Get the full ebook with Bonus Features for a Better Reading Experience on ebookluna.

com

(eBook PDF) Finite Element Analysis: Theory and

Application with ANSYS 4th Edition

https://ebookluna.com/product/ebook-pdf-finite-element-
analysis-theory-and-application-with-ansys-4th-edition/

OR CLICK HERE

DOWLOAD NOW

Download more ebook instantly today at https://ebookluna.com

 Instant digital products (PDF, ePub, MOBI) ready for you
Download now and discover formats that fit your needs...

(eBook PDF) Finite Element Simulations with ANSYS

Workbench 19 by Huei-Huang Lee

https://ebookluna.com/product/ebook-pdf-finite-element-simulations-
with-ansys-workbench-19-by-huei-huang-lee/

ebookluna.com

Introduction to the Finite Element Method 4E 4th Edition

Reddy - eBook PDF

https://ebookluna.com/download/introduction-to-the-finite-element-
method-4e-ebook-pdf/

ebookluna.com

Finite element analysis-aided seismic behavior examination

of modular underground arch bridge - eBook PDF

https://ebookluna.com/download/finite-element-analysis-aided-seismic-
behavior-examination-of-modular-underground-arch-bridge-ebook-pdf/

ebookluna.com

(eBook PDF) Introducing Communication Theory: Analysis and

Application 6th Edition

https://ebookluna.com/product/ebook-pdf-introducing-communication-
theory-analysis-and-application-6th-edition/

ebookluna.com
Damage Modeling of Composite Structures: Strength,
Fracture, and Finite Element Analysis 1st Edition Pengfei
Liu - eBook PDF
https://ebookluna.com/download/damage-modeling-of-composite-
structures-strength-fracture-and-finite-element-analysis-ebook-pdf/

ebookluna.com

Finite Element Method: Physics and Solution Methods 1st

edition - eBook PDF

https://ebookluna.com/download/finite-element-method-physics-and-
solution-methods-ebook-pdf/

ebookluna.com

Application of Control Volume Based Finite Element Method

(CVFEM) for Nanofluid Flow and Heat Transfer 1st Edition
Mohsen Sheikholeslami - eBook PDF
https://ebookluna.com/download/application-of-control-volume-based-
finite-element-method-cvfem-for-nanofluid-flow-and-heat-transfer-
ebook-pdf/
ebookluna.com

Microbiology: Laboratory Theory and Application 4th

Edition (eBook PDF)

https://ebookluna.com/product/microbiology-laboratory-theory-and-
application-4th-edition-ebook-pdf/

ebookluna.com

(eBook PDF) Microbiology Laboratory Theory and Application

4th Edition

https://ebookluna.com/product/ebook-pdf-microbiology-laboratory-
theory-and-application-4th-edition/

ebookluna.com
Contents

Preface xiii
Acknowledgments xvii

1 Introduction 1
1.1 Engineering Problems 2
1.2 Numerical Methods 5
1.3 A Brief History of the Finite Element Method and Ansys 6
1.4 Basic Steps in the Finite Element Method 6
1.5 Direct Formulation 8
1.6 Minimum Total Potential Energy Formulation 37
1.7 Weighted Residual Formulations 43
1.8 Verification of Results 48
1.9 Understanding the Problem 49
Summary 54
References 54
Problems 54

2 Matrix Algebra 66
2.1 Basic Definitions 66
2.2 Matrix Addition or Subtraction 69
2.3 Matrix Multiplication 69
2.4 Partitioning of a Matrix 73
2.5 Transpose of a Matrix 77
2.6 Determinant of a Matrix 81
2.7 Solutions of Simultaneous Linear Equations 86
2.8 Inverse of a Matrix 94
2.9 Eigenvalues and Eigenvectors 98
2.10 Using Matlab to Manipulate Matrices 102
2.11 Using Excel to Manipulate Matrices 106
Summary 120
References 121
Problems 121

3 Trusses 125
3.1 Definition of a Truss 125
3.2 Finite Element Formulation 126
3.3 Space Trusses 151
vii
viii  Contents

3.4 Overview of the Ansys Program 153

3.5 Examples Using Ansys 161
3.6 Verification of Results 193
Summary 195
References 195
Problems 195

4 Axial Members, Beams, and Frames 205

4.1 Members Under Axial Loading 205
4.2 Beams 213
4.3 Finite Element Formulation of Beams 218
4.4 Finite Element Formulation of Frames 234
4.5 ­Three-​­Dimensional Beam Element 240
4.6 An Example Using Ansys 242
4.7 Verification of Results 267
Summary 269
References 270
Problems 271

5 ­One-​­Dimensional Elements 283

5.1 Linear Elements 283
5.2 Quadratic Elements 287
5.3 Cubic Elements 289
5.4 Global, Local, and Natural Coordinates 292
5.5 Isoparametric Elements 294
5.6 Numerical Integration: Gauss–Legendre Quadrature 296
5.7 Examples of ­One-​­Dimensional Elements in Ansys 301
Summary 301
References 301
Problems 301

6 Analysis of ­One-​­Dimensional Problems 308

6.1 Heat Transfer Problems 308
6.2 A Fluid Mechanics Problem 327
6.3 An Example Using Ansys 331
6.4 Verification of Results 346
Summary 347
References 347
Problems 348

7 ­Two-​­Dimensional Elements 351

7.1 Rectangular Elements 351
7.2 Quadratic Quadrilateral Elements 355
 Contents  ix

7.3 Linear Triangular Elements 360

7.4 Quadratic Triangular Elements 365
7.5 Axisymmetric Elements 369
7.6 Isoparametric Elements 374
7.7 ­Two-​­Dimensional Integrals: Gauss–Legendre Quadrature 377
7.8 Examples of ­Two-​­Dimensional Elements in Ansys 378
Summary 379
References 379
Problems 380

8 More Ansys 387

8.1 Ansys Program 387
8.2 Ansys Database and Files 388
8.3 Creating a Finite Element Model with Ansys: Preprocessing 390
8.4 ­h-​­Method Versus ­p-​­Method 404
8.5 Applying Boundary Conditions, Loads, and the Solution 404
8.6 Results of Your Finite Element Model: Postprocessing 407
8.7 Selection Options 412
8.8 Graphics Capabilities 413
8.9 ­Error-​­Estimation Procedures 415
8.10 An Example Problem 417
Summary 431
References 432

9 Analysis of ­Two-​­Dimensional Heat Transfer Problems 433

9.1 General Conduction Problems 433
9.2 Formulation with Rectangular Elements 440
9.3 Formulation with Triangular Elements 451
9.4 Axisymmetric Formulation of ­Three-​­Dimensional Problems 470
9.5 Unsteady Heat Transfer 477
9.6 Conduction Elements Used by Ansys 487
9.7 Examples Using Ansys 488
9.8 Verification of Results 528
Summary 528
References 530
Problems 530

10 Analysis of ­Two-​­Dimensional Solid Mechanics Problems 542

10.1 Torsion of Members with Arbitrary ­Cross-​­Section Shape 542
10.2 ­Plane-​­Stress Formulation 558
10.3 Isoparametric Formulation: Using a Quadrilateral Element 566
10.4 Axisymmetric Formulation 573
10.5 Basic Failure Theories 575
x  Contents

10.6 Examples Using Ansys 576

10.7 Verification of Results 598
Summary 598
References 600
Problems 600

11 Dynamic Problems 609

11.1 Review of Dynamics 609
11.2 Review of Vibration of Mechanical and Structural Systems 623
11.3 Lagrange’s Equations 640
11.4 Finite Element Formulation of Axial Members 642
11.5 Finite Element Formulation of Beams and Frames 651
11.6 Examples Using Ansys 665
Summary 684
References 684
Problems 684

12 Analysis of Fluid Mechanics Problems 691

12.1 Direct Formulation of Flow Through Pipes 691
12.2 Ideal Fluid Flow 703
12.3 Groundwater Flow 709
12.4 Examples Using Ansys 712
12.5 Verification of Results 733
Summary 734
References 735
Problems 736

13 ­Three-​­Dimensional Elements 741

13.1
The ­Four-​­Node Tetrahedral Element 741
13.2
Analysis of ­Three-​­Dimensional Solid Problems Using ­Four-​­Node
Tetrahedral Elements 744
13.3 The ­Eight-​­Node Brick Element 749
13.4 The ­Ten-​­Node Tetrahedral Element 751
13.5 The ­Twenty-​­Node Brick Element 752
13.6 Examples of ­Three-​­Dimensional Elements in Ansys 754
13.7 Basic ­Solid-​­Modeling Ideas 758
13.8 A Thermal Example Using Ansys 769
13.9 A Structural Example Using Ansys 786
Summary 799
References 799
Problems 799
 Contents  xi

14 Design and Material Selection 808

14.1 Engineering Design Process 809
14.2 Material Selection 812
14.3 Electrical, Mechanical, and Thermophysical Properties of Materials 813
14.4 Common Solid Engineering Materials 815
14.5 Some Common Fluid Materials 822
Summary 824
References 824
Problems 824

