disciple and favourite of Ronsard, who has spoken of him in
those terms of magnificent eulogy of which he was liberal, but which
here, if somewhat exaggerated, are by no means altogether misplaced. His
dramatic works, extending to eight plays, were all composed in his
earlier manhood, between 1568 and 1580. There is, however, a wide
difference between the first six plays and the last two. The former,
_Porcie_, _Cornelie_, _Marc-Antoine_, _Hippolyte_, _La Troade_, and
_Antigone_, are all, as their titles show clearly, tragedies of
antiquity closely modelled on Seneca and Euripides, especially Seneca.
The _Cornelie_, it may be observed, was translated into English by Kyd.
They do not differ much in arrangement from each other, or from
Jodelle's _Cleopatre_. In his two last plays, however, produced in 1580,
much greater power and originality appear. These were _Les Juives_, a
Biblical tragedy on the fate of Zedekiah and Jerusalem, and
_Bradamante_, a romantic tragi-comedy on a subject taken from Ariosto.
The latter was apparently the first of its kind, dramatists having
hitherto confined themselves to classical, contemporary, and Biblical
subjects. There is, moreover, a curious incident connected with it. It
contains no choruses, and in the preface of the published edition the
manager is requested to have the want supplied in case of its being
acted. Here too appears the confidant, a dubious present to the French
theatre, but one of no small importance. The play is a remarkable one.
The mixture of comic with tragic models gives the author much more
liberty, of which he duly avails himself; the scenes are more numerous,
the action more lively and complicated, the interest in every way
greater. Yet it would seem, from the remark made above, that there was
some doubt in the mind of the author whether it would ever be acted. Nor
does it seem to have had much, if any, effect on the general character
of stage plays. These continued to follow the Jodelle model until Hardy
brought in the influence of Spain. Of that model _Les Juives_ is
assuredly the masterpiece. The choruses are of great beauty, admirably
diversified in metre and rhythm, and occasionally all but equalling the
best lyrics of the Pleiade. There is interest in the story, which deals
with the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar on the Jewish king, and its chief
drawback is its unrelieved gloom. The first act too, which consists of a
monologue by the Prophet (unnamed) relieved