d to use those
owned by others, and which were much inferior to copies he could have
purchased had he possessed money. He was early struck with the beauty of
the Greek writers--and more especially the Greek tragedians. He wandered
in the woods with Sophocles and Euripides in his hands, and many years
after could recite their chief plays from memory. He got hold of the
Greek romance of Theogines and Chariclea, but the priests would not
tolerate such reading and committed the volume to the flames. He got
another copy and it shared the same fate. He concluded to purchase
another, kept it till he learned it by heart, and then took it to the
priests and told them they might have that also.

At Port Royal Racine was happy. He was a gentle-hearted boy and his
masters loved him. He early began to compose verses and showed an
intense love of poetry. At nineteen he left Port Royal for the college
of Harcour, at Paris. When he was twenty-one Louis XIV. was married, and
invited every versifier in the kingdom to write in honor of the
occasion. Racine was an obscure student and was unknown as a poet. He
wrote a poem on the marriage, and it was shown to M. Chapelain, who was
the poetical critic of Paris at that time. He thought it showed a good
deal of promise and suggested a few alterations. It was carried to the
patron of the critic, who sent him a hundred louis from the king, and a
pension of six hundred livres. The poet's friends were anxious that he
should choose a profession, and that of the bar was strongly urged upon
him. He objected. An uncle who had a benefice at Uzes, wished to resign
it to his nephew. Racine concluded to visit his uncle in the provinces.
He remained for some time there, but he found there was little hope of
advancement and grew restless. The scenery around him was magnificent,
yet, though he was a poet, he had no eye for the grand and impressive in
scenery. He was too much of a Parisian for that. A Parisian is all
art--and cares nothing for nature. He prefers fine buildings and
paintings to fields, mountains, and majestic rivers.

Racine wrote a poem entitled "_The Bath of Venus_," and began a play
upon the Greek one of Theogines and Chariclea, which had delighted him
so much when he was young. He returned to Paris somewhat discouraged,
after an absence of only three months. Here, through the rivalry of two
play-writers, he was persuaded to write very hastily a new play. He
consented, and produced one whi