counsellor, Boileau, he doubtless owed to them his determination to
devote himself to dramatic literature.

His first tragedies to be put upon the stage were _La Thébaïde_ (1664)
and _Alexandre_ (1665), which gave brilliant promise. In 1667 appeared
_Andromaque_, his first chef-d'oeuvre, which placed him at once in the
very front rank by the side of Corneille. From that time forth, until
1677, almost each year was marked by a new triumph. In 1668, he
produced his one comedy, _Les Plaideurs_, a highly successful satire on
the Law Courts, in the vein of the "Wasps" of Aristophanes. In 1669,
he resumed his tragedies on historical subjects with _Britannicus_,
largely drawn from Tacitus, followed by _Bérénice_ (1670), _Bajazet_
(1672), _Mithridate_ (1673), _Iphigénie_ (1674), and _Phèdre_ (1677),
the last two being inspired by Euripides.

Incensed at a literary and artistic cabal, by which a rival play of
_Phèdre_, by Pradon, was momentarily preferred to his own, Racine now
withdrew from the stage. Appointed soon after to the not very onerous
post of historiographer to the King, he lived for a period of twelve
years a retired life in the bosom of his family.

In 1689, at the request of Mme. de Maintenon, the secret wife of Louis
XIV., he produced _Esther_, and in 1691, _Athalie_, both drawn from the
Scriptures and intended for private performance only. Embittered by
the indifference with which the latter tragedy was received,--although
posterity has pronounced it his masterpiece,--Racine definitely gave up
the drama. He died in 1699, after a few years devoted to his _Histoire
du Règne de Louis XIV._, his death being hastened by grief at having
incurred the King's displeasure on account of a memoir on the misery of
the people, which he wrote at the request of Mme. de Maintenon.