15 Design Optimization 826

15.1 Introduction to Design Optimization 826
15.2 The Parametric Design Language of Ansys 830
15.3 Examples of Batch Files 832
Summary 843
References 844
Problems 844

Appendix A Mechanical Properties of Some Materials 845

Appendix B Thermophysical Properties of Some Materials 849

Appendix C Properties of Common Line and Area Shapes 851

Appendix D Geometrical Properties of Structural Steel Shapes 855

Appendix E Conversion Factors 859

Appendix F An Introduction to MATLAB 861

Index 895
This page intentionally left blank
Preface

Changes in the Fourth Edition

The fourth edition, consisting of 15 chapters, includes a number of new additions and
changes that were incorporated in response to ANSYS revisions and suggestions and
requests made by professors, students, and professionals using the third edition of the
book. The major changes include:
• Explanation of the changes that were made in the ANSYS’s newest release
(Chapters 3 and 8)
• Explanation of new element type capabilities (Chapters 3, 4, 6, 8 through
13, and 15)
• A new comprehensive example problem that demonstrates the use of
BEAM188 element in modeling beam and frame problems (Chapter 4)
• Modification of twenty example problems to incorporate new ANSYS element
types (Chapters 3, 4, 6, 8 through 13, and 15)
• Eight new comprehensive example problems that show in great detail how
to use Excel to solve different types of finite element problems (Chapters 2
through 6 and 9 through 12)
• More detail on theory and expanded derivations
• Explanation of new MATLAB revisions in Appendix F

Organization
There are many good textbooks already in existence that cover the theory of finite
element methods for advanced students. However, none of these books incorporate
ANSYS as an integral part of their materials to introduce finite element modeling
to u ­ ndergraduate students and newcomers. In recent years, the use of finite element
­analysis (FEA) as a design tool has grown rapidly. E ­ asy-​­to-​­use, comprehensive pack-
ages such as ANSYS, a ­general-​­purpose finite element computer program, have
­become common tools in the hands of design engineers. Unfortunately, many engi-
neers who lack the proper training or understanding of the underlying concepts have
been using these tools. This introductory book is written to assist engineering students
and practicing engineers new to the field of finite element modeling to gain a clear
understanding of the basic c­ oncepts. The text offers insight into the theoretical aspects
of FEA and also covers some practical aspects of modeling. Great care has been exer-
cised to avoid overwhelming students with theory, yet enough theoretical background
is offered to allow individuals to use ANSYS intelligently and effectively. ANSYS is an
xiii
xiv  Preface

integral part of this text. In each chapter, the relevant basic theory is discussed first and
­demonstrated using simple problems with hand calculations. These problems are fol-
lowed by ­examples that are solved using ANSYS. Exercises in the text are also presented
in this ­manner. Some exercises require manual calculations, while others, more complex
in nature, require the use of ANSYS. The simpler h ­ and-​­calculation problems will en-
hance ­students’ understanding of the concepts by encouraging them to go through the
necessary steps in a FEA. Design problems are also included at the end of Chapters 3,
4, 6, and 9 through 14.
Various sources of error that can contribute to incorrect results are discussed.
A good engineer must always find ways to check the results. While experimental test-
ing of models may be the best way, such testing may be expensive or time consuming.
­Therefore, whenever possible, throughout this text emphasis is placed on doing a “sanity
check” to verify one’s FEA. A section at the end of each ­appropriate chapter is devoted
to possible approaches for verifying ANSYS results.
Another unique feature of this book is that the last two chapters are devoted to
the introduction of design, material selection, optimization, and parametric program-
ming with ANSYS.
The book is organized into 15 chapters. Chapter 1 reviews basic ideas in finite
­element analysis. Common formulations, such as direct, potential energy, and weighted
residual methods, are discussed. Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive review of matrix
algebra. Chapter 3 deals with the analysis of trusses, because trusses offer economi-
cal solutions to many engineering structural problems. An overview of the ANSYS
­program is given in Chapter 3 so that students can begin to use ANSYS right away.
Finite element formulation of members under axial loading, beams, and frames are
introduced in ­Chapter 4. Chapter 5 lays the foundation for analysis of ­one-​­dimensional
problems by introducing o ­ ne-​­dimensional linear, quadratic, and cubic elements.
Global, local, and natural coordinate systems are also discussed in detail in Chapter 5.
An ­introduction to isoparametric formulation and numerical integration by Gauss–­
Legendre formulae is also presented in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 considers Galerkin for-
mulation of ­one-dimensional heat transfer and fluid problems. ­Two-​­dimensional linear
and higher order elements are introduced in Chapter 7. Gauss–Legendre formulae
for ­two-​­dimensional integrals are also presented in Chapter 7. In Chapter 8 the essen-
tial capabilities and the organization of the ANSYS program are covered. The basic
steps in creating and a­ nalyzing a model with ANSYS is discussed in detail. Chapter 9
includes the analysis of ­two-​­dimensional heat transfer problems with a section devoted
to unsteady situations. Chapter 10 ­provides an analysis of torsion of noncircular shafts
and plane stress problems. Dynamic problems are explored in Chapter 11. Review of
dynamics and vibrations of mechanical and structural systems are also given in this
chapter. In Chapter 12, t­ wo-​­dimensional, ideal ­fluid-​­mechanics problems are analyzed.
Direct formulation of the piping network problems and underground seepage flow are
also discussed. ­Chapter 13 provides a discussion on ­three-​­dimensional elements and
formulations. This chapter also presents basic ideas regarding ­top-​­down and ­bottom-​­up
solid modeling methods. The last two chapters of the book are devoted to design and
 Preface  xv

optimization ideas. Design ­process and ­material selection are explained in Chapter 14.
Design optimization ideas and parametric p ­ rogramming are discussed in Chapter 15.
Examples of ANSYS batch files are also given in Chapter 15. Each chapter begins by
stating the objectives and c­ oncludes by summarizing what the reader should have gained
from studying that chapter.
The examples that are solved using ANSYS show in great detail how to use ANSYS
to model and analyze a variety of engineering problems. Chapter 8 is also ­written such
that it can be taught right away if the instructor sees the need to start with ANSYS.
A brief review of appropriate fundamental principles in solid mechanics, heat trans-
fer, dynamics, and fluid mechanics is also provided throughout the book. ­Additionally,
when appropriate, students are warned about becoming too quick to generate finite ele-
ment models for problems for which there exist simple analytical solutions. Mechanical
and thermophysical properties of some common materials used in e­ ngineering are given
in Appendices A and B. Appendices C and D give properties of c­ ommon area shapes
and properties of structural steel shapes, respectively. A comprehensive introduction to
MATLAB is given in Appendix F.
Finally, a Web site at http://www.pearsonhighered.com/moaveni will be maintained
for the following purposes: (1) to share any changes in the upcoming versions of ANSYS;
(2) to share additional information on upcoming text revisions; (3) to provide additional
homework problems and design problems; and (4) although I have done my best to
eliminate errors and mistakes, as is with most books, some errors may still exist. I will
post the corrections that are brought to my attention at the site. The Web site will be
­accessible to all instructors and students.
Thank you for considering this book and I hope you enjoy the fourth edition.
Saeed Moaveni
This page intentionally left blank
Acknowledgments

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to ANSYS, Inc. for providing the photo-
graphs for the cover of this book. Descriptions for the cover photographs are given in
Chapter 1. I would also like to thank ANSYS, Inc. for giving me permission to adapt
material from various ANSYS documents, related to capabilities and the organiza-
tion of ANSYS. The essential capabilities and organizations of ANSYS are covered in
­Chapters 3, 8, 13, and 15.
As I have mentioned in the Preface, there are many good published books in ­finite
element analysis. When writing this book, several of these books were consulted. They
are cited at the end of each appropriate chapter. The reader can benefit from ­referring
to these books and articles.
I am also thankful to all reviewers who offered general and specific comments.

