter obscuras fama gentes . . . famam nominis tui excipere potui" by "La voix du renom, Apporta iusqu' nous ses vertus et son nom. " x Barclay expresses this fact in a letter brought by Poliarchus to Selenissa; Du Ryer, with more dramatic effect, has Poliarque speak it while he is conversing with Selenisse. For closer re- semblances we must look to the second journee, which follows the order of Barclay's narrative with certain omissions and elabora- tions. The imitation is close when "O ut nunquam fuissem Poliarchus" is translated by, "Pleust au Ciel, grand Monarque, Que iamais sa rigueur ne m'eut fait Poliarque."* On the other hand, Du Ryer changes the order of certain events and occasionally expands what is only slightly referred to by 1 Du Ryer, III, i; Barclay, in, 312, edition of Leyden, 1630. 1 The speech of the insane man, Barclay, i, 103; Du Ryer, II, 2. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 49 Barclay. From the second book he omits Arcombrotte's rescue of the king and the murder of the coachman, the plot of the poisoned bracelet, the execution of Lycogene's advisers, Poli- arque's shipwreck, combat with the pirates, discovery of the queen's jewels. From the fourth book he omits details of the battle; from the fifth, the adventures of Arsidas. Du Ryer alone makes Radirobane fall in love with Argenis's portrait. Barclay draws from the physicians' dispute the lesson that diagnosis is unreli- able; Du Ryer uses it for comic effect. 1 The latter omits many incidents of the battle between Poliarque and Radirobane, but he develops the dialogue between the two leaders. The plan of this journee resembles that of Calder6n's Argenis y Poliarco, which appeared in 1637, but the resemblance is due to their having a common source and not to direct imitation, for the Spanish play is nearer the original than it is to the French, though it departs from its source enough to concentrate its inter- est on the lovers and Arcombrotte and improves the characteri- zation of the minor persons. Du Ryer's unity is that of interest rather than of action. Many of the episodes could easily be omitted. Lycogene and Radirobane would make a more distinct impression if they were united into one character. 2 If we con- sider the second journee alone, Arcombrotte presents the same difficulty in Du Ryer that he does in Calder6n, for he is a person with whom we are supposed to sympathize, although he is opposed to Poliarque during most of the play. But if the twojournSes are taken together, our interest in Poliarque has been established in the first, before the introduction of Arcombrotte. In this respect Du Ryer is superior to Calder6n and finds some justification for his first journee. The time and place of the plays are as varied as in any of Du Ryer's productions. The scene is laid in France, Sicily, and Africa. The time must cover a year or more. The properties required for the representation are quite elaborate, more so than Mahelot 3 indicates : "II faut, au Milieu du theatre, Vn Autel fort riche, deux flam- beaux et des Lumieres, Vn rechaut, de Lencens; a Vn des costez du theatre, Vn feu d'artifice, dans Vne Mer et cache", de lautre coste* Vne grotte, Vne lance, Vne teste feinte et des trompettes. " 1 Barclay, n, 396; Du Ryer, IV, 3. Calder6n omits one and barely mentions the other. $ Fol. 37 v and 38. 5O PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST The play depends for interest on the spectacular. Several combats, the return of victors with the head of the vanquished leader, a sacrifice to the goddess, and fireworks are among its attractions. There are also appeals to the patriotism of the crowd in the fact that the hero is King of France and in the senti- ment expressed by the lines: " La valeur se nourrit dans le sein de la France, Elle [sic] tousiours faict voir que ses moindres guerriers Arracheroient & Mars ses plus riches lauriers. "* The characters are treated in melodramatic fashion. The bravest of heroes loves the fairest and most virtuous of women; their love is crossed by two monstrous villains, a treacherous duenna, a weak father and an admirable prince, who discovers that he is the brother of the heroine and consoles himself by marrying the sister of the hero. The plot is developed by commonplace romantic means: disguises, combats, attempts at seduction and abduction, shipwrecks, the recognition of a lost son. Nevertheless there is promise of a successful dramatic career in the appreciation of what will please an audience. Du Ryer has learned the value of an interesting situation and has experimented in the conflict of passions in a soul. He does not forget to bring the hero and heroine together as often as possible, even at the expense of the probabilities. He seeks to interest the audience in Francinee by introducing her in the fourth act, instead of following his source in merely mentioning her at the end of the work. By his omission of the lower classes, the refining of his characters, and his greater care for well-turned phrases, he is advancing towards the attitude of the early classicists. For the last play of this first series, Lisandre et Caliste, Du Ryer got his plot, not only from a contemporary, as in the case of Argenis, but from one who wrote in French and laid his scene in modern France. The source is the Histoire tragi-comique de notre temps, Paris, 1615, by Henry d'Audiguier, republished at Ley den in 1650 as Histoire des amours de Lysandre et de Caliste. Du Ryer showed a greater power of selection here than in his previous works, in which he had dramatized most of the incidents found in his sources, for he passed over the first five of the ten books that compose the romance, omitting the beginning of the love affair between Lisandre and Caliste and its progress up to the former's 1 Argenis et Poliarque, V, 2. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 51 return from Spain, as well as the events that immediately preceded the death of Cleandre. He utilized the events of the last five books, following their general order and making some omissions. The play begins with a combat between Lisandre and two of his enemies, whom he slays one after the other. Obliged to flee from justice, he tells Caliste farewell and is aided by her husband, Cleandre, to escape. A more serious charge is soon brought against him, for a certain Leon, surprised in Caliste's bed-chamber, slays Cleandre with Lisandre 's sword, which he has picked up on the duelling ground. Caliste, whose relations with Lisandre are not criminal, is not to blame for Leon's presence in her room, as he was introduced there by her maid, who believed that her mistress would be away that night. Nevertheless, the fact of Lisandre's intimacy with Caliste, the false accusation brought against him by the maid, the discovery of his sword in the room, and his disappearance make it appear that he and Caliste are guilty of Cleandre's murder. The second act begins, like the seventh book of the romance, with Caliste imprisoned in the chastelet and Lisandre trying to get her out. This he does by bribing the jailer and a butcher, whose house faces the prison. Just before he takes her out of prison, we have a scene worthy of a comedy of manners and con- trasting pleasantly with the romantic incidents that precede and follow it. The butcher objects to Lisandre's frequent visits to his house, which may cause gossip. His wife reminds him of the money they gain from these visits, but he insists upon the danger: "Si quelqu'un s'appercoit Que nous fauorisons le dessein qu'il congoit, le crains d'en receuoir du reproche et du blasme, Et qu'on mette au cachot gros guillaume et sa femme : A ne t'en point mentir et sans en rien celer C'est la le vray moyen d'aller mourir en 1'air, Quelque somme d'argent qui nous soit asseure*e Bon renom vaut bien mieux que ceinture doree." Lisandre interrupts them disguised as a tirelayne and is at first told to be off, but he brings the butcher round by telling him his name and giving him a chain. The butcher, in spite of his wife's scoffing, remarks : "Get homme a dans I'humeur ie ne sgay quoy d'aimable Qui me charme 1'esprit et me rend plus traitable." 52 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST This scene has the characteristics of the farce: the domestic quarrel, the mention of Gros Guillaume, x the introduction of the lower classes, the location in the streets of Paris, the maxims, common sense, and avarice of the husband, the wife's shrewdness and her partiality to the noble lover. It is probably inspired largely by contemporary farces rather than by the romance, which suggests the incident, but treats it gravely. Caliste is now brought out of prison and taken home, where her mother receives her joyfully, but her father with misgivings, for he fears the laws. Du Ryer omits the lovers' trip to Belgium and minor events of the eighth book. Adraste, father of Lisandre, bids him cease his adventurous life and marry Hippolite, who loves him well. This command produces a struggle between love and duty: "Quay [sic]-ie enfin resolu? la nature a son tour Me parle de respect, et Caliste d'amour. " He decides in favor of Caliste, but, when he is with Hippolite, he encourages her to believe that he loves her and thus gets his father's permission to his going to court. The news is brought that he is pardoned for the death of one of his enemies and may fight in single combat to prove his innocence in the case of the second, after which he will still have to answer for Cleandre's murder. But before Lisandre hears this, he leaves for a tourna- ment in England. The fourth act is concerned with the combat to prove Li- sandre's guilt or innocence. The challenger, Lucidan, presents himself before the king and the court, but Lisandre is still absent. Then Adraste, Caliste, and Hippolite arrive, each wearing armor and unrecognized. The casting of lots decides that Hippolite shall fight for Lisandre against Lucidan, and she does so until a certain Beronte arrives with proof of Lisandre's innocence in regard to the duel. The king pardons him for everything except the murder of Cleandre and the fight ends. When Hippolite takes off her helmet, she causes general admiration and Lucidan falls in love with her. Caliste, sure that she is her successful rival, retires from the field with thoughts of suicide. Meanwhile Lisandre, delayed by a shipwreck on his way home, discovers Leon weeping over his treachery in a "desert affreux " and prevails upon him to accompany him to Paris. 1 Stage name of the celebrated actor, Robert Gue'rin. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 53 In the fifth act Hippolite, again disguised by her helmet, is taken by Lisandre for Caliste, and is thus informed that her own love for him is hopeless. She reveals her identity and upbraids Lisandre for inconstancy, but she admits Caliste's superior attractions and consoles herself by accepting Lucidan. Before this is done, prepa- rations are made for a second combat, which is avoided only by Leon's confession. Lisandre, thus acquitted of Cleandre's murder, is united to Caliste, and Hippolite weds Lucidan. A ridiculous lovers' quarrel at the end of the original is happily omitted. A series of adventures, loosely joined by an interest in the safety and marriage of the lovers, constitutes the matter of the play. None of the unities are preserved. The location in almost con- temporary France is noteworthy. The stage setting is elaborate, as the following citation from Mahelot 1 shows: "II faut, au Milieu du theatre, Le petit chastelet de la Rue de Sainct Jacques et faire paroistre Vne rue ou sont Les bouchers, et de la Maison dun boucher faire Vne fenestre qui soit vis a vis dune Autre fenestre grille'e pour la prison, ou lisandre puisse parler a Caliste. il faut que cela soit cach durant le Premier Acte, et Ion ne faict paraistre cela quau Second Acte et se referme Au Mesme Acte. La fermeture sert de Palais. A Vn des costez du theatre, vn hermitage sur Vne Montaigne, et Vn antre Au dessoubs, dou sort Vn hermitte; delautre cost du theatre, il faut Vne chambre ou Ion entre par der- rierre esleue'e de deux ou trois Marches; des Casques, des bourguinottes, des rondaches, des trompettes et Vne espe"e qui se demonte, il faut aussy Vne Nuict. " Like Argenis, the play is full of movement and appeal to the romantic imagination. There are duels, an assignation, a murder, an escape from prison, two trials by combat, disguises, and recog- nitions. In the last scene the king strikes a patriotic note by referring to the victories of ' 'nos premiers Rois. " It is unnecessary to dwell on the improbability of many situations or the slight attempt at characterization. Lisandre is weak in the presence of his father and Hippolite, and seems unable to accomplish any- thing for himself after the first two acts. Caliste, like Aretaphile a married heroine, mourns for her dead husband and her absent lover, but she shows no conflict in her soul between duty and 1 Memoire, folio 13 v and 14. The design that accompanies this has been re- produced in the Archives de I' Academic Nationals de Musique and in Petit de Julle- ville's Histoire de la langue et de la litterature franc,aise, iv, 354. Cf . also Exp. Univ. de 1878. Catalogue du ministere de V instruction publique des cultes et des beaux-arts, Paris, 1878, and Rigal, Alexandre Hardy, Paris, 1889, 681. 54 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST love. In the last part of the play she is no more important than Hippolite, who is a more modern likeness of Gamier' s militant Bradamante. Some effort is made to characterize Caliste's canny father and affectionate mother as well as the comic persons of the second act. By virtue of its comic scenes and the success with which Du Ryer reduces a large amount of material to com- paratively orderly form, it is the most creditable of his early tragi-comedies. The subordinate r61e of Clarinde, the heroine's maid, deserves special notice. Since she is, as far as I know, the first suivante on the French stage, her appearance marks the change from the stiff and conventional nurse, inherited from Seneca, to the young female attendant, with her attractive personality and her love affairs. The importance of the substitution is shown by Corneille in the Examen to his Galerie du Palais, where he writes : "Le personnage de nourrice, qui est de la vieille come*die, et que le manque d'actrices sur nos theatres y avoit conservoit jusqu'alors, afin qu'un homme le put repre*senter sous le masque, se trouve ici metamorphos^ en celui de suivante, qu'une femme repre'sente sur son visage." 1 This passage has been taken to mean that Corneille was the first French author to introduce the suivante, but it is evident that Du Ryer preceded him in this respect by about three years. In these five plays Du Ryer pleases the popular taste and gains a certain mastery in his art, but his work is more important in tendency than achievement. The subjects are chosen from romantic stories as crowded with events as they are lacking in the study of manners and character. As the audience is assured by the name, tragi-comedy, that the lovers will be finally happy, there is little terror or pity excited by their temporary misfor- tunes. Admiration is roused by fidelity in love or by feats of physical prowess, not by a sterner adherence to duty or ambition. Aretaphile taught Du Ryer to expand a brief tale into a full- length play; Clitophon, to contract his source and express in dialogue what had been told as a story ; Argenis and Lisandre et Caliste, to begin his plot in the middle and expose the previous events in the dialogue, as well as to omit the unessential. He learns to keep his hero and heroine before the audience and to create interesting situations. But he still starts his plays too 1 Cf. edition of Marty-Laveaux, Paris, 1862, it, 14. EARLY TRAGI-COMEDIES 55 soon and introduces unnecessary persons into them. The first plays sinned by their succession of largely independent episodes; Lisandre et Caliste, by the simultaneous development of several plots. Sentimental and narrative monologues are employed to excess. The denouement inArgenis and Lisandre et Caliste is due to chance discoveries that are almost equivalent to the intro- duction of a deus ex machind. In the other plays the difficulties from which the lovers escape in the end are largely independent of those that confront them in the beginning, except in so far as all difficulties are connected with the problem of the lovers' marriage. In short, Du Ryer is as far from the classic ideal of the unity of action as he is from that of time and place. The characters are not complex. Interest centers in the young lovers, the friends who help and the enemies who oppose the progress of their love. The persons are taken chiefly from the aristocracy. The middle and lower classes are represented by attendants, groups of peasants, or bands of soldiers, all lacking individuality, or occasionally by persons introduced for comic effect; but, in spite of their subordinate positions, they clear the way for the important rdle played by the bourgeoisie in the Vendanges de Suresne. As love is dominant in these plays and as fidelity to this emotion and valor in defense of its objects are the leading virtues represented, there is little opportunity for a struggle between duty and passion or between conflicting emo- tions. Exceptional cases, which predict the conflicts of Alcion&e and Themistocle, have been noted, but nowhere is such a struggle highly developed or made the leading theme of the play. The interest in the spectacular, which replaces the study of character, is shown in the elaborate setting, the use of darkness and moonlight, fireworks, armed combats, royal palaces con- trasting with dungeons, flowers, trees, a mountain, the sea, and other romantic paraphernalia. To these effects the style cor- responds, with its misplaced cleverness, its epigrams, its occasional lyric and comic passages. There is throughout an exuberance of superficial imagination that must be curbed before any real pro- gress will be made in the author's work. The next chapter will show how he achieved this progress by developing certain tenden- cies of these early plays at the expense of certain others. CHAPTER III. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD, PASTORAL, COMEDY. The five plays treated in this chapter represent several genres. Alcimedon and Clarigene are romantic tragi- comedies, constructed under classical influence; Cleomedon is an heroic tragi-comedy resembling Du Ryer's earlier plays; Amarillis is a pastoral; the Vendanges de Suresne, though related to it, has sufficient comic elements to justify its classification as a comedy. These plays represent Du Ryer's chief effort at painting manners and developing comic situations. The stress is laid on analysis of sentiment rather than variety of incident, but the plot is still of considerable importance. The group holds a middle position between the tragi-comedies of his youth and the tragedies he was soon to write. During Du Ryer's life, Pellisson 1 mentioned Amaryllis as one of his plays, adding that it had been printed without the author's consent. A pastoral called by this name was printed anonymously in i65O 2 by Toussainct Quinet, who published nothing else by Du Ryer. There seems no reason for doubting that Du Ryer wrote such a play. The fact that the edition appeared anonymously and issued from the press of a printer with whom he had no dealings suggests that the work is his. The freres Parfaict, 3 although they list the piece under Du Ryer's name, doubt the authorship on the ground that it is "mal con- struit, bassement versifie, et en me'me-temps plein d'obscenites, et d'equivoques grossieres. " But I do not see that the versifi- cation is inferior to that of his other early plays and the vulgar 1 Histoire de I' Academic Franfoise, Paris, 1653, 556. 2 The privilege is dated Sept. 26, 1650; the acheve d'imprimer, Sept. 22, 1650. The fact that it was printed before it was licensed may have been due to fear that the author would prevent the publication. The title-page is dated 165 1 . This play has been confused in Petit de Julleville, op. cit., iv, 387, with a very successful play of the same name, written by Tristan I'Hermite after Rotrou's Celimene. 3 Histoire du thedlre fran^ois, vn, 279. 57 58 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST passages are no more frequent than was customary in pastorals of the time. It possesses the usual weakness and insipidity of the genre and is no better or worse than many another pas- toral. It is impossible to deny the authorship on such internal evidence. On the other hand, we have a means of identifying the play beyond doubt, for Mahelot 1 gives the properties and scenery required for "Amarillis, pastorale de M. Durier": "II faut que le Milieu du theatre soit en pastoralle de verdure ou toille peinte; a Vn des costez du theatre, forme de Rocher et Antre; de lautre coste", forme de fontaine coullante ou seiche, et proche de la fontaine, Vn Antre. Au Milieu du Theatre, vn Arbre de verdure. Trois Chappeaux de fleurs et Vn bouquet, dards et houllettes. " Now this is just the setting required by the play in question. The rocks are repeatedly mentioned; "ces grottes sombres" and the "fontaine" are pointed out in the third scene of the fourth act ; one of the caves is used conspicuously ; the ' ' arbre de verdure ' ' figures at the end of the work, when the criminals are tied "a ce tronc"; the bouquet and two chaplets play an important part; and it is probable that a third chaplet was used in the open- ing scene between Amarillis and her two lovers. It follows that Mahelot, 9 independently of Pellisson, testifies to the play's authorship. From the evidence of these contemporaries of Du Ryer, I conclude that the play is his. The mention of Amarillis at the beginning of Mahelot's Memoir e indicates that it was played as early as 1633. Its structure suggests that it was written after Lisandre et Caliste. It is probable that it was first represented about 1631-1633. Nothing is known of the reception it was given, except what may be inferred from Du Ryer's unwillingness to have it published and the length of time it awaited a printer. M. Marsan 3 states that Amarillis is an adaptation of Rolland Brisset's Dieromene,* and that this is in turn an imitation of Luigi Grotto's Pentimento amoroso. s As he cites no evidence to 1 Memoire, fol. 9 v and 10. The fact that Mahelot fails to mention a paper, cord, and knife needed in the play does not injure the force of the evidence, for his lists are not always complete. Cf., for example, his requirements for Argents or Akimedon. La pastorale dramatique, 517. Tours, 1591 and 1592; Paris, 1595, 1598, and 1609. Venice, 1576. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 59 show that Amarillis is not taken directly from the Italian and as I have been unable to find a passage in which Du Ryer follows Brisset more closely than Grotto, it is quite possible that Brisset had no influence upon him. Whether he did or not, M. Marsan is undoubtedly correct in declaring Grotto's play to be the ulti- mate source of Du Ryer's, for not only do the two pastorals have almost the same plot and characters, but there are many instances of direct translation from Italian into French verse. x Du Ryer shows knowledge of his audience by eliminating supernatural elements, omitting a useless shepherdess, explaining the motives of certain characters, uniting the various interests by a central love-affair, omitting certain scenes and shortening others. Un- fortunately he complicates the already involved plot by the addi- tion of two old men and does little to give his characters greater distinction than they had in the original. The plot chiefly concerns Phillidor and Amarillis, crossed in their love for each other by rivals, who, in their turn, are loved by other despairing shepherds and shepherdesses. The faithful Phillidor and the fickle Ergaste begin the play by a long argument as to which is Amarillis's successful lover. Such favors as Philli- dor cites, a blush, the gift of flowers, are declared by Ergaste to be evidence of her dislike. A fight is impending when the heroine enters with Phenicie and, on learning the cause of the dispute, gives her crown of flowers to Phillidor, takes Ergaste's from him, and leaves them to further discussion. After Phillidor has also left, his rival is told by another shepherdess, Calliree, that his love for Amarillis is hopeless, as the latter prefers Phillidor, although she is herself in love with him. The second act introduces two old men in scenes that are typical of pastorals, though they do not occur in the Pentimento. Thelamon, father of Amarillis, makes love to Phenicie, daughter of Silvandre, only to be refused and ridiculed by both father and daughter. This Phenicie, we learn, is in love with Ergaste, who not only refuses to love her, but orders her to help his suit with Amarillis. They plot with Calliree to separate the hero and heroine by means of certain verses which Phillidor has promised to write to Amarillis. Their scheme is carried out in the third act. Calliree gets the verses through her lover, Alcire, a friend of Phillidor. By 1 Cf ., for example, Pentimento, I, I ; II, 4; IV, 3, with Amarillis, I, I ; II, 2 ; IV, 7. 60 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST pretending that they were written to herself, she makes Amarillis believe that her lover has forsaken her. Next Alcire convinces Phillidor that Amarillis is unfaithful, by asserting that she has torn up his poem and producing the fragments as evidence. The lovers do not wait to ask each other for explanations, but each retires to mourn his loss in the depths of the forest. Meanwhile neither Thelamon's threats nor Phenicie's entrea- ties have prevailed upon Amarillis to accept Ergaste, who is in consequence so angry with Phenicie that he directs his servant, Guillaume, to lead her into the woods and murder her. He promises Guillaume a cup and two sheep, if he will do the deed, and persuades the girl to accompany him by telling her she shall thus find a root that acts as a love potion. The scene at once shifts to where Phillidor is listening, hidden, to Amarillis's lament over the loss of her lover. 1 He thus learns of her fidelity, while she is assured of his by overhearing a conversation in which Calliree and Alcire speak of the trick they have played them. Thus reunited, Amarillis and Phillidor are interrupted in the expression of their joy by the arrival of Phenicie and Guil- laume. The latter has been touched by his intended victim's devotion to Ergaste. He bids her not to make him weep by continuing to tell of her love for her persecutor. She replies that, when he pierces her heart, he must not disturb the image of Ergaste, engraved thereon. This conceit is too much for Guillaume. He bids her leave him, promising to pretend to his master that he has killed her and to produce in evidence his dagger, reddened with the blood of a sheep. When alone, Phenicie retires to a cave, where she discovers Phillidor and Amarillis. The fifth act makes the happiness general. Calliree gives up her hopeless love for Phillidor and accepts Alcire. Thelamon says that if he can find Amarillis he will allow her to marry whom she pleases. Presently a crowd bring Ergaste and Guillaume to put them to death, according to forest law, in the place where the victim died. Ergaste has confessed his guilt and is full of praise 1 IV, 4. She uses verses ending with the repetition of the last syllable by an echo, a common pastoral device; for example: "Qui me fera connoistre S'il me surnomme encor son coeur et son Soleil? " "L'oeil." TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 61 for Phenicie, but Guillaume warns them that they are killing an innocent man and begs for straw that their bodies may not be hurt in falling from the gallows. Then Amarillis, Phillidor, and Phenicie come out of the cave. The latter secures Ergaste's release by promising to marry him. As there is nothing left to separate the lovers, the pastoral ends in a triple marriage. The play contains three plots, two of them taken from Grotto. The principal one, concerned with the love-making, quarrel, and reconciliation of Phillidor and Amarillis, is weakly motivated, for the easy deception of the lovers by their rivals' commonplace tricks is as inartistic as the method of reuniting them by conver- sations overheard in the depths of a forest. The second plot, dealing with Phenicie's love for Ergaste, would be brutal, if it were not absurd. If Ergaste is the monster he must have been to arrange the murder of Phenicie, we can not understand his repentance or his victim's love for him without a far more skil- ful dialogue than that given. The third plot is unnecessary and badly welded into the play. Except to contrast a woman's feelings towards an old lover and a young, to increase Amarillis's difficulties by giving her a tyrannical father, to add a comic scene, in which there is more vulgarity than wit, there seems to be no reason for this plot, with which Du Ryer complicates a story that already lacked simplicity. The play requires at least two localities some miles apart in an Arcadian forest. Familiar to readers of pastorals is this country of springs, trees, flowers, and caves, governed by a mild monarch and his sacrificateur. His subjects are shepherds, still more refined than their Italian originals, 1 and shepherdesses from the court of Louis XIII. They are abstractions representing successful or unre- quited love, love that employs treachery to gain its end, love that sacrifices its interests to the beloved's desires. There is no in- tensity in the expressions of passion. Some sensitive shepherds are easily made to believe their mistresses faithless, others readily resign themselves to a new love when they are unsuccessful with the old. There are also two fathers, one of whom laughs at the other's love-making, and a servant, Guillaume, whose love of the bottle and comments on sexual relations, fear of Ergaste, and sympathy for Phenicie give the play most of its humor and veri- similitude. 1 Cf. the quarrel in Amarillis, I, I, with that in the Pentimento, I, i and 5. 62 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Some insistence is laid on the time of the action, for not only are there references to night and midday, but, at the end, a player declares that love has triumphed three times " dans 1'espace d'vn iour. " The style shows some formal variety in the repre- sentation of the echo, in the arguments by couplets, and in the use of the lyric meters of sonnets and stances, 1 but the dialogue is usually monotonous, especially in the interpretations of signs of love and the laments of unhappy lovers. The language is less picturesque than Grotto's, for Du Ryer's images are vague or commonplace. In short, it is easy to see why the author did not wish to have the play published. Its chief merit probably lies in the preparation it gave him for writing the similar, though far more estimable Vendanges de Suresne. Three of Du Ryer's plays are mentioned in an advertisement of the attractions found at the H6tel de Bourgogne during Carni- val week, 1634: "Allez-y tout le long de ceste quinzaine, et vous n'y manquerez pas de rire, ou il faudra que vous ayez la bouche cousue. Vous y verrez le Clitophon de Monsieur Durier, autheur de I'Alcymedon; ensuitte vous verrez le Rossyleon du mesme autheur, pie*ce que tout le monde juge estre un des rares subjects de 1'Astree . . . pieces quy sont autant d'aimans attractifs pour y faire venir non seulement les plus graves d'entre les hommes, mais les femmes les plus chastes et modestes, quy ne veulent plus faire autre chose maintenant que d'yaller." a The first two of these plays are known. The third, Philipp 3 declares to be a lost play by Du Ryer. Rigal 4 wonders if it is the same as Pichou's unpublished pastoral, les Avantures de Rosileon, known only through Isnard's mention of it. 5 Fournier 6 jumps to the conclusion that it was "refait apr&s ce pauvre Pichou" and never printed. As a matter of fact, the play was neither lost, unpublished, nor written by another author. It is simply Cleomedon under a different name, for the latter play is based on the story of Rosileon in the Astree, a fact hitherto concealed by the change of the hero's name. Du Ryer must have brought out in 1634 a P^ a Y called Rossyleon after its hero, 'CM, i;III, i;IV, 3, 4- 2 L' Ouver lure des jours gras, Paris, 1634, reprinted by Fournier, Varietes historiques, Paris, 1855, ii, 350-352. J Pierre Du Ryers Leben, 21. < Alexandre Hardy, 684. * Preface to Pichou's Filis de Scire, Paris, 1631. 6 Le thedtre fran$ais au XVI* et au XVII* siicle, II, 69. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 63 publishing it two years later, and changing the name of both the play and the hero to Cleomedon, perhaps to avoid confusion with Pichou's tragi-comedy on the same subject. Fournier's theory that Du Ryer imitates Pichou is valueless. He has no idea of what Du Ryer's play is, for he describes Cleomedon as a new play " d'un ton different" from that of the Rossyleon he has just mentioned. There is no doubt, then, that Cleomedon, as well as Alcimcdon, was known to Parisian audiences at Carnival, 1634. The former play was published in 1636. As the author declares in his preface that it was born in Venddme's house, it must have been written between the end of September, 1633, and the end of February, 1634. The wording of the advertisement and the fact that Cleo- medon is not mentioned by Mahelot, whose first list was probably completed just before Carnival, 1634, make it highly probable that it was first played at this time. It is therefore more recent than Alcimedon and the Vendanges, which figure in Mahelot 's first list. Of these last plays the author tells us that Alcimedon is the older. It probably came out in 1632. Alcimedon was the first play that Du Ryer dedicated to the due de Venddme, the first published after his marriage and while he was the duke's secretary. It was the first, also, in which he paid attention to the unity of place. It is praised in the preface to Aretaphile, quoted above, and its success is referred to in the dedication of the Vendanges de Suresne. It is considered the author's title to fame in the Ouverture des jours gras. Du Ryer modestly declares in his dedication, "alors qu' 'Alcimedon receuoit de si fauorables applaudissemens, ie ne me considerois que comme vn mauuais Artisan, qui trouue quelquesfois par hazard, ce que les plus grands Maistres ne peuuent bien souuent rencontrer apres vne longue experience. " The source of the play is Eumathius's late Greek romance, De Hysmines et Hysminia Amoribus, printed at Paris by Gaul- minus ini6i7ori6i8 with both the Greek text and a Latin trans- lation, and translated into French by Du Ryer's friend Colletet in 1625. The tedious narrative has been greatly reduced and several incidents and characters have been added. A free hand is used in changing names and eliminating undramatic and mar- vellous incidents. The names of the hero and heroine, which suffer in the Greek from being almost identical, are completely altered. The heroine's assumed name may be suggested by 64 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST references in the eighth book to Daphne and a city named after her. The name of the hero seems derived from Vergil's third Eclogue. 1 Rodope's name is retained. She is represented as a widow, not as the young daughter of Sosthenes. The lovers' parents do not appear on the stage, but the news of their arrival helps to bring about the marriage. The rdles of Nerine, Tirene, and Tracine are added, as are most incidents of the fourth and fifth acts. Du Ryer omits the heroine's escape from ship- wreck on a dolphin's back, emphasizes the events leading up to the lovers' recognition, rather than the courtship, omits slavery, and introduces a new reason for the lovers' separation. The similarity of the versions consists in the fact that both of them concern lovers united after a long separation despite change of name and country, the man's belief that the woman is dead, and the opposition of a powerful woman, named Rodope, who is in love with the hero and has control of the heroine. In both accounts Rodope wooes the hero through the heroine, sending him notes and kisses by her without knowing that she is her preferred rival, and the lovers temporarily escape detection by pretending to be brother and sister. 3 Alcimedon and Phenice loved each other at their home in Candia, till the girl's father, fearing the violence of a powerful neighbor, sent his daughter off to live with his brother in Cyprus 3 and circulated a report of her death. Now called Daphn6, she has been intrusted by her uncle to Rodope, "grande dame, veufue, amoureuse de Scamandre, " while he went on a journey. This Scamandre is no other than Alcimedon, who, when the play begins, has lately arrived in the country and fallen in love with Daphne, though he still mourns Phenice. Nerine, Daphne's con- fidante, discovers the identity of Scamandre and proves it to the 1 The name Alcimedon does not occur in the editions of Gaulminus, Hercher, Hilberg, Fermin-Didot, nor in the translations of Carani (1550), Louveau (1559), or Colletet (1625), but the French analysis of the romance, published in the Biblio- theque universelle des Dames, Paris, 1785, iv, 15, mentions a gold basin "cise!6 par le divin Alcimedon, " apparently a translation of "caelatum divini opus Alcimedontis, " Eclogue in, 35, 36. The fact that Du Ryer gives his hero the name which occurs in this eighteenth century adaptation of Eumathius, but not in the Greek original, suggests that he found it added under Vergil's influence to some edition of the romance which I have been unable to discover. 'The similarity between Alcimedon and the romance Clitophon and Leucippe is explained by the fact that De Hysmenes et Hysminia Amoribus is an imitation of this novel. ^ For the place cf. I, 3. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 65 heroine by means of a lock of her hair, which the lover has pre- served. In comic fashion she mystifies Scamandre : Pour te dire en vn mot ce que tu dois aprendre, Vn riual a caus la peine de Scamandre. Sc. : Vn riual ! di-le moy. N. : Mais Daphn< 1'ayme bien. Sc.: S'il veut garder son coeur, il faut qu'il ait le mien. N.: Mais tu 1'ayme [sic] Scamandre a 1'egal de toy-mesme. Sc. : II est mon ennemy si ma maistresse 1'ayme. Mais ou puis-ie trouuer ce glorieux riual Qui rec.oit le secours que Ion doit a mon mal? Nerine, di-le moy, rend ma rage contante, le veux auoir son sang, si ie n'ay son amante. Ou puis-ie le trouuer, Nerine di-le moy. N. : Tous les iours, a toute heure, il est auecques toy. MI When Nerine has explained the situation to him and left the lovers together, the play, though now only in the fourth scene of the second act, seems about to end, but it is discovered that Rodope is herself in love with Scamandre and will refuse her consent to his marriage to her ward. To avoid difficulty, the lovers pretend to be brother and sister, a plan which at first deceives Rodope, who hopes to use the sister to attract the brother. A further complication is begun by a certain Tyrene, "gentilhomme de Rodope, " who makes love unsuccessfully to Daphn6. But while Daphne is gladly carrying kisses from Rodope to Scamandre, Nerine, ignorant of the lovers' stratagem, tells Rodope that they are "parfaits amants" and thus changes the comedy to a drama of jealousy and hatred. Rodope expresses her wrath like a tragic heroine: "La plus prompte vengeance est tousiours la plus douce; La cole"re se perd dans le retardement, Et qui se vange tost, se vange doublement. Entreprens, ose tout, passe iusques aux crimes Donne a ta passion de sanglantes victimes, Et montre qu'une femme a rarement appris A souffrir sans vengeance un si lache me'pris."