XIV. was struck by it, and did not think
it a breach of his dignity or taste to utter shouts of laughter so loud
that the courtiers were astounded." The delighted comedians, on leaving
Versailles, returned straight to Paris, and went to awaken Racine.
"Three carriages during the night, in a street where it was unusual to
see a single one during the day, woke up the neighborhood. There was a
rush to the windows, and, as it was known that a councillor of requests
(law-officer) had made a great uproar against the comedy of the
_Plaideurs,_ nobody had a doubt of punishment befalling the poet who had
dared to take off the judges in the open theatre. Next day all Paris
believed that he was in prison." He had a triumph, on the contrary, with
_Britannicus,_ after which the, king gave up dancing in the court
ballets, for fear of resembling Nero. _Berenice_ was a duel between
Corneille and Racine for the amusement of Madame Henriette. Racine bore
away the bell from his illustrious rival, without much glory. _Bajazet_
soon followed. "Here is Racine's piece," wrote Madame de Sevigne to her
daughter in January, 1672; if I could send you La Champmesle, you would
think it good, but without her, it loses half its worth. The character
of Bajazet is cold as ice, the manners of the Turks are ill observed in
it, they do not make so much fuss about getting married; the catastrophe
is not well led up to, there are no reasons given for that great
butchery. There are some pretty things, however, but nothing perfectly
beautiful, nothing which carries by storm, none of those bursts of
Corneille's which make one creep. My dear, let us be careful never to
compare Racine with him, let us always feel the difference; never will
the former rise any higher than _Andromaque_. Long live our old friend
Corneille! Let us forgive his bad verses for the sake of those divine
and sublime beauties which transport us. They are master-strokes which
are inimitable." Corneille had seen _Bajazet_. "I would take great care
not to say so to anybody else," he whispered in the ear of Segrais, who
was sitting beside him, "because they would say that I said so from
jealousy; but, mind you, there is not in _Bajazet_ a single character
with the sentiments which should and do prevail at Constantinople; they
have all, beneath a Turkish dress, the sentiments that prevail in the
midst of France." The impassioned loyalty of Madame de Sevigne, and the
clear-sighted