xvii
This page intentionally left blank
Finite Element Analysis
This page intentionally left blank
Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:
maintenance of ascetic vows must naturally give so preponderating
an importance to the objects that influence them, that such teachers
are apt rather to trouble the conscience, and plunge youth in
extravagant devotion; inspiring rather a polemical spirit, or a dream
of idleness, than instilling that manly and active morality, and that
noble desire to make a right use of the faculties given us by God,
which is the aim of all liberal education. The effects of a monkish
tutelage spread a sinister influence over the ductile disposition of
Racine; the faults of his character were all fostered; the
independence and hardihood he wanted were never instilled.
As a school for learning it succeeded admirably. Greek and Latin
were assiduously cultivated by the tutors, and Racine's wonderful
memory caused him to make swift progress. M. de Sacy took
particular pains with him: discerning his talents, and hoping that he
would one day distinguish himself, he took him into his own
apartments, and gave him the name and treatment of a son. M.
Hannon, who succeeded to M. de Sacy, on the death of the latter,
continued the same attentions. Racine was poor: he could not
purchase good copies of the classics, and he read them in the Basle
editions without any Latin translation. His son tells us that he still
possessed his father's Plutarch and Plato, the margins of which were
covered with annotations which proved his application and learning.
It is impossible not to be struck by the benefit derived from the
Greek writers by a child of genius, who was indebted to the respect
which the priests showed for ancient authors for the awakening of
his mind to poetry and philosophy. But for this saving grace the
monks would probably have allowed him to read only books of
scholastic piety. Racine, young as he was, drank eagerly from the
purest fountains of intellectual beauty and grace, opened by the
Greeks, unsurpassed even to this time. His imaginative spirit was
excited by the poetry of the Greek tragedians; and he spent many a
day wandering in the woods of Port Royal with the works of
Sophocles and Euripides in his hands. He thus obtained a knowledge
of these divine compositions which always remained; and in after
years he could recite whole plays.[97] It happened, however, that he
got hold of the Greek romance of the loves of Theagines and
Chariclea. This was too much for priestly toleration. The sacristan
discovered the book and devoted it to the flames; another copy met
the same fate. Racine bought a third, learnt the romance by heart,
and then took the volume to the monk, and told him he might burn
that also.
It would appear that Racine was happy while at Port Royal. He was
loved by his masters: his gentle amiable nature led him to listen
docilely to their lessons; and the tenderness of his disposition was
akin to that piety which they sedulously sought to inculcate. The
peculiar tenets of the Port Royal, which fixed the foundations of all
religion in the love of God, found an echo in his heart; but how
deeply is it be regretted, that he imbibed that narrow spirit along
with it that restricted the adoration of the Creator to the abstract
idea of himself, rather than a warm diffusive love of the creation.
Poetry was the very essence of Racine's mind—the poetry of
sentiment and the passions; but poetry was forbidden by the
jansenists, except on religious subjects, and Racine could only
indulge his tastes by stealth. His French verses, composed at the
Port Royal, are not good; for his native language, singularly ill-
adapted to verse, had not yet received that spirit of harmony with
which he was destined to inspire her.[98] His biographers have
preserved some specimens of his Latin verses, which have more
merit. They want originality and force, but they are smooth and
pleasing, and show the command he had of the language.
At the age of nineteen he left the Port Royal to follow his studies in
the college of Harcour, at Paris. The logic of the schools pleased him
little: his heart was still set on verse; and his letters, at this period,
to a youthful friend, show the playfulness of his mind, and his desire
166 to distinguish himself as a writer. An occasion presented itself.
0.
Æta
The marriage of Louis XIV. caused every versifier in France to
t. bring his tribute of rhymes. Racine was then unknown. He
21. had, indeed, written a sonnet to his aunt, Madame Vitart, to
compliment her on the birth of a child, which sonnet, becoming
known at Port Royal, awoke a holy horror throughout the
community. His aunt, Agnes de Sainte Thecle Racine, then abbess,
who had been his instructress, wrote him letter after letter,
"excommunication after excommunication," he calls it, to turn his
heart from such profane works. But the suggestions of the demon
were too strong; and Racine wrote an ode, entitled "Nymphes de la
Seine," to celebrate his sovereign's nuptials. His uncle, M. Vitart,
showed it to M. Chapelain, at that time ruler of the French
Parnassus. Chapelain thought the ode showed promise, and
suggested a few judicious alterations. "The ode has been shown to
M. Chapelain," Racine writes to a friend: "he pointed out several
alterations I ought to make, which I have executed, fearful at the
same time that these changes would have to be changed. I knew
not to whom to apply for advice. I was ready to have recourse, like
Malherbe, to an old servant, had I not discovered that she, like her
master, was a jansenist, and might betray me, which would ruin me
utterly, considering that I every day receive letters on letters, or
rather excommunication on excommunication, on account of my
unlucky sonnet."
The ode, however, and its alterations, found favour in the sight of
Chapelain. It deserves the praise at least of being promising—it is
neither bombastic nor tedious, if it be neither original nor sublime.
The versification is harmonious, and, as a whole, it is unaffected and
pleasing. Chapelain carried his approbation so far as to recommend
the young poet and his ode to his patron, M. Colbert, who sent him
a hundred louis from the king, and soon after bestowed on him a
pension of six hundred livres, in his quality of man of letters.
Still, as time crept on, both Racine and his friends deemed it
necessary to take some decision with regard to his future career. His
uncle, M. V; tart, intendant of Chevreux, gave him employment to
overlook some repairs at that place: he did not like the occupation,
and considered Chevreux a sort of prison. His friends at Port Royal
wished him to apply to the law; and, when he testified his
disinclination, were eager to obtain for him some petty place which
would just have maintained him. Racine appears to have been
animated by no mighty ambition. His son, indeed, tells us that, when
young, he had an ardent desire for glory, suppressed afterwards by
feelings of religion. But these aspirations probably awoke in their full
force afterwards, when success opened the path to renown. There
are no expressions in his early letters that denote a thirst for fame:
probably his actual necessities pressed too hardly on him: he
thought, perhaps, more of escape from distasteful studies than
attaining a literary reputation, and thought that he might indulge his
poetical dreams in the inaction of a clerical life. Whatever his
motives were, he showed no great dislike to become in some sort a
member of the church; and, when an opening presented itself, did
not turn away.
He had an uncle, father Sconin, canon of St. Geneviève at Paris, and
at one time general of that community. He was of a restless,
meddling disposition; so that at last his superiors, getting tired of
the broils in which he involved them, sent him into a sort of
honourable banishment at Uzès, where he possessed some
ecclesiastical preferments. He wished to resign his benefice to his
nephew. Racine did not much like the prospect; but he thought it
best, in the first place, to accept his uncle's invitation, and to visit
him.
Uzès is in Provence. Racine repaired to Lyons, and then down the
Rhone to his destination. In the spirit of a true Parisian, he gives no
token of delight at the beauties of nature: he talks of high
mountains and precipitous rocks with a carelessness ill-befitting a
poet; and shows at once that, though he could adorn passion and
sentiment with the colours of poetry, he had not that higher power
of the imagination which allies the emotions of the heart with the
glories of the visible creation, and creates, as it were, "palaces of
nature" for the habitation of the sublimer passions. We have several
of his letters written at this period. They display vivacity, good
humour, and a well-regulated mind: scraps of verses intersperse
them; but these are merely à propos of familiar or diverting events.
There is no token of the elevated nor the fanciful—nothing, in short,
of the poet who, if he did not, like his masters the Greeks, put a soul
into rocks, streams, flowers, and the winds of heaven, yet
afterwards showed a spirit true to the touch of human feeling, and
capable of giving an harmonious voice to sorrow and to love. One of
his chief annoyances during this visit was the patois of the people.
He was eager to acquire a pure and elegant diction; and he feared
that his ear would be corrupted by the jargon to which he was
forced to listen. "I have as much need of an interpreter here," he
writes, "as a Muscovite in Paris. However, as I begin to perceive that
the dialect is a medley of Spanish mixed with Italian, and as I
understand these two languages, I sometimes have recourse to
them; yet often I lose my pains, asking for one thing and getting
another. I sent a servant for a hundred small nails, and he brought
me three boxes of allumettes." "This is a most tiresome town," he
writes, in another letter: "the inhabitants amuse themselves by
killing each other, and getting hanged. There are always lawsuits
going on, wherefore I have refused all acquaintance; for if I made
one friend I should draw down a hundred enemies. I have often
been asked, unworthy as I am, to frequent the society of the place;
for my ode having been seen at the house of a lady, every one came
to visit the author: but it is to no purpose—mens immota manet. I
never believed myself capable of enduring so much solitude, nor
could you have ever hoped so much from my virtue. I pass all my
time with my uncle, with St. Thomas, and Virgil. I make many notes
on theology, and sometimes on poetry. My uncle has all sorts of kind
schemes for me—but none are yet certain: however, he makes me
dress in black from head to foot, and hopes to get something for
me; when I shall pay my debts, if I can; for I cannot before. I ought
to think on all the dunning you suffer on my account—I blush as I
write; erubuit puer; salva res est."
Obstacles, however, continued to present themselves to the
execution of any of his uncle's plans. Racine, as he grew hopeless of
advancement, turned his thoughts more entirely to composition. He
wrote a poem called "The Bath of Venus," and began a play on the
subject of Theagines and Chariclea, the beloved romance of his
boyhood. After three months' residence at Uzès he returned to Paris.
He returned disappointed and uncertain. Poetry—even the drama—
occupied his thoughts; but the opposition of his friends, and the little
confidence in himself which marked his disposition, might have
made him tremble to embark in a literary career, had not a
circumstance occurred which may be called an accident[99], but
which was, indeed, one of those slight threads which form the web
of our lives, and compose the machinery by which Providence directs
it. Molière, having established a comic company in Paris, grew
jealous of the actors of the Hôtel de Bourgogne, who prided
themselves on the tragic dignity of their representations. Having
heard that a new piece was about to be represented at that theatre,
he was desirous of bringing out one himself, on the same day, in
rivalship. A new tragedy, secure of success, was not easy to acquire.
Racine had, on his return from Provence, sent his "Theagines and
Chariclea" to Molière. The latter saw the defects of the piece, but,
penetrating the talent of the author, gave him general
encouragement to proceed. At this crisis he remembered him.
Molière had a design of the "Frères Ennemis" in his portfolio, which
he felt incapable of filling up: he resolved to devolve the task on
Racine, but knew not where to find him. With some difficulty he
hunted him out, and besought him to write, if possible, an act a
week; and they even worked together, that greater speed might be
attained. Well acquainted as Molière was with the conduct of a
drama, and the trickery of actors, no doubt his instructions and aid
were invaluable to the young author. The piece was brought out, and
succeeded—its faults were pardoned on the score of its being a first
production. When it was afterwards published, Racine altered and
corrected it materially. It cannot be said, indeed, that, as some
authors have done, he surprised the world at first with a chef
d'œuvre; elegance and harmony of versification being his
characteristics, he continued to improve to the end, and his first
piece may be considered as a coup d'essai. The subject was 166
not suited to him, whose merit lay in the struggle of passion, 4.Æta
and the gushing overflowings of tenderness. However, it went t.
25.
through fifteen representations. It was speedily followed by
his "Alexandre." Neither in this play did he make any great progress,
or give the stamp of excellence which his dramas afterwards
received. It is said that he read his tragedy to Corneille, who 166
praised it coldly, and advised the author to give up writing for 5.
Æta
the stage. The mediocrity of "Alexandre" prevents any t.
suspicion that the great tragedian was influenced by envy; and 26.
as Racine, in this play, again attempted a subject requiring an