* She accordingly makes Tyrene promise to obey her in the performance of a certain duty and then tells him that this duty II, 3- Hi, 4- 66 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST is the murder of Daphne. Refusing explanations, Rodope bids him drown Daphne in the pond and leaves him in order to send Daphne to him. Tyrene, however, instead of carrying out this order, informs the girl of all that has happened. She thanks him warmly and bids him escort her to Nerine's house, but is overheard by Scamandre, who at once concludes that Daphne is false to him and in love with Tyrene. Nerine seizes the opportunity to advise Scamandre to give up Daphne for the widow. Rodope, now full of remorse, sends a messenger to prevent the execution of Daphne and a second to save Scamandre from assassins employed by one of her retainers, who believed him to be her enemy. After a scene in which, like Hermione, she reproaches the supposed assassin for carrying out her orders, she learns that Daphne 1 is safe, but she still fears for the life of Scamandre. The scene changes to the woods, presumably not far from Rodope's dwelling. Daphne, who is leaving the forest with Nerine, sees Geron about to slay Scamandre. By pretending to be exceedingly angry with her lover, she persuades Geron to let her kill him. She then hands over to Scamandre the sword she has obtained from his enemy and he speedily puts the latter and his assistants to flight. Daphne thus not only saves her lover's life, but proves her fidelity to him, while this incident together with her own escape has so moved Rodope that she is now ready to consent to her marriage to Scamandre, the more readily as Daphn6 reminds her of an old promise she has made to marry her to Alci- medon when he should be discovered. Tyrene alone remains to be satisfied. He claims Daphne 1 as his bride and even asserts that she has promised him her hand, but he is finally forced to give up his demand by news of the arrival of the lovers' fathers, just escaped from a shipwreck. They bless the marriage and report that the king is interested in its accomplishment. As this marriage was decided before their arrival except for the consent of Tyrene, which was not really necessary, the fathers can scarcely be considered gods from the machine. They contribute to the general joy rather than to the working out of the plot. The two most noteworthy things about this play are its comparative simplicity of structure and the presence of comic elements. The events take place within twenty-four hours and all the places can be represented simultaneously without great TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 67 stretching of the imagination. The simplicity of the mise en seine is indicated by Mahelot 1 : "Pour la decoration il faut faire Vn beau lardin de compartimens, pallissades, Arbres, fruits, fleurs, et passage dans Ledit lardin pour Vne Reyne qui sy promeine; de lautre cost du theatre il faut Vne grotte et bois de haute futaye; plus, deux Maisons fort belles comme colomnes, frise, ballustres au caprice du feinteur; il faut pour la piece des fleurets. ' ' This concentration in space and time affects the action, which is no longer the loose succession of episodes that composed the earlier plays. It is true that there is an introductory plot end- ing in the recognition of the lovers in the middle of the second act, and that, from that time on, the course of the love-affair is impeded by the jealousy of Rodope, the resistance of Tyrene, the supposed unfaithfulness of Daphne, and the attempt to assassi- nate Scamandre. But the last incident serves to explain Daphne's fidelity and helps to win Rodope. As soon as the widow's consent to the marriage is gained, the struggle is at an end. There are three threads in the main portion of the plot, which are bound together, not closely enough for classic unity of action, but suf- ficiently to give the play much more unity than its predecessors possessed. There is a mingling of tones. The opening scenes are largely comic. Rodope's delight at finding that the lovers are brother and sister, her use of her rival to send kisses to the man she loves, Daphne's rescue of her lover, and the denouement are all worthy of comedy. The position of the persons is no longer royal or, with the exception of Rodope, even noble. In much of the play there is a bourgeois atmosphere that suggests the Vendanges de Suresne. At the same time, Rodope's jealous efforts at vengeance, her remorse, Tyrene's threats, and the attempt to assassinate the hero add the tragic situations that give the play its double nature. The number of characters is reduced to eight, as in many classic tragedies. Tracine, Geron, and Philante, the hero's friend, fill very subordinate rdles. Tyrene, the unsuccessful lover, and Nerine, the comic go-between, are familiar types that do not call for comment. It is worthy of note that Daphn6 is more heroic than her lover, for she shows herself constant, brave, resourceful, 1 Fol. 70 v. 68 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST while he easily loses confidence in her, and does nothing to rid her of Tyrene and little to escape from Rodope. The latter is the most interesting character of the play. So completely is she carried away by love, jealousy, and remorse that she is easily deceived and quickly decides on deeds of cruelty. Yet she is naturally kind, able to judge correctly and to sacrifice her own interests to those of others. She resembles Melite in Clitophon, whom Du Ryer must have had in mind when he portrayed her. Her character, like that of others in this play, is bettered by the more concentrated study that Du Ryer gives the persons of his maturer pieces. The dedication to the Vendanges de Suresne, addressed to the Duke of Venddme, speaks of the play as the younger brother of Alcimedon, "qui receut il ny a pas long temps un si glorieux accueil de votre grandeur." The privilege to print is dated April 26, 1635; the acheve d* imprinter, November 16 of the same year. The mention of this play in Mahelot's first list and the fact that it followed Alcimedon make it probable that it was first played in 1633. The fact that Dancourt in 1695 used the title 1 for a comedy of his own shows that at that time, though the name had survived among writers, Du Ryer's play had ceased to be known to the public. The work was republished by Fournierin his Theatre fran$ais au xvi e et au xvil 9 si&cle. 2 The play resembles Amarillis. The outdoor setting, the supposedly rustic characters who have the refinement of the upper classes, the lovers crossed by tricky rivals and self-seeking parents, the use of notes, disguise, concealment, the heroine's enlevement and the hero's rescue of her, the double marriage at the end, all suggest the pastoral type. In the treatment of the characters, the plot, and the use of names there is a close likeness to Amarillis. Dorimene, Polidor, Guillaume, the lovers and the servant of the Vendanges, are not unlike Dieromene, heroine in the Pentimento, source of Amarillis, Phillidor and Guillaume, hero and servant in Amarillis. When the Vendanges was written, Du Ryer probably had his own and other pastorals in mind, but, instead of following them closely, he eliminated to a great extent the tragic develop- ments found in them, and sought especially to describe contem- porary manners and create comic situations, thus justifying his classification of the play as a comedy. 1 There is no other similarity between the two plays. * n, 68-142. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 69 As the title indicates, the stage represents Suresne at the time of grape-gathering. Mahelot's requirements 1 for the mise en scene are noteworthy: " Au Milieu du theatre, il faut faire paraitre le bourg de Surene, et au bas faire paraitre la riuiere de Seine, et aux deux costes du theatre, faire paraitre forme de paysage, Loingtain, garny de Vigne, raisins, arbres, noyers, peschers, et autre Verdure, plus faire paraitre le tertre au dessus de Sur&ie et Ihermitage; Mais au deux costes du theatre, il faut plante des vignes, facon de bourgogne, peinte Sur du carton tail!6e a jour; il faut Vne hote de vandangeur pleine de raisins et fueilles de vigne; il faut deux paniers, deux eschalas, Vne serpette, et trois lettres; en la Saison du raisin, il en faut auoir cinq ou six grappes pour la feinte." We are no longer in an imaginary country of extraordinary customs ; we are near Paris, in surroundings familiar to the author and his audience. It is refreshing to hear the heroine refer to the Seine instead of the Lignon or the Styx. There is talk of Auteuil and Longchamp and of literary and social customs of the day, though the leading persons remain those of the pastoral. Polidor and Dorimene see their love hindered by the tricks of Tirsis and Florice, their respective rivals. By means of his wealth Tirsis brings Dorimene's father, Crisere, to look with favor on his suit and seeks to make Polidor believe that Dorimene does not love him. Polidor soon learns the contrary from his lady's lips, but he also hears that Crisere has discovered their love through Florice and has forbidden his daughter to have any further communication with him. He writes verses, however, to Dorimene, addressed to an imaginary Philis, and by this subter- fuge succeeds not only in keeping his sweetheart's affection, but in proving the treachery of Tirsis, who seeks to make Dorimene give up Polidor by reporting to her that he is in love with Philis At last Crisere is won over by the timely death of a rich uncle, who leaves his fortune to Polidor, while Tirsis retires after a duel with his rival. Then the news comes that Dorimene has been carried off by a young noble, who takes the place of the pastoral satyr. Polidor and Tirsis quickly rescue her, and the latter, having thus atoned for his past treachery, is married to Florice, while Polidor weds the heroine. This slight plot, which lacks all unity except a central interest in the chief lovers, forms the background for an interesting study ' Fol. 61 v e . 7O PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST of manners. Except for numerous references to the vintage and certain expressions of antipathy between bourgeois and nobles, the customs described are those of upper Parisian society. There are references 1 to the "polis de ce temps, " the reading of novels, the "diuine Artenice,"* to methods for securing a husband, to contemporary dances and articles of dress, to the making of bad poetry and the criticism of good. I cite the following lines, which tell how to reach women's hearts: "II faut estre d'accord de tous leurs sentimens, Approuuer et louer leurs moindres ornemens, Respecter vn collet, pour luy prendre querelle, Auoir tousiours en poche une chanson nouuelle. Scauoir bien a propos ajuster vn mimy, Distinguer promptement le galand de 1'amy, Dire quelle couleur est et fut a la mode, Voila pour estre aym6 le chemin plus commode. Vn homme de neant, bien poly, bien fris6, Par ces rares moyens se void fauorise, Pourueu qu'il scache vn mot des liures de 1'Astree C'est le plus grand esprit de toute vne contr6e. " 3 In another place Du Ryer vents his spleen on dramatic critics by making one of his characters tell how he was caught between a number of these "beaux espris" at the representation of an excellent play : "Toutesfois ces rimeurs, moins doctes qu'enuieux, N'y pouuoient rien trouuer qui ne fust ennuyeux. L'vn faisoit de 1'habile (et pour moy ie m'en moque), L'autre disoit tout haut cette rime me choque, Ce mot n'est pas Frangois, et m'estonne comment On luy vient de donner tant d'applaudissement." 4 The satirical spirit of these passages, which is not without suggestions of Moli6re, is particularly exemplified by Lisete, a halved Dorine, who has to a lesser degree the brightness, the power of observation, the boldness of Moli&re's inimitable sui- vante, without her sympathy and decent good sense. Her advice to Florice about the number of her lovers is worth quoting : " Lisete, me dit-elle, en ce temps oft nous sommes Pour te faire estimer, n'estime point les hommes ; Si tu veux toutesfois approuuer leur amour, Ayme deux, trois amans, et faits-en chaque iour; 'CM, 2, 4, 6; II, 3; III, 2. 'Mme de Rambouillet. I, I. * III, 2. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 7! N'aye point d'autres soings que pour ce*t exercice, Pour y mieux reussir cmprunte 1'artifice, On ne peut trop auoir de ces biens inconstans Dont la perte se fait tousiours en peu de temps." 1 The comic elements of the play are not confined to a satirical study of manners. There are at least four characters whose chief purpose is to amuse the audience. Of these Lisete, the suivante, has just been referred to. A match for her is found in Guillaume, servant to Polidor, closely akin to his namesakes in Amarillis and Lisandre et Caliste, though more highly devel- oped than either of these. His name, his enormous size, and the character of his wit indicate that this part was played by the cele- brated Gros Guillaume. He jokes about his appetite for drink and food, his personal appearance, his love of money, and the inferiority of women. The other comic characters are Crisere and Doripe, father and mother of the heroine, the first seeking a wealthy, the second a noble, son-in-law. Their specious argu- ments, the insults each bestows upon the other's sex, and the resulting quarrels do much to enliven the play. Occasionally a vulgar wit is displayed by the actors, more frequently it is the dry and limited humor of the practical man, of Guillaume when he says, "je respecte ceux dont je mange le pain, " or of Crisere in, "s'il scait garder son or, il scait beaucoup de chose. " a A number of proverbial expressions occur, 3 such as, "Tor en bourse vaut mieux que le fer au coste, " "plus on a de mets, plus on fait bonne chere," " ce sexe n'est bon qu'en vn lit et dans vn monument, " "le bien present vaut mieux que celuy qu'on espere," " vn vaisseau plein de vent fait plus de bruit qu'vn autre." There are also mistakes and surprises, among which should be noted Tirsis's carrying his rival's love-letter for him 4 after the fashion of Sganarelle in the Ecole des Maris. Finally, the incidents that might make the plot tragic are so quickly passed over that the tone of the play remains almost everywhere worthy of comedy. It is clear, then, that the play is correctly classified. It is evident that its value lies in the comic elements that mark its type rather than in the plot, which contains situations without cause or result and the denouement produced by a deus ex machind, or in the leading persons, who have the inadequate characteriza- tion of pastoral plays. In its comic persons and situations, the *II, 4. * II, i and 5. II, 5,4. 5: IV, a, 6. III, a. 72 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Vendanges still has power to interest us. It is, moreover, an important play in the development of French comedy, for Du Ryer was one of the first to see the value for comedy of a study of actual conditions in their true setting. There is, too, a conflict of classes in Crisere's putting wealth above birth, in Doripe's ridiculous championing of aristocracy, in the defeat of the noble who tries to carry off the heroine. We wonder at a dramatist who depicts as early as 1633 class pride in the bourgeoisie. We regret that he did not venture further in this effort at writing realistic comedy and at anticipating by a generation the feelings of Madame Jourdain. I have given the reasons for believing that Cleomedon was written at the end of 1633 or the beginning of 1634, was acted at Carnival of the latter year under the name of Rossyleon, and was published with its present name in I636. 1 In his dedication to Vend6me, Du Ryer writes, "Vous le connoissez, puisqu'il est n6 en vostre maison, et vous 1'auez tousiours si fauorablement esleu6 depuis sa naissance, qu'il ne peut plus passer pour incognu aupres de vostre Grandeur." Georges de Scudery testifies to its popularity 2 by putting it among the plays which he would fain prove superior to the Cid, naming "les Sophonisbes, les Cesars, les Cleopatres, les Hercules, les Marianes, les Cleomedons, et tant d'autres illustres Heros qui les [les honn6tes gens] ont charmls sur le theatre." Despite this praise, I can not rank it high among its author's plays, for, though it has effective situa- tions and characters of some individuality, there is mu h of the melodrama about it, due perhaps to the looseness of its structure. The plot is taken from the tenth book of the fourth part of VAstrie. The young lovers' names have been changed: Rosi- leon to Cleomedon, Rosanire to Celanire, Celiodante to Celiante, Cephise to Belise. The fact that these changes do not affect the rime, 3 taken in connection with the play's being first called Rossyleon, suggests the probability that the names found in the Astr6e were used in the play when it was first acted. 1 Cf . above, pp. 62 , 63. The achevi d'imprimer has the date Feb. 2 1 , 1636 ; the per- mission, that of Dec. 31 of the same year, evidently intended for Dec. 31, 1635, as is further shown by the statement that it was printed in the twenty-sixth year of Louis Kill's reign. * At the beginning of his Observations sur le Cid. The only exception is in the name of the unimportant Verance, changed to Clorimante. Cleomedon occurs in rime once, Belise four times, Celiante six times, Celanire fourteen times. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 73 Du Ryer follows pretty closely the events related by the queen's knight in VAstree. As in Lisandre et Caliste, he begins his drama in the middle of the story. He makes his exposition largely by Queen Argire's conversation in the opening scene. Over twenty years before, she had been seduced, under promise of marriage, by King Policandre, then visiting her father's court. Called home suddenly, he had married another princess, while she, after secretly bringing forth a son, Celiante, had married the King of the Santons and become the mother of a second son. As she preferred her first-born, she succeeded after a few years in substituting him for the other, leaving this younger son to be brought up away from court. He was lost during a civil war, while his older brother continued to be regarded as the son of the King of the Santons. After the death of this monarch, the widowed queen sought the hand of Policandre and was refused. Smarting under this new insult, she waged war against her former lover and placed her son at the head of her army, so that the young prince was unwittingly fighting against his father. The progress of the war has reduced Policandre to a single city, where he awaits help from Cleomedon, a former slave, who won his freedom by saving Policandre from a lion and has since distin- guished himself in battle. The scene, first laid in Argire's tent outside the city, shifts to Policandre's court, where he is encouraging his daughters when Argire's confidant, captured in a sortie, staggers in to inform the king of Celiante's identity, but dies before he can disclose the secret. We now learn of Cleomedon's arrival and the strength he has given the besieged. Between the first and second acts he puts the enemy to flight and captures Celiante, thus giving rise to the chief struggle of the play, for both victor and captive love Celanire, daughter of Policandre, while her sister, Belise, falls in love with Celiante. Celanire, who loves the presumably low-born Cleome- don, encourages him to believe that "qui conserue vn Sceptre est digne de 1'auoir" and that "qui vante ses ayeux ne vante rien de soy." Thus assured of her love, he replies, "Que ne domp- terois-ie anime de la sorte?", giving just the thought and some of the words used by Rodrigue 1 under similar circumstances: "Est-il quelque ennemi qu' a present je ne dompte? . . . Pour combattre une main de la sorte anime'e." *Cid,V, i. 74 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Now the king has promised Celanire to Cleomedon as a reward of victory, but the state of the heavily taxed country requires immediate peace, which can be firmly established by the marriage of this elder daughter to Celiante. This consideration and the persuasions of jealous courtiers make the king decide to marry Celanire to Celiante, compensating Cleomedon for the loss of his promised bride by the gift of Belise's hand. The arrangement is vainly opposed by both Cleomedon and Belise. When the former reminds the king of his promise, he is rebuked with the words "Esclaue, souuiens-toy que ie t'ay rachept6. " The two prin- cesses are in despair. Cleomedon goes mad, repeats to himself the phrase spoken to him by the king, thinks he is beset by giants, rages against the king and his flatterers, and is calmed only by the mention of Celanire's name. r The fourth act is devoted chiefly to these ravings and a report that Argire has died on her way to her son's marriage. In the fifth, an old man, Clorimante, succeeds in obtaining a private audience with Policandre, after enduring the courtiers' jests. Celanire is meditating suicide and Belise is trying to prevent Cleomedon from slaying Celiante, when Argire, escaped from shipwreck, comes to inform them that Celiante is the son of Policandre. The king is delighted to find his son, and Celanire is still more pleased to learn that she can not marry Celiante, while the latter accepts the situation with such equanimity that we doubt whether he has been seriously in love. 2 The identity of Cleomedon, who has regained his sanity, remains to be established. Argire recognizes Clorimante as the man to whom she confided her second son and learns from him that the child was taken prisoner during the war, while he was himself sold as a slave at Tunis, whence he has just returned, after twenty years. Policandre remembers that Quinicsoit, the name given by Argire to her son when she was hiding him, was the name by which Cleomedon was originally called. Finally a laurel-shaped birth-mark on the hero's hand makes it certain that he is the lost son of Argire and the King of the Santons. The denouement is dramatically delayed by Cleomedon, who, brought in for examination, expects to receive a new insult and threatens 1 For contemporary examples of mental derangement through disappointed love, cf. Pichou's Folies de Gardenia, Corneille's Mettle, Mairet's Sylvie. a For a truer treatment of a similar situation, cf. Du Ryer's Berenice. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 75 to destroy the kingdom he has established. Argire has the "secret mouuement, " common to romantic mothers when they first see a grown son, lost to them in infancy. Cleomedon is told that he is the queen's son and is married to Celanire. Belise is given, according to her desires, to Celiante, as she fortunately turns out to be the step-daughter, not the daughter of the king. That all past errors may be righted, a third marriage is arranged between the former lovers, Argire and Policandre. This plot, as I have stated, follows closely the incidents found in its source. There are certain changes in the treatment of Policandre and Belise that will be noted below. There are changes in arrangement to meet the requirements of the stage and to make the play end satisfactorily with the hero's recovery from madness. The narrative is shortened and the events are thrown into stronger relief. Incidents are omitted, especially those connected with the hero's youth and courtship and the beginning of hostilities between Argire and Policandre. Du Ryer leaves out the marvellous, changing the statement of an oracle mentioned in the Astree to a falsehood used by the queen to deceive her husband. He adds comic and dramatic situations, makes a fanciful change in the hero's birth-mark, which now resembles a laurel instead of a rose. He is less definite in the location of his play, for he retains only the Santons and adds Tunis, while he omits the names of Argire's nation, the Picts, and of Policandre's town, Avaric, and people, the Boyens and Ambarres. On the other hand, all the main events are retained and the characters remain substantially the same. There is even close verbal imitation in at least two cases. The heroine in the Astree says, "I'ayme mieux qu'on raconte a 1'aduenir que Rosanire a trop obey, que si Ton pouuoit dire qu'elle eust manque a son deuoir;" 1 in Cleomedon, "Et i'ayme mieux enfin que ce coeur soit blasm D'auoir trop obey, que d'auoir trop ayme". " a Similarly the words that have been quoted as addressed by Policandre to Cleomedon when he refused to give him his daughter are found in the Astree 3 as, " Souuiens-toy du prix duquel ie t'ay achepte esclaue. " 1 x, 850, 851. III, 3. 3 x, 1030, 1031. 76 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST The closeness of the imitation results in decided lack of unity in the play. The first act serves to explain the war and to intro- duce the characters. The audience is led to believe that Argire and Policandre are the chief persons and is consequently sur- prised not to see the queen again till the last act, where she plays the role of the deus ex machind. The triple plot confuses the action, which is not simplified by the author's addition of scenes intended purely to touch or amuse the audience. The denoue- ment, brought about by the timely arrival of Argire after a ship- wreck and the return of the nurse after twenty years' imprison- ment, shows how little care the author takes to make the result proceed from the main events of the play. The time of the action must cover several months; the place is in and outside the walls of Policandre's city, covering about the same amount of space as that used in Aretaphile. The incidents of the play are thoroughly romantic. The plot is based on a substitution of children, with the loss of one of them and his subsequent recognition by the mother's "secret mouue- ment," the birth-mark, and the opportune return of the lost nurse. A confidant dies as he is about to reveal the secret ; the hero goes mad ; one princess loves a captive, another a slave who turns out to be a prince; a son fights against his father and his brother, a second against his brother and his mother. Argire is a Cornelian queen, who makes war for the sake of her "gloire. " Madness adds variety to the personality of Cleo- medon, otherwise a typical hero. The king is a politician, who deserts Argire and breaks his promise to Cleomedon, allows him- self to be influenced by courtiers, is easily moved to anger and insolence, but who is a kindly father and thoughtful ruler. His action in breaking with Argire is not explained, as in the Astree, but here he proposes marriage to her without waiting for a courtier's advice. Du Ryer wisely refrains from making Belise fall in love with Cleomedon. Had he followed his source in this, he would have confused the audience. Instead, she has fallen in love with Celiante early in the play, so that her marriage to him is of greater interest than had it been purely the matter of compensation that it is in the Astree. We are interested in the picture of contemporary manners given by the courtiers, who flatter the king, conspire against the hero, and bait Clorimante till they see that the king protects him. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 77 Du Ryer enlivens his play by the use of comic scenes, inter- rupted dialogue, and rapid narration. For example, Clorimante tells Argire of Cleomedon's disappearance as follows: "C: Ha! Madame, A: Dy viste, est-il vif? est-il mort? C: Ilest. A: Acheue. C: II est ce qu'a voulu le Sort. A: Celiante n'est plus. C: le n'en sgaurois rien dire." 1 Argire describes the beginning of her love for Policandre in these words: "Et comme vn ieune coeur est bien-tost enflamme II me vid, il m'ayma, ie le vis, ie 1'aimay." 2 Before producing his next tragi-comedy, Du Ryer had learned from the Cid the beauty of a struggle between two noble desires and had written two tragedies that are thoroughly classic in structure. We are not surprised, therefore, to find that in Clarigene he deepens his study of character, makes use of the psychological struggle, and simplifies his plot. This play was published in 1639,2 an d was probably composed and acted a year or two earlier. It is dedicated to the Duke of Mercceur, Ven- d6me's oldest son. It does not appear in Mahelot, but, according to the author's statement in his dedication, it was given "sur les Theatres auec assez d'applaudissemens, et n'a pas diminu6 1'estime qu'vn peu de bonne fortune m'a acquise. " The complete source has not been discovered. The prominent motif of the fourth act, a contest in generosity shown by two innocent men, each of whom insists that he is guilty in order to save the other from punishment for a crime which neither has committed, finds a parallel in Hardy's tragi-comedy, Gesippe, in its source, the Decameron, x, 8, in Chevreau's play on the same subject, in A this et Porphirias, and the Gesta Romanorum. 4 Philipp 5 declares the play to be the author's invention under Boccaccio's influence, but the circumstances here differ in many 'V,6. 1 1, I. The rapidity of the narrative is noted by Menage. See Menagiana, Paris, 1715, iv, 124. J Privilege, February 8; achev6 d' imprinter, May 23. to his sister. The judge, Dicee, unable to decide between them, appeals to Celie, who, torn be- tween love of her brother and her lover, tells the truth and points out Clarigene. Immediately, however, Telariste reproaches her for lying and begs the judges not to believe her. Clarigene argues against Telariste, but the situation is more confused than ever, so that Dicee has the trio led away until some means can be found of determining their identity. The problem is solved by the arrival of Licidas's lost son, Cleante, who declares that he over- took the ravisher, but found that he wished to marry his sister and that she had fallen in love with him. Pirates, storms, the war between the Gauls and the Romans, have delayed them. Their letters to Licidas have never reached him. They arrived only the evening before and he has come to secure his father's consent to the marriage of his sister and her abductor. But Licidas refuses to forgive Clarigene and is delighted to be able to identify him. Du Ryer next brings together the supposed rivals, Cephise and Celie, each of whom admits her love for Clarigene and tries to explain how he could have courted the other without her know- ledge. When Celie sees that Clarigene has compromised Cephise, although, according to the latter's statement, he has not seduced her, she gives up her lover and even urges her rival to forgive his 8o PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST inconstancy. They seem sure that there is only one Clarigene involved, though a more careful consideration of their own testi- mony would have convinced them of the contrary. Licidas interrupts their conversation by bidding his daughter state which of the prisoners is Clarigene. She declares that Telariste, brought in first, is not he. Celie and her brother now fear for Clarigene. When he enters, the former bids him not to consider her, but to marry Cephise, if he loves her. But Cephise declares that this man, too, is not Clarigene. Licidas wonders if she is pretending, in order to save her lover, and consents to her marriage in order to get the truth from her, but she sticks to her declaration, so that the mystification continues till Cleante brings the explanation that there are two men called Clarigene and that the second, who abducted his sister, has now come to give himself up to Licidas. The latter asks pardon of Celie and her lover for his mistake and would atone for the trouble he has caused them. They beg him to forgive the second Clarigene and to this the father consents. Moved by uieir example of forgiveness, he further allows his daughter to marry her abductor. A last touch of happiness is added by the news that Rome has been restored after the departure of the Gauls. The fact that the plot depends on a mistake in identity puts the play in constant danger of coming to a close through the discovery of the facts, while the denouement results, not from pre- vious incidents in the play, but from the simple reappearance of the second Clarigene. If we overlook, however, this fundamental weakness, which could be more readily pardoned in a play of larger comic purpose, we shall find much that is excellent in the work. Du Ryer has made progress in extracting from a subject almost all possible dramatic situations. He gives interest to the exposition by putting it in the mouth of a man whose emotion must be visible while he describes the loss of his children. By a clever arrangement of entrances, he gives us the touching scenes of recognition and self-sacrificing love between Celie and Clarigene. x The scene in the fourth act, in which Telariste and Clarigene each seeks to sacrifice himself, while Celie shows the intense conflict in her soul between two noble desires, illustrates the progress the stage has made since Hardy, for in his play, Gesippe, he showed merely the generous conflict between two men, while Du Ryer adds an inter- ' II, 5, and III, i. TRAGI-COMEDIES OF THE MIDDLE PERIOD 81 nal struggle of Cornelian character. The scenes between Celie and Cephise would have been omitted, had the author not care- fully studied the possibilities of his subject. By increasing the interest at the end of the acts he binds them together in a way that partially atones for the weakness of the denouement. By the successive introductions of Telariste and Clarigene, he cleverly holds back his explanation till the last scene of the play. Celie, the chief figure, is of ancient Roman stock, as she tells Licidas. She is quick-witted, capable of analyzing her own feel- ings, not too absorbed by her grief to sympathize with Licidas in his. She frankly confesses her love, for "Quand 1'honneur fait 1'amour, dont vn coeur est brusle", Nous ne deuons rougir que de 1' auoir cele". Ainsi je ne feins pas. " ' But she is less naive than she thinks, for she deceives Licidas to save her lover, although she subsequently names the latter to the judge. Her love for Clarigene is not, indeed, an uncontrolled passion, for, while she believes him dead, she is not too much overwhelmed to explain her situation to her host, and when she first sees him after the shipwreck, she conquers her emotion suf- ficiently to send the page away and to remember that her lover's safety lies in separation from her. On the witness stand she tells the truth, though it may mean her lover's death. Finally, her most difficult task is performed when she not only forgives her lover his supposed infidelity, but urges the woman he is thought to have compromised to forgive and marry him. She is, indeed, an heroic figure, but she does not boast of her heroism to the audience. She is simple, devoted, self-sacrificing, strong, the most charming of Du Ryer's heroines. The second person in the play is the father, Licidas. He has experienced the emptiness of court favor and has chosen to give up everything to the love of his children. When he loses them, his keen sorrow is borne with fortitude, if not with cheer- fulness. When he thinks he has discovered the abductor, he is impatient of everything that delays his vengeance. In the end, it is true, he forgives Clarigene and allows the marriage, but Du Ryer deserves credit for seeing, as so few authors have done until recent years, that a father can not look with pleasure upon a marriage between his daughter and her ravisher. 'II, i. 82 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Celie's lover and brother are types of self-sacrificing devotion. Cephise, who has inherited her father's pride, brings out by contrast Celie's purer love. These persons are made dramatic by the struggles through which they pass. The ravisher and Cleante are unimportant, appearing only in time to bring about the denouement. Some local color is created by a free, though not detailed use of geographical names and an occasional reference to historical events. Athens, * Rome, Mitilene, Ostia, the Lipari Islands, Sicily, are named, and the capture of Rome is described. The stage represents Licidas's house, a space before it, and the Senate House. The court room in the latter building appears to be concealed during the first scene of the fourth act, for the trial is going on there while Licidas is conversing outside. He remarks: "On ouure et le Senat est encore assemble*," whereupon the second scene begins with the judge in the midst of his examination. The unity of time is perfectly preserved. The play is too somber to admit much that is comic beyond the fact that it is based on a mistake in identity. This mistake produces a laugh when Licidas congratulates Clarigene, whom he believes to be Telariste, for having escaped from Clarigene, and the latter replies : "Pardonnez, done, Monsieur, au trouble ou ie me voy, Quand ie parle pour luy ie croy parler pour moy. " 2 This is almost the last comic passage in his theater, for Du Ryer now gives himself up to tragedy or the form of tragi-comedy that resembles it in unity of tone. Clarigene may, therefore, be classed with Lucrece in the preparation they make for the elimi- nation of the comic, as well as for the subordination of the plot to moral struggles and examples of self-sacrificing love and devotion. 1 Du Ryer seems to think that Athens is on the sea-shore; cf. I, 2. * II, 6. CHAPTER IV. TRAGEDIES. Du Ryer's six tragedies form the most important part of his work. By them he gained most of his dramatic reputation and helped establish the formula for classic French tragedy. Lucrece showed before Horace that Roman history could furnish themes suitable to such plays. Saul and Esther introduced the religious subject to classic authors. Years before Racine's Berenice, Alcionee demonstrated that five acts could be sustained without external events, purely by the representation of mental states. Sceuole, commonly held to be the author's chef d'ceuvre, was one of the few plays written in the first half of the seventeenth century that were acted in the eighteenth. Themistocle, published more often than most of Du Ryer's plays, has some interest as an example of the political tragedy in the Cornelian manner. Lucrece, probably first acted in 1636, was published in l638 r and dedicated to "Mademoiselle de Vendosme, " while Du Ryer was still secretary to her father. It probably met with some success, as it is mentioned with approbation in d'Aubignac's Pratique du theatre. 2 It is based directly on Livy's narrative 3 without influence from the plays on the same subject by Filleul 4 and Chevreau. 5 The scene is laid at the "chasteau de Collatie," whither Tarquin, Collatin, and Brute have come to visit Lucrece. Although the heroine does not appear till the middle of the second act, she is so much discussed in the first that there can be no doubt of the predominant place she holds in the tragedy. The play begins with Tarquin's ridiculing Collatin's love of Lucrece and Collatin's defending his devotion and boasting of her virtue. He sends his guests into the house to surprise his wife in the performance of her domestic duties, and is reproved by 1 Privilege, May 21; achevS d' imprinter, July 20. 3 Paris, 1657, ii, 89. i, 57-59. * Rouen, 1566. * Paris, 1637. Hardy's play of the same name has an entirely different subject. 