ill
paid. Nor was he one of the easy-going men of letters who console
themselves by Bohemian indulgence. In general society he was awkward,
constrained, and silent: but his home, which was long shared with his
brother Thomas--they married two sisters--seems to have been a happy
one. He retained till his death in 1684, if not the favour of the King
and the general public, that of the persons whose favour was best worth
having, such as Saint-Evremond and Madame de Sevigne, and his own
confidence in his genius never deserted him.

Corneille's dramatic career may be divided into four parts; the first
reaching from _Melite_ to _L'Illusion Comique_; the second (that of his
masterpieces), from the _Cid_ to _Rodogune_; the third, from _Theodore_
to _Pertharite_; the fourth, that of the decadence, from _Oedipe_ to
_Surena_. The following is a list of the names and dates (these latter
being sometimes doubtful and contentious) of his plays. _Melite_, 1629,
a comedy improbable and confused in incident and overdone with verbal
_pointes_, but much beyond anything previous to it. _Clitandre_, 1630, a
tragedy in the taste of the time, one of the maddest of plays. _La
Veuve_, 1634, a comedy, well written and lively. _La Galerie du Palais_
(same year), a capital comedy of its immature kind, bringing in the
humours of contemporary Paris. _La Suivante_, a comedy (same year), in
which the great character of the soubrette makes her first appearance.
_La Place Royale_, a comedy, 1635, duller than the _Galerie du Palais_,
which it in some respects resembles. _Medee_, a tragedy (same year),
incomparably the best French tragedy up to its date. _L'Illusion
Comique_, 1636, a tragi-comedy of the extremest Spanish type,
complicated and improbable to a degree in its action, which turns on the
motive of a play within a play, and produces, as the author himself
remarks, a division into prologue (Act i), an imperfect comedy (Acts
ii-iv), and a tragedy (Act v). _Le Cid_, 1636, the best-known if not the
best of Corneille's plays, and, from the mere playwright's point of
view, the most attractive. _Horace_, 1639, often, but improperly, called
_Les Horaces_, in which the Cornelian method is seen complete. The final
speech of Camille before her brother kills her was as a whole never
exceeded by the author, and the 'qu'il mourut' of the elder Horace is
equally characteristic. _Cinna_, 1639, the general favourite in France,
but somewhat stilted and devoid of