energy and strength of virile passion of which he was incapable, and
in which Corneille so much excelled, we may believe that the old
master of the art felt impatient of the feebleness and inefficiency of
him who afterwards became a successful rival.
When we regard these first essays of Racine, we at once perceive
the origin of his defects, while we feel aware that a contrary system
would have raised him far higher as a dramatist. He was, of course,
familiar with Corneille's master-pieces; and he founded his ideas of
the conduct of a tragedy partly on these, and partly on the Greek.
He did not read Spanish nor English, and was ignorant of the original
and bold conceptions of the poets of those nations; and was
hampered by an observance of the unities, which had become a law
on the French stage, and was recognised and confirmed by himself.
He felt that the Greek drama is not adapted to modern times: he did
not feel that the Greeks, in taking national subjects, warmed the
hearts of their audience; and that the religion, the scenery, the
poetry, the allusions—all Greek, and all, therefore, full of living
interest to Greeks, ought to serve as a model whereby modern
authors might form their own national history and traditions into a
dramatic form, not as ground-works for cold imitations. Racine, from
the first, fell into those deplorable mistakes which render most of his
plays—beautiful and graceful as they are, and full of tenderness and
passion—more like copies in fainter colours of his sublime masters,
than productions conceived by original genius, in a spirit akin to the
age and nation to which he belonged. Another misfortune attended
the composition of his tragedies, as it had also on those of his
predecessor. The Greek drama was held solemn and sacred—the
stage a temple: the English and Spanish theatres, wild, as they
might be termed, were yet magnificent in their errors. An evil
custom in France crushed every possibility of external pomp waiting
on the majesty of action. The nobles, the petit maîtres, all the men
of what is called the best society in Paris, were accustomed to sit on
the stage, and crowded it so as not to allow the author room to
produce more than two persons at a time before the scene. All
possibility, therefore, of reforming the dull undramatic expedient of
the whole action passing in narration between a chief personage and
a confidant was taken away; and thus plays assumed the form
rather of narrative poems in dialogue than the native guise of a
moving, stirring picture of life, such as it is with us—while the
assembly of dandy critics, ever on the look-out for ridicule, allowed
no step beyond conventional rules, and termed the torpor of their
imaginations, good taste. We only wonder that, under such
circumstances, tragedies of merit were produced. But to return to
Racine's "Alexandre."
This tragedy was the cause of the quarrel between Racine and
Molière. It was brought out at the theatre of the Palais Royal—it was
unsuccessful; and the author, attributing his ill success to the actors,
withdrew it, and caused it to be performed at the Hôtel de
Bourgogne: to this defalcation he added the greater injury of
inducing Champmélé, the best tragic actress of the time, to quit
Molière's company for that of the rival theatre. Molière never forgave
him; and they ceased to associate together. Madame de Sévigné
alludes in her letters to the attachment of Racine for Champmélé,
but his son denies that such existed; and the mention which Racine
makes in his letters of this actress; when she was dying, betray no
trace of tender recollection; yet, as these were addressed to his son,
he might carefully suppress the expressions of his regret. He taught
Champmélé to recite; and she owed her reputation to his
instructions.
The criticism freely poured on his two tragedies were of use to the
author. He was keenly alive to censure, and deeply pained by it; but,
when accompanied by such praise as showed that correction and
improvement were expected, he readily gave ear to the suggestions
of his fault-finders. Boileau boasted that he taught Racine to rhyme
with difficulty—easy verses, he said, are not those written most
easily. Racine, as he went on, also began to feel the true bent of his
genius, while his desire to write parts suited to Champmélé induced
him to give that preponderance to the chief female part that
produced, in the sequel, his best plays.
While he was employing himself on "Andromaque" he sustained an
attack, which roused him to some resentment. Nicole, in a letter he
published against a new sect of religionists, asserted that "a
romance writer and a theatrical poet are public poisoners—not of
bodies, but of souls—and that they ought to look on themselves as
the occasion of an infinity of spiritual homicides, of which they are,
or might be, the cause." Racine felt this censure the more bitterly
from his having been excluded from visiting the Port Royal on
account of his tragedies[100]; and he answered it by a letter,
addressed "To the author of imaginary reveries." This letter is
written with a good deal of wit and pleasantry: we miss the high
tone of eloquent feeling that it might be supposed that an author,
warmed with the dignity of his calling, would have expressed. His
letter was answered, and he was excited to write a reply, which he
showed to Boileau. The satirist persuaded him to suppress it; telling
him that it would do no honour to his heart, since he attacked, in
attacking the Port Royal, men of the highest integrity, to whom he
was under obligations. Racine yielded, declaring that his letter
should never see light; which it did not till after his death, when a
stray copy was found and printed. The conduct of the poets was
honourable. It is probable that Racine did not, in his heart, believe in
the goodness of his cause; for he was deeply imbued with the
prejudices instilled by the jansenists in his early youth. He was
piqued by the attack, but his conscience sided with his censurers;
and the degraded state to which clerical influence brought French
actors in those days might well cause a devout catholic to doubt the
innocence of the drama. A higher tone of feeling would have caused
Racine to perceive that the fault lay with the persecutors, not the
persecuted; but though an amiable and upright man, and a man of
genius, he was in nothing beyond his age.
As Racine continued to write, he used his powers with more freedom
and success. "Andromache," "Britannicus," and "Berenice"
succeeded one to the other. The first, we are told, had a striking
success; and it was said to have cost the life of Montfleuri, a
celebrated actor, who put so much passion into the part of Orestes
that he fell a victim to the excitement. "Berenice" was written at the
desire of Henrietta of England, duchess of Orleans. It was called a
duel, since she imposed the same subject, at the same time, on
Corneille. Racine's was the better tragedy, and must always be read
with deep interest; for to its own merit it adds the interest of
commemorating the struggles of passion that Louis XIV.
experienced, when, in his early days, he loved that charming
princess. The subject, however, is too uniform, and the catastrophe
not sufficiently tragic. Boileau felt its defects; and said that, had he
been by, he would have prevented his friend's accepting the
princess's challenge to write on such a subject. When Chapelle was
asked what he thought of Berenice, he summed up the defects of
the play in a few words. "What I think?" he said, "why, Marion
weeps; Marion sobs; Marion wants to be married." That Racine
should have excelled Corneille on this subject is not to be wondered;
but Corneille had still many adherents who disdained, and tried to
put down, his young rival. He had habituated the French audiences
to a more heroic cast of thought than Racine could portray. The
eager eloquence, the impetuous passions, and even the love of the
elder poet were totally unlike the softness and tenderness of the
younger. Racine, therefore encountered much criticism, which
rendered him very unhappy. He told his son, in after years, that he
suffered far more pain from the faults found with his productions
than he ever experienced pleasure from their success. This avowal
at once displays the innate weakness of the man.[101] Madame de
Sévigné was among the partisans of Corneille; and her criticism
shows the impression made on such by the new style of the young
poet. "I send you "Bajazet," she writes to her daughter: "I wish I
could also send you Champmélé to animate the piece. It contains
agreeable passages, but nothing perfectly beautiful; nothing that
carries one away; none of those tirades of Corneille that make one
shudder. Racine can never be compared to him. Let us always
remember the difference. The former will never go beyond
"Andromache;" he writes parts for Champmélé, and not for future
ages. When he is no longer young, and has ceased to be susceptible
of love, he will cease to write as well as he now does." This opinion
is at least false. The tragedies of Racine still live, or at least did so
while Talma and the classic theatre survived in France. And "Athalie,"
written in his more advanced years, is the best of his works.
In the interval between "Andromaque" and "Britannicus" his comedy
of "Les Plaideurs" appeared. A sort of lay benefice had been
conferred on him, but he had scarcely obtained it when it was
disputed by a priest; and then began a lawsuit, which, as he says,
"neither he nor his judges understood." Tired out by law
proceedings, weary of consulting advocates and soliciting judges, he
abandoned his benefice, consoling himself meanwhile by writing the
comedy of "Les Plaideurs," which was suggested by it. We have
spoken, in the preceding pages, of the suppers where Racine,
Boileau, Molière, and others met; in which they gave full play to
their fancy, and gaiety and wit were the order of the day. At these
suppers the plot of the projected comedy was talked over. One guest
provided him with the proper legal terms. Boileau furnished the idea
of the dispute between Chicaneau and the countess: he had
witnessed a similar scene in the apartments of his brother, a
scrivener, between a well-known lawyer and the countess de Crissé,
who had passed her life, and dissipated her property, in lawsuits.
The parliament of Paris, wearied by her pertinacious litigiousness,
forbade her to carry on any suit without the consent of two
advocates, who were named. She was furious at this sentence; and,
after wearying judges, barristers, and attorneys by her repinings,
she visited Boileau's brother, where she met the person in question.
This man, a Paul Pry by inclination, was eager to advise her: she
was at first delighted, till he said something to annoy her, and they
quarrelled violently. This character being introduced into the comedy,
the actress, who took the part, mimicked the poor countess to the
life, even to the wearing a faded pink gown, such as she usually
wore. Many other traits of this comedy were anecdotes actually in
vogue; and the exordium of Intimé, who, when pleading about a
capon, adopted the opening of Cicero's oration, "Pro
Quintio,"—"Quæ res in civitate duæ plurimum possunt, hæ contra
nos ambæ faciunt hoc tempore, summa gratia et eloquentia," had
actually been put to use by an advocate in a petty cause between a
baker and a pastrycook.
The humour of this piece show's that Racine might have succeeded
in comedy: it is full of comic situation, and the true spirit of
Aristophanic farce. Yet it did not at first succeed, either because the
audience could not at once enter into its spirit, or because it was
opposed by a cabal of persons who considered themselves attacked;
and it was withdrawn after thé second representation. Molière,
however, saw its merits; and, though he had quarrelled with the
poet, he said aloud, on quitting the theatre, "This is an excellent
comedy; and those who decry it deserve themselves to be decried."
A month afterwards the actors ventured to represent it at court. The
king entered into the spirit of the fun, and laughed so excessively
that the courtiers were astonished. The actors, delighted by this
unhoped-for piece of good fortune, returned to Paris the same night,
and hastened to wake up the author, to impart the news. The
turmoil of their carriages in his quiet street, in the middle of the
night, awoke the neighbourhood: windows were thrown open; and,
as it had been said that a counsellor of state had expressed great
indignation against "Les Plaideurs," it was supposed that the author
was carried off to prison, for having dared to ridicule the judges on
the public stage; so that, while he was rejoicing at his success, the
report in Paris the next morning was that he had been carried off in
the night by a lettre-de-cachet.
In 1673 Racine was elected into the French academy. The speech he
made on taking his seat was brief and courteous, but not humble,
and delivered in so low a voice that only those near him could hear
it. Meanwhile he continued to add to his reputation by bringing out
his tragedies of "Bajazet," "Mithridates," "Phædra," and "Iphigenia."
Each improving in his peculiar excellence, each found warm admirers
and bitter enemies. Pradon brought out a tragedy on the subject of
Phædra on the same day as Racine; and he had many partisans.
Among them was the duke de Montauzier, and all the clique of the
Hôtel de Bouillon. They carried their measures so far as to take the
principal boxes, on the first six nights of each piece, and thus filled
the theatre, or kept it empty, as they pleased. The chief friend of
Pradon was madame des Houlières; who favoured him, because she
patronised all those poets whom she judged incapable of writing as
well as herself. She witnessed the representation of Racine's play;
and returned afterwards to a supper of select friends, among whom
was Pradon. The new tragedy was the subject of conversation, each
did their best to decry it; and madame des Houlières wrote a
mediocre sonnet enough, beginning—
 "Dans un fauteuil doré, Phèdre, tremblante et
blême,"