83 84 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Brute for thus exposing Lucrece to Tarquin's passion, as well as for coming away from the army with him. Collatin replies that they left the army at dawn, only two hours before, and have come hither in order to settle a dispute of the previous evening over Lucrece's virtue, but Brute still disapproves, for "Son desir eschauffe" ne respecte personne, II croid que la licen[c]e est vn droit de Couronne, Que c'est vn trait d'esprit de tromper ses amis, Et que quand Ton peut tout, tout est aussi permis. Tu 1'as veu, tu le sgais, et te trahis toy mesme! Tu monstres au lyon la pasture qu'il ayme! " The dialogue that follows, in which Collatin continues to trust and Brute to doubt, shows that the former, like the hero of a Greek tragedy, sins through pride and want of measure, and that the terrible calamity which is to befall him is due in part to his own error, Between the first and second acts the interview between Lucrece and her husband's friend takes place. Tarquin's feeling changes from a desire to win his wager and prove the inconstancy of women to a passionate longing for the possession of Lucrece. In a scene with Brute he confesses this desire and asks his aid in fulfilling it, but Brute, instead of aiding him, reminds him of his royal duty and then warns him of the fatal consequences that may attend his act. Tarquin pretends to be convinced and agrees to return to the camp, but in a monologue he tells us his intention to seduce Lucrece. He is influenced not only by his love of the woman, but by his hatred of Brute for showing him his duty. Accordingly he tells his plans to his slave, Libane, then admits to Collatin that he has lost his wager, bids farewell to Lucrece, and leaves with her husband and Brute. The heroine here appears for the first time, speeding her guests with friendly words. The third act concerns the attempted seduction. Libane, acting under his master's orders, returns to the house and makes skilful insinuations against Collatin, first to the maids, then to Lucrece. He declares with apparent reluctance that Collatin has a mistress, whose attractions he openly puts above his wife's, that Tarquin has rebuked him for his conduct, and that it was to prove to that prince the superiority of the mistress that Collatin brought him to see Lucrece. Libane explains further that he has lost his way in the darkness, for it is now night, and has been TRAGEDIES 85 obliged to return to the house. Lucrece is lamenting her hus- band's inconstancy when Tarquin enters. He calls virtue a "vieille chimere, " reminds her of Diana's love affair, flatters her, begs her to pity him, calls Collatin unfaithful. Seeing that his eloquence does not avail, he changes his tactics and pretends that he has been playing a part in order to convince her skeptical husband of her fidelity. He adds that Collatin is returning home and advises Lucrece to send men to meet him. Having thus got rid of her male attendants, he confides to Libane his intention to use force. Her interview with Tarquin has convinced Lucrece that her husband is innocent, especially as her attendant, Liuie, has almost succeeded in obtaining a confession from Libane. The maids argue whether she ought to speak of the incident to her husband, till they are sent away by their mistress, who wishes to think the matter over alone. Tarquin then enters with his slave and again makes love to her. Seeing that she still refuses, he draws his dagger, but is unable to terrify her into compliance. As in Livy, he warns her that if she kills herself, he will kill his slave and swear that he has taken them in adultery. Lucrece immediately hastens from the room in order to find witnesses of her innocence. Tarquin pursues her, leaving the stage to the maids, who are brought in by the noise they have heard. After a conversation between these women, Lucrece returns in despair, begging Tarquin to kill her, now that he has dishonored her, but the ravisher has fled, leaving her to thoughts of vengeance. The last act gives briefly the conclusion of the story. Colla- tin, Brute, and Lucrece's father arrive, summoned by her letters. There is an interview between the men, then the last scene of the play, in which the heroine, at too great length, but not without pathos, tells of her sad state, makes them swear to avenge her, and then kills herself. The three men swear. Collatin is over- whelmed with grief, while Brute points out a means of vengeance by expelling the tyrants from Rome. Du Ryer thus expands Livy's account and adapts it to the requirements of the stage without greatly altering his source. He preserves the unity of place by laying the scene entirely in Collatin's home, x the unity of time by beginning the action two 1 At least two rooms are used, for from V, I, to V, 2 the actors go from one apart- ment into another. 86 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST hours after dawn and ending it early next morning, whereas in Livy several days elapse between Tarquin's visits. He sustains the interest without subordinate plot and connects all the episodes with the character of Lucrece and the theme of her violation and death, considered in their personal significance with scarcely any reference to their political importance. He introduces Brute early in order to characterize Collatin and Tarquin, wisely omits Valerius, whose presence at the death-bed would have added nothing to the interest, and utilizes Livy's mention of Tar- quin's slave and Lucrece's maids for the creation of subordinate characters. There is local color in references to the gods, to the rule of the Tarquins, to Rome, the Senate, the siege of Ardea, in mention of Mars, Diana, Bacchus, Paris, Ulysses, Troy. 1 Anachronisms are found in remarks on the "Empire Romain, " " encre et papier, " the heroine's avoidance of "bal et theatre." 2 As the death of Lucrece is a suicide, no classicist would object to its taking place on the stage. The bienseances are well preserved, even in the difficult matter of the rape. The simplicity and eleva- tion of Du Ryer's treatment are emphasized by comparison with Chevreau's play on the same subject, for the latter author introduces Tarquin and Tullie, lays the scene in several places, has Collatin charged with treachery to the king instead of un- faithfulness to Lucrece, pads his work with accounts of the battle, Sextus's exile, his father's expulsion, and has the rape committed almost before the eyes of the audience. Du Ryer's play resembles it only in the subject and in the fact that Sextus has an attendant who seeks to help him seduce Lucrece. The tragedy is distinguished from the author's earlier works by a more careful delineation of character, the natural accompa- niment of simplicity in plot. He throws his characters into high relief by constantly bringing them into opposition with one another, so that the only persons who remain vague are the heroine's father, who does not enter till the last act, and a certain Procule, an unimportant messenger. Lucrece and Tarquin are the most sharply contrasted as well as the leading figures. The former is represented as a beautiful, industrious, faithful wife, a gracious hostess, a woman of sweet, ness and dignity. She is easily deceived, accepting as true the 'Cf. I, 2; II, 2; III, 5; IV, 2. 'II, 2; III, 5; I, 2. TRAGEDIES 87 slanderous statements about her husband, but she has no blame for him, only sorrow at his fickleness and reproach for herself that she has not been able to hold his affection. She is more sorely tried than Livy's Lucretia, who does not appear to have believed her husband guilty. She is also more heroic than her prototype, for, despite the fame the Roman heroine has acquired, she evidently preferred her reputation to her virtue. "Quo terrore cum vicisset obstinatam pudicitiam, " writes Livy. The fear of having it said that she was taken in adultery with a slave forced her to yield to Tarquin, and, although she atoned nobly for her weakness, the fact remains that she consented to the deed. The French Lucrece, on the other hand, never wavers in her fidelity and is overcome by physical violence only. But the character would be more dramatic if it were less heroic. As Lucrece does not waver, there is no soul struggle at the center of the play. Perhaps to make up for this, Du Ryer gives his heroine other problems. Is her husband unfaithful? Ought she to tell him of Tarquin's attempt? At the end, how can she atone for the loss of her honor and take vengeance on her ravisher? But there is not, as in the case of Chimene and Andromaque, a problem that affects her action throughout the play. The work lacks the psychological subtlety of the best French tragedies. If Lucrece is fixed in her adherence to virtue, Tarquin is none the less so in his inclination to vice. His character does not change, nor does he falter in his determination to possess Lucrece. At the same time, his desire gains intensity as the play progresses. He is not the brute that Livy draws, but a cynical, subtle, courtly knave, grown more criminal with his modernity. He shows less lust than Livy's villain, greater pride in his own powers. In the first act he is bent only on proving that there is good reason for his skeptical attitude towards women; in the second, his desire is increased by the sight of Lucrece, the know- ledge of her virtue, and the admonitions of Brute. He now adds hypocrisy to other vices, feigning gratitude for Brute's advice. In the third act, he makes every effort for the seduction, showing far greater ingenuity than his Roman original. In the fourth, he resorts to force. As he does not reappear in the fifth act, his punishment must be inferred from Brute's swearing that he will 88 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST drive the royal family from Rome. D'Aubignac 1 commends Du Ryer for not letting Tarquin die on the stage after out- raging Lucrece, giving as his reason that the crime was not great enough to prevent horror in the audience when they saw him thus punished. But there is no evidence to show that Du Ryer entertained such a curious view of popular horror. It is rather his regard for his source that makes him treat the rdle as he does. The two characters that stand next in importance are Collatin and Brute, the first as impetuous and trusting as the second is calm, penetrating, reserved. Collatin refuses to think evil of Tarquin, boasts inadvisedly of his love, is maddened by his wife's death. As his suffering is due partly to himself, he is an exceedingly tragic figure. Brute is far less human. He is one of the few examples in Du Ryer of the "sage, " the character who represents the author and has little personal concern in the action. Virtue and wisdom speak through his mouth, but we are struck by his censoriousness and lack of feeling. He has greater astute- ness than that with which Livy credits him, for he practically promises to aid Tarquin to seduce Lucrece in order to extract from him his confession. Truer to the Roman conception of him are his keen insight into motive, the influence he exerts over his friends, his gravity and determined patriotism. Libane is developed from the slave whose body, according to Livy, Tarquin threatened to leave with Lucretia's. He be- comes the go-between who seeks to win Lucrece for his master by slandering Collatin. The few lines he speaks give an impres- sion of devotion to his master and large ability to deceive. With him should be considered Lucrece's two attendants, introduced from Livy's ancilla to show the heroine in her life at home. Liuie, warm-hearted, active, outspoken, suspects Tarquin, ques- tions his slave, advises Lucrece to be frank with her husband, while Cornelie is full of cautious platitudes, anxious to avoid scandal, and opposed to criticism of royalty. The arguments in which the women indulge serve to make them more fully characterized than the usual confidantes. We find, then, in this first tragedy such familiar classical marks as a well-known subject from Roman history, a strong effort to arouse pity and admiration, closely observed unities and propri- eties, subordination of incident to a careful study of contending 1 Pratique du theatre, Paris, 1657, n, 89. TRAGEDIES 89 characters. To place the central struggle of the play in one mind is a refinement which the author did not reach till his next tragedy, but already the progress he has made from his earlier writing is evident. The analysis of sentiment and motive has become the main element in the composition of the play. At the same time, the loss of picturesque scenes, often entailed by the preservation of the unity of place, is reduced to a minimum. It was well to omit the confused banquet scene ; certainly Du Ryer acted wisely in removing Lucrece from the stage during the fourth act. The affecting scene of the suicide and the important psychological scenes of the attempted seduction are given in detail. The only scene I miss is the first meeting of Tarquin and Lucrece, in which the former's cynical attitude toward his friend's wife is changed to a desire to possess her. As the inter- view would have interested the audience without violating the unity of place, its omission was to be regretted, even when the theater was under classical regulation. Seventeenth-century references to Alcionee indicate that, next to Sceuole, it was Du Ryer's best-known piece. That Richelieu enjoyed it is stated in the dedication to his niece, the duchesse d'Aiguillon, which declares "qu'il a pleu a son Emi- nence, et qu'apres luy auoir donne des louanges, elle luy a donn6 vne place parmy les ornements de son Cabinet ... Et certes lorsque son Eminence me fit 1'honneur de me commander de luy porter cet ouurage, et de vouloir encore que ie luy en fisse la lecture apres 1'auoir veu representer tant de fois, ie cms qu'elle autorisoit mon entreprise, et qu'elle me rendoit 1'asseurance que la crainte m'auoit ostee. " Christina of Sweden is said by Titon du Tillet to have had it read to her three times in one day, "ne pouvant se lasser d'en admirer les beautez. "' La Roche- foucauld paid his tribute to it by quoting, with reference to his affair with Mme de Longueville, the two lines, "Pour obtenir vn bien si grand, si precieux, I'ay fait la guerre aux Rois, ie 1'eusse faite aux Dieux."* Fournier, none too reliable an authority, declares, without giving the source of his information, that the abbe d'Aubignac knew the 1 Le Parnasse fran^ois, Paris, 1732, p. 249. Perhaps this was the reason why Du Ryer in 1653 dedicated his Decades de Tite-Liue to that queen. 1 III, 5. Voltaire, (Euvres (Moland's edition), xiv, 192, 193, and xv, 112, gives the quotation in slightly different form, and adds a note on the duke's parody of it. 9O PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST play by heart. It is certain that the latter thought well of it, for he writes in his Pratique du Theatre, 1 "Les petits sujets entre les mains d'un Poete ingenieux et qui scait parler, ne sgauroient mal reussir. C'est le conseil que donne Scaliger en termes formels, et nous en auons veu 1'effet dans VAlcionee de M. du Ryer, Tragedie qui n'a point de fonds, et qui neantmoins a rauy par la force des discours et des sentimens. " Still more flattering is Menage's comment: "C'est une piece admirable et qui ne cede en rien a celles de M. Corneille. II y a des vers merveilleux, et elle est tres-bien entendue. Mondory y fesoit bien son personnage. " a Saint-Evremond, when naming plays by other authors than Corneille which deserve applause, declares, "Nous avons ete touches de Mariane, de Sophonisbe, VAlcionee, de Venceslas, de Stilicon, d'Andromaque, de Britanicus et de plu- sieurs autres. " 3 Finally, Marmontel 4 in 1773 asserts that "il y a de I'interet dans I'Alcyone'e, et un mtere"t assez vif. " The play was first published in i640. s Mahelot's mention 6 shows that it was acted at the H6tel de Bourgogne. If, as Philipp shrewdly comments, 7 Menage is right in declaring that Mondory played in it, it must have been acted as early as February, 1637, for about that time this actor retired from the stage. 8 It con- tinued on the boards for over twenty years, as it was acted by Moli&re's troupe on December 2, 1659, before the unusually large audience attracted by the Precieuses ridicules, then being performed for the second time. Whether Alcionee was subse- quently played or not is unknown. It certainly had further success in book form, for it was republished in 1655, 1705,' and 1 Paris, 1657, ii, no. 1 Menagiana, Amsterdam, 1693, p. 366. (Euvres mesltes, London, 1709, H, 199. * Chefs d'oeuvre dramatiques, preface to Scevole, p. v. * Privilege, April 13; acheve d'imprimer, April 26. The Catalogue de Soleinne, no. 1006, mentions a copy signed by the author and addressed, "pour mon cher amy monsieur Colletet. " 6 Memoire, p. 5. The scribe refers to it only in his table of contents. i Pierre Du Ryers Leben, 51. Menage's evidence is not above suspicion, but the only argument against it is the fact that the play was not published till 1640. Strange to say, Philipp considers this strong enough to overthrow Manage, although there are a number of cases in which three years elapsed between the representation and publication of plays, notably that of Du Ryer's most successful work, Sceuole. 1 Cf. Fournel, Contemporains de Moliere, Paris, 1875, in, p. xxxviii. According to Philipp this is the first edition that bears the subtitle Combat de V Amour et de I'Honneur. This title is mentioned by Maupoint, Bibliotheque, Paris, 1733, p. 10. TRAGEDIES 91 finally in 1737, although Niceron 1 declared in 1733 that it had "tombee [sic] entierement dans 1'oubli." The source of this play is hard to find. An earlier romance may have represented such scenes as passing in Lydia; I do not believe that any history did so. At the same time the main theme of the tragedy, the unhappy love of a subject for a princess, may have been suggested by some actual event among Du Ryer's contemporaries, such as, for instance, Buckingham's famous affair with Anne of Austria, or, what would suit more exactly, if the play had been written a few years later, the history of Cinq-Mars and Louise Marie de Gonzaga. This is a favorite theme with Du Ryer and reaches its fullest expression here. There is even a striking resemblance between the plots of Alcionee and Cleomedon, for in both a king promises his daughter to her lover and subject, and then breaks his word; the subject, though a distinguished warrior, yields to the king's will, while jealous nobles influence the king against him. On the other hand, Alcionee differs from Cleomedon by the simplicity of its structure and the pathetic nature of its ending. It may be that Du Ryer extracted from the numerous episodes of his earlier play the one which gave most opportunity to psychological development, and made out of this a classical tragedy instead of a romantic tragi- comedy. Whether or not this connection exists, it is interesting to note how the dramatist's powers matured in the few years that elapsed between the dates when the two plays appeared. The scene of the play is laid at Sardis in Lydia. Alcionee, finding that his humble birth prevents his marriage to Lydie, daughter of the king, has taken arms against the latter, and with the help of his enemies has reduced him to a single city and extracted from him the promise of his daughter's hand. After this, the hero has aided the king to expel the foreigners, and now, with peace restored, he is expecting to be united to Lydie. Here the play begins. Lydie is torn between her love of Alcion6e and her desire to be true to her rank, which does not allow her to marry a man who is not of royal birth, and especially one who has revolted against her father. Alcionee relies upon the royal word, which the king would fain break. The decision is left to Lydie, who conquers her love sufficiently to refuse her suitor. Overwhelmed by her refusal, abandoned by his former friends, 1 Memoires pour servir, etc., xxii, pp. 342-350. 92 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST out of favor with the king, Alcionee begs to be allowed to go into exile, but, when this is permitted him, he realizes that he can not live away from his ungrateful lady, nor find happi- ness among her enemies, who have become his own. He sees in suicide the only solution to his problem, and, having stabbed himself, is brought in to die at the feet of the now penitent Lydie. If we consider this play from the protagonist's standpoint, we find it a tragedy of Racine's type. Alcionee is not a strong- willed hero, but a victim to his passion for Lydie, which first makes him forget loyalty and patriotism, and later brings him to humiliating submission and death. Lydie, on the other hand, is distinctly Cornelian in her devotion to duty and power to conquer her love. The former embodies the medieval spirit of chivalry ; the latter typifies the seventeenth century ideal of the divine right of kings. It is the clashing of these two forces that forms the struggle of the play and finds its only logical outcome in the death of the leading person. Racine is suggested not only by the hero's character and the fatal struggle in which he is involved, but by the skill which makes five acts out of a refusal of marriage, a permission to go into exile, and a suicide. The structure is such that the interest is gradually increased as the play goes on. In the first act, the lovers are brought on the stage, but do not appear together. Lydie is shown to be moved more profoundly by what she conceives to be her duty to her rank than by her love for Alcionee, while love for her is evidently his chief motive. He displays a pathetic confidence in the king's promise when Alcire, a false friend, comes to warn him against aspiring to wed the princess. The second act introduces the king in scenes with each of the lovers. He shows his temporizing and revengeful nature by pre- paring to break his word and hide behind his daughter. At first he does not believe that Alcionee will ask for Lydie's hand, but he soon learns his intentions from the courtiers, and finally from the lover himself. He argues that he was forced to make the promise for the good of the state, and that for the good of the state he will break it. He reminds Alcionee of his low birth, whereupon the latter boldly retorts : "Se mettre au rang des Rois, ne le deuoir qu' a soy N'est pas moins glorieux que de sortir d'vn Roy." TRAGEDIES 93 The king answers that honor is not won by unlawful victories, and that, even if Alcionee can win justly, he will still have to get the consent of the princess. As Alcion6e believes that the latter loves him, he begs the king to leave the matter to her, and, when the king has consented, rejoices in a lyric outburst: "Amour tantost propice, et tantost rigoureux, Est-il sous ton Empire vn Amant plus heureux? Si ie suis ton captif, mon seruage m'honore, Vne Princesse m'ayme, autant que ie 1'adore; Et puis ie desormais esperer vainement, Si mon bon-heur consiste en son consentement?" Even the courtiers seem sure of his success, for they now come to remind him of their friendship. The third act, the act in which the struggle between the two victims of love and duty is keenest, begins with Lydie's stances, used, as in Corneille, for a monologue expressing conflicting emo- tions in a single breast. "Qu'ay-ie fait, qu'ay-ie resolu? Et dedans mon ame incertaine Qui sera Ie plus absolu, Ou de 1'amour, ou de la hayne? Mais doy-ie encore consulter Apres que Ton m'a vft tenter Tout ce que peut vn aduersaire? Orgueil, honneur, cruelle loy, Doy-je tout faire pour vous plaire, Ne doy-je rien faire pour moy?" She continues her lament, her love contending against respect for her rank and anger with Alcionee for daring to revolt against her father. Now, at last, the lovers are brought together before the audience. Alcionee, announced by an attendant, comes joyfully before Lydie to tell her that she may decide the question of their marriage; but she meets his advances coldly, saying that she will obey her father, whatever her own desires may be. He accordingly goes to seek the king, who, meanwhile, comes to explain to Lydie that he has left the decision to her, solely in order that she may refuse her importunate lover. He retires after bidding her remember that Alcionee is a subject and she a queen. Left alone, she resolves to give up all to her "gloire. " "Par vne cruaute que i'ay desia blasme'e, Monstrons nous malgre" nous indigne d'estre aim^e." 94 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST In the fifth scene the climax of the love affair is reached. Alcione'e, informed that the king is with his daughter, returns to Lydie, who bids him cease to love her, reminding him of the evil he has done to the country and to her father. He is astonished at the change that he finds in her, and defends himself by the plea that he did all for her love: "Enfin si mes forfaits m'ont rendu redoutable, Si ie suis a vos yeux vn obiect detestable, Ce coeur, ce triste coeur par 1'Amour consume", Au moins par son Amour merite d'estre aime. " This idea and her refusal are considerably developed in this duo, more cruel than the lovers' dialogues in the Cid, where the ad- herence of each to his own duty does not prevent his sympathy with the other's action. Lydie's rejoicing that her lover's re- bellion has enabled her to conquer her love for him is unnatural, if she still loves him. The interview ends without comfort for the hero, now convinced that he is despised. The first result of this scene is shown in the fourth act, when Alcionee begs the courtiers to see the king for him and learn what further punishment awaits him. They reward his trust by ad- vising him to leave the country and slandering him to the king. Alcionee curses them, but he decides to take their advice and obtains from the king permission to go into exile. Then he asks himself to what country he can flee, where fate will not pursue him. He will be powerless to protect himself from his enemies, and, rather than banish himself, prefers to "laisser la vie ou i'ay trouu6 1'Amour. " Now that her lover has been rejected, Lydie feels free to mourn for him and to repulse with bitterness those who propose to punish him further. She still loves him. Her "vaine et fiere grandeur" has brought her no happiness. Soon the news comes that Alcionee has stabbed himself, hoping that his death may be acceptable to her. In the last scene he is brought in to die at her feet. She reproaches herself for her high rank and her cruelty, but he answers, "Non, non souuenez-vous du triste Alcionee, C'est la 1'vnique bien que veut sa destinee, II le peut demander, il le peut obtenir, Car ce n'est pas 1'aymer que de s'en souuenir. " TRAGEDIES 95 The manner in which this play exemplifies classic rules is obvious. One room of the palace is apparently the only place represented. The time is little more than that of the performance. The action is extremely simple, for the persons are all concerned in the refusal, exile, and death, and no subordinate plot is employed. The concentration of the play is made natural by the impulsive character of the hero, the keenness of whose love and despair prevents hesitation. The interest is sustained by the carefully arranged series of interviews between important persons, who, each time they meet, have a slightly different mental attitude towards one another. Little space is needed for the narration of past events. The brief account of Alcionee's stabbing himself might have been substituted by a suicide on the stage, as in Lucrece and Saul. The grave and eloquent style shows greater power of expression than that displayed in the author's earlier plays. There is unity of tone as well as of structure. The leading persons have been, perhaps, sufficiently described. Alcionee is a warrior, whose native vigor is shown in his first interviews with the king and in his haughty condemnation of his false friends, but love has so completely subdued him that we are given the impression of a confiding and devoted lover, humili- ated and forsaken. Over against him stands the heroine, who remains cold through most of the play. Her statements that love as well as honor is struggling in her bosom are confirmed too little by her speeches to her father and lover for us to be convinced of their truth before the end of the play. It is only in the fifth act that her r61e is made human and dramatic. The king's cruel and timid r61e and that of his advisers, the hypocritical and treach- erous friends of Alcionee, are important, not only in themselves, but as furnishing to the leading persons the appropriate back- ground of a court characterized by absolutism, intrigue, and flattery. Of the two treacherous friends, Alcire is more talkative, more ready to cause the hero's ruin, while pretending to be his friend. The heroine's two attendants could easily be reduced to one. Finally, Achate is a mere confidant with no other charac- teristics than fidelity and desire to be of use. The play has been compared 1 with the Cid, as it is concerned with young lovers, separated by the hero's crime and the heroine's sense of duty until the report of the hero's death arrives. But 1 Cf. Philipp, Pierre Du Ryers Leben, p. 54. 96 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST in her rank and in the fact that she never yields to love, Lydie resembles the Infante rather than Chimene. In Alcionee the crime is less prominent than the difference in rank, while the ending and the hero are quite different from those of the Cid. Again, while Alcionee lacks the varied and brilliant beauty of the Cid, it is much more thoroughly classical in treatment. In his second attempt Du Ryer came nearer the ideal structure of a purely psychological tragedy than Corneille ever did, or any other French dramatist, as far as I know, before Racine. Saul, the next tragedy, was published in 1642* and probably first acted in 1639 or 1640.* It must have been fairly popular, for it was republished in 1705 and 1737, and was mentioned in the Parnasse fran$ois, 3 the Anecdotes dramatiques,* and the Bibliothbque poetique 5 as one of Du Ryer's leading tragedies. The latter volume gives passages from the third act of the play and points out lines considered Cornelian. Fournier 6 notes the "ampleur toute shakespearienne " of the scenes between Saul and the Witch. Now it is doubtful whether this breadth of treatment interested Du Ryer's contemporaries as it does the modern reader. They probably considered the play inferior to Sceuole and Alcionee. At the same time, Saul has a special historical value, indicated by the author in his dedication " tout le monde": "Ie le donne aux Grands et aux Petits, aux Profanes et aux Religieux, parce que les vns et les autres peuuent trouuer dans son subjet vne instruction sans aigreur et vn diuertissement sans scandale . . . ie ne demande point qu'on me donne de la reputation pour auoir fait quelques Vers qui peut-estre ne de"plaisent pas; Ie demande seulement qu'on me scache bon gre" d'auoir au moins essaye" de faire voir sur nostre Theatre la majeste des Histoires saintes. Comme j'ay eu cet auantage d'y faire paraistre le premier des sub jets de cette nature auec quelque sorte d'applaudissement; si j'en ay merite" quelque chose, ie souhaite pour ma recompense que ie serue en cela d'exemple, et que mes Maistres, ie veux dire ces grands Genies qui rendroient 1'ancienne Grece enuieuse de la France, deuiennent mes imitateurs dans vn dessein si glorieux." Du Ryer is, indeed, the first of the seventeenth-century classic dramatists to turn to the Bible for a plot. Other plays with a 1 Privilege, April 8; acheve d' imprinter, May 31. 1 The freres Parfaict, Histoire du thedtre fran$ois, vi, 74-77, discuss it under the year 1639, but as they give no reason for such dating, their well-known inaccuracy renders their testimony of uncertain value. Page 249. < Page 176. s p p . 306-313. 6 Thedtre fran$ais, II, 70. TRAGEDIES 97 Biblical subject had been survivals of the medieval drama or of the sixteenth-century type of classic tragedy. * None written in the manner of the new school had been previously represented in a popular theater. Saul, therefore, is the first of the series of Biblical plays to which Boyer, Racine, and a number of eighteenth-century dramatists contributed. It may also have suggested to Corneille and Rotrou that dramatic plots could be found in the lives of the saints. Du Ryer follows the account given in First Samuel (Liber Primus Regum) * of Saul's rejection as king, his visit to the Witch of Endor, and his death in battle with the Philistines. The main idea of the play is to show 'Thomme sous la main de Dieu, la creature humaine, faible et bornee, se sentant de plus en plus ecrasee par une volonte superieure, dont elle souffre le poids, sans en comprendre les secrets desseins, " as M. Faguet has well said 3 of Jean de La Taille's Saul furieux. But Du Ryer's Saul is never insane, and revolts, not against his own punishment, but against that of his guiltless children. The more human, intelligent, and self-sacrificing he is, the greater is his fall, and the stronger the arraignment of Providence, for Du Ryer's dedicatory hope that his play will make the theater "la plus agreable Eschole ou Ton puisse apprendre la Vertu" does not prevent his enlisting our sympathies for Saul in his struggle with God. He is Du Ryer's most pathetic hero. It is not simply death that he suffers, but all the results of disobedience: his own further sin, his inability to atone for it, his humiliation, defeat, the loss of his children, his forced suicide. The play is arranged so as to show these increasing disasters step by step. Saul is the central and dominant figure on whom all other characters depend, and in whom we are chiefly interested. The essential facts of the exposition, God's attitude towards Saul, his own understanding of it, his love and fear for his children, are shown in the opening lines, which the king addresses to his daughter, Michol, and his son, lonathas: "Fuyez done de mes yeux, fuyez d'vn miserable, De peur qu'en 1'appuyant son sort ne vous accable, Et que d'vn Dieu vangeur I'e'quitable courroux, En tombant dessus luy, ne tombe dessus vous." 1 Cf. La Perfidie d'Aman, Paris, 1622. 1 Especially xxv, 44; xxvin, 3-20; xxxi, 1-6. Tragedie frangaise au XVP silcle, 144. 