1. Corneille—Story of his life. Readings from the Cid, Horace, and Polyeucte. (Translation by Nokes.)
2. Racine—Relation to Port-Royal. Ode on the marriage of the king. Classical subjects. Esther and Athalie, his masterpiece, written at the request of Madame de Maintenon for her young ladies at St. Cyr. Readings from Andromaque, Phèdre, and Athalie. (Bohn's translation.)
3. Molière—Early life as a strolling player. Rescue of his company from failure by his own writings. Paris and the favor of the Duc d'Orleans. Failure in tragedy; success in comedy. Taken up by the king. Royal fêtes. Limitations of this work. First characteristic play: L'Ecole des Femmes. Molière as the greatest of comedy-writers. Readings from Tartuffe, Le Misanthrope, Le Médecin Malgré Lui. Les Femmes Savantes. (Many translations. Curtis Hidden Page's is fine.)
Books to Consult—Guizot: Corneille and His Times. Trollope: Corneille and Racine. Hatton: Life of Molière. Brander Matthews: Great Plays (French and German), with notes. (Contains Le Cid, Horace, Polyeucte, and Tartuffe.)
As Molière is unquestionably the great dramatist of the period, devote the day largely to him. Read from Chatfield-Taylor's Pathway to Fame, which gives the dramatist's life as a strolling player. Describe one of the fêtes for which he wrote his little farces and ballets. Have a brief talk on the advance in stage-setting at this time, due to the unlimited sums Louis spent on his fêtes, and the employment of the greatest artists for the scenery. Compare this with the setting of the stage in Shakespeare's theater.
VII—ART
1. Architecture—Mansart, Perrault, Lemercier. Some of the great public buildings built during this reign. Show photographs.
2. Painting—Lebrun (foundation of the Louvre collection). Lesueur, Mignard, Philippe de Champaigne, Largillière, Watteau. Portraits of the King.
3. Sculpture—Puget, Sarazin, Coysevox. Photographs of surviving examples.
4. Music—Founding of modern musical drama by Mazarin (Strozzi's opera-bouffe in the Louvre, in 1645). Cambert, L'Abbé Perrin, Lulli.