to turn it into ridicule. This sonnet had vogue in Paris. No one knew
who wrote it: it was attributed to the duke de Nevers, brother of the
celebrated duchess de Mazarin. The partisans of Racine parodied the
sonnet, under this idea; the parody beginning:

"Dans un Palais doré, Damon jaloux et blême,"

and even attacked the duchess, as

"Une sœur vagabonde, aux crins plus noirs que

blonds."

This reply was attributed to Racine and Boileau. The duke de

Nevers, highly irritated, threatened personal chastisement in
revenge. The report spread that he meant to have them
assassinated. They denied having written the offending sonnet; and
the son of the great Condé went to them, and said, "If you did not
write it, come to the Hôtel de Condé, where the prince can protect
you, as you are innocent. If you did write it, still come to the Hôtel
de Condé, and the prince will take you under his protection, as the
sonnet is both pleasant and witty." An answer was reiterated to the
parody, with the same rhymes, beginning:

"Racine et Despréaux, l'air triste et le teint blême."

The quarrel was afterwards appeased, when it was discovered that

certain young nobles, and not the poets, were the authors of the
first parody.
This last adventure, joined to other circumstances, caused Racine to
resolve on renouncing the drama. The opinions of the recluses of the
Port Royal concerning its wickedness were deeply rooted in his
heart. Though in the fervour of youth, composition, and success, he
had silenced his scruples, they awoke, after a suspension, with
redoubled violence. He not only resolved to write no more, but
imposed severe penances on himself in expiation for those he had
already written, and even wished to turn chartreux. Religion with
him took the narrowest priestly form, redeemed only by the native
gentleness and tenderness of his disposition. These qualities made
him listen to his confessor, who advised him, instead of becoming a
monk, to marry some woman of a pious turn, who would be his
companion in working out his salvation. He followed this counsel,
and married Catherine de Romanet, a lady of a position in life and
167 fortune similar to his own. This marriage decided his future
7.
destiny. His wife had never read nor seen his tragedies; she
Æta
t. knew their names but by hearsay; she regarded poetry as an
38. abomination; she looked on prayer and church-going as the
only absolutely proper occupations of life. She was of an over-
anxious disposition, and not a little narrow-minded. But she was
conscientious, upright, sincere, affectionate, and grateful. She gave
her husband good advice, and, by the calmness of her temper,
smoothed the irritability of his. His letters to his son give us pleasing
pictures of his affection for his wife and children; melancholy ones of
the effects of his opinions. The young mind is timid: it is easily led to
fear death, and to doubt salvation, and to throw itself into religion as
a refuge from the phantasmal horrors of another world. One after
the other of Racine's children resolved to take monastic vows. His
sons lost their vocation when thrown into active life; but the girls,
brought up in convents, of gentle, pliant, and enthusiastic
dispositions, were more firm, and either took the vows in early youth
—which devoted them to lives of hardship and self-denial—or had
their young hearts torn by the struggles between the world and (not
God) but the priests. Racine, on the whole, acted kindly and
conscientiously, and endeavoured to prove their vocation before he
consented to the final sacrifice; but the nature of their education,
and his own feelings, prevented all fair trial; and his joy at their
steadiness, his annoyance in their vacillation, betrays itself in his
letters. His income, derived from the king's pensions and the place
of historiographer, was restricted; and though the king made him
presents, yet these were not more than commensurate to his
increased expenses when in attendance at court. He had seven
children: he found it difficult, therefore, to give doweries to all the
girls; and worldly reasoning came to assist and consolidate
sentiments which sprang originally from bigotry.
One of the first acts of Racine, on entering on this new life, was to
reconcile himself to his friends of the Port Royal. He easily made his
peace with M. Nicole, who did not know what enmity was, and who
received him with open arms. M. Arnaud was not so facile: his sister,
mother Angelica, had been ridiculed by Racine, and he could not
forgive him. Boileau endeavoured in vain to bring about a
reconciliation: he found M. Arnaud impracticable. At length he
determined on a new mode of attack; and he went to the doctor,
taking the tragedy of "Phaedra" with him, with the intention of
proving that a play may be innocent in the eyes of the severest
jansenist. Boileau, as he walked towards the learned and pious
doctor's house, reasoned with himself:—"Will this man," he thought,
"always fancy himself in the right? and cannot I prove to him that he
is in the wrong? I am quite sure that I am in the right now; and, if
he will not agree with me, he must be in the wrong." He found
Arnaud with a number of visitors: he presented the book, and read
at the same time the passage from the preface in which the author
testifies his desire to be reconciled to persons of piety. Boileau then
went on to say that his friend had renounced the theatre; but at the
same time he maintained, that, if the drama was dangerous, it was
the fault of the poets; but that "Phædra" contained nothing but what
was morally virtuous. The audience, consisting of young jansenist
clergymen, smiled contemptuously; but M. Arnaud replied, "If it be
so, there is no harm in this tragedy."
Boileau declared he never felt so happy in his life as on hearing this
declaration: he left the hook, and returned a few days afterwards for
the doctor's opinion: it was favourable, and leave was given him to
bring his friend the following day. Louis Racine's account of the
interview gives a singular picture of manners. "They (Boileau and
Racine) went together; and, though a numerous company was
assembled, the culprit entered, with humility and confusion depicted
on his countenance, and threw himself at M. Arnaud's feet, who
followed his example, and they embraced. M. Arnaud promised to
forget the past, and to be his friend for the future—a promise which
he faithfully kept."
This same year Racine was named historiographer to the king,
together with his friend. In some sort this may be considered
fortunate; since, having renounced poetry, he might have neglected
literature, had not this new employment given him a subject which
he deemed exalted in its nature. How strangely is human nature
constituted. Racine made a scruple of writing tragedies, or, indeed,
poetry of any kind that was not religious. He believed that it was
impious to commemorate in lofty verse the heroic emotions of our
nature, or to dress in the beautiful colours of poetry the gentle
sorrows of the loving heart: from such motives he gave up his best
title to fame, his dearest occupation; but he had no scruple in
following his sovereign to the wars, and in beholding the attack and
defence of towns. "I was at some distance," he writes to Boileau,
"but could see the whole assault perfectly through a glass, which,
indeed, I could scarcely hold steady enough to look through—my
heart beat so fast to see so many brave men cut down." Still there
was no scruple here, though the unjustifiable nature of Louis XIV.'s
wars afforded no excuse for the misery and desolation he spread
around.
This contradiction strikes us yet more forcibly in his letters to his
son, which are full of moral precepts, and just and enlightened
advice on literary subjects. Had he been a soldier, it had made a
natural portion of the picture; but that a man at once of a lively
imagination, tender disposition, and pious sentiments, and who, we
are told, evinced particular regard for his own person, should, day
after day, view the cruelties and ravages of war en amateur shocks
our moral sense.
Racine was servile. This last worst fault he owed, doubtless, to his
monkish education, which gave that turn to his instinctive wish to
gain the sympathy and approbation of his associates. His devotion
was servile. He deserves the praise, certainly, of preferring his God
to his king; for he continued a jansenist, though the king reprobated
that sect and upheld the jesuits, as his own party; yet he never
blamed Racine for his adherence to the Port Royal, so he was never
tempted to abandon it. His veneration for the king—his fear, his
adulation—were carried to a weakness. It is true that it is difficult for
a bold, impossible for a feeble, mind to divest itself of a certain sort
of worship for the first man of the age; and Louis was certainly the
first of his. Racine also liked the refinements of a court; he prided
himself on being a courtier. He succeeded better than Boileau, who
had no ambition of the sort; yet he could never attain that perfect
self-possession, joined to an insinuating and easy address, that
marks the man bred in a court, and assured of his station in it. "Look
at those two men," said the king, seeing Racine and M. de Cavoie
walking together; "I often see them together, and I know the
reason. Cavoie fancies himself a wit while conversing with Racine,
and Racine fancies himself a courtier while talking to Cavoie." It
must not be supposed, however, that he carried his courtier-like
propensities to any contemptible excess. His affectionate disposition
found its greatest enjoyment at home; and he often left the palace
to enjoy the society of his wife and children. His son relates, that
one day, having just returned from Versailles to enjoy this pleasure,
an attendant of the duke came to invite him to dine at the Hôtel de
Condé. "I cannot go," said Racine; "I have returned to my family
after an absence of eight days; they have got a fine carp for me,
and would be much disappointed if I did not share it with them."
In the life of Boileau there is mention of the poet's first campaign,
and the pleasantries that ensued. Boileau never attended another;
but Racine followed the king in several; and his correspondence with
his friend from the camp is very pleasing. Whatever faults might
diminish the brightness of his character, he had a charming
simplicity, a warmth of heart, a turn for humour, and a modesty, that
make us love the man. His life was peaceful: his attendance at court,
domestic peace, the open-hearted intimacy between him and
Boileau, were the chief incidents of his life. "The friends were very
dissimilar," says Louis Racine; "but they delighted in each other's
society: probity was the link of the union." He attended the academy
also. It fell to him to receive Thomas Corneille, when he was chosen
member in place of the great Corneille. Racine's address pleased
168 greatly. His praise of his great rival was considered as
4.
Æta
generous as it was just. To this he added an eulogium on the