98 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST His children seek to reassure him by recalling his victories, but he replies that it is not the Philistines that he fears, but himself, ever haunted by a secret voice and fearing the awful silence of God, who will answer him neither by dreams, priests, nor prophets, lonathas argues that the fidelity of the people is a sign of divine approval, and Saul is beginning to take hope, when Abner brings the news that Jerusalem has revolted against him. He execrates the fickleness of the city and sends lonathas to put down the revolt, after a struggle with his desire to keep his son from danger. Michol then suggests that her husband, Dauid, will help them, but her words only rouse her father's jealous distrust of the man who is to succeed him. Phalti comes to announce that the Philistines are approaching and that Dauid is marching with them. Michol tries in vain to defend her husband by reminding Saul of his past services, and accusing Phalti of plotting against him, but her father curses Dauid and refuses to listen to her. His imperious and energetic nature is shown working his own destruction by this ready belief in Phalti and antipathy to his son-in-law. The second act increases the difficulty of Saul's position. The enemy are about to attack; he is persuaded that revolt and treachery are rife in his own ranks; he is drawn by the silence of God to commit the crime of appealing to evil spirits. He sends his faithful agent, Phalti, to find someone who can put him into communication with the dead. A few moments before, becoming angered by his daughter's persistent championing of the cause of a supposed traitor, he has declared that Dauid's crimes make him unworthy to be his son-in-law, and has given Michol to Phalti. Then lonathas returns from Jerusalem with the news that he has suppressed the revolt by assuring the people that the report of his father's hostility to Dauid is unfounded. He joins his sister and Abner in urging Saul to recall Dauid to his presence. Saul now finds himself face to face with the opposition of his children and the shame of having to appeal to Dauid in order to save his crown. He begs lonathas to fight so well that he may owe the victory to him rather than to Dauid, and when lonathas responds nobly to this appeal, Saul gives his consent to Dauid's return, but only to withdraw it before the next act begins. lonathas explains to Abner that Saul's refusal to listen to advice and his belief in Dauid's hostility are signs that Heaven TRAGEDIES 99 has abandoned him. They enter Saul's tent and find him alone with Phalti and disguised. lonathas learns his father's plan of consulting a familiar spirit and protests against it, but without avail. Saul admits that he is wrong, but he refuses to change his design. He is wittingly pushed on by a power that he can not resist : "Tes discours, lonathas, ont passe" dans mon ame, Tu blames mon dessein, moy-mesme ie le blame, II porte dans mon sein vne juste terreur. II me couure de honte, il me comble d'horreur, Ie reconoy mon mal, et ce qui m'en deliure, Bref, ie sgay mon deuoir, mais ie ne puis le suiure; Vn pouuoir que le mien ne sgauroit e"branler M'entraisne auec horreur ou j'ay honte d'aller. " The night has fallen, and Saul, accompanied as in the Bible by two followers, goes to "vn bois pres de cette vallee" and approaches a "grand gouffre ou la nuit regne eternellement. " There Phalti leaves him for a moment to summon the pythonisse. When she appears, Saul assures her that she shall not be punished for assisting him, and implores her to bring up the ghost of Samuel. Though astonished at this request, she promises the king to do his will, and retires into the cave to perform the necessary mys- teries. This gives opportunity for an effective monologue, in which desire to know his fate and horror at the thought of the crime struggle in the soul of the protagonist. He is about to abandon his project, when the sorceress returns to tell him that "desia la terre eclatte et s'ouure deuant vous." She is alarmed to learn that her visitor is Saul, but, reassured by him, she announces Samuel. The prophet's ghost asks Saul why he has disturbed his rest and learns the object of his mission. The prophet's response is earnest and terrible: "Pense a ce peuple saint par tes Lois e"gorg Pour auoir centre toy 1'innocent protege", Pour auoir fait trouuer dans 1'enclos de sa ville Au malheureux Dauid la faueur d'vn azile. Pense combien de fois ma voix t'a menac6, Et pour voir 1'auenir regarde le passe. Ce Dauid repouss par d'iniustes efforts, Entrera glorieux au Tr6ne d'ou tu sors, ioo PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Et les Rois apprendront par ta cheute effroyable Que qui regne en Tyran doit perir en coupable. Saiil: le receus la Couronne afin de la quiter, Le Ciel me la donna, le Ciel peut me 1'oster." But this is not enough. He will be defeated and slain. Saul replies that he will gladly lose his life, if he must lose his good name; whereupon Samuel tells the final punishment: "Ne t'imagine pas reuiure en tes enfans Que tu vis tant de f ois reuenir triomphans : Mais scaches, malheureux, que ce sont des victimes Que tu verras tomber sous le f aix de tes crimes : Auant qu'vne autre nuit obscurcisse les Cieux Sgache que tes enfans periront a tes yeux. Saiil: Helas! voyla le coup dont 1'attainte me tue. " When the ghost has gone, Saul expresses his grief at the loss of his children and his inability to understand Heaven's ways : "Vous m'aimez comme enfans, vous plaignez ma misere, Est-ce vn crime qu'aimer et plaindre vostre Pere? Cependant, quels malheurs aux miens s'e"galeront? Tes enfans, me dit-on, tes enfans periront. O Justice du Ciel cache"e a la Nature, Estouffe au moins mes jours auant que ie murmure." The fourth act shows Saul's state of mind after his interview with the spirit. Convinced of his own sin and condemnation, he no longer seeks to save himself, or to get further information about his fate, but turns all his efforts to saving his children and his country. Even this seems to him a vain purpose, if Heaven is his enemy, but he resolves to struggle nevertheless, as this is the only course worthy of a father and a king. He accordingly sends for Michol and shows her that he has conquered his enmity to Dauid. When she tells him of a prophetic dream she has had, and begs him not to expose himself to danger, he waves her tenderly aside, commends her past conduct, assures her of Heaven's justice, and hopes that she, as Dauid's queen, will inherit some of the honors he is about to lose. Finally he goes so far in his resignation that he wishes for Dauid the peace and wisdom that he himself lacked, "Et plus ferme que moy sur vn pas dangereux, Qu'il viue aussi puissant et meure plus heureux. '' TRAGEDIES 101 The still more difficult task awaits him of saving his sons from sharing his fate. In a masterly scene with lonathas he bids him go and put down a new insurrection at Jerusalem, but his son begs to be allowed to stay and fight at his side. Saul insists, urges his royal right to command, entreats his son to obey him. lonathas begs him not to believe what a "Demon" has told him, argues his right to sacrifice himself for his father and his country, implores him not to expose himself in the battle. In the end they go out to meet death together, Saul certain of his fate, but resolved to let nothing turn him from his duty, not even his love of his children, for "vn Roy n'est pas vray Roy quand il est trop bon Pere. " The last act deals with the death of the king and of his sons. The battle is depicted with a vividness rare in classic tragedies, and due partly to the introduction of persons suffering from wounds just received in the combat, partly to the order in which the events are arranged. First appears Phalti, mourning the death of Saul's sons and calling on his men to stop their flight. Abner joins him, and they ask each other for news of the battle. Abner believes the king and lonathas either dead or captured; Phalti shows him the dead princes, whom he found dying on the field and brought to this "boccage. " lonathas, brought thither by his escuyer, deplores the fact that his "corps sanglant et deschire'" prevents his going to his father's aid. Phalti and Abner hasten off to meet the approaching enemy. The rapid and intense scene prepares the audience for Saul's arrival. The last scene makes a fitting ending to the tragedy. Saul enters with his escuyer, in despair because he is living to see his people's shame. He finds his children lying dead and calls upon Heaven to destroy him. His only hope is that lonathas has not shared the fate of his other sons, but he soon finds him at the point of death and sees him die in his arms, seeking with his last words to summon Abner to his father's defense. Left alone with his armor-bearer, Saul mourns his children, not because of their noble death, which has been for their country's sake, but because his own sins have been the cause of their punishment by this " espouuantable Arrest du Ciel inexorable." This is the result of greatness. Let those desire it who will! He would return to the battle to die, but his wounds prevent him. If he remains alive, the Philistines will take him prisoner and laugh at his afflic- IO2 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST tion. He accordingly bids his armor-bearer slay him, but the latter refuses, and Saul is obliged to add suicide to his other crimes. As in the Bible, he falls on his sword, and his armor- bearer follows his example. So completely does Saul fill this play that an analysis of it can not fail to give most of his characteristics. He is a complex figure, meeting Aristotle's requirement that a hero of tragedy should have in him both evil and good. He is a proud, over- bearing, jealous monarch, who has sinned by his tyranny and disobedience, and who at the same time is capable of any sacrifice for his country or his children, and wins our admiration by the fortitude with which he bears his punishment. He does not mur- mur against Providence till his sons are made to suffer with him, for he remembers his own responsibility for the murder of the priests who sheltered Dauid, but he can not understand the blind visiting of his sins upon his innocent children. Du Ryer has made of him an (Edipus, sinning and repentant, but unable to escape the merciless punishment of his crimes or to protect his children from suffering with him. He has created no personality that better illustrates his ability to characterize with variety and force. The presence in the play of Saul's children assists materially the exposition of his character. Two of the sons are not intro- duced, though they are several times alluded to, and lie dead near the stage in the last act. Their representation would probably have served only to confuse the play, without adding anything to what lonathas exemplifies. The latter is a wise and valiant prince, devout, filial, patriotic. His respect for his father does not keep him from urging him to avoid the sorceress and recall Dauid. He even refuses to obey him when he knows obedience would injure both Saul and the state. His well- regulated mind can scarcely comprehend his father's emotional nature, but he never fails to sympathize with his sufferings. When he lies dying on the battle-field, he thinks only of saving Saul. Not unlike him is his sister, Michol, who gives the feminine element to the play and represents the only chance for happiness in the royal family. She defends Dauid, accuses Phalti, and tries to save her father. At the end of the second act, a monologue shows her struggle between love of Dauid and fear that he may be actually in revolt, but she intimates no distrust of him when she speaks with others. She does not appear to have become Phalti's TRAGEDIES 103 wife, for, although Saul gives her to him in his anger, he not long after bids her reign with Dauid and makes no further allusion to Phalti. Du Ryer does not bring Dauid upon the stage, as do La Taille, Billard, and Nadal. A certain interest might have been gained by introducing this heroic figure, in whom all the leading charac- ters of the play are so deeply interested, and whose triumph would have given an optimistic view of Providence. But by omitting him, Du Ryer is enabled to follow more closely the Biblical narrative, to concentrate the interest upon Saul's far more tragic character, and to preserve the unity of tone in the denoue- ment. Whether he is seeking to illustrate the awful effects of sin or the mercilessness of the Almighty, his omission of this charac- ter shows considerable power of artistic restraint. The absence of villains is another characteristic of this play. A hasty reading might make us think Phalti intended for such a r61e, since the Bible represents him as taking Dauid's wife, and since we find him telling Saul of his rival's treachery, but there is no evidence to show that in the play he plotted against Dauid or took possession of his wife. He is accused of slander by Michol, who is grasping at any pretext to defend her husband, but he seems in reality to be merely bringing to the king a report that was due him. He does not urge him to crime, but even warns him against consulting the sorceress. Loyalty to Saul is his leading motive, one that induces him to misjudge Dauid as well as to carry out faithfully his master's orders and endeavor to rescue his children in the battle. Similarly the pythonisse is not an evil person. She reminds us rather of a modern spiritualistic medium in her professions of faith in her work and her denial of mercenary motives. She is obliging in spite of her fear of detection, by no means the typical hag. The spirit she evokes, the ghost of Samuel, is merely a grave, eloquent, implacable voice. The other persons of the cast are insignificant and might have been omitted. Abner and the two escuyers are little more than confidants, to whom some interest is added by their Biblical associations. The tragedy may be considered largely a play of one r61e, so completely does Saul dwarf his children and attendants. The Vulgate is the principal source of the play. Du Ryer idealizes somewhat the characters of Saul and his children, but 104 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST he preserves their main traits. He adds the revolt of Jerusalem, which Dauid's flight from Saul may have suggested to him, Michel's dream and her escape from Phalti, lonathas's protests against his father's visit to the pythonisse, and minor details. The influence of Josephus 1 is visible at the end of the fourth scene of the fourth act, where Saul comments on the nobility of going to certain death. Du Ryer appears uninfluenced by Le Mistere du Viel Testament, 2 or by Claude Billard. 3 Although his play differs radically in most respects from La Taille's Saul furieux, 4 there are a few passages in which he imitates the latter work. La Taille's pythonisse says, "Ie ne veux que le taire en cecy pour loyer, " and "I'iray faire a 1'escart mes coniurations ; " s the same character in Du Ryer declares, under the same circumstances: "Me cacher au Roy ce sera mon salaire," and, " Permettez-moy d'entrer dans cet antre, a l'escart, L& ie dois en secret accomplir les mysteres." 6 Again, Saul says to the ghost in La Taille, "Pardonn moy encor Prophete venerable Si la necessity et 1'estat miserable, Oft ie suis me contraint de rompre ton sommeil;" 7 in Du Ryer he says to him, "Pardonne a mon malheur, pardonne & la contrainte; Si je commets vn crime en cette extremite", Ce crime est settlement de la necessite". " 8 On the other hand, Du Ryer's play was followed in certain passages by the abbe Nadal, a fact suggested by the fr&res Par- faict 9 and proved by Philipp. I0 To the examples cited by the latter I add the following: "Samuel, ce Prophete, Des volontez du Ciel le plus noble Interprete ; " * f "Samuel! Quoy ce fameux Prophete, Du grand Dieu d'Israel le fiddle Interprete." 13 Du Ryer appears to preserve the unity of time. Between the first two acts lonathas goes from the camp to Jerusalem, inter- 1 Antiquities of the Jews, vi, ch. xiv, 4. ' Paris, 1882, iv, 145-162. 3 Theatre, Paris, 1610-1612. * Paris, 1572, republished by A. Werner, Leipzig, 1908. s Lines 61 1 and 628. III, 5. i Lines 743-745. ' HI, 8. 9 Histcire du thedtre franfcis, vi, 75. 10 Pierre Du Ryers Leben, 62, 63. " Du Ryer, III, 5. Nadal, Saul, The Hague, 1706, III, 7. TRAGEDIES 1 05 views the rebels, and returns; the third act passes at night; the fourth and fifth take place during the fighting on the following day. Now if Gelboe, scene of the camp and conflict, is considered to be where it actually is, some sixty miles to the north of Jeru- salem, it is hard to see how these things could all occur within twenty-four hours. But Du Ryer has moved Gelboe" much nearer Jerusalem by placing it "en Iud6e, " so that lonathas may have made his trips in an afternoon, less than twenty-four hours before the completion of the battle on the following morning. The scene is laid in Saul's tent, a space before it, a "bois" and "roche, " inhabited by the pythonisse, and a "boccage" on the battle-field. I These localities are all near together, but they evidently take up more space than could be covered by the stage. In compensation for this slight violation of the unity of place, the author gives us a play practically free from recits. The last act is as full of the animation of battle as though it were written by a romanticist, and our impression is not chilled by a spoken de- scription of the fate of important persons. Furthermore, Du Ryer chooses our point of view so well that we seem to see much more of the battle-field than the corner of it actually represented. In considering the unity of action, we must notice that this is not, like Lucrece, a tragedy of the will, where all the episodes of the play lead up to the protagonist's final decision and the result- ing denouement. Saul has no power to choose. He is driven to destruction by a power which he can not resist. The play should show the steps of this process, as they follow each other in logical sequence, involving no characters who are not subordinate to Saul, no problem or plot which turns our attention from the idea of divine punishment. Now Saul fulfills these conditions. The facts of the exposition are given clearly and naturally in the first act by the argument between the king and his children as to God's attitude toward him, and by the announcement of Jerusa- lem's revolt and Dauid's desertion. The latter's relations with the king, which are treated at too great length in the second act, have a place in the play, because they show that God, before destroying Saul, has deprived him of the power to distinguish the friend best able to help him. This fact is brought out by lonathas at the beginning of the third act, but it ought to have been made clearer in the second, for, unless we understand the connection "~Cf. in, i, 3;V, 2. 106 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST between Saul's punishment and his reconciliation with Dauid, we are apt to think that scenes devoted to the latter question violate the unity of action. Saul's relations with the pythonisse are introduced to show him driven to further sin and coming to final certainty of his damnation. The fourth act demonstrates the extent of the punishment, which goes beyond him to his children and his country and is not lessened by the nobility of his conduct. I have shown in the analysis of the play how the fifth act gives the climax of it, and how it is itself arranged so as to gradually intensify our interest up to its concluding lines. Saul stands apart from plays of its time in a number of ways. The theme of the consequences of sin, visited upon guilty and innocent alike, and of man struggling hopelessly against fate, leaves little room for sexual love, which is present only in the subordinate characters of Michol and Phalti. The introduction of spiritism with the pythonisse and the ghost of Samuel is most unusual in classic French tragedy. The suicides of Saul and his escuyer are not contrary to rule, but the death of lonathas on the stage is. The setting in the mountains of Palestine, with the battle-field and the cave of a sorceress, gives a picturesqueness, an elemental character that is as appropriate to the theme as it is rare in the plays of Du Ryer's contemporaries. The tragedy contains a number of generalizations in quotable form, as, "Si le peuple ne craint, luy meme il se fait craindre" 1 ; "Le traistre fait vn bien quand il se fait conaistre" 3 ; "Quin'est qu'assez fort, ne Test iamais assez. " 3 In his use of these, Du Ryer avoids La Taille's error of impeding the action by didactic passages, out of keeping with the characters of the persons who deliver them. He makes his generalizations dramatic by using them as arguments intended to influence the action of the pro- tagonist, not as comment upon his acts after their performance. In the latter part of this play, maxims give place to a noble eloquence in harmony with the pathos of the situation. Saul's farewell to lonathas as they prepare for battle and his monologue after the death of his children are fine examples of dramatic verse. Du Ryer published in i6/J4 4 a second tragedy of Biblical origin. It was probably first acted as early as 1642, and was '1,3- 'II, i. H,3. 4 Privilege, July 15, 1643; acheve d'imprimer, March 30, 1644. TRAGEDIES 107 republished in 1737. In a preface the author explains that he calls it Esther because he has no right to change the title used in the Bible, but that the Deliurance des luifs would have been more appropriate to his treatment of the subject. Its mention by Mahelot 1 indicates that it was acted at the H6tel de Bourgogne. The abbe d'Aubignac 2 says of it: "Nous auons eu sur nostre Theatre V Esther de Monsieur du Ryer, ornee de diuers euenemens, fortifiee de grandes passions, et composee auec beaucoup d'art ; mais le succez en fut beaucoup moins heureux a Paris qu'& Rouen; et quand les Comediens nous en dirent la nouvelle leur retour, chacun s'en e"torma sans en connoistre la cause; mais pour moy i'estime que la ville de Rouen, estant presque toute dans le traffic, est remplie d'vn grand nombre de luifs, les vns connus et les autres secrets, et qu'ainsi les Spectateurs prenoient plus de part dans les interests de cette Pice toute ludaique par la conformite* de leurs mo3urs et de leurs pense"es. " Baillet, 3 commenting on this passage, remarks that this suc- cess at Rouen was rather due to the provincial taste, less exacting than that of Paris. The story of Esther had already given rise to seven French plays: 4 Aman, by Andre de Rivaudeau, Poitiers, 1566; Esther, Vasthi, and Aman, by Pierre Matthieu, of which the first, pub- lished at Lyons in 1585, was subsequently divided into the other two; Aman, by Montchrestien, Paris, 1604; La Perfidie d'Aman, Paris, 1617 and 1622; La belle Hester, 1620, by Villetoustain. Written in a declamatory or trivial style, these plays are lacking in action and successful characterization. They seem to have had no influence on Du Ryer's play. It is more probable that Du Ryer influenced Racine. Mes- nard, who cites Du Ryer at length in comparing him with Racine, concludes that the latter "n'eut done a puiser aucune inspiration chez celui de ses devanciers qui, par la proximite des temps et surtout par le talent, etait le plus digne d'etre consulte par ltd. " s But it is quite possible, as Mesnard admits, that Racine knew Du Ryer's play, and derived from it certain suggestions which 1 Memoir e, p. 5. Like Alcionee, it is named by the scribe in the table of contents, but not subsequently. 1 Pratique du theatre, Paris, 1657, n, 89. 3 Jugemens des Sgavans, Paris, 1685, 1686, tome IV, part IV, p. 275. < Cf. Paul Mesnard, (Euvres de J. Racine, in Grands Ecrivains edition, Paris, 1865, in, 446-449. I have been unable to find a copy of La belle Hester. s Paul Mesnard, op. cit., in, 449. io8 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST are not found in the Vulgate. In both plays Mardoche'e calls upon Esther for action rather than lamentation, 1 the king is surprised to learn that she is a Jewess, she is said to be of royal descent, and one of her maids is named Thamar. 2 In describing Haman's preparations for vengeance, Du Ryer writes, " Desia le fer est prest qui doit trancher vos iours . . . Qu'on doit enseuelir dans le mesme naufrage Les vieillards, les enfans, et tout sexe et tout age;" 3 while Racine makes Mardoche'e say, "Les glaives, les couteaux sont de"j& pre"pare"s . . . Le fer ne connoitra ni le sexe ni 1'age. " 4 A few lines further on Mardochee tells Esther, "Songez-y bien: ce Dieu ne vous a pas choisie Pour tre un vain spectacle aux peuples de 1'Asie," with which may be compared his admonition to her in Du Ryer's play, * "Croyez-vous que le Ciel vous rende Souueraine, Et vous donne 1'^clat et le titre de Reyne, Pour briller settlement de 1'illustre splendeur Que re"pandent sur vous la pourpre et la grandeur?" Mesnard notes that both plays end with a couplet ascribing the result to God. 6 Bernardin 7 shows the similarity between lines SS^SSG of Racine's tragedy and six lines from the first scene of the fifth act of Du Ryer's, where the same subject is discussed by the same person with exactly the same rimes. He also notes the resemblance between "Mardoche'e, Qu'attaque injustement vne haine cacheV' 8 and "centre Mardoche'e Cette haine, Seigneur, sous d'autres noms cache*e. " 9 Finally, Du Ryer 10 makes Haman say of the Jews, "Des-ja de leur venin les Prouinces s'infectent;" Racine makes him refer to this people, who 11 "D'vn culte profane infecte votre empire." 1 Du Ryer, IV, I ; Racine, II, i. Du Ryer, V, 5; Racine, III, 4. 3 IV, i. * I, 3. Cf. Mesnard, (Euvresde J. Racine, in, 476, 477. * IV, i. Op. cit., in, 536. 7 Theatre complet de Jean Racine, Paris, 1882, IV, 240. Du Ryer, V, 5. 'Racine, III, 4. "IV, 2. II, i. TRAGEDIES 109 These quotations 1 show that Racine knew his predecessor's work, though he used it little. It should be especially noticed that the tone of the two tragedies is different, for Racine, as com- mentators remark, is full of the spirit of the Psalms and Prophets, while Du Ryer finds in Esther the material for a play of court intrigue, which has little that is religious about it. What has not been noticed, however, is that Du Ryer, whether intentionally or not, is in this matter nearer to the spirit of the Book of Esther, a work that is very little religious. Du Ryer's play begins after Vasthi's refusal to obey the king's summons and after the choice of Esther to succeed her, but before the former queen has given up hope of being restored to favor. The first act is purely expository. We learn from the opening scene between Esther and her confidante, Thamar, just as we do from a similar first scene in Racine's play, who Esther is, and to what position she has been raised, but instead of the fear for her people that Racine's heroine shows, Esther here is afraid only that her new dignity will make her share Vasthi's fate. Mardochee tells her that she may overcome the king's hostility to the Jews and warns her against Haman. We learn that Mardochee has had her brought up among Persians and that she is believed to be one of them. A third scene contains a conversation between Haman and his confidant, Thares, in which the former speaks of his hate for Mardochee, who despises him, sets Esther against him, and has previously revealed a plot which would have put Haman on the throne. As ordinary vengeance is too small for this case, Haman has resolved to destroy Mardochee's whole people with him. An interview between Vasthi and Haman begins the second act. This queen still hopes to rule and begs Haman to help her. She is desperate and declamatory, insisting that for her there is only "le thrdne ou le tombeau, " indignant that the king should replace her by this "fille du peuple. " Haman professes to be faithful to Vasthi's interests and advises her to use on the king the power of her tears. She at first refuses, then decides to follow his advice, then fears that weeping may be considered an admis- sion of guilt and begs Haman to plead her cause. This he agrees to do, explaining to his confidant, when Vasthi has left him, that 1 Philipp, Pierre Du Ryers Leben, 72-75, cites most of the passages here referred to, and some which prove nothing except that both authors imitate the Vulgate. no PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST his motive is love of Esther, for the latter will be lost to him if she becomes queen. That he is sincere in this purpose is shown in the next scene, where he seeks to persuade the king to reject Esther, on the ground that both nobles and people will object to seeing a woman of humble origin made queen. But his represen- tations have no effect, and he is obliged to send word to Vasthi that she can not succeed without a revolution. The preceding acts have prepared the way for two dramatic scenes in which Esther and Vasthi are brought face to face, first before the king, and then alone with Mardochee, a thing found neither in the Bible nor in the other French dramatists. At the beginning of the act, Haman introduces Esther into the presence of the king and "toute la cour." She approaches humbly, bring- ing a "cceur obeyssant" as her only adornment, and is told to mount the throne. Then Vasthi surprises the king by coming to ask an explanation of the treatment she has received. She tells him that she wishes to be judged again : to rule, if she is innocent ; if guilty, to be put to death. Esther urges the king to allow her rival to remain queen, and the king retires to make his final decision. In the scene between the two women, Vasthi commands Esther not to seek to aid her, bids her remember her humble origin, and intimates that, if the king decides in her favor, it will only be because he is her lover. Esther is bewildered by her rival's ungracious response to her efforts in her behalf. She is soon left alone with Mardoch6e, with whom she discusses the chances of her success. The suspense is made more intense by the arrival of Haman, who tells Esther with much hesitation that the king, though still undecided, seems about to declare for Vasthi. But before he leaves, the crown and scepter are brought to Esther with the news of her victory. Left alone, Haman is at first in despair at his loss of Esther and the triumph of Mardochee : "II nous quitte en vainqueur, il rit de mon courroux. . . Falloit-il ma raison te laisser desarmer, Falloit-il voir Esther? Mais falloit-il rainier?" He soon reverts, however, to his original plan of destroying the Jews, for he hopes not only to slay Mardochee, but to get pos- session of Esther, whom he believes to be a friend of the Jews, although he does not know that she is herself a Jewess. TRAGEDIES 1 1 1 As Vasthi has now disappeared from the play, the remain- ing two acts are concerned with Haman's conspiracy. This has not been published abroad, as in the Bible, but it is known to Mardochee through Esther's confidante, Thamar, who has it from Thares, her lover and Haman's confidant. Mardochee tells Esther of the plot and bids her save her people. When she expresses fear, he replies that, if she refuses, she will be destroyed and her people saved in some other way. Haman confirms the truth of the plot against the Jews, and Esther pretends to hate her people and to rejoice in his efforts to destroy them. Haman is delighted at the progress of affairs, especially when he is sum- moned to consult the king about a certain reward. The fifth act begins with the king's soliloquy on the impor- tance of rewarding Mardochee for having revealed the plot against his life. ' ' Ne pas recompenser, c'est apprendre a trahir, ' ' he thinks. Haman, 1 believing that he is himself the man to be honored, suggests, as in the Bible, that he be splendidly clothed, shown to the people, and proclaimed by one of the nobles as the special object of the royal favor. The king approves his suggestion, and the following dialogue ensues: "Le Roy: Cognoy-tu Mardochee? Haman: Ouy, Sire. Le Roy: C'est celuy Que i'aime, que i'honore, et qui fut mon appuy. Haman: Quoy, Sire? Mardochee est ce subjet fidelle? Le Roy: C'est luy, mon cher Haman, dont i'honore le zele. . . Haman: Mais il fit son deuoir s'il vous rendit seruice. Le Roy: Et ic feray le mien, si ie luy rends iustice. . . Quoy veux-tu t'opposer tes propres conseils? A qui destinois-tu ces honneurs sans pareils? Haman: Aux princes seulement, ces appuis des Prouinces. Le Roy: Haman, de bons sub jets me tiennent lieu de Princes." When alone, Haman expresses his impotent rage and desires death, for "Tomber au precipice est vne loy plus douce, Que d'en faire sortir 1'ennemy qu'on y pousse." Mardochee, informed by Haman of his approaching honor, reproves him bitterly for what he takes to be a derisive reference 1 The scene is given at length by Mesnard, (Euvres de J. Racine, in, 545~547. and by Bernardin, Thedtre complet de Jean Racine, IV, 285-287. U2 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST to the slaughter of his people. * Their meeting is followed by the last and most important scene of the play. The king sees Esther lay at his feet her crown and scepter, saying that she does so because an enemy is attacking an innocent people and the king's honor. Haman, when asked for advice, shows that he has failed to profit by his recent experience, for he counsels the king to put this enemy to death. When the king bids Esther tell who the enemy is, she points to Haman and reveals the plot against the Jews and his part in the conspiracy against the king, which Mardochee discovered. A letter, written by Haman to the Mace- donians and now brought back by a Greek, is submitted to sub- stantiate her accusation. 2 Esther does not ask for Haman's punishment, but for the rescue of the Jews, whom she declares to be her own people. The king is astonished to learn that Esther is a Jewess. He at once promises to save her kindred and orders Haman put to death, despite her plea for him. Mardochee ends the play by ascribing the denouement to Heaven alone. The unities of time and place are carefully preserved. Du Ryer condenses the Biblical narrative by the omission of the circumstances leading up to Esther's selection as queen, the ban- quets she gave to the king and Haman, and the Jews' revenge upon their enemies. He lays the scene "dans la Ville de Suse, entre la Perse et Babylone, " apparently in one or two rooms of the palace. He is not careful to explain how Mardochee and Haman have such free access to the royal apartments, nor to account for many of the exits and entrances he finds necessary to his situations. The unity of action must have been criticized by his con- temporaries, for Du Ryer speaks in his preface of satisfying "ceux qui me pourroient demander ou est 1'vnite d'action." He explains that to understand this we must consider the Jews' deliverance as "la fin et le but que se propose cet Ouurage." "En effet, toutes choses y contribuent au salut, et a la conserva- tion de ce peuple, 1'Orgueil de Vasthi, la Beaute d'Esther, I'Amour d'Assuerus, ou d'Artaxerce Roy de Perse, les Injustices d'Haman, et les soins de Mardoche'e." This explanation, however, is in- 1 This scene, which has no parallel in the Vulgate, is apparently derived from Josephus, Antiquities, xi, ch. vi, 10. 3 Haman's implication in a conspiracy against the king and his alliance with the Macedonians is found in the Vulgate, xvi, 14, among the Apocryphal chapters of the Book of Esther. TRAGEDIES sufficient. The second and third acts do not advance the action, for at the end of them the situation is practically the same as at the beginning. The king's remembering to reward Mardochee and the proof of Haman's guilt by a letter brought by a Greek are new motifs introduced in the fifth act. The first three scenes of this act, concerned with the nature of Mardochee's reward, have little to do with bringing about the denouement, for Haman's resolution to destroy the Jews had already been formed. The discovery of the plot against the Jews, through the love affair of confidants, is extremely weak. Finally, if the author intended to unify the play by representing the episodes as so many means by which the Jews were saved, he should have kept the thought of God constantly before the audience; but only the speeches of Mardochee and Esther's words in the last scene present this idea. The play remains a collection of loosely connected episodes dealing with Haman's efforts to possess Esther and to destroy Mardochee, Esther's rivalry with Vasthi, Mardoche'e's endeavor to save his people, the king's purpose to reward Mardoch6e, Haman's plot against the king and its punishment. On the other hand, Du Ryer should be commended for omit- ting certain Biblical scenes that would have further violated the play's unity, for explaining how Esther passed as a Persian, and for strengthening Haman's reasons for hating Mardochee. He produces interesting scenes by introducing Vasthi. By connect- ing Haman with the plot which Mardochee discovered he is able to reduce two conspiracies to one. The four principal characters are arranged symmetrically about the king. Esther and Mardochee gradually replace Haman and Vasthi in the royal favor. The characterization found in the Bible is expanded, and at times altered. Esther is given a feeling of pity for her enemies. She begs the king to spare Haman's life, instead of demanding that his ten sons be hanged, and exerts herself to save her people, but not to gratify their desire to slaugh- ter their enemies. She is represented in the early part of the play as self-distrustful and willing to sacrifice her interests to those of Vasthi. Her patriotism is secondary to her humility and her reverence for Mardochee, but in the last two acts she shows decided power of initiative, outwitting Haman completely and saving her people in masterly fashion. No attempt is made to explain this sudden development. H4 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST A corresponding weakness is found in the treatment of Haman. At one time he is versed in diplomatic tricks, has risen to high influence with the king, is sought out by Vasthi, and feared by Mardochee; at another, he is deceived by inexperienced Esther and brought to condemn himself by his hasty advice. His stupidity here is particularly unnatural, as he has just been deceived in the matter of Mardochee's reward. In both these scenes he is a comic character, a sort of Patelin, fallen into his own traps, to the joy of the simple public. His first deception, however, is skilfully prepared. Bernardin 1 notes that Du Ryer surpasses Racine in so wording the king's remarks that Haman might reasonably expect the reward to be intended for himself. Moreover, Du Ryer makes Zethar speak of rewards when he sum- mons Haman before the king. 2 The other characters are more like their Biblical prototypes. Mardochee is the strong and gloomy patriot, full of faith in God and distrust of his fellows ; Vasthi, the wilful and heartless queen, whose pride is contrasted with Esther's humility; "Assuerus ou Artaxerces, " the weak monarch, influenced by his wives and his courtiers. The other characters are Zethar, who is merely a messenger, and the confidants of Esther and Haman. The only thing to be noted about them is the name of Thares, which Du Ryer found given in the Vulgate 3 to one of the eunuchs who con- spired against the king. Du Ryer makes little attempt to represent Persian manners. This is the first play in which he shows marked interest in court intrigue, a subject that has great importance in his last plays, but the court is that of his own time rather than of Ahasuerus's, as can be seen from the homage paid to women, the necessity that Esther should be of royal birth, the king's references to the wel- fare of the state. Furthermore, Mardoch6e calls the court "vn theatre ouuert a tous les artifices ... Ou le plus defiant est le meilleur acteur. " 4 Especially noticeable, as illustrating the influence of contemporary, rather than Persian, manners, are Haman's lines on religious strife in a state: "Car enfin quelle flame et quels malheurs e"clattent Quand deux Religions dans vn Estat combattent? Quel sang 6pargne-on, ignoble ou glorieux Quand on croid le verser pour la gloire des Dieux? 1 Thedtre c-implet de Jean Ricine, iv, 242. 2 IV, 4. * Liber Esther, n, 21. I,2. TRAGEDIES 115 Alors tout est permis, tout semble legitime, Du nom de Piete" Ton couronne le crime; Et comme on pense faire vn sacrifice aux Dieux, Qui verse plus de sang paroist le plus pieux." 1 The first extant mention of Sceuole occurs in an acknowledg- ment, made by Moliere and other members of the Illustre Thedtre, that they owed to Louis Baulot uoo livres, lent them to settle the indebtedness incurred by their purchase of plays from the "auteurs du Scevolle, la mort de Crispe et autres, pour servir a leurdit theatre," and by their renting a "jeu de paume ou ils font la comedie et autres affaires de leurdit theatre." 3 As the document is dated September 9, 1644, it is certain that the play was written as early as that year. According to the Mercure, it was played at the H6tel de Bourgogne in 1646. Its appearance in Mahelot also shows that it was given at this theater. It was probably taken to the provinces by Moliere, for we find that his troupe played it shortly after their return to Paris, on June 7 and July 15, 1659, and on January I, 1660. 3 It was not played again by these actors till 1678, five years after their leader's death. 4 They gave it at Fontainebleau in 1681; at Versailles in 1682, 1683, an d i685 s ; at the newly formed Comedie Franqaise nearly every year from 1681 to 1695, some years as often as three times. 6 It is mentioned in the Repertoire des comedies fmn$oises qui se peuuent jouer en 1685,"* where it is listed with Rotrou's Venceslas, Tristan's Marianne, and a number of Corneille's pieces, as the only tragedies written by the older generation of seventeenth-century dramatists that were still represented. With the exception of one representation in 1698, two in 1704, and one in 1705, it was played no more at the Comedie till 1721, when it was revived and given eleven times. In 1727 it had five representations, one in 1746, four in I747- 8 In his Parnasse Francois, 9 written between 1726 and 1731, Titon du Tillet declares that it was played almost every year at the court and at Paris. Clement and 1'abbe de la Porte say that it was still played in 1 IV, 2. Du Ryer seems here to have reached a tolerant position that contrasts strongly with the fanatical lyrics of his youth. 1 Eudore SouliS in Correspondance litteraire, January 25, 1865, p. 84. * La Grange, Registre, pp. 7, 8, 14. Ibid., 203. s Ibid., 266, 267, 293, 309, 345. 6 Joannides, La Comedie FranQaise de 1680-1900. i MS. in the Bibliotheque Nationale, anc. fonds fr. 2509, p. 7. * Joannides, op. cit. 9 P. 249. u6 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST I 775- 1 Finally, Voltaire, in a letter of August 27, 1776, states that Lekain will play it at Fontainebleau. a Sceuole is, then, one of the very few plays written by Corneille's contemporaries that were acted for more than a century. Some delay in its publication was due, perhaps, to its having been first played by Moli&re's obscure troupe. Although acted as early as 1644, the privilege was obtained only on August 31, 1646, and the work finished on January 2, 1647. The Elzevirs issued a reprint in 1654. There were other editions in 1688, 1705, and 1737. Marmontel published it in 1773 as one of the chefs-d'oeuvre of the French theater. Critical opinion seems at first to have esteemed it less highly than Alcionee, for d'Aubignac, Menage, and Saint-Evremond fail to mention it, though they praise the earlier tragedy. Chappu- zeau, 3 however, cites it as an excellent book for teaching patri- otism to young men. The eighteenth and nineteenth century critics consider it Du Ryer's best work. The following notice and criticism of a representation are found in the Mercure:* "Personnages et Acteurs. Tarquin, Roy des Remains Le sieur Poisson fils. Porsenne, Roy d'Etrurie Le sieur le Grand. Arons, fils de Porsenne, amoureux de Junie, Le sieur Q. Dufresne. Junie, fille de Brute, amante de Scevole . La Demoiselle Duclos. Scevole, amoureux de Junie Le sieur Baron. "Malgrd 1'air gothique de cette Piece, les expressions suranes, et les jeux de mots, tout-a fait hors d'usage, elle n'a pas laissd d' tre goute"e, et de faire plaisir. Les sentimens elevez et la grandeur Romaine s'y font sentir chaque instant. C'est dommage que 1'action principale et le fond du sujet soit un assassinat. Le quatrieme Acte a extremement plu. Se [Le] sieur Baron, qui declame avec beaucoup d'e"nergie, peint dans un recit du second Acte, Rome afflige*e et re"duite aux derniers abois par la famine, qui a e*te" fort applaudi . . . Cette piece fut represented dans sa nouveaut6 en 1646 par la Troupe Royale de l'H6tel de Bourgogne et eut un succe"s prodigieux. On nous assure que les quatre principaux r61es e"toient remplis alors par Bellefleur, Blandimare, Beau-Soleil, et Bellerose (qui jouoit Scevole) et celui 1 Anecdotes dramatiques, in, 176. * Correspondence generate. I am indebted for this fact to Philipp, Pierre Du Ryers Leben, 83. J Le Theatre Francois, Paris, 1674, p. 23. 