e were any. I had for guide nothing but a little
common sense, together with the models of the late Hardy, whose vein was
rather fertile than polished." "The comedies of Corneille had met with
success; praised as he was by his competitors in the career of the
theatre, he was as yet, in their eyes, but one of the supports of that
literary glory which was common to them all. Tranquil in their
possession of bad taste, they were far from foreseeing the revolution
which was about to overthrow its sway and their own." [_Corneille et son
Temps,_ by M. Guizot.]

Corneille made his first appearance in tragedy, in 1633, with a _Medee_.
"Here are verses which proclaim Corneille," said Voltaire:--

"After so many boons, to leave me can he bear?
After so many sins, to leave me can he dare?"

They proclaimed tragedy; it had appeared at last to Corneille; its
features, roughly sketched, were nevertheless recognizable. He was
already studying Spanish with an old friend of his family, and was
working at the _Cid,_ when he brought out his _Illusion Comique,_ a
mediocre piece, Corneille's last sacrifice to the taste of his day.
Towards the end of the year 1636, the _Cid_ was played for the first time
at Paris. There was a burst of enthusiasm forthwith. "I wish you were
here," wrote the celebrated comedian Mondory to Balzac, on the 18th of
January, 1637, "to enjoy amongst other pleasures that of the beautiful
comedies that are being played, and especially a _Cid_ who has charmed
all Paris. So beautiful is he that he has smitten with love all the most
virtuous ladies, whose passion has many times blazed out in the public
theatre. Seated in a body on the benches of the boxes have been seen
those who are commonly seen only in gilded chamber and on the seat with
the fleurs-de-lis. So great has been the throng at our doors, and our
place has turned out so small, that the corners of the theatre, which
served at other times as niches for the pageboys, have been given as a
favor to blue ribbons, and the scene has been embellished, ordinarily,
with the crosses of knights of the order." "It is difficult," says
Pellisson, "to imagine with what approbation this piece was received by
court and people." It was impossible to tire of seeing it, nothing else
was talked of in company; everybody knew some portion by heart; it was
taught to children, and in many parts of France it had passed into a
proverb to say, "Beautiful