t. king, which caused Louis to command him to recite his speech
45. afterwards to him. At one time he was led to break his
resolution to write no more poetry, by the request of the marquis of
Seignelay, who gave a fête to the king at his house at Sceaux; and
on this occasion Racine wrote his "Idyl on Peace."
In a biography of this kind, where the events are merely the every-
day occurrences of life, anecdotes form a prominent portion, and a
few may here be introduced. Racine had not Boileau's wit, but he
had more humour, and a talent for raillery. Boileau represented to
him the danger of yielding to this, even among friends. One day,
after a rather warm discussion, in which Racine had rallied his friend
unmercifully, Boileau said composedly, "Did you wish to annoy me?"
"God forbid!" cried the other. "Well, then," said Boileau, "you were in
the wrong, for you did annoy me." On occasion of another such
dispute, carried on in the same manner, Boileau exclaimed, "Well,
then, I am in the wrong; but I would rather be wrong than be so
insolently right." He listened to his friend's reprimand with docility.
Always endeavouring to correct the defects of his character, he never
received a reproof but he turned his eyes inward to discover whether
it was just, and to amend the fault that occasioned it. He tells his
son in a letter, that accustomed, while a young man, to live among
friends who rallied each other freely on their defects, he never took
offence, but profited by the lessons thus conveyed. Such, however,
is human blindness, that he never perceived the injurious tendency
of his chief defect—weakness of character. He displays this
amusingly enough in some anecdotes he has recorded of Louis XIV.,
in which the magnanimity of the monarch is lauded for the
gentleness with which he reproved an attendant for giving him an
unaired shirt.
Much of Racine's time was spent at court—the king having given him
apartments in the castle and his entrées. He liked to hear him read.
He said Racine had the most agreeable physiognomy of any one at
court, and, of course, was pleased to see him about him. He was a
great favourite of madame de Maintenon, whom, in return, he
admired and respected. There was a good deal of similarity in their
characters, and they could sympathise readily with each other. It is
well known how, at this lady's request, he unwillingly broke his
resolve, and wrote two tragedies, with this extenuation in his eyes,
that they were on religious subjects; indeed, he had no pious scruple
in writing them; but, keenly sensitive to criticism, he feared to forfeit
the fame he had acquired, and that a falling off should appear in
these youngest children of his genius.
The art of reciting poetry with ease and grace was considered in
France a necessary portion of education. Racine was remarkable for
the excellence of his delivery. At one time he had been asked to give
some instructions in the art of declamation to a young princess; but,
when he found that she had been learning portions of his tragedy of
"Andromaque," he retired, and begged that he might not again he
asked to give similar lessons. In the same way, madame de Brinon,
superior of the house of Saint Cyr, was desirous that her pupils
should learn to recite; and, not daring to teach them the tragedies of
Corneille and Racine, she wrote some very bad pieces herself.
Madame de Maintenon was present at the representation of one of
these, and, finding it insufferable, she begged that it might not be
played again, but that a tragedy of Corneille or Racine should be
chosen in which there was least love. "Cinna" was first got up, and
afterwards "Andromaque." The latter was so well played that
madame de Maintenon found it ill suited for the instruction of young
ladies: she wrote to Racine on the subject, saying, "Our little girls
have been acting your "Andromaque," and they performed it so well
that they shall never act either that or any other of your tragedies
again;" and she went onto beg that he would write some sort of
moral or historical poem fit for the recitation of young ladies. The
request is certainly what we, in vulgar language, should call cool.
Racine was annoyed, but he was too good a courtier to disobey—he
has had his reward. He feared to decrease his reputation. In this he
showed too great diffidence of his genius. The very necessity of not
dressing some thrice-told heroic fable in French attire was of use;
and we owe "Athalie," the best of all his dramas, to this demi-regal
command.
His first choice, however, fell naturally upon Esther. There is
something in her story fascinating to the imagination. A young and
gentle girl, saving her nation from persecution by the mere force of
compassion and conjugal love, is in itself a graceful and poetic idea.
Racine found that it had other advantages, when he imaged the
pious and persuasive Maintenon in the young bride, and the
imperious Montespan in the fallen Vashti. When the play was
performed applications were found for other personages, and the
haughty Louvois was detected in Haman. The piece pleased the lady
who commanded it; but she found her labours begin when it was to
be acted, especially when the young duchess of Burgundy took a
part. She attributed to the court the discontent about the distribution
of parts, which flourishes in every green-room in the world, though it
appertain only to a barn; however, success crowned the work. Esther
was acted again and again before the king; no favour was estimated
so highly as an invitation to be present. Madame de Caylus, niece of
madame de Maintenon, was the best actress; and even the
choruses, sung by the young pure voices of girls selected for their
ability, were full of beauty and interest.
Charmed by the success, madame de Maintenon asked the poet for
yet another tragedy. He found it very difficult to select a subject.
Ruth and others were considered and rejected, till he chose one of
the revolutions of the regal house of Judah[102], which was at once
a domestic tragedy, and yet enveloped in all the majesty of royalty,
and the grandeur of the Hebrew worship. Athaliah, on the death of
her son Ahaziah, destroyed all the seed royal of the house of Judah,
except one child, Joash, who was saved by Jehosheba, a princess of
Israel, wife of Jehoiada the priest, and brought up by the latter till
old enough to be restored to his throne, when he was brought out
before the people, and proclaimed king, and the usurping queen,
Athaliah, slain. The subject of this drama, concerning which he
hesitated so long and feared so much, he found afterwards far
better adapted to the real development of passion than "Esther."
"Esther," after all, is a young ladies' play; and the very notion of the
personages having allusion to the ladies of the court gives it a
temporary and factitious interest, ill adapted to the dignity of
tragedy. Racine put his whole soul in "Athalie." His piety, his love of
God, his reverence for priests, which caused him to clothe the
character of Jehoiada in awful majesty; his awe for the great name
of Jehovah, and his immediate interference with the affairs of the
Jewish nation; his power of seizing the grandeur of the Hebrew
conception of the Almighty gave sublimity to his drama, while the
sorrows and virtues of the young Joash gave, so to speak, a virgin
grace to the whole. He had erred hitherto in treading with uneasy
steps in the path which the Greeks had trod before; but here a new
field was opened. And, to enhance the novelty and propriety of the
story, he added a versification more perfect than is to be found in
any other of his plays.
Yet it was unlucky. It had been represented to madame de
Maintenon, that it was ill fitted for the education of noble young
ladies to cause them to act before a whole court; and that the art of
recitation was dearly purchased by the vanity, love of display, and
loss of feminine timidity thus engendered. "Athalie" was, therefore,
never got up like "Esther." It was performed, before the king and a
few others, in madame de Maintenon's private apartment, by the
young ladies, in their own dresses. Afterwards it was performed at
Paris with ill success. The author was deeply mortified, while Boileau
consoled him by prophesying "le public reviendra;" a prophecy
which, in the sequel, was entirely fulfilled.
Many letters of Racine to his family are preserved; which show us
the course of his latter years. It was uniform: though a large family
brought with it such cares as sometimes caused him to regret his
having given up his resolution to turn monk. At home he read books
of piety, instructed his children, and conversed with his friends.
Boileau continued the most intimate. Often the whole family repaired
to Auteuil, where they were received with kindness and hospitality:
at other times he followed the king to Fontainebleau and Marli. He
had the place of gentleman in ordinary to the king (of which he
obtained the survivance for his son), and was respected and loved
by many of the chief nobility.
Racine, however, was not destined to a long life; and, while eagerly
employed on the advancing his family, illness and death checked his
plans. His son thinks that he pays him a compliment by attributing
his death to his sensibility, and the mortification he sustained from
the displeasure of the king. We, on the contrary, should be glad to
exonerate his memory from the charge of a weakness which, carried
so far, puts him in a contemptible light; and would rather hope that
the despondency, the almost despair, he testified, was augmented by
his state of health, as his illness was one that peculiarly affects the
spirits. Like every person of quick and tender feelings, he was, at
times, inclined to melancholy, and given to brood over his anxieties
and griefs. He rather feared evil than anticipated good; and these
defects, instead of lessening by the advance of age and the increase
of his piety, were augmented through the failure of his health, and
the timid and cowardly tendency of his faith.
The glories of Louis XIV. were fast vanishing. Added to the more
circumscribed miseries, resulting to a portion of his subjects from
the revocation of the edict of Nantes, was the universal distress of
the people, loaded by taxation for the purpose of carrying on the
war. Madame de Maintenon felt for all those who suffered. Her
notions of religion, though not jansenist, yet rendered her strictly
devout. To restore Louis to the practice of the virtues she considered
necessary to his salvation, she had thrown him, as much as possible,
into the hands of the jesuits. When the question had been his
personal pleasures, she had ventured far to recall him to a sense of
duty; but she never went beyond. If she governed in any thing, it
was with a hidden influence which he could not detect: she never
appeared to interfere; and her whole life was spent in a sacrifice of
almost every pleasure of her own to indulge his tastes and
enjoyments.
Madame de Maintenon was very partial to Racine. His conversation,
his views, his sentiments, all pleased her. One day they conversed on