4 July 18, 1721. TRAGEDIES II7 de Junie, par une Comedienne en reputation pour les grands roles Tragiques, nomme'e Duclos, grand mere de celle qui soutient encore au- jourd'hui cette reputation avec tant d'e"clat sur la Scene Francoise." The writer goes on to say that this r61e was subsequently taken by the Demoiselle Beauval; that of Tarquin, by Torilliere pere; of Porsenne, by Chammele; of Sceuole, by Baron. Titon du Tillet, the freres Parfaict, Mouhy, and La Valliere consider it Du Ryer's leading work. The last critic adds: "Elle est bien conduite, bien versifiee, et les caracteres en sont grands et sublimes. Le role de Junie est digne de Corneille. " l Passages from it are given in the Bibliotheqtie poetique.* "J'ose croire, " writes Voltaire, "que VAstrate de Quinault, le Scevole de du Ryer, V Amour tyrannique de Scuderi, bien retablis au theatre, pourraient faire de prodigieux effets;" 3 but later he calls it an " antiquaille, " and says, " Je suis persuade qu'une jeune reine qui a du gout ne sera pas trop contente de ce Scevola, qui n'est qu'une vieille decla- mation digne du temps de Hardy." 4 Marmontel has a different opinion : "Quoique trop negligee dans son style, souvent lache, diffus, prosaique, sans couleur et sans mouvement, cette piece est fort su- perieure a toutes celles du me"me Auteur. On y reconnott visible- ment le ton que Corneille donna au Theatre. Les caracteres y sont bien dessine's et habilement contrasted. L'inte're't me'me en est Cornelien, s'il est permis de s'exprimer ainsi : 1'amour y est subordonne* a 1'heroisme re*publicain, non-seulement dans 1'ame de SceVole, mais dans celle de Junie, fille de Brutus. Rien n'y inspire la pitie", rien n'y excite la terreur; mais il y regne une grandeur de sentimens qui nous dtonne. " 5 Fournier believed in 1871 that Sceuole could still be played with success. 6 The plot of the tragedy is found in the tenth, twelfth, and thirteenth chapters of Livy's second book. The introduction of Aruns, son of Porsenne, and his r61e of pacificator seem suggested by Dionysius of Halicarnassus. 7 Livy's narrative is greatly ex- panded, but at times the imitation is very close, especially in the speeches of Sceuole after his capture. 8 To the list of persons given above by the Mercure must be added the Etruscan captains, 1 Bibliotheque du Thedtre fran$ois, I, 514. 2 Paris, 1745, pp. 306-313. The citations are from III, 4; IV, 5; V, 5. * (Euvres (Moland's edition), vn, 41. 4 Ibid., L, 78. * Chefs d'ceuvre dramatiques, preface to Scevole, p. vi. 6 Thedtrefranfais,n, 72. ? v, ch. 30. 8 Cf. Livy, n, 12, with Sceuole, IV, 5; V, 4, 5. n8 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Marcile and Licine, and Fulvie, the heroine's suivante. The scene is laid "dans le Camp de Porsenne deuant Rome." According to Mahelot 1 the representation requires "des tante [sic] et pauil- lons de guerre." The first act exposes the situation in the camp of Porsenne before the arrival of Sceuole. Having undertaken to restore Tarquin to his throne, Porsenne has defeated the Romans in battle and has begun the siege of the town, but his heart is not greatly in his work, for he is constantly irritated by Tarquin 's exactions and his exhibitions of ingratitude. The two kings begin the play by a discussion of military policy, Tarquin urging an attack upon the city, Porsenne preferring to starve it into sur- render. When the latter finally agrees to the assault, he learns that Tarquin has anticipated his consent by allowing his men to attack the bridge. Marcile brings the news that the battle has begun and that both sides are fighting bravely. Arons then comes to tell them how Horace defended the bridge and swam the river. Tarquin is furious to think that the Romans have escaped him, while Porsenne turns more calmly to investigate what ravages hunger has made upon them. With this in mind, he has Licine bring in a Roman maiden, recently captured, who is found to be lunie, daughter of Brute. She tells them that she has not been in Rome since before the arrival of the Etruscans, and that she was captured in a temple, where she was praying for the success of the Roman arms, but she is confident that the Romans will never surrender. lunie's manner toward Porsenne is respectful, but she does not attempt to conceal her hatred and contempt for Tarquin. Porsenne promises her his protection and puts her in charge of his son, Arons. The latter tells her that she and Sceuole are the only Romans dear to him, that he is still in love with her, but that he fears that Sceuole, who saved his life, has been killed in battle. The second act begins with a monologue in which lunie laments her city, almost reduced to surrender, and her lover, supposed dead : "Amour de la Patrie, 6 belle et forte chaisne Qui dois seule enchaisner le coeur d'vne Romaine, Amour de la Patrie enfin pardonne moy Si 1'amour de Sceuole y regne auecques toy." * Memoire, folio 83. TRAGEDIES 119 She is interrupted by Fuluie, who tells her that she has just seen Sceuole alive in the camp of Porsenne. He was armed like an Etruscan and exclaimed that lunie's presence put an obstacle in his path. This intelligence changes lunie's grief for her lover's death into fear lest he be a traitor to Rome, a thing that her love forbids her to believe. While she is struggling between these feelings, Sceuole enters, and explains that his purpose in coming to the camp is the killing of Porsenne. When lunie asks if Rome is reduced to such extremity that it can be saved only by an assas- sination, he describes the effects of the famine: "La le fils chancelant de foiblesse et d'ennuy Mettant son Pere en terre y tombe auec[ques] luy ; Icy 1'enfant se meurt d'vne mort triste et lente Sur le sein espuise de sa mere mourante, Et la mere qui voit ce spectacle inhumain Se meurt en mesme temps de douleur et de faim. " He goes on to recount deeds of heroic sacrifice on the part of the citizens. lunie is touched, but she still would save Porsenne, to whom she is grateful. Sceuole knows that the Etruscan king formerly loved lunie and wonders if that is why she wishes him spared. lunie retorts by accusing him of seeking Porsenne's life through jealousy. Sceuole denies this charge, and tells of his taking his plan to the Roman Senate and receiving their approval. lunie begs him to give her time to speak with Porsenne before he kills him, for she may be able to save Rome by means of Porsenne's love for her, and Sceuole reluctantly consents. They retire as they hear the approach of the kings and their suite. The act ends with a scene in which Porsenne expresses his ap- prehension of the misfortune indicated by a sacrificed animal, and Tarquin taunts him as follows : "Done vous vous figurez qu'vne beste assomme'e Tienne nostre fortune en son ventre enferme'e, Et que des animaux les salles intestins Soient vn temple adorable ou. parlent les Destins. Ces superstitions et tout ce grand mystere Sont propres settlement & tromper le vulgaire ; C'est par la qu'on le pousse, ou qu'on retient ses pas Selon qu'il est vtile au bien des Potentats. " x 1 II, 4. Philipp, Pierre Du Ryers Leben, 81, compares this passage with Scude'ry, Mort de Cesar, II, 4, and, after Moland and Marmontel, with Voltaire, CEdipe, IV, I. It should be noted that this does not indicate that Du Ryer shared Voltaire's skepticism, for he puts the verses in the mouth of Tarquin, the play's villain. 120 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST When Porsenne expresses his disapproval of these sentiments, Tar- quin goes on to accuse him of allowing his love for lunie to affect his plans. "Ces Dieux que Ton m'oppose Sont de belles couleurs qui cachent autre chose. " In reply Porsenne accuses Tarquin of ingratitude and angrily leaves him, while Tarquin soliloquizes on his own pride and what he considers Porsenne 's pusillanimity. The third act begins with a debate between Arons and Marcile as to the proper policy for Porsenne. The king hears each urge his opinion, much after the manner of Cinna and Maxime before Auguste. Arons says that his father has shown his ability to capture Rome and begs him to punish Tarquin's insolence by not doing so. Marcile replies that to raise the siege would be an admission of guilt. He should take Rome and revenge himself on Tarquin by not giving it to him. He further advises him to marry lunie, in order to keep the Romans in subjection. Porsenne is wavering between the two plans when lunie comes to beg him to raise the siege. She recites the crimes of the Tar- quins and the virtuous deeds of the Romans, and urges him to oppose tyranny rather than aid it. He replies by asking her to marry him, or, if she considers him too old, to accept the hand of his son. She answers: "Mais tourne vn peu les yeux, voy Rome 1 et luy demande Ce qu'il faut que je fasse, et ce qu'elle commande. A quelque grand hymen qu'on m'aille assujettir, Porsenne c'est ma mere, elle y doit consentir. Parle-donc, respons-nous 6 Rome combatue; Dois-je joindre ma main & la main qui te tue?" Left alone in order that she may come to another decision, lunie is found by Sceuole, eager to know the result of her interview with the king. She tells him that despite Porsenne's greatness of soul, he must be slain, as he is the friend of a tyrant. She suffers now only for Sceuole, whom she sends into danger, assuring him of her love and encouraging him to die for Rome : "le t'ayme et ie te voy d'vn ceil presque enuieux Tenter pour le pays vn peril glorieux . . . Va, tu ne peux mourir d'vn plus noble trespas, Mais I'amour peut-il perdre et ne souspirer pas?" The action is rapid in the next act. Fuluie comes to lunie with the report that some one, perhaps hired by Tarquin to do 1 The original has "Horace, " an obvious error. TRAGEDIES 121 the deed, has assassinated Porsenne and then made his escape. A moment later Sceuole crosses the stage, pursued by Marcile. Soon Sceuole is overpowered and led back by Marcile to the stage, where he meets Arons and lunie The former is astonished to find that the friend who saved his life has attempted to assassinate his father. Gratitude and desire for vengeance struggle in his breast. Sceuole tells him that, in spite of his friendship, he would have slain him as well as his father, if he had attempted to restore Tarquin. When he is told that Porsenne is alive and unhurt, Sceuole laments his mistake and bids Arons punish him for not accomplishing his mission: " Prens le party d'vn pere, et pour venger ses droits le t'aquite auiourd'huy de ce que tu me dois. le suis coupable Arons ; Mais quoy qu'on delibere Mon crime est seulement d'auoir manqu ton Pere. O Rome ! 6 mon pays pardonne cette erreur, La faute est de mon bras, et non pas de mon coeur. " lunie praises his valor and envies his lot, assuring him again of her love. Arons, who now learns for the first time that Sceuole is his rival, is left to decide whether he ought to save or punish him. Tarquin and Porsenne discuss the assassin's identity. The former denies indignantly the accusation that he has employed him, and asks for the account of the deed. A recit is avoided by Porsenne' s simple reply that he was listening to some warriors when he saw the sword flash and Stace fall to the ground. He knows that the blow was intended for him, as he heard the assassin say, "meurs Porsenne." Sceuole, brought before them, replies to their questions with dignity and force: "le suis Romain, Porsenne, Et tu vois sur mon front la libert Romaine. I 'ay d'vn bras que 1'honneur a tousiours affermy Tasch comme ennemy de perdre 1'ennemy. . . I'auois conclu ta mort, ordonne tu la mienne? I'y cours d'vn mesme pas que i'allois la tienne. En fin ie suis Romain ; et de quelques horreurs Que tu puisses sur moy signaler tes fureurs, Le propre des Romains en tous lieux inuincibles, C'est de faire et souffrir les choses impossibles. Frape voila mon coeur ; mais ne presume pas Par mon sang respandu te sauuer du trespas, 122 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST D'autres coeurs que le mien forment la mesme enuie, D'autres bras que le mien s'arment centre ta vie, Et mille transported d'vn courage aussi fort Recherchent comme moy la gloire de ta mort." Porsenne is amazed at Sceuole's courage in the presence of the king whom he has tried to murder and who has the power to put him to death. Tarquin asks why Porsenne was attacked rather than he, and receives the bitter answer that the Romans have no fear of him, a "corps sans vigueur," while Porsenne is a real obstacle to Roman liberty. He calls on the latter to abandon Tarquin, but he is told to name his accomplices, and is led away to be tortured when he refuses with the proud words: "Ne les demande point, ils ne se cachent pas, Us se vont descouurir par ton proche trespas. " The fifth act begins with a monologue, in which Arons is wondering what to do with regard to Sceuole, when lunie, led in by the guards, offers to give up her love for the Roman hero if Arons will save him. Marcile brings word that the fires are lighted and all is ready for Sceuole's torture. Porsenne follows him, exclaiming at his captive's fortitude, and describes how Sceuole has burnt off his right hand, and how he has ordered further torture put off until he can decide what to do to so brave an enemy. lunie tells him that this is what he may expect from all Romans, and glories in having encouraged Sceuole to assas- sinate him. Angered by her bravado, Porsenne bids Arons con- tinue the torture, but the latter tells him that he owes his life to the captive. Porsenne again hesitates, and orders Sceuole to be brought before him for the final decision. Sceuole and Tarquin enter simultaneously, the latter blaming Porsenne for delaying the death of the assassin, the former advis- ing his own execution, for "il me reste vne main, garde qu'elle ne s'arme. " Porsenne is brought by the impertinence of Tarquin as much as by the valor of Sceuole to decide the matter. He emulates Sceuole by freeing him, returning to him his sword and bidding him go back to tell the Romans that he fears neither them nor him. Overcome by this magnanimity, Sceuole tells Porsenne that he is one of three hundred youths who have conspired against him and that he is sure to fall a victim to one of them. Porsenne again bids Sceuole return to Rome. Tarquin demands that TRAGEDIES 123 Sceuole, as his subject, be delivered to him for punishment, and, when Sceuole appeals to Porsenne, he accuses the latter of favor- ing his enemies, and then leaves the stage, threatening vengeance. Porsenne is thus brought to his final decision, which makes the denouement of the play. He will raise the siege of Rome: "La liberte de Rome est enfin ma vengeance. Ce sera son supplice, et ce sera ton prix Pour auoir sceu deffendre et conseruer mon fils. " Arons shows his gratitude to Sceuole by surrendering lunie to him, and Porsenne finds their marriage an appropriate accompaniment to the rescue of Rome. This play is distinctly Cornelian. The political subject from Roman history, the intense patriotism, the elevated tone, the subordination of love to other emotions, the appeal to admi- ration rather than pity, the eloquent and sententious style, all recall the works of Du Ryer's contemporary. Sceuole resembles Curiace; lunie, Emilie. The conflict between monarchical and republican ideas, the debate of Arons and Marcile before Porsenne, the conspiracy against the latter, and his magnanimous conduct towards his would-be murderer find their counterpart in Cinna, with which play Sceuole has verbal likeness in at least one couplet. * It is worth noting that the play in which Du Ryer resembled Corneille most closely is the one that was best known and that remained longest on the stage. Classic rules of structure are followed in the main. The time represented is only a few hours. The place, which is in the camp of Porsenne before Rome, is probably limited to a space between the king's tent and lunie's, although the exact location is left vague. The unity of action is largely, but not perfectly, preserved. The object of this action is the raising of the siege of Rome, a thing that is accomplished through various influences brought to bear upon Porsenne, who thus becomes the central figure of the play. These influences are primarily his admiration for the Romans, excited especially by the deeds of Horace, lunie, and Sceuole, and his disgust at the insolent ingratitude of Tarquin. 1 Cinna, I, i: " Que par sa propre main mon pere massacre" Du trdne oft je le vois fait le premier degre'. " Sceuole, III, 3: "Tu verras qu'vn grand Roy par ses coups massacr6 Du throne qu'il vsurpe est le premier degre". " This similarity is noted by Marmontel, Chefs d'ceuvre dramatiques, Scevole, p. 109. 124 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST They are shown in the description of Roman valor made in the first act, lunie's appeal to Porsenne in the second, the heroism of Sceuole in the last acts. This practical exhibition of fortitude proved to Porsenne more clearly than anything else the invincible spirit of the Romans. His decision must also have been influenced by the news of the extensive conspiracy against his life, less directly by his love for lunie and his gratitude to Sceuole for saving his son's life. It is clear, however, that these things were not enough to decide him, for it was Tarquin's expressions of ingratitude and his insults after the news of Sceuole's pardon that finally brought him to declare in favor of the Romans. The gradual development of hostility between the two kings is skil- fully shown, from the first act, in which Porsenne argues with Tarquin but yields to him, to the fifth act, in which Tarquin leaves the stage abandoned by his former protector. The pardon of Sceuole is thus immediately connected with the saving of Rome, for it is the final cause of the separation of the kings. * On the other hand, lunie's love for Sceuole and Arons's love for her are not connected with the action, as they bring about neither the freeing of Sceuole nor the raising of the siege. Du Ryer un- doubtedly introduced these sentiments to add interest to his play and to give rise to struggles in the minds of important persons, despite the fact that they violate the unity of action. Out of respect for the bienseances, Du Ryer does not represent on the stage the burning of Sceuole's hand, for such a represen- tation, if not ludicrous, would have been horrible rather than tragic. Instead, he has it described by Porsenne to Arons and lunie, three persons intensely interested in the event. The only other rfait is in the first act, where the action is not yet sufficiently rapid to be retarded by it. The account of Sceuole's attempt to murder Porsenne is told with the greatest brevity. The scene that would have depicted it is omitted on account of the actual murder it involved; but all acts of physical violence are not excluded, for Sceuole is shown defending himself as he tries to escape to Rome after his attempt upon the king's life. The characters are arranged somewhat as in Esther, with the king as the central figure : on one side of him are Tarquin and Mar- cile, who urge him to take Rome ; on the other are Sceuole, lunie, 1 Marmontel understands that the object of the play is the deliverance of Rome, rather than the pardon of Sceuole, but he does not see how well this unifies the play. TRAGEDIES 125 and Arons, who advise him to give up the siege. But Porsenne is a nobler figure than Assuerus. He embodies the most admirable qualities of the absolute monarch. He seeks to restore Tarquin because he believes that "qui blesse vn Roy seul blesse tous les monarques. " ' He is a prudent and successful warrior, a worshipper of the gods, a grave and sagacious ruler, capable of inflicting torture when his country's interests demand it. At the same time, he is a generous foe, who admires his enemies' valor, an affectionate father, a long-suffering ally of Tarquin, whom he abandons only after repeated provocation. It is unfortunate that Du Ryer finds it necessary to have him in love with lunie, for this sentiment is not required by the plot and makes Porsenne ridiculous, especially when he so readily withdraws his suit in favor of his son. In sharp contrast with Porsenne is Tarquin, overbearing toward his subjects, ungrateful and insulting towards his benefac- tor, impatient, proud, skeptical. He gives us Du Ryer's notion of the tyrant, as Porsenne represents his ideal monarch. Marcile, a warrior and messenger, who urges Porsenne to take Rome and succeeds in disarming Sceuole, is comparatively unimportant. Indeed these two characters do not offer strong opposition to the Romans, for Tarquin contributes to his own destruction and Marcile lacks force. There would be little struggle in the play, were it not that the sides are made even by the fact that Porsenne is, at the beginning of the play, a declared enemy of Rome. On the other side are the Roman lovers, who are ready to sacrifice gratitude, friendship, love, and life to patriotism. Sce- uole is made more real by his fears that the presence of lunie may prove an obstacle to his performance of duty, and lunie by her tears over her lover. Both are conscious of their virtues, and not slow to describe them. Each, strange to say, at times suspects the other's motives. There is a certain circumspection in their relation, for lunie has made Sceuole suffer her "froideurs, " and when she tells him of her love he does not know whether "pour m'exciter tu feignes cette flame, " or whether "un feu veritable" 2 is the cause of it. In the case of both, love pays the penalty of subordination to another emotion. To them is joined Arons, unsuccessful rival of Sceuole, to whom he owes his life, and who has sought to murder his father. The introduction of this I, i. III, 4. 126 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST character doubtless enhanced the value of the play to audiences desirous of seeing in noble souls the conflict of admirable emotions and the victory of unselfishness. In these three characters and Porsenne, there is a constant emulation in generosity, a series of victories over love that gives the play an elevation of tone worthy of Corneille and thoroughly in keeping with the spirit ascribed to the Romans. Du Ryer's last tragedy, Themistocle, was probably represented at the Marais toward the end of 1646 or the beginning of 1647, and held its own against Corneille's Heraclius, given about the same time at the H6tel de Bourgogne. * Its popularity is attested by the fact that it was published three times at Paris, once at Leyden, and once at Lyons. a Seventeenth-century writers make no special criticism of it. In the eighteenth century the Bibli- othtque poetique* quotes a passage from the first scene of its third act. Marmontel 4 finds it "compose avec sagesse . . . avec une simplicite assez noble, et d'un ton assez eleve, " and seems to rank it with Alcionee as next to Sceuole among Du Ryer's plays. The source of the play is Diodorus Siculus. 5 Du Ryer must have been familiar also with Plutarch and Nepos, but Diodorus is the only one of the three historians who, like Du Ryer, speaks of Xerxes as still king when the Athenian hero arrived at the Per- sian court, who refers to the efforts of Mandane, the king's near relative, to get vengeance for her losses at Salamis, and who makes the king marry his guest to a Persian woman of distinction. The name Artabaze may be taken from Artaban, a Persian dignitary mentioned by Diodorus 6 and Plutarch 7 ; that of Roxane, a con- fidante, from Rhoxanes, an official referred to by Plutarch. 8 Du Ryer expands the story, especially in the plotting against the hero and the testing of his patriotism. He changes it most noticeably in the denouement. The first two acts are devoted to the exposition, made chiefly by a series of dialogues between Roxane and other persons. 1 Cf. freres Parfait, Histoire du the&tre fransois, vn, 97, 118, and their quotation from the Dkniaist of Gillet de la Tessonnerie (Paris, 1648), in which the two plays are referred to by rival lovers: "J'ai fait voir & Daphnis dix fois He"raclius Moi, vingt fois Themistocle, et peut-etre encore plus." Its absence from Mahelot's Memoire, in which Heraclius appears, shows that it was probably not acted at the Hotel de Bourgogne. J Cf. Appendix A. J Pp. 306-313. (Euvres, Paris, 1820, vn, 417. ' xi, chapters 57 and 58. 6 Chapter 59. i Themistccles, xxvn. Ibid., xxix. TRAGEDIES 127 She relates to a certain Hydaspe, newly returned to court, that Themistocle, exiled from Greece, has been kindly received by Xerces, but that his enemies, jealous of the favor shown him, have accused him of being a Greek spy, a charge that he is this day to answer before the king. We discover that Mandane is plotting against Themistocle for destroying her lover, Cambise, at Salamis, and against Artabaze, the king's favorite, who seems to be a friend of her enemy. But Artabaze, who is in love with Mandane' s daughter, Palmis, and has pretended friendship for Themistocle merely because he thought Mandane favored him, now learns her real purpose and promises to help her destroy Themistocle. Mandane promises to Artabaze her daughter in marriage if he can succeed. Roxane and Palmis, on the other hand, seek to save Themistocle; they are both in love with him, while he is in love with Palmis. Just how the conspirators are seeking to undo the hero is not made clear, but we may infer that they are responsible for the charge of spying which has been made against him. Such is the somewhat complicated situation at the beginning of the third act, where the dramatic interest commences. Xerces enters with his court and calls upon Themistocle to defend him- self against the accusation that he is a Greek spy. This he does eloquently and at length, explaining that the harm he has done to Persia was the result of his patriotism, that the talent he displayed is now at the king's service. It is absurd to think that the Greeks, if still favorable to him, would have sent him upon such a mission, for spies are not made from generals. Moreover, his conduct since reaching Persia shows the falsity of the charge. But he cares little to " traisner plus long-temps vne si tristevie. " His only desire is to defend his honor. Xerces replies that he is sure of his innocence, bears him no malice for his former deeds against Persia, and is anxious to have him for a subject. He accordingly bids him remain at court, assuring him that, while others have attacked him, Mandane and Artabaze have ever been his friends. The trial over, Mandane is expressing her indignation to Roxane, when Artabaze brings her the information that Xerces wishes to bind Themistocle to his interests by giving him the Princess Palmis in marriage. Both conspirators are infuriated at the thought, and Mandane is ready to take desperate measures : 128 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST "Ie scauray luy monstrer que mon sang est a moy, Que ie puis le verser par vn courage extresme Renferme' dans ma fille aussi bien qu'en moy-mesme." But between the third and fourth acts she makes a discovery that changes her plans completely. She reads letters from Cambise to Artabaze, showing that the former was in love with another woman at the time of his death and that Artabaze helped him to deceive her. Her wrath is therefore now directed against Artabaze, while she feels only gratitude to Themistocle for having slain Cambise. As she and her daughter consent to the marriage, for which Roxane has been unselfishly working, Artabaze would be left alone in opposition to it, were not a new and more formidable obstacle discovered. Xerces, when he promises Palmis to The- mistocle, bids him prepare to lead an expedition against his ungrateful country and thus causes the fine moral struggle which gives the play its value. Alone with Palmis, Themistocle talks to her of his love and the impossibility of his marrying her, if it means treachery to Greece. Palmis replies that Persia is now his country and that she loves him. Themistocle answers : "Enfin si vous mayme's, vous digne prix d'vn Roy, Estouffez cette amour, ou bien cache's la moy, De peur que ma vertu sans vigueur et sans armes Ne se laisse corrompre a de si puissans charmes." In the last act new influences are brought to bear upon him. Both Roxane and Mandane beg him to advance his own interests and overthrow Artabaze' s machinations by obeying the king. Themistocle also considers the ingratitude of Greece and the kindness he has received in Persia. "Nostre pays n'est pas, ou Ton m'oste 1'honneur, II est ou nous trouuons la gloire et le bon-heur. " Finally Artabaze comes to tell him that these honors are merely offered as a bribe, and will not be given him after the war is over. He advises him to demand payment in advance. Themistocle sees through his wiles and maddens him by pretending to be about to accept the king's offer. In doing so, he delivers an interesting statement of cosmopolitanism : TRAGEDIES 129 "Cette amour du pays n'est qu'vne erreur vtile, Qu'vne ruse d'estat necessaire aux estats Puis que sans son secours ils ne fleuriroient pas. Mais ce n'est pas ainsi qu'vn grand coeur se resserre, II ne se borne pas par vn morceau de terre, Et comme il naist au monde ou ses faits sont ouys II croid que tout le monde est aussi son pays. Ainsi toute la terre egallement cherie A 1'homme magnanime est une ample patrie." To Artabaze's advice that he should demand immediate payment from the king for his future deeds, he replies in words that were probably imitated by La Rochefoucauld: 1 "Mais il est bien plus noble et bien moins hazardeux D'estre trompe des Roys, que se deffier d'eux." When the two men separate, Themistocle reflects that by yielding to the king he can conquer Artabaze, while the latter hastens to bring against his rival the false accusation that he distrusts Xerces and wishes to marry Palmis before attacking Greece. The king, instead of taking this as an insult, agrees to the immediate celebration of the marriage. Themistocle, sum- moned by the king, is told that he will first marry Palmis and then lead the new expedition against Greece. He argues that the conquest of Greece is too small a return for the favors that he has received, and begs to be allowed to fight for the king against other enemies, adding that the king should owe the conquest of Greece to a Persian rather than a Greek. When Xerces, in spite of these arguments, insists upon his leading the expedition, Themistocle flatly refuses: "le scay qu'apres les biens ou vous m'auez porte" le dois tout iustement a vostre majeste"; Mais peut-on quelquefois en sa iuste furie Promettre iustement le sang de sa patrie?" To the king's warning that refusal will be punished with death he replies that he is ready to die, regretting his seeming ingratitude and hoping that all the king's criminal subjects may be like him- self. Xerces is so delighted by "ce beau refus" that he pardons him, promises never to propose the expedition to him again, gives him Palmis for wife, and bids him continue to reside at the court. 1 Maxim LXXXIV: "II est plus honteux de se ctefier de ses amis que d'en fitre trompe\ " 130 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST From this analysis it is seen that Du Ryer has changed Diodo- rus's narrative by making Mandane the sister of Xerces instead of his cousin, by having her lover instead of her children killed at Salamis, by making her daughter, Palmis, the woman to whom Themistocle is married, by substituting a happy denouement for the hero's suicide. The means by which Mandane becomes favorable to Themistocle, the charge of spying, the rivalry for the hand of Palmis, and all the r61e of Roxane are Du Ryer's additions. He is to be praised for the emphasis he lays on the struggle in the protagonist's mind, an eminently dramatic motif and one which, as will be shown, serves to unify the play. The action takes place in a few hours of the day set for the trial. The scene is laid in one or two rooms of the royal palace. The exposition, made largely by a series of confidences to the same person, is neither natural nor interesting. Xerces ought to be shown early in the play, conferring with the enemies of Themistocle, in order that we may be convinced of their power. Mandane's first opposition to Artabaze and Roxane's love of Themistocle do not advance the action. There are two main plots, one concerned with the hero's marriage to Palmis, the other, and more important, with his command of the expedition against Greece. The two are united by the fact that the love of Themis- tocle for Palmis is one of the chief emotions opposed to his patriot- ism. What seem at first to be independent plots are connected with one or the other of these themes. The play involves more than the safety and happiness of a single individual, for, had Themistocle accepted the king's offer, the conquest of Greece and the overthrow of Greek civilization might have followed. Patriotism was not a new theme on the French stage, but I know of no instance in which it is put to the test found here. Horace and Sceuole were simple souls, who risked their lives to save a grateful country. Even Curiace, with his larger humanity, was not ill-treated by his native town. Themistocle is introspective, subtle, and blase, a person whose acquaintance with men and with countries has destroyed the freshness of early enthusiasms. He has been exiled by Greece, protected by Persia. He is in love with a Persian princess. By accepting the king's offer, he can find love, power, the joy of con- quering his rivals at the Persian court and of punishing his enemies at home. His thorough understanding of these things and of cos- TRAGEDIES 1 3 1 mopolitan philosophy is shown in his last conversation with Artabaze. That patriotism alone against all these desires will triumph in the breast of even a thoroughly sophisticated person is the thesis which Du Ryer demonstrates. With this idea in mind, we can see that he is justified in introducing a number of scenes that show the craftiness of Artabaze and the fury of Man- dane, for his hero's sophistication is illustrated in part by the character of the enemies he defeats. The other characters are typical court figures, of less interest than Themistocle. Mandane is the personification of pride, as is Artabaze of ambition. The former is ready to murder or marry her daughter in order to avenge herself on the man who has humbled her ; the latter stoops to any means in order to advance his interests. That neither of them is punished shows that Du Ryer has no longer a liking for melodrama. In Palmis he again represents a princess who hesitates to express her love on account of her lover's humble birth. In Roxane he has sought to give a picture of perfect self-sacrifice, but he has hardly succeeded in making her convincing. She recalls Corneille's Infante or Sabine, a person always ready to suffer, but incapable of accomplishing anything by her heroism. Xerces is a noble figure. We regret that, intelligent and magnanimous as he is, he appears so seldom in the play. The Mercure of July 18, 1721, declares that Themistocle is closely imitated by Campistron in his Alcibiade, "non settlement pour la conduite totale, mais me"me pour quantite de Vers copiez tout de suite." The frres Parfaict 1 mention a reply made in defense of Campistron by a certain Gourdon de Bach de Tou- louse, 2 who finds little merit in Du Ryer's play and praises Cam- pistron's extravagantly, denying all but the slightest influence. Philipp 3 has shown, however, that Campistron was undoubtedly influenced by Du Ryer in the general plan of his work, in several situations and characters, and even verbally in more than one passage, though not to the extent indicated by the author of the article in the Mercure. The freres Parfaict 4 and Mesnard 5 note the influence of this play upon a passage in Andromaque. Mandane in the fourth 1 Histoire du thedtre fran$ois, vu, 98. 3 Cf . Bibliolheque fran$oise, mai et juin, 1726, pp. 20-27. J Pierre Du Ryers Leben, 88-97. *0p. cit., vu, 105. (Euvres de J '. Racine.ll, Il8. 132 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST scene of the fourth act laments that Cambise has died by other hands than hers, and adds the wish "Que ma main acheuast, qu'il mourut a ma veue Et qu'il sceut en mourant que cest moy qui le tue. " Similarly Oreste tells Hermione that he understands the vengeance she has desired: " Vous vouliez que ma main portat les premiers coups, Qu'il sentft en mourant qu'il expirait pour vous;" 1 and Hermione says to Oreste: "Ma vengeance est perdue S'il ignore en mourant que c'est moi qui le tue." a Du Ryer's play does not appear to have influenced the Themis- tocle of the p&re Foulard, published at Lyons in 1729, or the Temistocle of Morei, published at Rome in 1728. On the other hand, it undoubtedly influenced both Zeno 3 and Metastasio 4 in their plays of this name. Besides other resemblances, 5 both of these plays have the happy ending which is not found in the Greek and Latin authors who tell the story. 6 'V, 3 . -IV, 4. Zeno's play was published at Venice in 1744. * Metastasio's tragedy was first played in 1736. * Both in plot, characters, and names the Italian plays are nearer Du Ryer's than they are to the ancient narratives. The situations of Zeno's play, II, 2,11, 4, and III, 2, are especially near those of Du Ryer's. 6 In the argument to his play Zeno cites Cornelius Nepos to show the falsity of the tradition that his hero died by drinking bull's blood. Some of Metastasio's editors, reading the citation carelessly, attribute the whole argument to Nepos, and thus create the erroneous impression that the Roman historian is the source of these plays. CHAPTER V. LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES. The plays discussed in this chapter are Berenice, published before Sceuole, and the last three plays that Du Ryer wrote, Nitocris, Dynamis, and Anaxandre. The four are called tragi- comedies because they are written on a less elevated plane than the tragedies, have fictitious plots without persons of distinct historical importance, treat of love as their chief emotion, do not exclude comic passages, end happily, 1 and are largely free from death or the danger of it. 2 At the same time they show the influence of tragedy in the observation of rules of unity and propriety and in the subordination of the plot to the study of character. 3 They thus combine characteristics of the author's early tragi- comedies with those of his tragedies to make a type that may be called classical tragi-comedy, a hybrid form, which sacrifices the variety of one model without gaining the strength and elevation of the other. Berenice, 4 the first of these plays, is written in prose, a form which the author discusses in the following introduction : "I'ay fait bien plus que ie ne pensois, puisque i'ay fait en Prose vne piece de Theatre, et qu'elle n'a pas este' desagreable. Car encore que i'ayme la Prose, et que ie 1'esleue par dessus les Vers autant que les choses vtiles doiuent 1'emporter par dessus les delectables, ie n'ay pourtant iamais crti. qu'elle put paroistre sur Ie Theatre auec les mesmes effets et la mesme magnificence que les Vers. Si i'ay tousiours estime' que c'est vn jeu de hasard que de faire des Comedies, ie suis particulierement de cette opinion pour ce qui concerne les pieces en Prose. Et certes nous en voyons peu qui en ayent fait deux auec Ie mesme succez, et qui 1'euenement de la seconde n'ait oste* une partie 1 This fact, taken alone, would not distinguish them from half of the author's tragedies. 1 The only persons in them who die are the two villains of Dynamis. JThis is not altogether true of Dynamis, which, with Clarigene, stands between the early tragi-comedies and the other three treated in this chapter. Paris, 1645, "auec priuilege." The dates of this privilege and of the achcvl d'imprimer are not given. 