the distress into which the country was plunged. Racine explained
his ideas of the remedies that might be applied with so much
clearness and animation, they appeared so reasonable and feasible
to his auditress, that she begged him to put them in writing,
promising that his letter should be seen by no eyes but her own. He,
moved somewhat by a hope of doing good, obeyed. Madame de
Maintenon was reading his essay when the king entered and took it
up. After casting his eyes over it, he asked who was the author; and
madame de Maintenon, after a faint resistance, broke her promise—
and named Racine. The king expressed displeasure that he should
presume to put forth opinions on questions of state:—"Does he think
that he knows every thing," he said, "because he writes good
verses? Does he wish to be a minister of state, because he is a great
poet?" A monarch never expresses displeasure without giving visible
marks of dissatisfaction. Madame de Maintenon felt this so much
that she sent word to Racine of what had passed, telling him, at the
same time, not to appear at court till he heard again from her. The
poet was deeply hurt. He feared to have displeased a prince to
whom he owed so much. He grew melancholy—he grew ill: his
malady appeared to be a fever, which the doctors treated with their
favourite bark; but an abscess was formed on the liver, which they
regarded lightly.
Being somewhat embarrassed in his means at this time, he was
desirous of being excused the tax with which his pension was
burdened; he made the request. It had been granted on a former
occasion—now it was refused; yet with a grace: for the king, in
saying "It cannot be," added, "If, however, I can find some way of
compensating him I shall be very glad." Heedless of this promise,
discouraged by the refusal, he brooded continually over the loss of
royal favour. He began to fear that his adherence to the tenets
upheld by the Port Royal might have displeased the king: in shore,
irritated by illness, depressed by his enforced absence from court, he
gave himself up to melancholy. He wrote to madame de Maintenon
on this new idea of being accused of jansenism. His letter does him
little honour—it bears too deeply the impress of servility, and yet of
an irritation which he ought to have been too proud to express. "As
for intrigue," he writes, "who may not be accused, if such an
accusation reaches a man as devoted to the king as I am: a man
who passes his life in thinking of the king; in acquiring a knowledge
of the great actions of the king; and in inspiring others with the
sentiments of love and admiration which he feels for the king. There
are many living witnesses who could tell you with what zeal I have
often combatted the little discontents which often rise in the minds
of persons whom the king has most favoured. But, madame, with
what conscience can I tell posterity that this great prince never
listened to false reports against persons absolutely unknown to him,
if I become a sad example of the contrary?"
Madame de Maintenon was touched by his appeal: she wished to,
yet dared not, receive him. He wandered sorrowfully about the
avenues of the park of Versailles, hoping to encounter her—and at
last succeeded: she perceived him, and turned into the path to meet
him. "Of what are you afraid?" she said. "I am the cause of your
disaster, and my interest and my honour are concerned to repair it.
Your cause is mine. Let this cloud pass—I will bring back fair
weather."—"No, no, madam," he cried, "it will never return for me!"
"Why do you think so?" she answered; "Do you doubt my sincerity,
or my credit?"—"I am aware of your credit, madam," he said, "and
of your goodness to me; but I have an aunt who loves me in a
different manner. This holy maiden prays to God each day that I may
suffer disgrace, humiliation, and every other evil that may engender
a spirit of repentance; and she will have more credit than you." As
he spoke there was the sound of a carriage approaching. "It is the
king!" cried madame de Maintenon—"hide yourself:" and he hurried
to conceal himself behind the trees.
What a strange picture does this conversation give of the
contradictions of the human heart. Here is a man whose ruling
passion was a desire to attain eternal salvation and a fear to miss it;
a man who believed that God called men to him by the intervention
of adversities and sorrow; and that the truly pious ought to look on
such, as marks of the Saviour's love: and yet the visitation of them
reduced him to sickness and death. He had many thoughts of total
retirement; but he felt it necessary, for the good of his family and
the advancement of his sons, to continue his attendance at court:
for, though not allowed to see the king and madame de Maintenon
privately, he still appeared at the public levees. The sadness he felt
at the new and humiliating part he played there, rendered this,
however, a task from which he would gladly have been excused.
The abscess on the liver closed, and his depression and sense of
illness increased. One day, while in his study, he felt so overcome
that he was obliged to give over his occupation and go to bed. The
cause of his illness was not known: it was even suspected that he
gave way pusillanimously to a slight indisposition—while death had
already seized on a vital part. He was visited by the nobles of the
court, and the king sent to make inquiries.
His devotion and patience increased as his disease grew painful, and
strength of mind sprang up as death drew near. He occupied himself
by recommending his family to his friends and patrons. He dictated a
letter to M. de Cavoie, asking him to solicit for the payment of the
arrears of his pension for the benefit of the survivors. When the
letter was finished, he said to his son, "Why did you not include the
arrears due to Boileau in the request? We must not be separated.
Write your letter over again; and tell Boileau that I was his friend till
death." On taking leave of this dear friend he made an effort to
embrace him, saying, "I look on it as a happiness that I die before
you."
When it was discovered that an internal abscess was formed, an
operation was resolved on. He consented to undergo it, but he had
no hopes of preserving his life. "The physicians try to give me hope,"
he said, "and God could restore me; but the work of death is done."
Hitherto he had feared to die—but its near approach found him
prepared and courageous. The operation was useless—he died three
days after its performance, on the 21st of April, 1699, in his sixtieth
year.
It will be perceived that we have not said too much in affirming, that
the qualities of his heart compensated for a certain weakness of
character, which, fostered by a too enthusiastic piety, and the
gratitude he owed to him whom he considered the greatest of
monarchs, led him to waste at court, and in dreams of bigotry, those
faculties which ought to have inspired him, even if the drama were
reprehensible, with the conception of some great and useful work,
redounding more to the honour of the Creator (since he gifted him
with these faculties) than the many hours he spent in his oratory. It
is plain from his letters that something puerile was thus imparted to
his mind, which, from the first, needed strengthening. Yet one sort
of strength he gained. He had a conscience that for ever urged him
to do right, and a mind open to conviction. Under the influence of
his religious system, he was led rather to avoid faults than to seek to
attain virtues. He had an inclination for raillery, which, through the
advice of Boileau, he carefully restrained: he was fond of pleasure;
religion caused him to prefer the quiet of his home: and, as the
same friend said, "Reason brings most men to faith—faith has
brought Racine to reason." Fearful of pain himself, he was eager to
avoid causing it to others. In society he was pliant; striving to draw
others out rather than endeavouring to shine himself. "When the
prince of Condé passes whole hours with me," he said to his son,
"you would be surprised to find that I perhaps have not uttered four
words all the time; but I put him into the humour to talk, and he
goes away even more satisfied with himself than with me. My talent
does not consist in proving to the great that I am clever, but in
teaching them that they are so themselves." His faithful friendship
for Boileau is one of the most pleasing circumstances of his life. His
letters show the kindly nature of the intimacy. His wife and family
often visited Auteuil; and Boileau, grown deaf, yet always kind,
exerted himself to amuse or instruct, according to their ages, the
children of his friend.
Of his tragedies the most contradictory opinions will, of course, be
expressed. We cannot admire them as the French do. We cannot
admit the superior excellence of their plan, because they bring the
most incongruous personages into one spot; and, crowding the
events of years into a few hours, call that unity of time and place:
generally we are only shocked by the improbabilities thus presented;
and when the author succeeds, it seems at best but a piece of
legerdemain. Grandeur of conception is sacrificed to decorum, and
tragedy resembles a dance in fetters. To this defect is added that of
the choice of heroic subjects; which, while it brought the author into
unmeet comparison with his masters, the Greeks, rendered his work
a factitious imitation, leaving small space for the expression of the
real sentiments of his heart; and he either fell into the fault of
coldness, by endeavouring (vainly) to make his personages speak
and feel as Greeks would have done, or incurred the censure applied
to him of making his ancient heroes express themselves like modern
Frenchmen. "Phædra" is the best of his heroic tragedies; and much
in it is borrowed from Euripides. "Berenice" and "Britannicus" must
always please more, because the conception is freer, as due solely to
their author. "Athalie" is best of all; most original in its conception,
powerful in its execution, and correct and beautiful in its language.
There is, indeed, a charm in Racine's versification that wins the ear,
and a grace in his characters that interests the heart. There is a
propriety thrown over all he writes, which, if it wants strength, is
often the soul of grace and tenderness. Had he, at the critical
moment when he threw himself into the arms of the priests, and
indulged the notion that to fritter away his time at court was a more
pious pursuit than to create immortal works of art, had he, we
repeat, at that time, dedicated himself to the strengthening and
elevating his mind, and to the composition of poetry on a system at
once pure and noble, and yet true to the real feelings of our nature,
"Athalie" had, probably, not been his chef d'œuvre; and, on his
death bed, he might have looked back with more pride on these
testimonies of gratitude to God, for having gifted him with genius,
than on the multitudinous times he had counted his rosary, or the
many hours loitered away in the royal halls of Versailles.

[96]Life by Louis Racine. The authentic accounts of Racine are chiefly founded on
this sketch, and on his correspondence.
[97]M. de Valincour says, "I remember one day at Auteuil, when on a visit to
Boileau, with M. Nicole and other friends of distinguished merit, that we made
Racine talk of the Œdipus of Sophocles, and he recited the whole play to us,
translating it as he went on." Racine often said that he treated subjects adopted
by Euripides, but he never ventured to follow in the steps of Sophocles.
[98]Racine polished French poetry, and inspired it with harmony, though, even in
his verses, we are often annoyed by trivialities induced by the laws of rhyme. It
was left for La Martine to overcome this difficulty—to put music into his lines, and
bend the stubborn material to his thoughts. Some of the earlier poems, in
particular, of this most graceful and harmonious poet make you forget that you are
reading French—you are only aware of the perfection of his musical pauses, the
expressive sweetness of his language, and feel how entirely his mind can subdue
all things to its own nature, when French verse, expressing his ideas, becomes
sublime, flowing, and graceful. We cannot believe, however, that any poet could so
far vanquish its monotony as to adopt it to heroic narrative; it is much that it has
attained this degree of excellence in lyrics.
[99]Grimarest, Vie de Molière.
[100]His aunt, a nun of Port Royal, wrote him a letter to intimate this, which may
well be called an excommunication:—"I have learnt with grief," she says, "that you
more than ever frequent the society of persons whose names are abominable to
the pious; and with reason, since they are forbidden to enter the church, or to
partake in the sacraments, even at the moment of death, unless they repent.
Judge, therefore, my dear nephew, of the state I am in, since you are not ignorant
of the affection I have always felt for you; and that I have never desired any thing
except that you should give yourself up to God while fulfilling some respectable
employment. I conjure you, therefore, my dear nephew, to have pity on your soul,
and to consider seriously the gulf into which you are throwing yourself. I should be
glad if what I am told proves untrue; but, if you are so unhappy as not to have
given up an intercourse that dishonours you before God and man, you must not
think of coming to see us, for you are aware that I could not speak to you,
knowing you to be in so deplorable a state, and one so contrary to Christianity. I
shall, moreover, pray to God," &c.
[101]Boileau's virile and independent mind was far above the weakness of his
friend, and doubtless deplored it. At once to console, and to elevate him to a
higher tone of feeling, he addressed an epistle to him, in which are the following
lines:—

"Toi donc, qui t'elevant sur la scene tragique,

Suis les pas de Sophocle, et seul de tant d'Esprits,
De Corneille vielli sait consoler Paris,
Cesse de t'étonner, si l'envie animée,
Attachant à ton nom sa rouille envenimée,
La calomnie en main, quelquefois te poursuit.
En cela, comme en tout, le ciel qui nous conduit,
Racine, fait briller sa profonde sagesse;
Le mérite en repos s'endort dans la paresse:
Mais par les envieux un genie excité,
Au comble de son art est mille fois monté.
Plus on veut s'affloiblir, plus il croit et s'élance;
Au Cid persécuté, Cinna doit sa naissance;
Et peut-être ta plume aux censeurs de Pyrrhus
Doit les plus nobles traits dont tu peignis Burhus."

[102]Vide 2 Kings, chap, XI., 2 Chronicles, chap. XXIII.

FÉNÉLON

1651-1715

There is no name more respected in the modern history of the

world, than that of Fénélon. In the ancient, that of Socrates
competes with him. It might be curious and useful to compare
Christian humility with pagan fortitude in these illustrious men. The
death of Socrates crowned his life with undying fame. Fénélon
suffered no martyrdom for his faith, but he was unchanged by the
temptations of a court, and bore injustice with cheerful resignation.
Amidst the roughness and almost rusticity of Socrates, there was
something majestic and sublime, that inspired awe:[103] the