133 134 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST de la reputation de la premiere. Quoy qu'il en soit, c'est vne course que ie ne voudrois pas deux fois entreprendre ; et i'ayme mieux me reposer au bout le la carriere auec vn peu de gloire que de la recom- mencer auec hasard." This philistine doctrine of the superiority of the useful over the delectable may be given by Du Ryer in vindication of the excessive amount of translation that he had begun before I645- 1 His use of prose in this play is probably due, not only to the example of his translations, but to the small amount of time these left him for composition in verse. Whatever the cause of his experiment, he doubted its wisdom and kept his promise not to repeat it. As he intimates, he was not the first person who had tried prose, for full-length comedies and tragi-comedies in prose can be found as early as the sixteenth century, while Du Ryer's contemporary, Puget de la Serre, had already written five prose tragedies, 2 and Scudery's prose tragi-comedy, Axiane, had been published in 1644. The source of Berenice is unknown. The play has nothing to do with the historical Berenices, with Racine's tragedy, or with the romance of the same name by Segrais. It shows some resemblance to the story of Sesostris and Timarette, told in the sixth volume of the Grand Cyrus and subsequently dramatized by Thomas Corneille in his Berenice. 3 As Du Ryer's play was written before the Grand Cyrus, it can not have been influenced by it, nor does a comparison of the two works indicate that Mile de Scude'ry took her plot from Du Ryer. It is possible that there is a common source, at present unidentified. Thomas Corneille may have taken from Du Ryer the name of his heroine and some suggestions for her character, the only respects in which he is nearer to Du Ryer than he is to Mile de Scudery. 4 1 The year in which the play was published. It was probably represented for the first time a year or two before. ' Pandoste, 1631; Le Pyrame, 1633; Thomas Morus, 1642; Le Sac de Carthage, 1643; Sainte Caterine, 1643. J Cf. Philipp, Pierre Du Ryers Leben, p. 87. * The three accounts have in common the substitution of infants, the bringing up of the princess in ignorance of her royal birth, the proof of her identity through a letter written by her dying mother: but in Scude'ry and Corneille there are two independent substitutions to Du Ryer's one, two foster fathers to one, a rival noble, a rival princess, and several confidantes whom Du Ryer omits; the obstacles in the lovers' way are furnished by difference in rank and the intrigues of an ambitious noble- man, instead of supposedly incestuous love and the rivalry of father and son. Thomas Corneille's plot depends on chance events, a shipwreck, an enlevement, a conspiracy, the convenient return of a foster-father, the remarkable discovery of a lost note, while Du Ryer's play is simple, united, more dependent on character than events. LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES 135 The plot is based on a father's substitution of infants. The king of Crete, many years before the time represented in the play, had sent his pregnant queen to Sicily for safety while he was engaged in war. Dwelling there at the house of Criton, a nobleman, she had given birth to a daughter a few days before her host's wife brought forth a son. As the queen soon died and as Criton knew that a son was much desired by the king, he sent to Crete his own infant, Tarsis, while he kept Berenice, the king's daughter, and brought her up as his own child. When the chil- dren were grown, Criton, persecuted by the Sicilian ruler, took refuge, in his turn, at the court of the king of Crete, now at peace, who received him most cordially with his supposed daughter, Berenice, and his real daughter, Amasie. Du Ryer does not inform us of these romantic facts till the end of the play. They are necessary to the denouement and to the initial idea of the play, but they are not otherwise used. The interest is sustained almost purely by the study of the charac- ters and the series of emotional states through which they pass. The play begins after Criton has dwelt five years in Crete. The scene is laid in two buildings on this island : one, the royal palace ; the other, the house inhabited by Criton and his daughters, which has a garden on one side of it. Berenice and Tarsis have fallen in love with each other; Amasie and a courtier, Tirinte, have done the same. This situation is made known to us during the first act by a conversation between the sisters, in which Berenice reproaches Amasie for stooping to a man of lower position than theirs, while she defends her own conduct by the argument that kings and gods may love those in a rank beneath them. Towards the end of the act their difficulties begin with their father's telling them that for some hidden reason they must leave the country. Tarsis, informed of the projected de- parture, assures Berenice that he will prevent it by appealing to the king. But it is soon discovered that the king, far from helping his son in his love for Berenice, is the chief obstacle to their union, for he loves her himself and has already sent Tirinte to ask for her in marriage. He is now indignant at learning that Criton refuses his consent to this alliance and discusses with Tirinte what reason he can have for so doing. Before Criton comes to explain his refusal, Tarsis requests that he be prevented from leaving 136 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Crete. He tells his father of his love for Berenice and begs that he be allowed to marry her. The king is surprised to find that his son is his rival, but he conceals his own sentiments, answers Tarsis evasively concerning the marriage, and assures him of his desire to keep Criton and Berenice from going away. Left alone with Tirinte, the king tells him that he now understands that it is Criton's hope of marrying Berenice to the prince that makes him reject his suit, but that he will wed the girl in spite of him. Tarsis may marry Amasie in compensation for the loss of Berenice. This last plan tends to connect the subordinate plot with the main plot, for Tirinte's love of Amasie now conflicts with his duty as agent in the king's love affair. The second act ends with Tirinte's telling Amasie his distress over the king's plan to marry her to his son. In the third act a letter from Tarsis to Berenice, informing her of his father's ordering him to depart on the morrow for Cyprus, is found by Criton in the hands of Amasie, who is accordingly suspected of being the object of the prince's affections. In order to shield her sister, Amasie lets her father think that Tarsis is her lover, while Berenice continues the deception, as, by so doing, she can see Tarsis freely, ostensibly in order to urge him to give up Amasie. When she sees her lover, he tells her that his father's rivalry is the cause of his leaving Crete. Berenice begs him to give her up, for she is unwilling to separate father and son, but at the same time she promises to remain faithful to him while he is away. Tirinte begins the fourth act by bringing to Amasie the king's proposal to marry her to Tarsis. He asks her whether he must make the proposition to her father and thus sacrifice his own love for her. She replies by assuring him of her love and bidding him do as he thinks best, whereupon his sense of duty to the king prevails. He is about to go to find Criton, when Tarsis comes with the news that the king has allowed him to postpone his voyage in consequence of his pretending to give up Berenice for Amasie. This confidence precipitates a discussion between the two friends, in which Tarsis begs Tirinte not to deliver the king's message to Criton, while Tirinte warns the prince against feigning love for Amasie. They are interrupted by Berenice, who informs them that her father has determined to return to Sicily. Finally Criton makes the terrible disclosure that Tarsis is his son : LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES 137 " Criton: Elle est de mesme condition que vous. Tarsis : Pourquoy done ne puis- je 1'aimer? Criton: Parce qu'elle est vostre soeur, et que sa mere estoit vostre mere. Cela vous estonne. le n'en doute point. Tarsis : Et Criton seroit mon pere. Et Berenice seroit ma sceur ! " Of course the audience does not know that Berenice is really the daughter of the king, while Criton, who does know this, has been deceived by the letter into believing that it is Amasie whom Tarsis loves. A letter discovered by chance and the fact that in the interview with his son Criton spoke of his daughter without mentioning her name are thus the weak supports to an interesting situation, treated in masterly fashion. In Argenis and Cleomedon Du Ryer had used the discovery of relationship as a convenient means of ridding the hero of a formidable rival. Arcombrotte and Celiante had each given up the love he had borne his sister as soon as he learned who she was. This is absurd. Either the audience has been deceived as to the strength of the passion the men felt before the discovery, or this passion must continue, mingled with horror at the thought of its unlawful nature. Here there is an opportunity for a study of passion that Du Ryer had previously neglected and which he now grasps. By the introduction of the letter he so arranges his play that Criton' s mistake as to which daughter his son loves leads to his disclosing only half the truth and leaving Tarsis with the knowl- edge that he is Criton's son, but without the information that Berenice is the king's daughter. Thus for several scenes we have an intensely dramatic struggle in the souls of the lovers. Two monologues, a dialogue between the sisters, and another between the lovers themselves, show us this struggle. Finally Tarsis begs Berenice to marry the king and take the throne to which he no longer has a right, but she refuses to deprive him of it and bids him farewell. The king enters, impatiently awaiting Criton's decision. When all the characters are present, Criton explains who Tarsis and Berenice really are. He had feared to make this disclosure sooner, lest his son should lose his royal position and he should himself be punished for his misrepresenta- tions. His testimony is supported by a letter, left by the dying queen, which states that her child was a girl. The king rec- ognizes the writing and accepts Criton's testimony. To our surprise, he not only acknowledges Berenice as his daughter , but 138 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST marries her to Tarsis and pardons Criton, whom he even thanks for having provided him with so noble a warrior as his son. x The structure of the play shows a unity absent from the author's earlier tragi-comedies. The time of the action can not be established with absolute certainty, but it appears to cover only a few hours. The place has the unity of the two houses. The action is simple and intense. Its unity is slightly violated by a subordinate plot, concerned with the love of Tirinte and Amasie, which is connected with the main plot by the king's threat to marry Tarsis to Amasie, but which has no effect upon it. It serves to characterize these subordinate lovers and to lift them out of the commonplace r61es of messenger and confidant which they would otherwise have filled. The denouement is the result of what has gone before, for Criton, the only person who knows the facts necessary to the solution of the problem, would not compromise himself by reveal- ing the true situation unless forced to do so by the events of the play. Here Du Ryer shows greater ability than he had done in Clarigene, where the discovery of the needed facts is due to the chance return of a lost son and daughter. From this point of view, Berenice is a tragi-comedy of char- acter in which the action depends on Criton, who is willing to deceive grossly until he sees that incest will be the result of his deception, and on the king, who must, in order to bring about the denouement, be as magnanimous in the end as he was at first self-seeking. But Du Ryer fails to develop these two essen- tial personalities. Instead of emphasizing their rdles so that the clash of their characters would fill the play, he introduces Criton into only five scenes, the king into only four. They are not brought face to face till the last act. We are not shown the struggle in the soul of Criton, who remains for us an enigmatic character until his* confession to Tarsis. We are not shown the meeting between the king and his son, in which the latter is told that his father is his rival. Such scenes as these would have 1 M. Gustave Reynier in his Thomas Corneille, sa vie et son theatre, Paris, 1892, p. 127, declares that "Du Ryer avait fait jouer en 1635 [sic] une Berenice en prose, qui n'eut guere de succes et dont la lecture est fort rebutante. " The error in the date, which also occurs on page 117, the unfounded statement about the play's success, and especially the absurdity of the last clause make me believe that M. Reynier has not read the play himself, but is relying upon some untrustworthy eighteenth- or nineteenth-century history of the French theater. LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES 139 explained these persons and brought them more prominently before us. As it is, we do not understand how the king substitutes for his incestuous passion an intelligent spirit of pardon and affection; while no proper emphasis is laid on the fact that Cri- ton's deception of the king is due to personal ambition rather than to love of his son. He is stern with his daughters, cruelly direct in his revelations, a crafty, unlovely old man, yet I doubt if the hardness of his character is sufficiently evident in a repre- sentation of the play. It should be made clearer that he is eaten up with ambition. We ought to see the struggles through which he passes before he brings himself to confess the truth. The characterization of the lovers is more admirable. The two sisters, neither of them a stranger to the seventeenth-century salon, contrast effectively with each other. Berenice, who has inherited an aristocratic view of social adjustments, accepts as her right her sister's sacrifice and reproaches her for loving a man beneath her in rank. She is a Cornelian heroine, to whom love means the aspiration towards what is in all respects noble and whose passion must be given up if its gratification is not in accord- ance with her own honor or the welfare of her lover. On the other hand, Amasie resembles the heroine of Clarigene. Her love takes no thought of her own "gloire" or her lover's rank. She is more resourceful, more playful, wiser, and more considerate than her intense sister, for whom she is ready to efface her own chance of happiness. Few of Du Ryer's subordinate rdles are so clearly delineated. Tarsis is too much the courtier for his reputation as a warrior. He is deceived by his father and unable to avoid banishment except by pretending to surrender Berenice. He lacks fortitude and is ineffectual in his devices, but we appreciate his genuine passion, which is too strong to be obliterated by the report that Berenice is his sister. Tirinte is of less importance. His r61e, normally that of the king's confidant and messenger, is given interest by his love for Amasie. While the tone of the play does not reach the elevation of the tragedy, there is little of the comedy, either in humor or study of manners. A few evidences of preciosite, a tendency to state general truths, an acceptance of monarchical principles, are the nearest approach to a representation of contemporary French manners, which, of course, were probably not those of the island 140 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST of Crete at this undetermined moment in its history. There is no laughter in the play, only an attempt at pleasantry when Amasie teases her sister at the beginning of the third act. The use of prose does not injure the value of the work, as Du Ryer writes here with a simple directness often absent from his verse. Affec- tation is not altogether avoided, however, for Tarsis in the midst of his sorrow exclaims, "C'est ma sceur, ce fut mon amante, ie 1'ay perdue sans que ie la perde, et ie la gaigne sans la gaigner. "' There is a noteworthy sententiousness in the debates between the sisters and particularly in a maxim worthy of La Rochefou- cauld, "On peut aller facilement de 1'amitie a 1'amour, mais il n'est pas si facile d'aller de 1'amour a I'amiti^." 1 The privilege for the next tragi-comedy, Nitocris Reyne de Baby- lone, is dated November 10, 1649; the acheve (T imprinter, January 28, 1650. There is neither dedication nor foreword. Nothing is known of the play's success, except that it was republished the same year at Leyden by the Elzevirs. Herodotus 2 mentions a Nitocris, Queen of Babylon, who had certain relations with the Medes, and Du Ryer, who had published his translation of the historian about five years earlier, undoubtedly derived from this source the name and, perhaps, some aspects of his heroine's character, as well as the suggestion of dealings between her and the Medes. But this is all. The plot and other characters than the queen do not come from Herodotus. His recently written Themistocle may have suggested the Oriental subject. A few scenes and the denouement, brought about by the ruler's mag- nanimity, point to the influence of Cinna. The main source of the play, however, is unknown. Nitocris, absolute ruler of Babylon, has decided to choose a husband. She hesitates between Cleodate, a famous and virtuous warrior of humble birth, with whom she is in love, and Araxe, a man of royal blood, but ambitious and formerly disloyal, for whom she cares nothing. Her problem is that which appeared in Alcionee, Berenice, Themistocle, the choice between high birth and native excellence. A third course, to remain unmarried, is also open to her. Cleodate, ignorant of the queen's sentiments toward him, cherishes a secret passion for Axiane, Princess of Media, who dwells at the court of Nitocris. Araxe, on the other hand, is J V, 2. '1,185-187. LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES 141 using every means in his power to persuade Nitocris to marry him, extending his machinations until they involve treachery to his friend, Cleodate, and to Alcine, Princess of Assyria, who is in love with him. These interests are shown us in the first two acts. Araxe is meditating how he can overthrow Cleodate, when the latter comes to tell him that he has asked Nitocris to let him leave the court, for he knows that his low birth and the fact that the queen wishes Axiane to remain unmarried make his love for this princess hopeless. He wishes that Araxe would urge Nito- cris to allow him to leave, and Araxe with feigned reluctance agrees. But Nitocris, who does not know of Cleodate's love, now refuses to allow him to depart. The act ends with Axiane's confession to Alcine of her nascent love for Cleodate. Nitocris, after struggling to conquer her passion for Cleodate, takes counsel of the two princesses, each of whom advises her to wed the other's lover, Axiane reminding her of Cleodate's low birth and the importance of giving the people a king who has a long line of ancestors, Alcine replying that Araxe has once rebelled, while Cleodate has always been faithful to the queen. Before Nitocris makes a final decision, Cleodate is told that she consents to his leaving the court. He then tells Axiane that the true reason for his departure is his love for her. She assures him that she also loves him and would make him a king if she had a throne to share with him, but, as she has none, she wishes, instead, to marry him to Nitocris. The queen now calls upon Araxe and Cleodate to advise her whom she should marry. The former avoids a definite answer by assuring her that he will accept as king the subject she honors with her hand, while Cleodate urges her to marry no one, but to continue to use the courtship of neighboring monarchs as a means of keeping them at peace with her. Nitocris thanks them for their advice and leaves them after bidding Cleodate remain at court. This third act ends with an important scene in which Araxe tries to bribe his rival by promising him Axiane in marriage, together with the throne of Media, if he will first persuade Nitocris to marry him, a proposition which Cleodate indignantly rejects. Araxe, now knowing that he has nothing to gain by an alliance with his rival, sees that his only hope of success lies in destroying him. Accordingly, when the queen tells him she has decided to 142 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST marry Cleodate, he craftily replies that she has made a noble choice, "si pourtant son esprit peut souffrir vostre chois. " He goes on to accuse Cleodate of loving Axiane and of plotting to give the throne of Babylon to the king of Media, in order that he may inherit it later as husband of Axiane. The queen sees through the falsity of the second accusation, but she is deeply moved by the first. She has Araxe arrested for slandering Cleodate, despite Alcine's protestations, and summons Cleodate before her. When he arrives, she urges him to tell her the truth : ' ' Nitocris : Ay mes-tu ? re"ponds-moy . Cleodate: Si i' ay me! Nitocris : Responds-moy, Lors qu'on hesite ainsi, Ton veut manquer de foy. Cleodate: Plutost le iuste Ciel me punisse en profane. Nitocris: Mais enfin aimes-tu la Princesse Axiane? Cleodate: Ouy, Madame, ie 1'ayme." Nitocris rebukes, but pardons him, bids him continue to love the princess and, when he has left her, soliloquizes concerning the powerlessness of monarchs. The act ends with the announcement that the king of the Medes is dead. The accusations against Cleodate now include the charge that he has been responsible for this king's death. Nitocris wavers in her good opinion of him, but it is only momentarily, for she summons Araxe and gets from him a confession of the falsity of his accusation. He excuses himself by saying that his crime is due to jealousy and makes a last vain effort to win the queen's hand. Nitocris now resolves, like Auguste, to show her greatness by conquering her feelings. She will continue to rule alone, will pardon Araxe, and rise above her love of Cleodate and her jealousy of Axiane. She accordingly marries Cleodate to this princess, who succeeds with him to the throne of Media, gives Alcine to Araxe, and consoles herself for her sacrifice with the reflection that she will remain a proof to posterity of how the will can conquer love. The play is thoroughly classic in structure. The only formal indication of the location is the statement that the scene is laid at Babylon, but it is evident that everything occurs in one palace, probably in only one room. The time is not necessarily more than a few hours. The action is a model of unity. On Nitocris, the central figure, depend her own sacrifice and the marriages of LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES 143 Cleodate and Araxe. Even Cleodate's declaration of love to Axiane is the result of her first permission to him to leave her court. The death of the king of Media merely serves to increase the happiness at the end of the play and has no effect upon the de- nouement, which is brought about entirely by the magnanimity of the queen. Her action is the result of her character and the knowledge of Cleodate's love for Axiane. Thus the persons and circumstances presented at the beginning of the play produce logically the denouement. The manners described are, of course, those of a seventeenth- century French court, not those of Babylon or any other part of the Orient. The similarity to Cinna is obvious, for the central theme is the clemency of an absolute monarch. Nitocris's triumph is as difficult for a woman as is Auguste's for a man. She forgives her subject for preferring another princess, as Auguste forgives his subjects for plotting his death. In both cases the chief cause of the action is desire to do the noble deed. In both cases, too, the minds of the protagonists are not made up at the beginning and the changes through which they pass make the plays dramatic. Like Auguste, Nitocris takes counsel of those personally affected by her decision. Cleodate and Araxe are sharply contrasted in character and interests. The former is the less interesting. As the lover of one princess and the faithful subject of another, his r61e might have portrayed a struggle, but, as his fate rests entirely with Nitocris, he seems little more than a puppet whom she chooses to make happy at the end of the play. Araxe, on the other hand, is the incarnation of ambition. Having failed to win the throne by rebellion, he seeks it through marriage with the queen, for which purpose he deliberately endeavors to destroy his friend Cleodate, whom he fears as a formidable rival, and to make a tool of Alcine, whom he still professes to love : "C'est foiblesse d'esprit, c'est estre mal-habile, D'espargner vn amy quand sa perte est vtile. " His character is gradually unfolded after this statement of prin- ciple. He first seeks to injure his friend by advising the queen in accordance with Cleodate's own desires, then endeavors to bribe him, then betrays him. At the same time he is trying to use 144 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Alcine's love for his own advancement and her misfortune. When all his means prove abortive and he has himself been arrested, he strives to make out of the confession of his crimes a strong appeal to the queen's favor. This confession is difficult to under- stand unless we perceive that he is putting all his chances into a single throw, that in confession lies his only means of winning the throne. When he accepts Alcine as his wife, it is only because there is no longer any hope of winning Nitocris. He shows no evidence of repentance. The two princesses are types from the aristocratic society of Du Ryer's contemporaries. They analyze passion, discuss their own sentiments, argue ably before the queen while concealing their real motives. Axiane, unlike Nitocris, feels no hesitation at loving a man beneath her in rank. Her r61e is carelessly treated, inasmuch as at the end of the second act she urges the queen to marry Araxe, while in the second scene of the third act she advises Cleodate to wed the queen. This hero's confession of love for her can scarcely be the cause of this change. Alcine is more consistent. She understands Araxe perfectly, but she defends him, continues to love him, and finally rescues him from the queen. The two other characters, Atis and Achate, serve in the colorless r61es of confidant and messenger. The high birth of most of the persons may be noted. Indeed the atmosphere of the play represents on all sides the conventional notion of an absolute monarch's court, its virtues as well as its vices, for magnanimity and loyalty flourish in it alongside of flattery, deception, and place-seeking. Dynamis, the next tragi-comedy, ' resembles Nitocris in its chief theme, the marriage of an Oriental queen, in which are concerned a falsely accused hero and a treacherous aspirant to the throne, but the careless motivation of the characters, the structural looseness, and the use of melodramatic incidents recall the author's early plays. Suggestions for the plot and persons are found in Dion Cassius, LIV, 24, where it is told briefly how the adventurer, Scribonius, fraudulently made himself King of Bosporus Cimmerius, married Dynamis, widow of the late king, was attacked by Polemon, King of Cappadocian Pontus and ally of the Romans, was put to death by his subjects, and was suc- ceeded on the throne by this rival, who became the third husband 1 Privilege, August 26, 1650; achevt d'imprimer, December 28, 1652. LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES 145 of the queen. Du Ryer has avoided inconvenient names by substituting for these two countries other provinces of Asia Minor, Carie and Lycie, a change which makes him lay his scene at Halycarnasse, capital of the former country. Scribonius is changed to Areas, prince de Carie, an unsuccessful aspirant to Dynamis's throne and hand. Polemon becomes Poliante, roy de Lycie, and keeps his r61e of defender and last husband to the queen. Two important characters and a number of incidents are added. Before the play begins, the king has died in battle under suspicious circumstances. Areas, who is commonly thought to have murdered him, seeks to marry the queen and finds help from Trasile, her bastard brother, who hopes that his sister will become unpopular by this marriage and be thus forced to abdicate in his favor. Trasile is encouraged to scheme for the throne by Proxene, a princess who wishes to become queen by marrying him, but his plans are constantly thwarted either by the blunders of his associates or his own lack of courage. When Dynamis vigorously reproaches him for helping Areas, he defends himself weakly, then begs her forgiveness. He urges her not to marry Poliante, whom she loves, and is told that her intention is to remain unmarried. After a useless scene at the beginning of the second act, in which Dynamis tells Poliante that he must leave her court in order that he may not be injured by his secret enemies there, word is brought that Areas is coming with an army to force the queen to marry him. At the same time Poliante is informed that his own subjects are revolting. Dynamis insists upon Poliante's defending his own land, but he refuses, for he must stay to pro- tect her. She threatens to stop loving him; he replies that his love will be the nobler if he is hated. Their debate is brought to a close by the queen's deciding upon the romantic plan of abdicating in her brother's favor in order that her love may no longer interfere with Poliante's duty to his land. Poliante immediately offers his throne and heart to Dynamis and, in addition, his sister in marriage to Trasile. The latter, who has accepted his sister's throne with feigned reluctance, now consents to this matrimonial arrangement as well, to the disgust of Proxene, who will have her revenge for being thus abandoned. Fortunately Dynamis has lost no time in planning her senti- mental abdication, for the news comes at the beginning of the 146 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST third act that Poliante's rebellious subjects are conquered, so that her generosity is now unnecessary. She begins to hesitate about actually surrendering her throne and soon informs her brother that she will continue to rule, at least till after the defeat of Areas. Trasile pretends to desire this, but secretly believes that Dynamis's lack of good faith justifies his efforts to dethrone her. Trasile is reckoning, however, without Proxene, who threatens to betray his plans: "Allez, allez, ingrat, iouyssez de vos crimes, N'ayez iamais de biens ny d'honneurs legitimes Mais scachez qu'vn meschant ne doit pas outrager Quiconque scait son crime et qui pent se vanger. " Proxene goes to find the queen, leaving Trasile to reflect that he must strike at once, but, before he can take any steps, Dynamis enters with the surprising intelligence that a certain Euristene, an old retainer, has accused Poliante of the late king's murder. After the battle he was lying in a wood, unconscious from his wounds, when he was roused by a shout and saw Poliante draw a dagger from the body of the dying king. He has been pre- vented from testifying sooner by his absence among the enemy, whence he has just returned. He hopes that his evidence may free Areas from the charges made against him. Dynamis resolves to consult the "Grands de 1'Estat. " She now has two criminal cases to investigate, for she has been informed by Proxene of Trasile's plot against her. The "Deputez" of the nobility urge her to discredit the charges against Poliante and to take him for husband. Trasile assumes indignation at the nobles for pre- suming to advise the queen, but he approves of this marriage himself, apparently hoping to involve his sister in the charge against Poliante. Perceiving that he is again advising her treacherously, and acting on the revelations made by Proxene, she has her brother arrested and then proceeds to interview Poliante. The latter explains his innocence. He had found the king lying in a pool of blood with a dagger in his wound and was pulling the dagger out when Euristene saw him. As Dynamis refuses to accept this statement without further evidence, her lover declares that he will bring Areas to corroborate it. The events of the fifth act pass rapidly. We hear that Trasile has escaped from the city to the camp of Areas and that Poliante has gone off with his army, perhaps in flight, perhaps to join the LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES 147 enemy. While Dynamis and her attendants are discussing these events, Poliante returns to announce that he has defeated Arcas's army and that its leader and Trasile, having wounded each other, are being brought dying to the city. Dynamis explains that she brought about the quarrel between her two enemies by making known to Areas Trasile's plans for betraying him. Areas con- fesses that he killed the king and left the dagger in the wound, then plotted with Trasile to get control of the kingdom. He expresses sorrow for his crime and wishes happiness to Dynamis and Po- liante. Trasile, on the other hand, curses his sister and remains unrepentant till just before his death. They die behind the scenes, whither the queen has had them removed. " le profite en sa mort, " is her comment upon her brother's death. The play ends with her final acceptance of Poliante. The structure is classic in time and place, requiring one room of the royal palace and one somewhat crowded day, but the unity of action is freely violated. There are two threads, one concerned with the queen's marriage, the other with her retaining the throne. Neither depends on the other, for the stoiy of Trasile's treachery could exist without Poliante and the account of Poliante's vindi- cation and marriage does not require the presence of Trasile. Furthermore, events occur without proper preparation or impor- tant result, as, for instance, Poliante's offer of his sister to Trasile and Dynamis's proposal to abdicate in her brother's favor, the queen's vague fear of Poliante's secret enemies, and the war in the latter's country. The introduction of the deputies is superfluous. The denouement is due to chance as much as to the deeds of the leading persons. In short, the play depends for its movement upon external acts rather than upon the characters. Where the persons accomplish results, their motives are often insufficient. In place of a careful study of the characters, Du Ryer substitutes accounts of a mysterious murder, romantic abdications, and the strange death of the villains. The play shows a curious return to his early methods, in spite of its classical proprieties. The structural weakness is not greatly relieved by the treat- ment of character. Dynamis is evidently intended to form with Poliante the couple with whom we should sympathize and whose final happiness helps to make this a tragi-comedy, yet she is made, not only violent, strong, courageous, but false to her promise to Trasile, brutally indifferent to his death, criminally suspicious of 148 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Poliante. She acts towards her brother and the deputies with intelligence, but she wishes to send away Poliante, whom she loves, with scarcely any other reason than to supply Du Ryer with a sentimental scene of parting. She is so blind to her duty as queen that she agrees to abdicate for the sake of her lover, yet she believes this lover a murderer as soon as he is accused of the crime. Poliante possesses the virtues of warrior, courtier, and lover, and is ready to sacrifice both his country and himself to Dynamis. Proxene promised to be an interesting union of Emilie and Hermione, but her r61e is unfortunately cramped into a few scenes. She should have had another interview with her lover before deciding to betray him, and the scene in which she accused him to the queen should be represented. Trasile has the most dramatic character of the play, marked by a strong desire to rule, which comes from his royal descent, and a fear of those around him, which seems the product of his illegitimacy and the social reprobation it has cost him. He plots to win his sister's throne and deserts his allies when a surer prize is offered him, trembles before the sister he threatens in secret, and fears to insist upon her keeping her promise to him. It is unfortunate that he and Proxene are not the chief figures in the play instead of the inconsistent Dynamis and her conventional lover. The remaining characters are insignificant. It need be noted only that the introduction of the deputies and the dying villains suggests a return to the spectacular characteristics of the early tragi-comedies. As Pellisson stated in I653 1 that Du Ryer was then finishing his nineteenth play, called Anaxandre, this is probably the date of that tragi-comedy's first representation. It was published at Paris in i655, 2 at Amsterdam in 1658. The source has not been established with absolute certainty, but resemblances with Cle- omedon make it probable that Du Ryer is here reworking the theme he took from the Astree. 3 The king and his two daughters, the captured prince, the prince to whom the king's daughter is promised as a reward for his achievements and who learns that she is to be taken from him and given to the prince he has 1 Histoire de I' Academic Frangoise, p. 556. This work has its privilege dated November 14, 1652, but it was not printed till 1653. As it names among Du Ryer's published works his Livy, whose achevt d'imprimer is dated February 20, 1653, it is probable that his article on Du Ryer was written after this date. 2 Privilege, January 22; achevt d'imprimer, March 23. * Part v, book 10. LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES 149 taken prisoner, and the final double marriage are found in the Astree and in both of Du Ryer's plays. In the Astree and Ana- xandre the older daughter is named Cephise and there is a rivalry between the two sisters, which ends in the victory of the younger. The following quatrains resemble each other closely: "I'ay fait vn Roy captif, i'en attends de la gloire, II iouyt cependant du prix de ma victoire; Et par I'iniuste effet d'vne ingrate rigueur, La gloire est au vaincu, la honte est au vainqueur;" 1 "I'ay vaincu, i'ay defait, et i'ay pris Anaxandre. Mais il m'oste le prix que i'en deuois attendre, Et par vostre dedain qui me perce le coeur, Le vaincu satisfait se vange du vainqueur." 2 On the other hand, in Anaxandre it is the captive prince who plays the chief r61e and is loved by the two sisters, while in the Astree and Cleomedon the subject prince is the more important person. In the new play the daughter changes her mind, not the king. More important is the omission from Anaxandre of im- probable and complex elements found in Cleomedon. Du Ryer leaves out the account of the lost prince, sold as a slave, who rescued the king from a lion and was finally recognized by a birth-mark, the scenes dealing with the war, the hero's madness, and the reconciliation between the king and his wife. Stripped of picturesque and marvellous elements, the play is devoted to the study of character, but the method has become so vague and abstract that it is doubtful whether this tragi-comedy was as successful as its irregular predecessor. Prince Anaxandre, taken prisoner by Alphenor, another prince, is now the captive of the latter's sovereign, known in the play as "Le Roy." This king intends to marry his older daughter, Cephise, to Alphenor, who loves her and whom she seems to love; his younger daughter, Alcione, he has directed to pretend love for Anaxandre in order that peace may be established between the countries. When the play begins, both maidens have fallen in love with Anaxandre, who loves the younger sister. In the first act Cephise reject's Alphenor's suit, learns from her father that Anaxandre loves her sister, and plots to win the captive's heart for herself. 1 Cleomedon, III, 3. * Anaxandre, I, I. 150 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Anaxandre is introduced at the beginning of the second act, waiting "en cette promenade" for his daily visitor, the Princess Alcione. When she comes, he asks for freedom in order that his love may be the only chain to keep him near her, but she tells him that she can not allow her love to lessen her "gloire" by his release. She is succeeded by Alphenor, who asks whether Anaxandre loves Cephise and receives the ambiguous reply that he loves the woman who loves him. Believing this to be Cephise, Alphenor seeks no further explanation. Asterie, a confidante, informs Anaxandre that Cephise loves him and will liberate him if he promises to love her. After some hesitation he bids her tell Cephise that "pour ce grand bien . . . C'est trop peu de 1'aymer qu'il faut que ie 1'adore. " He tells his confidant that he will go no further than this in promising what he can not fulfill, but he is wavering when Prodote brings word that the king has put him on parole, an action that makes it impossible for Cephise to tempt him further. This courtier, Prodote, with Asterie's help, makes Cephise believe that Anaxandre loves her, then seeks to convince the king of the same thing, pretending that the prince's love for Alcione is feigned. But the sovereign, unmoved by this informa- tion, promises Cephise to Alphenor and bids her prepare to marry him. She can obtain from her father only the postponement of this marriage till the end of the war. In an interesting interview between the sisters each of them tries to get from the other a confession of love for Anaxandre. When the latter joins them, a comic situation is produced by their love-making and his efforts to satisfy both by gallant subtleties. Finally Alcione is called away and Cephise insists upon knowing which of them he loves. Anaxandre, after explaining that love is a matter of destiny, beyond the lover's control, admits that he loves Alcione. Cephise expresses her indignation at his thinking that she is jealous of her sister and, when alone with her confidante, hopes that her own love for Anaxandre may be turned into hatred. At this moment a new turn is given to the plot by the news that Anaxandre's father has proposed to end the war by marrying his son to Cephise and that Alphenor is planning to rebel if the proposition is accepted. Alcione advises her lover to do his father's bidding, accept her sister, and bring peace to the two countries, but he refuses to obey LAST TRAGI-COMEDIES 151 her or to believe Prodote's insinuations that she does not love him. Presently Cephise comes to his aid by deciding to accept Alphenor. After telling the latter that she is too ambitious to marry him, she is suddenly illumined by "vn rayon d'vne clairte Celeste," which convinces her that marrying Alphenor is the best way to prove to Anaxandre that she has ceased to love him. She ac- cordingly explains that Anaxandre 's refusal to marry her was caused by his love for her sister and thus prevents the king from breaking off negotiations with the prince's father. Prodote confesses his misrepresentations. Anaxandre begs for the hand of Alcione, declaring that his father has sent him permission to marry either princess. The king accordingly marries him to Alcione and Alphenor to Cephise, thus establishing peace between the countries and removing the danger of civil war. The scene is laid in the royal palace of a nameless country. A "promenade" is represented, probably in the court-yard of the building, and at least one room, where the king takes coun- sel. The time is as vague as the place, but it does not seem to cover more than a single day. The only violation of the unity of action lies in the new motif introduced at the end of the fourth act, when Anaxandre 's father directs him to marry Cephise. This incident serves to bring out more sharply the importance of Cephise's r61e, for, without it, she would merely be obeying her father in giving up Anaxandre. It is unfortunate that the com- mand of the foreign king did not come earlier in the play and that it is not changed by some other means than the arrival of ambassadors. The principal figure is Cephise, who represents the conflict of love and pride. Unlike most of the strong-willed classic heroines, she is not influenced by any feeling of duty and does not scruple to deceive sister, father, and lover, to release a state prisoner, and to plunge her country into war, if by so doing she can win the man she loves. She is shown in a large number of situations, plotting to win Anaxandre, rejoicing over her supposed success, angered by her defeat, taking vengeance by conquering her passion and accepting Alphenor. It is her pride which finally prevails and becomes a chief factor in bringing about the de- nouement. Her sister is less carefully characterized. Love for Anaxandre and obedience to her father furnish her motives. She is a precieuse in the concealments and pretences she practises 152 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST with regard to her love. In the following lines she suggests Madelon's "aveu qui fait tant de peine:" 1 " Ce mot qui ne sort point qu'apres vn grand effort D'vn coeur et d'vn esprit ou 1'amour est bien fort, Ce mot si souhaite" des ames amoureuses, Ce mot qui coute tant aux filles vertueuses. " 2 Anaxandre is the personification of gallantry. He had formerly been busy conquering provinces in order to return them to their princes. He loves Alcione and flirts with Cephise. When forced to tell the latter that he does not love her, he is careful to make first a sophistical explanation of the origin of love. He appears in earnest only in the last act. Alphenor is the only person in the play who does not conceal or feign emotions. He is a slighter Alcionee, who has been promised a princess, sees her about to be taken from him, and meditates rebellion. The other characters delight in deceiving him. Prodote, the villain of the play, tries to advance his interests by deceiving every one and succeeds in bringing about only his own confusion. The king is a wise, though tricky monarch, one of whose maxims suggests that he was modeled after Du Ryer's Assuerus: " Differer le salaire est comme le rauir Et c'est a mon aduis apprendre a mal seruir;" 3 "Ne pas recompenser, c'est apprendre a trahir. " 4 An occasional comic situation occurs. The tone of the play is less elevated than that of the tragedies, for there is an atmos- phere of gallantry and selfishness that is unrelieved by noble emotions. This is the most typical example that Du Ryer affords of the classical tragi-comedy, a form of dramatic composition doomed to failure, for it shows the vagueness and chill of the classic tragedy without its beauty, the weakness and triviality of the tragi-comedy without its variety and picturesqueness. Whether Du Ryer intended to continue writing this sort of play instead of returning to the tragedy remains unknown. His financial success as a dramatist was not sufficient to obviate the necessity of devoting himself to translations, which, after the appearance of this play, occupied exclusively his literary powers. 1 Precieuses ridicules, 4. II, 2. III, 4. < Esther, V, I. CHAPTER VI. A GENERAL CRITICISM. Although the philosophy expressed in Du Ryer's plays is largely that of any "honnete homme" of his time, and conse- quently demands little explanation, some of his ideas deserve attention before the general characteristics of his dramatic work are discussed. He believes that the will is usually free to control man's passions and determine his future, but he admits cases in which there is direction by a stronger power. Saul, having sinned too greatly for forgiveness, will be forced irresistibly to further crime and disaster: "Vn pouuoir que le mien ne sgauroit e"branler M'entraisne auec horreur oti j'ay honte d'aller. " x Esther is free to save her people or to be destroyed, but in either case they will be saved. According to Anaxandre, the origin of love is outside our power: "Lors que le Ciel nous oblige d'aymer, II nous choisit 1'obiet qui doit nous enflammer; II le met dans nos coeurs mesme auant que de naistre, Et nostre ceil le connoist de"s qu'il le void paroistre: Et quoy qu'on trouue ailleurs de charmant et de doux Le choix d'vn autre obiet ne depend plus de nous." 2 But, while this love is not created or removed at will, the lover's actions may be directed by reason, or by ambition, patri- otism, honor. He may seek arguments that can reconcile his will and his passion, or, not finding them, he may by his will permanently oppose the gratification of his passion. This is what Axiane means when she declares, "si ie ne 1'ayme . . . le 1 SaOl, III, 2. * Anaxandre, IV, 4. Cf. Dynamis, IV, 6, "I'ayme par vn effect du Celeste courroux. " 153 154 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST cherche les raisons qui peuuent m'y contraindre, " and Nitocris in "on peut dompter 1'amour quand on veut le dompter. MI Lydie refuses the low-born Alcionee, though she continues to love him. In Esther, Berenice, Themistocle, and Nitocris, the prince or prin- cess is willing to marry a person of inferior rank because of the nobility of his character. The reason must consent before the passion is obeyed. Du Ryer's attitude towards government is that of a con- stitutional monarchist. He desires a king only so long as he obeys the laws. Lucrece, Saul, and Sceuole have to do with the overthrow of tyrants. Alcionee, though dedicated to Richelieu's niece, has a former rebel for hero. Cleomedon and Alphenor threaten insurrection when the king is about to break his promise to them. When Trasile objects to his sister's receiving advice from her subjects, she replies that she is no tyrant, for, "Si les Rois rebutoient tous les libres discours, On les perdroit sans doute en les flattant tousiours." 2 At the same time the plays are full of respect for the wise monarch, "image des Dieux, " 3 and of appreciation of gentle birth. One who is "bien ne" is supposed incapable of base deeds, 4 despite frequent examples in the plays that contradict the theory. The bourgeois appear little. When they are the leading characters of a play, in the Vendanges, they show a pride in their class that is surprising for the period. 5 The same play insists upon the girl's right to choose her husband: "Cette action doit estre aussi libre que sainte; La volonte la fait et non pas la contrainte." 6 Du Ryer endows his "personnages sympathiques " with the orthodox virtues of patriotism, loyalty, justice, domestic fidelity. The cosmopolite and the skeptic 7 are condemned along with the egoist and the traitor. At the same time, he seldom forgets that he is an artist rather than a moralist and does not often take a pious and melodramatic delight in the punishment of his villains. 1 Nitocris, I, 4, and V, 5. * Dynamis, IV, 5. J Sceuole, V, I. 4 Cf . Clarigene, IV, 2; Themistocle, III, 3; Argenis, II, I. Cf. IV, 6, and V, 8. IV, 6. ' Cf . Themistocle, V, 3, and Sceuole, II, 4. A GENERAL CRITICISM 155 The sources of Clarigene, Alcionee, Berenice, and Nitocris are unknown; those of the Vendanges and Anaxandre are doubtful. The plots of the remaining fourteen plays are taken from three Greek historians, two Greek romancers, Livy, the Bible, and four modern writers of fiction. The preponderance of classical influence is evident. It is still more striking that Du Ryer gets nothing from Spain in an age when few dramatists escaped Spanish influence, and that only one play, Amarillis, the pastoral unacknowledged by its author, is based on an Italian work. For his early plays Du Ryer seeks a story that tells of young lovers, the obstacles they meet, and the manner in which their marriage is brought about. He turns to Achilles Tatius, Eu- mathius, Plutarch, and the modern Barclay, Audigier, Grotto, d'Urfe. Their narratives furnish him so well the romantic in- cidents he seeks that, except in the case of Aldmedon, he makes few changes apart from those necessitated by the condensation of a novel or the expansion of a brief account into the five acts of a play. But, beginning with the publication of Lucrece, he finds facts less important and alters them with greater freedom, according to Corneille's principle that history may be changed, provided the audience is not so familiar with the event that its alteration will be unpleasant. Accordingly he follows history in making Lucrece and Saul take their lives, Esther save her people, and Sceuole burn off his right hand, but he changes the fate of Themistocle and uses the greatest freedom in reconstruct- ing the history of Dynamis. A more pronounced difference between the early plays and the late is found in the use of romantic and surprising incidents. That favorite support of the melodrama, the recognition, occurs in Cleomedon by means of a birth-mark in the form of a laurel wreath; in Lisandre et Caliste when the combatants in a duel are unmasked; in Argenis, Clitophon, and Clarigene; but in the later plays it occurs only once. 1 Disguises in costume or name are found in all of the first nine plays and in Clarigene. The whole action of this last play depends on mistaken identity. On the other hand, disguise is very subordinate in Saul and Sceuole, where it is required by the historical source, and is not used in 1 In the Witch of Endor's recognition of Saul. It seems intentionally avoided in Sceuole, when lunie is informed of her lover's presence in the Etruscan camp before she sees him there. 156 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST the other plays published after 1639. Substitution of children occurs in the late Berenice as well as in the early Cleomedon, but it is only in the early plays that we find a mad hero brought to his senses by hearing his beloved's name, x sons fighting unwit- tingly against their parents, 1 a prince who falls in love with a portrait, 2 enlevements,* women fighting in armor, 4 a man dis- guised as a woman putting a band of ruffians to flight. 5 Accompanying these sensational actions is the representation on the stage of fighting and death, contrary to the subsequent laws of dramatic propriety. Duelling, assassination, execution are allowed in the early plays even when they could be readily avoided. But in the later plays Lucrece, Alcionee, Saul and his armor- bearer commit suicide, while Haman and the villains in Dynamis are removed from the stage before they die, so that the death of lonathas is the only violation of the classic rule which allows on the stage no other form of death than suicide. Furthermore, with the exception of Marcile's pursuit of Sceuole, all deeds of physical violence in the later plays take place behind the scenes, a trait characteristic even of Saul, in which a part of the battle- field is represented. It should be noted that Du Ryer loses little by the regularity of his usage in regard to death, for the objection to the death behind the scenes is not that we are de- prived of the spectacle, but that the chief actor is removed from the stage before the end of the play and an anti-climax produced. No such effect is found in Du Ryer: of his six tragedies, three end happily and three in suicide, where the protagonist dies on the stage at the end of the play. The dominant passion in all the early plays is love. Poli- arque abandons his kingdom on account of it; Aretaphile's actions are dictated by her love of Philarque and not, as in Plutarch, by patriotism. But in Lucrece, Clarigene, and Alcionee love, though still important, is less powerful than chastity, justice, and loyalty to the royal caste. In Saul sexual love plays a very small part ; it is replaced in the hero by patriotism and paternal devotion. In Sceuole, Esther, and Themistocle patriotism is the chief motive. In the last tragi-comedies love again takes the leading position, 1 Cleomedon. ' Argents et Poliarque. J Clitophon, Lisandre et Caliste, Argents et Poliarque, Vendanges. 4 Lisandre et Caliste. * Argents et Poliarque. It may be added that the dream is seldom used. Its presence in Saul, IV, 3, has no effect on the plot. A GENERAL CRITICISM 157 contending with pride, ambition, and egoism. There is no play from which love is entirely absent, but in those that pay most attention to a study of motive it is used as a subordinate force and is overcome by some unselfish emotion, chiefly patriotism. Du Ryer's purpose is primarily aesthetic, not moral. The difference between his early and late work is not in the ultimate aim, but in the means of attaining it. His pastoral and his early tragi-comedies amuse by interesting the audience in the fortunes of the lovers. His comedy adds to this a study of manners. His tragedies, written on a higher plane, try chiefly to rouse pity or admiration. Alcionee is a tragedy of love and death; Said, more nearly Greek, relates the noble struggle of a sinning mor- tal against the implacable vengeance of the Divinity. Lucrece, Esther, Sceuole, and Themistocle are Cornelian in their endeavor to excite admiration for the deeds of the leading persons. In- fluenced by these plays, the later tragi-comedies draw their interest now from heroic deeds of sacrifice, now from the events of a love intrigue. But these plays are moral, though not primarily so. Except occasionally in Amarittis* and the Vcndanges,* the language is remarkably free from coarseness, even in the treatment of so difficult a subject as the story of Lucrece. Indecent passages in the source of Clitophon are omitted. Adultery is condemned in the case of Tarquin, Haman, Nicocrate, Tersandre, and Melite. Aretaphile and Caliste do not gratify their lovers till after their husbands' death. Maxims of virtue and wisdom are freely used, but Du Ryer does not make the mistake of always punish- ing vice and rewarding virtue. He teaches rather by the creation of strong characters who adhere to noble standards at the cost of happiness or life. Nowhere is the evolution through which the art of Du Ryer passed more apparent than in his choice of time and place. The events of Argenis et Foliar que and its continuation, Argenis, cover more than a year. 3 The events of the other early tragi-comedies and of Cleomedon require several months. Even in a single act events may occur that stretch over more than twenty-four hours. 4 In Alcimedon Du Ryer obeys the twenty- four-hour rule and allows no unfilled periods within an act. 'II, 3; IV, 2. 'II, 4, 5: HI, 3; V, 1,8. 3 Cf. Argenis, III, 4. Cf. Aretaphile, III; Argenis, V. 158 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST The Vendanges seems to cover several days. Amarillis, Saul, and Lucrece require only twenty-four hours, divided into a night and part of two days. The other plays are so vague in their allusions to time that it is impossible to state exactly the number of hours they need, but apparently twelve is enough for any one of them, while the time that elapses in Alcionee, Sceuole, Berenice, Themis- tocle, Nitocris, and Amarillis seems little more than that necessary to the actual representation of each play. In his comedy, the Vendanges, Du Ryer describes contempo- rary life near Paris. In Lisandre et Calistc, Cleomedon, and the beginning of Argenis et Poliarque he places the action in France during the middle ages. But he soon comes to believe in the artistic value of distance in space and time, so that, as far as can be determined, his other plays represent foreign countries in the ancient world. Sicily and Mauritania figure in Argenis; the environs of Rome, in Lucrece and Sceuole; of Athens, in Clarigene. The location of Anaxandre is not given; that of Amarillis is the pastoral Arcadia. The plots of the nine remaining plays are enacted in the Orient : in Asia Minor, Crete, Cyprus, Egypt, Lybia, Syria, Babylon, and Susa. The author's ideas of unity in place develop in much the same way as his ideas of unity in time. Clitophon introduces three countries; Argenis et Poliarque and Argenis, two each. The location is so readily altered from one scene to the next that within the first act of Argenis et Poliarque it changes from Sicily to France and again to Sicily. The other early plays allow change of place within the act, 1 but they do not extend this usage to a change of country. Each act of Clitophon, 3 taken separately, has about the unity of Aretaphile and Cleomedon, that of a town and a camp situated near it. Lisandre et Caliste includes Paris and a "desert" at a considerable distance from the city. The tendency to restrict the place is carried further in Alcime- don, one of the first French plays to observe the rules for unity of time and place as they are understood in the Cid. No changes are allowed within the individual acts and the places represented are a house, garden, and forest on one estate. But Du Ryer was not yet ready for a complete acceptance of these unities. Cle- omedon has already been referred to as violating the unity of the 1 Cf. Aretaphile, III; Lisandre et Caliste, I; Cleomedon, I. * Cf. the preface to the manuscript of Clitophon, cited above. A GENERAL CRITICISM I59 act and extending the place slightly beyond the limits of a town, the time over several months. In Amarillis the twenty-four- hour rule is observed, but the place includes several localities in a large forest and the scene changes from one of them to another within the act. 1 The Vendanges violates the rule of twenty-four hours and changes the place within the act. 2 It is only with Lucrece that he finally accepts the unities of both place and time. Some freedom in regard to the place is still allowed, however. The action in Clarigene takes place in the senate-house and a space before the house of Licidas. The scene of Saul, laid in the environs of Gelboe, includes a tent, a witch's cave, a clump of trees on a battle-field, localities that are so near together that Saul passes from the first to the second during a single scene, 3 and the stage seems to represent a few acres only. Berenice includes two houses. Sceuole requires only a space between two tents. Each of the remaining seven plays has its scene laid in one house. The stage directions are usually too vague to make it certain just how many rooms are represented. Lucrece undoubtedly requires two; Dynamis and Alcionee, probably only one; the others, prob- ably two. In none of these eleven plays is there a change of place within the act except in the instance just cited from Saul, where the two places are so close together that it requires little scenic imagination to accept their simultaneous representation. In short, some of Du Ryer's early plays represent the middle ages or modern times and his own country; some include more than one country and represent events that cover a number of months ; most of them allow the change of place within the act. With Amarillis he first observes the twenty-four-hour rule. With Alcimedon he not only does this, but reduces the scene to a few places near together, and allows no violation of the unity of the act. With Lucrece he restricts the scene to two rooms, a usage followed in most of his subsequent plays. In the tragedies and in the tragi-comedies published after 1636 he lays his scene in other countries than France, usually in ancient times, and is strict in preserving the unities of time and place. The plays show much variation with regard to the unity of action. In all of them there is a person or group of persons in whom the interest of the play centers, but there may also be 'Cf. Ill, 2, 3; IV, 2, 3; V, 1,2. 'Cf.I,2,3; IV.3,4: V.5,6. III, 3- 160 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST subordinate persons or detached incidents that lessen the unity of the whole. The first five tragi-comedies contain episodes that do not proceed logically one from another. In Clitophon, the clearest example of this type of structure, there are five of these episodes, each resulting in the escape of hero or heroine from persons that had not been heard of a few scenes before. * Similarly Alcimedon, though more carefully written than the plays that pre- cede it, violates the unity of action by an introductory episode. Even so late a play as Dynamis is loosely constructed. But in most plays that preserve the unity of time and place this type of violation does not occur. A more frequent violation of the unity of action lies in the use of the subordinate plot that is unconnected with the main plot. This often results from the introduction of two or more pairs of lovers, a of a second woman to console a rejected lover, 3 or of other persons whose actions do not affect the main theme. 4 At times this subordinate plot may be reduced to the dimensions of a single scene, where it is introduced for comic or emotional effect. * In general, Du Ryer shows far greater unity in his tragedies and late tragi-comedies than he does in his early works. Lucrece, Alcionie, and Nitocris are fine examples of a simple, logical struc- ture that admits no external elements. Saul and Sceuole, with their more complex subjects, unite by a large central theme a number of apparently heterogeneous incidents. Except in his loosely constructed plays, where independent situations and new characters are encountered throughout the work, the exposition of the plot is confined to the first act and opening scenes of the second, and all important persons are intro- duced or mentioned in the first act. The protagonist may be on the stage when the curtain rises, as in Saul, or his actual appearance may be delayed till the second act, as in Themistocle. Even in the loosely built plays the lovers appear in the first act. The exposition is usually made by references to previous events; more rarely it is inferred from the expressed intentions of the actors. The direct references are sometimes carelessly made, in ' I, escape from parents; II-III, 2, from those who would sacrifice Lucipe; III, 2-13, from Charmide; IV, from Melite; V, from Tersandre. 1 Cf. Amarillis, Cleomedon, Berenice. * Cf. Argents. 4 Cf . Vasthi in Esther, Roxane in Themistocle. * Cf . Arelaphile, II, 5; Cleomedon, I, 3; Themistocle, I, 2. A GENERAL CRITICISM 161 monologues 1 and in conversations with persons already possessed of the facts 2 or introduced solely for the sake of having these explanations given them. 3 In other cases the confidence is made naturally, either by the giving of needed information, by schem- ing 5 and debates 6 which involve statements of fact, or, rarely, by physical action. 7 In three early plays the first part of this exposi- tion takes the form of the monologue, inherited from Seneca and Hardy, but Du Ryer soon adopts the more dramatic dialogue, which he uses in thirteen plays. Elsewhere the opening conver- sation is made by three persons. This is particularly noteworthy in Saul. In all of the plays except the tragedies and Nitocris, the nceud is formed by the struggle of the lovers against parents, rivals, and their own jealousy or ignorance. As the lovers do not ques- tion their right to love and its gratification, there is usually no problem 8 in their souls. They seek only to escape certain persons and situations that prevent their union. Except in Argenis et Poliarque, this love-affair begins before the play does. Its cul- mination in marriage gives the plays their denouements. The means employed to bring about this solution often resemble the deus ex machind. In the Vendanges an inheritance comes to the lover; in Lisandre et Caliste and Amarillis remarks are acciden- tally overheard; in Clitophon, Alcimedon, Clarigene, and Anaxandre persons arrive by chance at the right moment; in Amarillis , again, there is repentance without sufficient motivation. Similar cases are offered when Cleomedon turns out to be a prince, when Arcombrotte discovers that Argenis is his sister, and when the qui pro quo of Clarigene is explained. In Berenice, also, the de- nouement is produced by the discovery of relationship, but the work remains united, for it is the events of the play that force the father to reveal his son's identity. In Aretapliile and Dynamis the denouement is made largely by the lovers' efforts. In the tragedies and Nitocris love is subordinated to what are considered nobler passions. In the other plays Du Ryer appeals chiefly to his audience's romantic instincts, but in these he tries 1 Cf. Aretaphile, Argenis, Lisandre et Caliste. * Cf. Alcimedon, Berenice, Alcionee, Esther. J Cf. Clitophon, Cleomedon, Clarigene, Themistode. Cf. Sceuole. s Cf. Argenis et Poliarque, Vendanges, Dynamis, Nitocris. 6 Cf. Amarillis, Lucrece, Saul, Anaxandre. 7 Cf. Lisandre et Caliste. 8 But cf . Clarigene, IV. 1 62 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST to rouse their admiration or their pity and puts the struggle in the souls of the leading persons. Thus, the rescue of a nation forms the nceud of Esther and Sceuole; patriotism and fidelity are shown in Nitocris, Themistocle, and Lucrece, struggling with sexual love, ambition, or love of life; the hopeless conflict of a guilty but penitent man against the monarchical idea and a hostile Divinity is the subject of Alcionee and Saul. The denouements of most of these plays result logically from the actions represented in them. The suicides of Lucrece, Saul, and Alcionee are the natural outcome of the situations in which they are placed; the pardon of Sceuole and Themistocle and the rescue of their cities from impending disaster result as naturally from the events of the plays in which they figure and from the characters of Porsenne and Xerces. It is in Esther only that the denouement is produced by external means. It may be noticed here that Du Ryer, like Corneille, applied the term tragedy to plays of happy as well as unhappy termination, provided they discussed a lofty theme in a serious manner. The familiar division into five acts is made in every play, but the unity of the act is not carefully preserved in the early pieces. It has been shown that in them place may change and time elapse between two scenes of an act. It is also true that the acts do not always mark the main divisions of the plot. In Aretaphile, for instance, the plan for the murder of Nicocrate is formed in the eleventh scene of the third act and carried out in the fourth act ; in Clarigene the brother's return occurs in the middle of the fourth act; the accusation of murder is brought against Poliante in Dynamis, in, 8, and not at the beginning of an act. But the plays that preserve the unities of time and place allow time to elapse and the scene to shift from one room to another only between the acts. The plays that preserve the unity of action most carefully are those in which the divisions of the plot correspond best with the separate acts. There are never less than two nor more than thirteen scenes in an act. Aretaphile and Clilophon contain fifty -eight scenes each, but the other plays average only five to an act with a tendency to increase the number slightly in the last five plays. In Argent's et Poliarque 1 and Alcimedon 2 entrances take place without creating new scenes. In Amarillis, 3 Lucrece, 4 and Dynamis 5 a person Cf. II, I ; III, I ; IV, 2. V, 2. I, 2. III, 4. s Last scene. A GENERAL CRITICISM 163 leaves the stage and returns without a change of scene. In almost all other cases the failure to mark the new scene occurs when a person remains on the stage for a brief monologue. ' In the tragedies, with the exception of the case just referred to from Lucrece, this is the only kind of departure from the rule that requires the scene to change as often as does the number of people on the stage. Exits and entrances are often satisfactorily ex- plained, but at times they are insufficiently motivated and seem to occur merely to create a desired situation. Du Ryer undoubtedly knew the value of a dramatic situation. He never fails, as Gamier did in Bradamante, to put the lovers on the stage without the presence of other persons. He leaves his source in order to create the scene between Vasthi and Esther, * delays the arrival of information that would prevent the scene between Cephise and Celie, 3 Tarsis and Berenice, 4 Haman and Esther. 5 In his early plays he frequently creates entertaining situations; in his tragedies he strives to show his characters struggling with each other or debating problems in their souls. The staging of the early plays was elaborate. As a rule, the different places in which the scene was laid were represented simultaneously, but in some instances a locality in the back of the stage appeared in one or two acts and was hidden in the others, while the screen used to conceal it represented a second locality. In Lisandre et Caliste, for example, a prison and a butcher's shop, depicted in the back of the stage, are hidden except in the second act by a "fermeture" representing a palace. It was also possible to represent localities placed one above the other, as in Clitophon, where there is a mountain with an altar upon it and a prison beneath it. The plays that preserve the unity of place do not show this arrangement, but they seem to allow the back of the stage to open. 6 A glance at Mahelot's Memoire shows the varied properties required by the early plays as well as the simple needs of Sceuole, which in this respect typifies the tragedies and late tragi-comedies. Du Ryer lays little stress on local color. His knowledge of geography is inexact, for he places Athens on the sea-shore, ' Cf. Cleomedon, II, 4; IV, l: Alcionee, I, i; II, 3; III, 4, 51 IV, i: Saul, IV, i: Sceuole, II, 4; III, 3: Themistocle, V, 2: Vendanges, I, 4 and IV, 9: Dynamis, III, I. 1 Esther, III, 3. * Clarigene, V, 2. * Berenice, V, 2. s Esther, III, 5. 6 Cf. Clarigene, IV, I and Nitocris, III, 4. 1 64 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Gilboa in Judea, a mountain in the Egyptian Delta, and French flora in Lybia. His treatment of historical manners is not accu- rate. Even when he preserves the main facts of the history that he treats, he takes his details from the customs of his own time and land. Neither contemporary usage nor the taste of his audience required a more careful handling of historical material. Du Ryer's treatment of character deserves special attention. x Since plays of varied action and picturesque situations usually require a large cast, it is not surprising to find that the first five tragi-comedies average as many as twenty persons besides troops of soldiers, courtiers, and peasants. Later, when the number of episodes is decreased and the characters are studied with greater care, the size of the cast diminishes, averaging ten or eleven in the second group of plays, eight or nine in the tragedies, seven or eight in the last four tragi-comedies. Du Ryer does not restrict the number of persons that may appear on the stage at the same time. He is apt to begin his plays with only two persons visible and end them with most of his persons on the stage. The only play in which the lovers do not appear in the last scene is Argenis et Poliarque, the plot of which does not terminate till the end of Argenis, its companion tragi -comedy. There is little development of character, for in the early plays the treatment is superficial, while later, like other classicists, Du Ryer represents each person at a fixed moment of his life. Nevertheless, there are cases in which the characters change. Philarque in Aretaphile and Esther grow stronger as greater demands upon them are made. Tirsis in the Vendanges, Licidas in Clarigene, Cephise in Anaxandre forget their selfish interests under the influence of circumstances or the example of other persons. Saul, at first tyrannical and bewildered, gradually attains a clear perception of his situation and a fine capacity for self-sacrifice. The rank of the leading persons in the tragedies and tragi- comedies is noble. Sovereigns appear in all of them except Alcimedon and Clarigene. In the case of Themistocle and of Cleodate, the protagonist is not born a noble, but he has been raised to his rank by worthy deeds and the ruler's favor. The 1 As the individual characters have been discussed with the plays in which they are found, I treat here only the author's general methods of characterization. A GENERAL CRITICISM 165 minor persons in the tragedies and late tragi-comedies are either noble or attendants upon the nobility, with the exception of the " pythonisse " in Saill. The early tragi-comedies admit members of the lower and middle classes, peasants, doctors, a captive, a mad- man, a jailer, a butcher and his wife, a pilot, but in the leading rdles they have only aristocrats. In the comedy and the pastoral, on the other hand, the chief persons are bourgeois. The protagonist usually gives his name to the play. In the early plays the leading male character is endowed with physical courage and respect for the heroine's chastity, but he may be weak, deceitful, or forgetful of his duties to his country. There are timid lovers in the comedy and the pastoral, bold ones in some of the tragi-comedies. In short, these early heroes show character- istics of two literary types from which they descend, the lovers of the pastoral novel and those of the chivalric romance. In Clarigene and the tragedies the male protagonists show that they feel moral responsibility. They are now characterized not so much by their love and their adventures as by the moral struggle through which they pass. Some 1 are tragic figures, largely re- sponsible for their own afflictions. Others 2 are heroes who win our admiration by their victories over selfish interests. We find here a more careful study of motive and firmer characterizations. In the late tragi-comedies, on the other hand, the hero is subordi- nated to the heroine, is tested by no serious moral problem, and remains a superficial product of the author's imagination. The heroines of the early plays have no other motive for their actions than love, and seldom exert themselves to influence their own fortunes. Lucrece is the first to encounter a large moral problem. Many of the heroines take a stern delight in con- quering their passions; others, like Celie and Esther, are equally faithful to duty and display a less boastful and more generous spirit. Besides the main rdles, Du Ryer introduces, especially into his tragi-comedies, subordinate lovers and rivals who contribute to the plot by assisting or obstructing the hero and heroine, fill a play that might otherwise seem empty, and throw into relief the more important persons. Their characters vary from the chivalrous Arcombrotte, Celiante, and Arons to the tyrannical 1 Cf. Collatin, Alcione, Saul. ' Cf Porsenne, Sceuole, Themistocle. 166 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST Nicocrate and the hypocritical Tersandre; from the haughty Vasthi to the sentimental Rodope and the humble Roxane. Several times, especially in the plays where court intrigue is conspicuous, ambition supersedes love as the rival's main motive. So, too, villains are found who are not rivals at all, like the king in Alcionee or Tarquin in Sceuole. The fathers form an important class. Though usually impe- rious and narrow, especially in choosing mates for their children, they at times atone for their severity by a fine sense of right and a passionate devotion to their offspring. 1 Mothers are omitted from most of the plays and are never given r61es of importance. Argire in Cleomedon and Mandane in Themistocle are more con- cerned with their own vengeance than they are with maternal emotions. Doripe in the Vendanges, despite her farcical char- acter, is more nearly the typical mother. The rulers are conspicuous. They illustrate the three classes described by Corneille: 2 that of king, concerned with affairs of state; that of man, moved by his own passions and interests; that of judge, who decides the fate of others without mention of his own affairs or those of the state. Some of them have interests of their own and attend to political and judicial affairs as well. The sovereign may be weak, selfish, and criminal, or brave and intelligent. Du Ryer's acceptance of the monarchical system does not make him sacrifice his art in its defense. Among the subordinate characters should be mentioned the mentor, 3 the friend, servants, heralds, and soldiers. Confidants are introduced into many of the plays to show the audience the facts of the plot or the feelings and purposes of the important persons. Sometimes they have interests of their own that serve to characterize them, but they are usually colorless and parasitic. As the few important events that take place off the stage are ordinarily described to the audience by important persons, the special rdle of messenger is taken only by a few obscure persons, who tell of insignificant events or announce new arrivals. Finally there are the comic characters, always subordinate, but filling a considerable portion of at least one play, the Ven- danges. Some are types already seen in the French farce and the Roman comedy. The husband and wife who quarrel over 1 Cf. Licidas in Clarigene and Saul. ' Cf. Examen de Clitandre. Brutus, Mardoch^e. A GENERAL CRITICISM 167 their daughter's marriage and complain of each other's obstinacy and loquacity are found in the Vendanges. The old man in love appears in Amarillis. Gros Guillaume, become a butcher in Lisandre et Caliste, a cattle-driver in Amarillis, a vintager in the Vendanges, still retains many characteristics of the Roman para- site. The fol in Argenis suggests the miles gloriosus, and the physician of the same play, with his false diagnosis and profes- sional quarrel, was already a familiar figure on several stages. But it should be noted that the go-between of Roman comedy has largely ceased to be a comic character, x that the clever valet is omitted, that the miles gloriosus is represented only by a mad- man, that the Italian pedant does not occur, and that the cuckold is seldom mentioned. 2 Especially important is the fact that Clarinde of Lisandre et Caliste and Lisete of the Vendanges are two of the first suivantes endowed with the modern French spirit rather than that of the classic nurse, her predecessor. In short, the most important comic characters are mainly French pro- ducts, although characters that resemble them can be found on the Roman and Italian stages. Apart from witticisms of distinctly comic persons, laughter is produced by situations in which a villain receives the ill-treatment he had intended for another; 3 in which there is a mistake in identity 4 or a misunderstanding of another's intention; 5 by the dress or general appearance of some person; 6 ; by puns, tricks, lovers' conceits; occasionally by cynical observations concerning women. 7 These comic passages are not found in the tragedies, or to any extent in the late tragi-comedies ; they occur in the early tragi-comedies and the pastoral, most largely in the comedy, where alone comic passages and representation of manners occupy a large portion of the play. The elimination of comic elements from the plays accompanies the concentration in place, time, and number of persons, and the simplification of plot and scenery to which reference has been made. All these qualities are indications of Du Ryer's progress 1 Cf. Argenis et Poliarque and Lucrece; Nerine in Alcimedon is the only exception. 2 Amarillis, II, i; Lisandre et Caliste, II, 2. J Clitophon, V, 13; Nitocris, IV, 2. 4 Clarigene, II, 6: Alcimedon, II, 5; III, 2. 5 Berenice, 11,2. 6 Aretaphile, III, 9 and V, 8; Cleomedon, V, 2. t Argenis et Poliarque, II, 2: Clitophon, I, 3; II, 10; IV, 5: Aretaphile, IV, 6. 1 68 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST towards classic unity of tone and form. Other evidences of this process are furnished by his treatment of lyric and descriptive passages. With the exception of the prose Berenice, all but seven of his plays are written entirely in Alexandrine couplets. In Clitophon 1 elegiac stanzas are delivered by the imprisoned hero; in Argents et Poliarque* a song and a hymn occur; in the Ven- danges, 3 a love letter and a drinking song; in Cleomedon 4 there is a lover's lament. The chief variety is shown by Amarillis, 5 which contains a sonnet, lyric inscriptions and lamentations, a passage with echo responses, and an argument in Alexandrines that do not rime in couplets. The two earliest tragedies contain a brief letter 6 and stanzas devoted to a soliloquy on love and duty. 7 In all of these cases the eight-syllable line is chiefly used, sometimes varied by the addition of six-syllable verses and Alexandrines. No such metrical freedom exists in the tragedies and tragi-comedies pub- lished after 1640. Descriptive passages occur frequently in the early plays. They impede the action without beautifying the verses, for the expres- sions employed are exaggerated or insipid, the metaphors are commonplace and frequently mixed, color is used rarely and vaguely, the terms are seldom concrete, and there is little impres- sion of actual vision. Du Ryer is far enough from Seneca to escape the sins of excessive classical allusion and misplaced learn- ing, but the affectations of his own day creep into most of his descriptive work. It is not surprising that, as he improves his art, he largely abandons description along with elaborate stage- setting and devotes himself to a soberer and swifter style. So he makes Licidas urge his son to omit the "preface importune" 8 in relating his adventures. Events are described quickly and without embellishment. There is no "recit de Theramene" in his work. The tragedies and late tragi-comedies are clear, often eloquent, if at times verbose. Never entirely free from preciosite and technical carelessness that shows itself in padded lines and con- ventional rimes and phrases, Du Ryer, by his large study of the classics, did so much to free himself from these faults that M. Reynier 9 can assert with truth that he wrote with a precision 'V,2. >II, landV, 3. J III, 2, and V, 2. III, i. I, i; IV, 3 and 4; III, i. * Lucrece, V, I. * Alcionee, III, I. 8 Clarigene, IV, 4. Petit de Julleville, Histoire de la langue, etc., iv, 387. A GENERAL CRITICISM 169 rare among his contemporaries. Antithesis, which may become paradox, repetition of words, brief comparisons, abstract terms, neat single lines expressing a general truth are characteristic of his style. He possesses the qualities of the orator rather than those of the poet, the swelling phrase, the maxim, the power of generalization, occasionally the subtlety and love of debate. In reading him we can not fail to think of Corneille, whose clearness, vigor, and rapidity he has to a lesser degree, while with him he lacks grace and appeal to the senses. The likeness to Corneille goes further than these stylistic similarities. Both men were fertile writers who did their best work in French tragedy of the classic type. The Cid's combat of love and honor is echoed in Alcwnee. Du Ryer showed Corneille that religious works and Roman history offer good subjects for tragedy. Celie is required to choose between a brother and a lover, much as is Sabine. Nitocris and Porsenne take counsel after the fashion of Cinna. Proxene resembles Emilie; Lydie, the Infante. Corneille seems to have received from Du Ryer at least one suggestion for the Cid and to have given him lines for Sceuole.* Many other resemblances occur, due not so much to the direct influence of one upon the other as to the fact that they were trying to express in the same dramatic forms the ideas of the same society. Du Ryer remains, of course, distinctly the inferior, but his best piece, Sceuole, and parts of Themistocle, Esther, and Lucrece might readily pass for Corneille's own work; there is a unity in Alcionee that Corneille does not attain; and none of the latter' s unconquered heroes are so profoundly tragic as is Saul. Du Ryer's direct influence was not large. Racine owes him a few lines in Andromaque and suggestions for several passages in Esther. Campistron, Zeno, and Metastasio used his Themistocle; Nadal his Saul. La Rochefoucauld may take one of his best maxims from his Berenice. His suivantes and his treatment of contemporary manners in the Vendanges were probably of some value to Moliere. But Du Ryer's permanent influence does not lie here so much as in the substantial work he did in establish- ing the French classic tragedy. He formed with Corneille, Mairet, Rotrou, Scudery, Tristan, and a number of others a group of writers who substituted for the sensational tragi-comedies and 1 Cf., above, pp. 73 and 12 3- 170 PIERRE Du RYER, DRAMATIST the sentimental pastorals of Hardy, Theophile, and Gombaud a simple, elevated, and profound type of tragedy, which exercised large influence and remains, not the greatest, but a thoroughly important variety of artistic writing. In spite of Corneille's more lasting value, his fellow-workers were not influenced by him more considerably than he was by them. The credit for the achievement belongs to the group, and in this Du Ryer held a prominent place. APPENDIX A. DU RYER'S PLAYS. ARETAPHILE, tragi-comedie, first played about 1628, MS. in the Bi- bliotheque Nationale. CLITOPHON, tragi-comedie, first played about 1628, MS. in the Biblio- theque Nationale. ARGENIS ET POLIARQUE, tragi-comedie, premiere iournee, first played about 1629; permission to print, February 25, 1630; acheve d'imprimer, May 10, 1630; Paris, 8. ARGENIS, tragi-comedie, seconde iournte, first played about 1629; permission, April 18, 1631; acheve d'imprimer, June 15, 1631; Paris, 8. LISANDRE ET CALisiE, tragi-comedie, first played about 1630; permis- sion, July 20, 1632; acheve d'imprimer, August 5, 1632; Paris, 8. AMARILLIS, pastorale, probably first played 1631-1633; permission, September 26, 1650; acheve d'imprimer, September 22, 1650; Paris, 4. ALCIMEDON, tragi-comedie, first played 1632-1633; permission, Novem- ber 18, 1634; acheve d'imprimer, December 28, 1634; Paris, 4; ibid., 1636,* 8. LES VENDANGES DE SURESNE, comedie, first played about 1633; per- mission, April 26, 1635 ; acheve d'imprimer, November 16, 1635 ; Paris, 4; ibid. (1871), 8, in the second volume of Fournier's Theatre franqais au seizieme et au dix-septi&me siecle. CLEOMEDON, tragi-comedie, first called ROSSYLEON, written at the end of 1633 or the beginning of 1634; first played in February, 1634; permission, December 31, 1635; acheve d'imprimer, February 21, 1636; Paris, 8; ibid., 1637, 4; ibid., 1638, 4. LUCRECE, tragedie, first played about 1636; permission, May 21, 1638; acheve d'imprimer, July 20, 1638; Paris, 4. ALCIONEE, tragedie, probably first played early in 1637; permission, April 13, 1640; acheve d'imprimer, April 26, 1640; Paris, 4; ibid., 1640, 8; ibid., 1655,* 8; ibid., 1705, 8, in the second volume of Theatre franqois ou Recueil des meilleures Pieces du Theatre des Anciens Auteurs; Paris, 1737, 12, in the third volume of Theatre franqois ou Recueil des meilleures ptices de theatre. 1 The copy in the Harvard library with a torn title-page, dated in the catalogue 1635, is probably the same edition as this. 1 Cf. Philipp, Pierre Du Ryers Leben tind dramatische Werke, 49. 172 APPENDIX A CLARIGENE, tragi-comedie, first played 1637-1638 ; permission, February 8, 1639; acheve d'imprimer, May 23, 1639; Paris, 4. SAUL, tragedie, first played 1639-1640; permission, April 18, 1642; acheve d'imprimer, May 31, 1642; Paris, 4; ibid., 1705, 8, in the first volume of Theatre fran$ois, etc.; Paris, 1737, 12, in the third volume of Theatre fran$ois, etc. ESTHER, tragedie, first played about 1642; permission, July 15, 1643; acheve d'imprimer, March 30, 1644; Paris, 4; ibid., 1737, 12, in the third volume of Theatre fran$ois, etc. SCEUOLE, tragedie, first played about 1644; permission, August 31, 1646; acheve d'imprimer, January 2, 1647; Paris, 4; Leyden (Elzevirs), 1654, 12; Paris, 1688, 12; ibid., 1705, 8, in the second volume of Theatre frangois, etc.; Paris, 1718, 12; ibid., 1737, 12, in the third volume of Theatre fran$ois, etc.; Geneva, 1767, 8, in the fourth volume of Thedtre fran$ais, etc.; Paris, I 773 4> in Marmontel's edition of the Chefs d'ceuvre du Theatre fran$ais; Paris, 1783, 8, in Petite Bibliotheque des theatres. BERENICE, tragi-comedie, first played about 1644; Paris, 1645, 4. (The dates of the permission and acheve d'imprimer are not given.) THEMISTOCLE, tragedie, first played at the end of 1646 or the beginning of 1647; permission, February 5, 1648; acheve d'imprimer, March 20, 1648; Paris, 4; Leyden (Elzevirs), 1649, 12; Lyons, 1654, 8; Paris, 1705, 8, in the third volume of Thedtre fran$ois, etc.; Paris, 1737, 12, in the third volume of Theatre franQois , etc. NITOCRIS, tragi-comedie, first played about 1648 ; permission, November 10, 1649; acheve d'imprimer, January 28, 1650; Paris, 4; Leyden (Elzevirs), 1650, 12. DYNAMIS, tragi-comedie, first played about 1649; permission, August 26, 1650; acheve d'imprimer, December 28, 1652; Paris, 4. ANAXANDRE, tragi-comedie, written in 1653; probably first played 1653-1654; permission, January 22, 1655; acheve d'imprimer, March 26, 1655; Paris, 4; Amsterdam, 1658, 8. r 1 At the end of the list of Du Ryer's plays given by the Mercure, July 1 8, 1721 , we read the following: "Alexandre, Tragedie; Tarquin, tragedie; les Captifs, comedie; Anaxandre, sa derniere Piece; Cleophon et Lucipe, Tragedie; Clitophon, Tragedie; ces deux dernieres Pieces n'ont pas vu le jour. " Now with the exception of Clitophon and Anaxandre, both tragi-comedies, none of these plays are mentioned by Du Ryer's contemporaries. The passage is vague and full of errors. Cleophon et Lucipe is evidently the same as Clitophon; Alexandre is probably intended for Anaxandre; Tarquin for Lucrece; the Captifs for the translation of Plautus's play by Rotrou. APPENDIX B. DU RYER'S TRANSLATIONS. SALVIANUS, Traitte de la Prouidence de Dieu, Paris, 1634,' 8. CICERO : Pour le Roy Deiotarus and Pour la Paix, in Huit Oraisons de Cice- ron,* Paris, 1638, 4; ibid., 1639, 12; ibid., 1641, i2;ibid., 1644, 12; ibid., 1648, 12; ibid., 1653, 12. Les Philippines, Paris, 1639, 3 4; ibid., 1640, 12; ibid., 1646, 12; ibid., 1647, 12. Paradoxes, before October 8, 1641. 4 Offices ou les Deuoirs de la vie ciuile, Paris, 1641,54; ibid., 1646, 12; ibid., 1663, 12; ibid., 1666, 8; Lyons, 1687, 12. Contre L. Catilina (first 3 orations), Paris, 1641,8 12; ibid., 1652, 12. Les Tusculanes, Paris, 1643, 6 12;ibid., 1655, 12. Pour A. Cluentius Auitus, contre P. Seruilius Rullus (three ora- tions), Pour C. Rabirius, Pour L. Flaccus, Pour P. Cornelius Sylla, Pour L. Cornelius Balbus, Contre L. Calpurnius Pison, pour T. Annius Milon, pour C. Rabirius Postumus, Au Peuple, Pour S. Roscius d'Amerie, Pour Q. Roscius comedien, Pour M. Fonteius, Pour A. Cecinna, Apr es son retour au Senat, Pour sa maison, Touchant les Deuins, Pour Plancius, Paris, 5 vols., 12. 1 Privilege, December 9, 1633. 1 The table of contents, written by hand, assigns to Du Ryer the Deiotarus and the fourth oration against Catiline, to Giry the Pour la Paix; but the publisher on page 196 states that the latter play and Deiotarus are by the same translator, while in the preface to Les Oraisons de Ciceron contre L. Catilina, Paris, 1641, he says, "le vous auois desia donne" la quatriesme Oraison de Ciceron contre Catilina de la traduction de Monsieur Giry." Moreover, Pellisson attributes to Du Ryer Deio- tarus, la Paix, and only three Catilinaires. It is evident that the table of contents is at fault. Cf., also, Goujet, Bibliotheque, n, 227; Chapelain, letter to Balzac, May 10, 1638, Lettres (edition of Tamizey de Larroque) I, 235. The date of this letter shows that the book was published in the first part of the year. In a letter of June 6, Chapelain states that, of the four authors who made these translations, he prefers d'Ablancourt and Patru, op. cit., I, 247. J Privilege, December 23, 1638. * I have been unable to find any edition of this work earlier than 1670, but one must have appeared before 1641, for Du Ryer states in the preface, reprinted in the edition of 1670, " je vous donne ce petit ouvrage en attendant que je vous en donne un plus grand, je veux dire les Offices de Ciceron. " Pellisson in 1653 mentions the Paradoxes as one of Du Ryer's translations; cf. Histoire de I'Academie Fran^oise, Paris, 1653, P. 555- s Privilege, September 30, 1640; acheve d'imprimer, October 8, 1641 ; title-page, 1646. 6 Privilege, September 30, 1640. ? The permission to print all of these orations and the four immediately following was given September 7, 1640. 173 174 APPENDIX B CICERO continued. Pour P. Sextius, contre Vatinius, Pour M. Celius Rufus, Ton chant les prouinces consulaires, Paris, 1651, 12. Du meilleur genre d'orateurs et Voraison pour Murena, Paris, 1654, 12. De la nature des Dieux, Paris, 1657, 1 12. All these translations were reprinted in (Euures de Ciceron de la traduction de Du Ryer, Paris, 1670, 12 vols., 12. 2 ISOCRATES, De la louange de Busire, 3 Paris, 1640, 12. STRADA, Histoire de la Guerre de Flandre, Paris, 1644, 4 f (first decade), and ibid., 1649, f (second decade); Paris, 1650 and 1651, f (first decade), and ibid., 1652, f (second decade) ; Paris, 1652, 8 (two decades in one volume) ; Paris, 1659, f (first decade) and Paris, 1661, f (second decade) ; Grenoble, 1663, 3 vols., 12; Paris, 1665, 2 vols., 8; ibid., 1675, 4 vols., 12; Antwerp, 1705, 3 vols., 12; Brussels, 1706, 3 vols., 12; Paris, 1712, 3 vols., 12 s ; Brussels, 1/27, 4 vols., 6 12; ibid., 1739, 4 vols., 6 12. ANTONIO, PRIOR OF CRATO, Les Pseaumes de D. Antoine roy de Portugal, Paris, 1645, 12 7 ; Paris, 1657, 12; Paris, 1667, 12. HERODOTUS, Les Histoires, Paris, 1645, 8 f: ibid., 1658, f; ibid., 1660, 2 vols., 12; ibid., 1665, 3 vols., 12 s ; ibid., 1677, 3 vols., 8; ibid., 1713, 3 vols., 12; ibid., 1733, 3 vols., 8. s FREINSHEIM, Supplement a Quinte Curce, Paris, 1647 9 , 4; ibid., 1653, 4; ibid., 1655,5 4; ibid., 1659, 4; Amsterdam, 1665, 8; Paris, 1668, 12; ibid., 1681, 12; Amsterdam, 1684, 8; ibid., 1696, 8; The Hague, 1727, 2 vols., 12; Berlin, I746 10 ; Amsterdam, 1747, 2 vols., 12. 1 Privilege, September 30, 1640. a This work includes reprints of seven other translations, falsely attributed to Du Ryer by the publishers. They are La Rhetorique de Ciceron, Paris, 1652, by le sieur lacob; Les Epistres familieres de Ciceron, Paris, 1663, by I. Godouin; Lettres de Brutus et de Ciceron, Paris, 1663, by Antoine Soreau; La Consolation de Ciceron sur la mart de safille Tullia, Paris, 1644, by E. B.; Dialogue de la Vieillesse et de VAmitie, Paris, 1651, by Claveret; Des Orateurs illustres, Paris, 1652, by L. Giry; Le Songe de Scipion, published in Petites traductions nouuelks, Paris, 1661, by Is. M. Since 1670, Du Ryer's biographers have assumed that he was the author of these translations. Cf., for instance, Goujet, Bibliotheque, i, 329, and Philipp, Pierre Du Ryers Leben, 14. 3 This work, published anonymously with Giry's translation of the Louange d'Helene, is attributed to Du Ryer by Pellisson, Histoire de I' A cademie Fran$oise, Paris, J653, p. 555, and Goujet, op. cit., n, 205. Privilege, October 27, 1639. 4 Privilege, January 31, 1642. 5 Cf. Graesse, Tresor de litres rares, Dresden, 1859-1869. 6 The title is changed to Histoire de la guerre des Pays-Bas. 1 This edition is mentioned by d'Olivet and Moreri. There must have been an edition earlier than 1657, as the work is referred to by Pellisson, loc. cit. Silva, Diccionario bibliographico Portuguez, Lisbon, 1867, vin, p. 73, mentions an edition printed "suivant la copie imprimee Paris (Hollanda por 1646) 16. " 1 Privilege, February 20, 1643. The translation of Quintus Curtius is by Vaugelas, that of the supplement by Du Ryer. The privilege is June 25, 1646. This first edition is mentioned by d'Olivet and MoreYi. 10 Cf. Brunet for this edition. APPENDIX B 175 SENECA : Suitte des Epistres, 1 Paris, 1647, 12; ibid., 1648, 4; ibid., 1654, 12. Consolations, Paris, 1650, 12; ibid., 1660, 12. De la Colere, Paris, 1651, 12; Rouen, 1661, 12. De la Clemence, Paris, 1651, 12; 1659, 12. De la Prouidence de Dieu, Paris, 1651, 12; ibid., 1658, 12. Du Repos et de la tranguillit6 de I'ame, de la Constance du sage, et de la briefuete de la vie, Paris, 1651, 12; ibid., 1657, 12. Des Questions naturelles, Paris, 1651, 2 vols., 12; ibid., 1659, 12. All these translations of Seneca were republished together with those by Malherbe as (Euures de Seneque, Paris, 1658, 1659, 3 2 vols., f; Lyons, 1663, 10 vols., 12; Paris, 1669, 14 vols., 12. SULPICIUS SEVERUS, La vie de Saint Martin, Paris, 1650, 12. 3 LIVY, Les Decades auec les supplements de I. Freinshemius, Paris, 1653, 4 2 vols., t; ibid., 1669, 14 vols., 12; Amsterdam, 1696,5 8 vols., I2;ibid., 1700, 8 vols., 6 12; Rouen, 1722, 8 vols., 12. POLYBIUS, Les Histoires, Paris, 1655,7 f; ibid., 1669, 1670, 3 vols., 12. OVID, Les Metamorphoses, Paris, 1655, 2 vols., 4; 8 ibid., 1660, f; ibid., 1666, 8; Paris, 1676, 3 vols., 8 s ; Brussels, 1677, f; Paris, 1680, 3 vols., 8 s ; Amsterdam, 1693, 3 vols., I2 s ; ibid., 1702, f; Paris, 1704, 3 vols., 12 s ; The Hague, 1728, 2 vols., 12; ibid., idem, f 5 ; ibid., 1744, 4 vols., 8. DE THOU, Histoire (first fifty-seven books), Paris. 1658, i659, 9 3 vols.,f. 1 Malherbe had translated letters I-XCI ; Dtt Ryer completed the collection with letters XCII-CXXIV. 2 Goujet, Bibliotheque, n, 244, dates this edition 1656. 3 Privilege, November 17, 1649. * Privilege, September 10, 1646. * Cf . Graesse, Tresor. 6 Also bound in 5 volumes. * Privilege, June 14. * Cf. Goujet, op. cit., VI, 46, and Graesse, op. cit. Privilege, January 19, 1654. INDEX. 1 Ablancourt, d', 17, 19, 28, 173 n. Agimee, II. Aiguillon, duchesse d', 14, 89. Alcibiade, 131. Alcimedon, 13, 14, 26, 35, 43, 57, 58 n., 62, 63-68, 155, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 161 n., 162, 164, 167 n., 171. Alcionee, 12 n., 14, 26, 55, 83, 89-96, 107 n., 116,126, 140, 154, 155, 156, I.S7, 158, 159, 160, 161 n., 162, 163 n., 166, 168 n., 169, 171. Alcoran, i n. Alexandre, 172 n. Alexandre Hardy; see Hardy. Aman (by Matthieu), 107. A man (by Montchrestien), 107. Aman (by Rivaudeau) , 107. Amarillis, 57-62, 68, 71, 155, 157, 158, 159, 160 n., 161, 161 n., 162, 167, 167 n,, 168, 171. Amour tyrannique, 117. Amours d'Astree et de Celadon, n. Anaxandre, 133, 148-152, 153 n., 155, 158, 161, 161 n., 164, 172, 172 n. Anceaume, 12. Andreini, Isabella, 3. Andromaque, 90, 131, 169. Anecdotes dramatiques, 96, 116; see Clement. Anne d'Autriche, 12, 91. Antiquities of the Jews; see Josephus. Antoine, roy de Portugal; see Antonio of Crato. Antonio of Crato, 14, 29, 174. Archives de I' Academic Nationale de Musique, 53 n. Aretaphile, 4, 5, 26, 33, 34, 35-40, 45, 54, 63. 76, 157. 15711., 158, 158 n., 160 n., 161, 161 n., 162, 164, 167 n., 171. Argenis (by Barclay) ; see Barclay. Argents (by Du Ryer), i n., 9 n., 1 1 n., 12, 25, 33. 34. 44-50, 53, 54. 55. 58 n., 137, 154 n., 155, 157, 157 n-. 158, 160 n., 161 n., 164, 167, 171. Argenis et Foliar que, 8, 9 n., 12, 33, 34, 34 n., 44-50, 156 n., 157, 158, 161, 161 n., 162, 164, 167 n., 168, 171. Argenis y Poliarco, 49. Aristotle, 102. Armstrong, iv. Aslrate. 117. Astree, 62, 70, 72, 73, 75, 76, 78 n., 148, 149. A this et Porphirias, 77. Aubignac, d', 25, 83, 88, 89, 107, 1 16. Audiguier, d', 50, 155. Auvray, n, 12. Avantures de Rosileon, 62. Axiane, 134. Baillet, 19, 22, 25, 29, 107. Balzac, Guez de, 28, 173 n. Barclay, 26, 44, 45, 48, 49, 155. Baron, 116, 117. Bassin, n n., 12. Baudouin, 19. Baulot, 115. Bayle, 4, 22, 29, 29 n. Beauchamps, de, 2, 4, 6, 34. Beau-Soleil. 116. Beauval, 117. Bellanger, 30, 30 n. Bellefleur, 116. Bellegarde, de, 3. Bellerpse, 15, 116. Berenice (by Thomas Corneille), 134. Berenice (by DuRyer), 26, 30 n., 74 n. t 133-140, 154, 155, 156, 158, 159, i6on., 161, 161 n., 163 n., 167 n., 168, 169, 172. Berenice (by Racine), 30 n., 83, 134 Berenice (by Segrais), 134. Bernardin, 108, ill n., 114. Bible, 96, 97, 99, 102, 103, 104, 106, 107, 108, 109, 109 n., no, in, 112, 112 n., 113, 114, 155- Bibliotheque (by Maupoint); see Mau- point. Bibliotheque des Recueils collectifs de Poesies; see Lachevre. Bibliotheque du Theatre jranqois; see La Valliere. Bi bliolheque franc, oise, 131 n. Bibliotheque franqoise (by Goujet) ; see Goujet. Bibliotheque Frangoise (by Sorel); see Sorel. Bibliotheque poetique, 25, 96, 117, 126. Bibliotheque uniterselle des Dames, 64 n. This Index contains the names of all books and persons mentioned in the volume except those of characters in the plays and their sources. 177 INDEX Bilaine, 18, 19. Billard, 103, 104. Blandimare, 116. Bocages, n. Boccaccio, 77, 78. Boileau, 29. Bonnaire, de, 22. Bonnefon, Paul, iv. Bonnet, 12. Boyer, 97. Bradamante, 163. Brillon, 24. Brisset, 58, 59. Britannicus, 90. Brunet, 17 n., 77 n., 174 n. Bruyeres, Voille de, 12. Buckingham, 91. Cabinet d'Hozier, I n. Calderon, 49, 49 n. Campistron, iv, 131, 169. Captifs, 172 n. Carani, 64 n. Casaubon, 30. Cassagne, 17 n. Celimene, 57 n. ChammSte, 117. Chapelain, 28, 173 n. Chappuzeau, 116. Charles IX, 5. Charpentier, 19. Chefs d'ceuvre dramatiques ; see Mar- montel. Chevreau, 77, 83, 86. Christina, 15, 89. Cicero, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 27 n., 28, 29, 29 n., 30, 173, 173 n., 174, 174 n. Cid, 46, 72, 73 n., 77, 94, 95, 96, 158, 169. Cinna, 123, 140, 143. Cinq-Mars, 91. Clarigene, 14,57,77-82, 133 n., 138, 139. 154 -. 155, 156, 158, 159. 161, 161 n., 162, 163 n., 164, 165, 166 n., 167 n., 168 n., 172. Claveret, 29, 29 n., 174 n. Clemence, de la, 175. Clement, 20, 25, 115. Ckomedon, 13, 14, 57, 62, 63, 72-77, 91, 137, 148, 149, 149 n., 155, 156, 156 n., 157, 158, 158 n., 160 n., 161 n., 163 n., 166, 167 n., 168. 171. Cleopatre, 72. Cleophon et Lucipe, 172 n. Clitandre, Examen de, 166 n. CUtophon, 26, 33, 34, 35, 40-44, 45, 54, 62, 68, 155, 156 n., 157, 158, 158 n., 160, 161, 161 n., 162, 163, 167 n., 168, 171, 172 n. CUtophon and Leucippe, 40, 64 n. CoUre, dela, 175. Colletet, Francois, iii, 24, 25 n. Colletet, Guillaume, 12, 12 n., 25 n., 63, 64 n., 90 n. Comedie Fran$aisc; see Joannides. Conrart, 20. Consolation de Ciceron, 174 n. Consolations, 175. Contemporains de Moliere, 90 n. Corneille, Pierre, iii, iv n., 9, 11, 12, 12 n., 16, 24, 25, 26, 34n., 46, 54, 74n., 76, 81 , 83, 90, 92, 93, 96, 97, 1 15, 116, 117, 123, 126, 131, 139, 155, 157, 162, 166, 169, 170. Corneille, Thomas, 134, 134 n., 138 n. Correspondence litteraire, 115 n. Cotin, 44. Courb6, 14, 18, 19, 28. Curtius, Quintus, 13 n., 27, 31, 174, 174 n. Dancourt, 68. Decameron, 77. Decades, see Livy. Deniaise, 126 n. Deuotions, 12. Dialogue de la Digue et de la Rochelle, 8, 8n., 9. Dialogue de la Vieillesse et de I'amitie, 29 n., 174 n. Diccionario bibliographico Portuguez, 174 n. Dictionnaire (by Richelet) ; see Richelet. Dictionnaire critique; see Jal. Dictio'.tnaire des Pretieuses, 44 n. Dictionnaire historique; see Bayle. Dictionnaire historique, le grand; see More"ri. Dictionnaire turc-latin, I n. Dieromene, 58. Diodorus Siculus, 126, 130. Dion Cassius, 144. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, 117. Distichon, 8. Du Betlay, 25. Du Mas, 15. Du Rycr, Andre 1 , I. Du Ryer, Ayme"e, 22. Du Ryer, Claude, i, i n. Du Ryer, Elisabeth, 13, 17. Du Ryer (?), Frangoise, 3, 4. DuRyer, Isaac, I, I n.. 2,3,4,6,6 n., 7,8. Du Ryer, Jacque, I. Du Ryer, la, i. Du Ryer, Lucrece, 13. Du Ryer, Magdelaine, I. Du Ryer, Marie-Ayme'e, 22. Du Ryer, Marthe, 13, 17. Du Ryer, Pierre, iii, iv, I, 2, etc. Du Ryer. Pierre (son of preceding), 13. Du Ryer, Pierre, de Tillemont, i, 6 n. Due d'Ossonne, 24 n., 34 n. Duclos, 116, 117. Dufresne, 116. Dynamis, 133, 133 n., 144-148, 153 n., I54n., 156, 159, 160, 161, 161 n., 162, 163 n., 172. Eclogue, 64. EcoU des Maris, 71. Elliott, A. M., iv. Elzevirs, 116, 140, 172. INDEX 179 Ephemerides; see Romuald. Epistolae familiares, 22 n., 27, 174 n. Erotici Scriptores, 40 n. Escalopier, 29. Espagne, d', 20. Essais de lettres familieres , 17. Esther (by Du Ryer), 83, 106-115, 124, J 54. 156, 157. i6on., 161 n., 162, 163 n., 169, 172. Esther (by Matthieu), 107. Esther (by Racine), 107-109, 169. Estre"es, Jean d', 22 n. Estre"es, mare"chal d', 34. Eumathius, 26, 63, 64 n., 155. Exposition universette de 1878, 53. Faguet, 97. Fanuche, 6. Faret, 16. Fermin-Didot, 64 n. Fills de Scire, 62 n. Filleul, 83. Flores, Juan de, 78 n. Folies de Cardenio, 74 n. Foucquet, 23. Foulard, 132. Fournel, 90 n. Fournier, Edouard, iii, iv, 2, 2 n., 4, 5, 19, 20, 23, 40 n., 62, 62 n., 63, 68, 89, 96, 117, 171. Fournier, Genevieve, 13. Freinsheim, 23, 27, 174, 175. French Tragi-Comedy, 35 n., 40 n. Furetiere, 17 n., 19. Galerie du Palais, 54. Gamier, 54, 163. Gaulminus, 63, 64 n. Genereuse Allemande, n, 44 n. Gesippe, 77, 80. Gesta Romanorum, 77. Gillet de la Tessonnerie, 126 n. Giry, 15, 19, 28, 173 n., 174 n. Godouin, 174 n. Gombaud, 170. Gonzaga, 91. Goujet,3 n., 6, n n., 12 n., 27 n., 29, 30, 173 n., 174 n., 175 n. Gourdon de Bach, 131. Graesse, 27 n., 174 n., 175 n. Grand Cyrus, 134. Gros Guillaume; see Gu6rin. Grotto, 58, 59, 61, 62, 155. Gueret, 28. Gue'rin (Gros Guillaume), 51, 52 n., 71, 167. Guerre des Autheurs, 29 n. Gulistan, i n. Guyot et Merlin, 4 n., 5 n., 6 n., 7 n. Hardy, iii, 3, 12, 20 n., 41 n., 44 n., 53 n., 62 n., 77, 77 n.,78, 80, 117, 161, 170. He'mon, 20 n., 25 n. Henri III, 5. Henri IV, 3. Heraclius, 126, 126 n. Hercher, 64 n. Hercule mourant, 72. Herodotus 22, 23, 27, 29, 30, 31, 140, 174. Hester, la belle, 107, 107 n. Heures derobees, 2, 3 n., 7. Hexameron rustique; see La Mothe le Vayer. Hilberg, 64 n. Histoire (by de Thou) ; see de Thou. Histoire de I' Academic franchise (by Pellisson et d'Olivet), 2 n., 6 n., 13 n,, 16 n., 22 n., 24 n., 26 n., 148 n. Histoire de I' Academic Franfoise (by Pellisson); see Pellisson. Histoire de la Guerre de Flandre; see Strada. Hisioire de la guerre des Pays-Bas; see Strada. Hisioire de la langue et de la literature franfaise; see Petit de Julle- ville. Histoire de la traduction en France ; see Bellanger. Histoire des amours de Lysandre et de Caliste, 50. Histoire du theatre franf ois; see Parfaict. Histoire tragi-comique de noire temps, 50. Histoires (by Herodotus) ; see Herodotus. Histoires (by Polybius) ; see Polybius. Historiettes; see Tallemant. Hodey, 3, 3 n., 12. Hoffman, 30. Homer, 10. Horace, 83. Hozier, I n. Hysmines et Hysminiae Amoribus, de, 63, 64 n. lacob, 174 n. Isabelle, 12. Isabelle comedienne, A , 3 n. Isnard, 62. Isocrates, 27, 174. Jal, iii, I n., 4, 4 n., 5 n., 13 n., 16 n., 17, 22, 23, 23 n. Jardin des Muses, 2. Joannides, 115 n. Josephus, 104, 112 n. Jugemens des S$avans; see Baillet. Jugement d' Amour, 78 n. La Charnays, n. La Chastre, 9, 12. La Chastre, Louise Henriette de, 12. Lachevre, 2 n., 3 n., 12 n. La Grange, 115 n. La Mothe le Vayer, 29 n. Lancaster, 35 n., 40 n., 41 n. Lanspn, iv, 34 n. La Pineliere, 24. La Porte; see Cle'ment. La Rochefoucauld, 89, 129, 140, 169. La Taille, 97, 103, 104, 106. i8o INDEX La Valliere, iv, 4, 34, 117. Le Bossu, 28. Le Grand, 116. Lekain, 116. Le Moine, 28. Le quint, 6. L6ris, 4. Lettres de Brutus et de Ciceron, 174 n. Lettres de Chapelain; see Chapelain. Lexicon Bibliographicum; see Hoffman. Ligdamon et Lidias, n. Lisandre et Caliste, 2, 8, 10, 12, 33, 34, 50-54, 55, 58, 71,73- 155, 156n., 157, 158, 158 n., 161, 161 n., 163, 167, 167 n., 171. Livet, 2, 6 n., 22 n., 23, 24 n., 26 n., 44 n. Livy, 15, 18, 19, 27, 28, 29, 83, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89 n., 117, 148 n., 155. I7S- Longuet, 12. Longueville, due de, 12. Longueville, duchesse de (first wife of preceding, 12. Longueville, duchesse de (second wife of the preceding Duke), 89. Loret, i n., 23, 24. Louange de Bustre, 174. Louange d'Helene, 174 n. Louis XIII, 3, 9, 61, 72 n. Louveau, 64 n. Lucrece, 14,82, 83-89, 95, 105, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161 n., 162, 163, 167 n., i68n., 169, 171, 172 n. Madonte, II. Mahelot, I n., 26, 33, 39, 40, 43, 45, 49, 53. 58, 58 n., 63, 67, 68, 69, 77, 90, 107, 115, 118, 126 n., 163. Mairet, iii, i6n., 24, 25, 34 n., 74 n., 169. Malherbe, 25, 175, 175 n. Mareschal, n, 44 n. Manage d' Amour, 2, 3, 7. Marianne, 2$, 72, 90, 115. Marie de M6dicis, 3. Marmontel, 22, 25, 90, 116, 117, 119 n., 123 n., 124 n., 126, 172. Martin, Saint, 27, 175. Marolles, 17. Marot, 25. Marsan, 2 n., n n., 34 n., 58, 59. Marty-Laveaux, 54 n. Matthieu, 107. Maudit, 12. Maupoint, 90 n. Meilleur genre d'orateurs, 174. Melanges d'histoire et de litterature; see Vigneul-Marville. Melite, 74 n. Memoire; see Mahelot. Memoires pour servir; see Niceron. Manage, 13, 15, 16, 17, 25, 29, 77 n., 90, 90 n., 116. Menagiana; see Manage. Mercosur, 14, 77. Mercure, 115, 116, 117, 131, 172 n. Merlin; see Guyot. Mesnard, 107, 107 n., 108, 108 n., in n. t J3I- Metamorphoses, 27, 175. Metastasio, 132, 132 n., 169. Ministere de I'inslruction publique, Cata- logue du, 53 n. Mister e du Viel Testament. 104. Mocedades, 46. Modern Language Notes, 3 n., 41 n. Moland; see Voltaire. Moliere, ivn., 26, 47, 70, 90, 90 n., 115, 116, 169 Mondory, 90. Montchrestien, 107. Morei, 132. More>i, 4, 23 n., 174 n. Mart de Cesar, 72, 119 n. Mortde Crispe, 115. Motin, 12. Mouhy, 117. Mulierum Virtutibus, de, 35. Muze historique; see Loret. Nadal, 103, 104, 169. Narcisse, 12. Natura Deorum, 29, 174. Nepos, 126, 132 n. Neptun'. a la Rochelle, 9. Niceron, 4, 5, 6, 29, 91. Nitocns, 133, 140-144, 154, 154 n., 155, 158, 160, 161, 161 n., 162, i63n., 167 n., 172. Notice biographique sur Jean Rotrou; see Brillon. Nouuelle allegorique, 19. Observations sur le Cid, 72 n. Odyssey, 40. CEdipe, 119 n. (Euvres meslees; see Saint-Evremond. Offices, 173, 173 n. Olivet, d', 6, 7, 22, 26, 29 174 n. Orateurs illustres, 174 n. Orations of Cicero; see Cicero. Orleans, due d', 26, 35. Origines de la prononciation modernt, i n. Ouverture des jours gras, 62 n., 63. Ovid, 27, 29, 175. Pandoste, 134 n. Paradoxes, 173, 173 n. Parfaict, les freres, iii, 2, 4, 6, 23, 57, 96 n., 104, 117, 126 n., 131. Parnasse; see La Pineliere. Parnasse franqois, 96; see Titon du Tillet. Parnasse reforme, 28, 29. i Pascal, 29. i Passart, 6. Pastorale dramatique, 2 n., II n., 58 n. Patri suo, 2, 8. Patru, 20, 173 n. Pelerine amoureuse, 47 n. Pellisson, iii, 13, 13 n., 22 n., 57, 58, 148, 173 n., 174 n. INDEX 181 Pentimcnlo amoroso, 58, 59, 59 n., 61 n 68. Perfidie d'Aman, 97 n., 107. Petit de Julleville, 53 n., 57 n., 168 n. Petite Bibliotheque des theatres, 172. Petites traductions notiuelles, 174 n. Philipp, iii, 2, 2 n., 23, 62, 77, 90, 90 n., 95 n., 104, 109, 116 n., 119 n., 131, 134 n., 171 n., 174 n. Pichou, 12, 62, 63, 74 n. Pieces originates, i n., 4 n., 6 n. Pierre Du Ryers Leben und Dramatische Werke; see Philipp. Piso, L. Calpurnius, 30, 31; see Cicero. Plautus, 172 n. Plutarch, 26, 35, 37, 38, 39, 44, 126, 155. Poisson, 1 1 6. Polybius, 27, 28, 29, 175. Polyeucte, 26, 42. Poncet, ii n., 12. Pratique du theatre; see d'Aubignac; 90. Precieuses ridicules, 26, 90, 152 n. Prononciation frangaise, I n. Prosopopee de la Digue, 9. Prosopopee de la Rochette, 9. Prouidence de Dieu, 175. Pseaumes de D. Antoine 27, 174. Puget de la Serre, 134. Pyrame, 134 n. Que"rard, 27 n. Questions naturelles, 175. Quinault, 117. Quinet, 57. Racine, iv n., 30 n., 83, 92, 96, 97, 107, 107 n., 108, 108 n., 109, in n., 114, 131 n., 132 n., 169. Rambpuillet, Mme de, 70 n. Rayssiguier, n, 12. Reeherches; see de Beauchamps. Recueil des Harangues, 22 n. Registre; see La Grange. Registres de /' Academic fran$aise, 22 n. Re"gnier, 25. Religieux a ceux du monde, 10. Repertoire des comedies frangoises, 25, 115. Repos, tranquillity de lame, etc., 175. Revue d'histoire litteraire de la France, 34 n. Reynier, 78 n., 138 n., 168. Rhetorique, I74.n. Richelet, 17, 27. Richelieu, 9, 13, 14, 15, 89. Rigal, 53 n., 62, 77 n. Rivaudeau, 107. Roman sentimental, 78 n. Romuald, 23 n., 28. Rosset, I n. Rossyleon, 62, 63, 72, 171. Rotrou, iii, 20, 24, 24 n., 25, 25 n., 29, 34 n., 47 n., 57 n., 97, 115, 169, 172 n. Royall Psalmes, 27 n. Rudimenta grammntices hnguce turcicce, I n Sac de Carthage, 134 n. Sainte Caterine, 134 n. Saint-Evremond, 25, 90, 116. Sainte-Marthe, 12. Saint-Gelais, 25. Saint George, 27 n., 34 n. Salvianus, 5 n., 14, 26, 173. Saul (by Nadal); sec- Nadal. Saul (by Du Ryer), iv, 26, 83, 95, 96-106, 153 n., 154, 155, 156, 156 n., 157, 158, 159. 160, 161, 161 n., 162, 163 n., 165, 166 n., 169, 172. Saulfurieux, 97, 104. Scaliger, 90. Sceuole, 15, 16 n., 22 n., 25, 26, 83, 89, 90 n., 96, 115-126, 127, 133, 154. 154 n., 155, 155 n., 156, 157. 158, 159, 160, 161 n., 162, 163, 163 n., 166, 169, 172. Scude'ry, Georges de, 1 1, 24, 25, 34 n., 72, 117, 119 n., 134, 169. Scude'ry, Mile de, 134, 134 n. Seneca, 17, 19, 23, 27, 28, 28 n., 29, 54, 161, 168, 175. Sidonie, 16 n., 24 n. Silva, 174 n. Saeur valeureuse, n. Soleinne, Catalogue de, 12 n., 90 n. Sommaville, 14, 16, 28. Songe de Scipion, 174 n. Songes des hommes esveillez, i n. Sophonisbe, 25, 72, 90. Soreau, 174 n. Sorel, iii, 24, 28, 29. Soulie', 115 n. Stances a Damon, 10. Stances d I'Eglise, 10, 1 1 n. Stiefel, 16 n., 34 n. Stilicon, 90. Strada, 27, 28, 174. Suitle des Epistres, 175. Sulpicius, 15. 20, 21, 22. Sulpicius Severus, 15, 27, 175. Supercheries; see QueYard. Supplement d Quinte Curce; see Frein- sheim. Supplements de G. Freinshemius; see Freinsheim. Syltie, 34 n., 74 n. Tallemant des Re"aux, i, 15, 27. Tamizey de Larroque, 28 n, 173 n. Tarquin, 172 n. Tatius, 26, 40, 155. Temistocle (by Morei), 132. Temps perdu, I n., 2, 2 n., 3 D., 8. Theagene el Cariclee, 44 n. Theatre franfais (Geneva, 1767), 172. Theatre Franfois; see Chappuzeau. Theatre franfais au seiziime et au dix- septieme siecle, iii n., 2 n., 4 n., 19 n., 62 n., 68, 96 n., 1 170., 171. Theatre jranfois ou Recueil (Paris, 1705), 171, 172. Theatre frartfois ou Recueil (Paris, 1737) 171. 172. 1 82 INDEX Thcmistocle (by Du Ryer), 55, 83, 126- 132, 140, 154, 154 n., 156, 157, 158, 160, 160 n., 161 n., 162, 163 n., 166, 169, 172. Themistocle (by Foulard), 132. Themistocles (by Plutarch), 126 n. Theocrine; see Argenis et Poliarque. Th^ophile, 29, 170. Thomas Corneille, 138 n. Thomas Morns, 134 n. Thou, de, 5 n., 22, 23, 27, 28 n., 29, 29 n., 175- Thurot, I n. Tillieres, 14, 27. Titon du Tillet, 6, 25, 34, 89, 115, 117. Torilliere, 117. Tragcdie franfaise au seizieme siecle, 97. TraitS des droits,fonctions, etc.; see Guyot. Traitt6 de la Prouidence de Dieu, i n., 2, 26, 173. Tresor de livres rares; see Graesse. Tristan, iii, 3, 3 n., 24, 25, 57 n., i I5,'i69. Trompeur puny, 1 1 . Tullia, 21. Tusculanes, 13, 173. Two Lost Plays by Alexandre Hardy, 41 n. Urfe, d', 155- ValencS, de, 9^. Valerius Maximus, 29 n. Varietes historiques, 40 n., 62 n. Vasthi, 107. Vaugelas, 13, 17, 19, 29, 31, 174 n. Venceslas, 25, 90, 115. Vendanges de Suresne, iii, 14, 55, 57, 62, 63, 67, 68-72, 154, 155, 156 n., 157. 158, 159, 161, 161 n., 163 n., 164, 166, 167, 168, 169, 171. Venddme, C^sar de, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 63, 68, 72, 77- Venddme, Mile de, 83. Vengeance des satyres, 2, 6 n. Vergil, 10, 64. Veuve, ii. Vie de Saint Martin, 27, 175. Vies commencees; see Frangois Colletet. Vigenere, 19. Vigneul-Marville, 5, 13, 16, 17. Villefore, 29. Villeloin, 17. Villeneuve, 12. Villetoustain, 107. Voilier des Hisloires romaines, 77 n. Voltaire, 4, 89 n., 116, 117, 119 n. Vondel, 27 n. Vulgate; see Bible. Werner, 104 n. Zeitschrift fur franzosiche Sprache und Litteratur, 16 n., 34 n. Zeno, 132, 132 n., 169. ft THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW. Series 9482 000 786 783 Ill