in Villers Cotterets. Left an orphan at an early age, he was adopted, not as his son and biographer asserts, by his maternal, but by his paternal grandfather, who sent him for his education to Beauvais and afterwards to Paris, where he was successively a pupil of the college d'Harcourt and of the monastic school of Port-Royal des Champs. With great advantage to his subsequent pursuits, he began in the latter institution a serious and critical study of the classics; among whom, almost of course, Sophocles and Euripides were his favourites. His memory at this early period, according to his biographer, was astonishing. Sophocles and Euripides he knew almost by heart. A Greek romance, with which he was much pleased, his teacher Lancelot twice confiscated, and committed on both occasions the forbidden volume to the flames. Racine purchased a third copy of the book, and after some time, having committed it to memory, handed it to the professor with the remark, "You may burn this too with the others." He was equally well skilled in Latin, which when he first began to compose in verse he wrote better than French. His earliest verses were dedicated to the beauties of the country about Port-Royal, and gave little indication of very superior abilities. The king's marriage in 1660 furnished the young poet with a subject which he turned to account in "La Nymphe de la Seine," an ode which found its way from Chapelain, who praised it liberally to Colbert the minister, who in the king's name sent the young author a handsome present, and gave him a small pension. The following year Racine passed in Languedoc in the society of his maternal uncle, a canon of the cathedral of Uzes, who talked of resigning his benefice in favour of his nephew, but eventually let him return to Paris with a MS. tragedy in his pocket, and not much besides. This performance, the story of which was taken from the favourite Greek romance above alluded to, is said to have been submitted to Molière, who recognized in it, so the story goes, the promise of high excellence, and proposed to the young poet as one more suitable for tragedy the subject which Racine next handled. However this may be, in 1664, after the date of his acquaintance with Molière, Racine's "Thébaide" was put upon the stage. In the same year his ode, "La Renommée aux Muses," praised like its predecessor by a poet, but a poet of another order than that to which Chapelain belonged, was also rewarded by his majesty. Racine's admirer and critic on this occasion was Boileau. The friendship then begun between them was interrupted only by death. During the next ten years, Racine produced in rapid succession the great dramas on which his reputation rests. After "Alexandre," which is not to be included among his masterpieces, came "Andromaque," 1667. This was the first of his pieces which fairly took hold of the public mind. The sensation which it created on the stage his son compares to that which attended the earlier representations of Corneille's Cid. A comedy, Racine's only effort in that line, followed; it was praised by Molière, and it provoked his majesty to violent bursts of laughter, but the public neither praised nor laughed. "Britannicus," a noble tragedy, appeared in 1669; and the following year the author of "Britannicus" in the full bloom of his powers, and the author of the Cid in the decline of his faculties, produced each a tragedy, entitled "Bérénice." Henriette Anne of England was the instigator of this unequal contest, the risks of which Corneille might surely have been spared in consideration of the fact that he could gain nothing by success. At any rate, it is hardly surprising if when his now triumphant rival's "Bajazet" was represented in 1672, Corneille should have let the remark escape him in the theatre, that all the personages of the piece, though Turks in point of costume, were Frenchmen in point of sentiment. "Mithridate" appeared in 1673, and shortly after its author was admitted into the Academy. Then came "Iphigenie," 1675, and two years afterwards the famous "Phèdre." Racine was only in his thirty-eighth year when this latter tragedy appeared, yet he resolved it should be his last. His popularity had made him enemies, of course; its sure and steady increase had formed them into a cabal, whose proceedings were at any rate sufficiently vigorous. They got Pradon to write a tragedy, a wretched performance, also entitled "Phèdre," and had it played and puffed beyond endurance. This Racine, exceedingly sensitive to hostile criticism, took much to heart. In vain Boileau, who now addressed to him his seventh epistle, counselled him to laugh at his enemies. Nothing would satisfy him but to turn Carthusian. His spiritual adviser, however, gave him sensible advice, which he was persuaded to follow. On the 1st June he espoused Catherine de Remanet, daughter of an officer of exchequer at Amiens, with whom, though she only knew his dramas by hearing them mentioned in conversation, he enjoyed an unusual degree of matrimonial happiness. To his resolution of writing no more for the stage, Racine, whose religious feelings were now not untinged with asceticism, would probably have adhered to the last, if he had not happily fallen under the influence of Madame de Maintenon, who persuaded him to write a dramatic piece on a scriptural subject, to be performed by the ladies of her foundation of St. Cyr. This was the fine tragedy of "Esther," which was performed in 1689 in presence of the court. Two years afterwards, "Athalie" saw the light under the same auspices, and thus ended the dramatic career of Racine. Had it closed, as he intended, after the appearance of "Phèdre," his reputation might not have been any the less, but two of the masterpieces of French literature would not have existed. Shortly after his marriage, Racine, who had written more than one keen pamphlet against Port Royal, resenting especially some remarks of Nicole on the subject of dramatic authorship, was happily reconciled to the leaders of that celebrated school, and in fact became a decided though not a bitter Jansenist. For a long period he enjoyed marked favour at court. He lost it without loss of honour; but almost as if honour had been lost, he did not bear it bravely. He was a gentleman-in-ordinary, and, along with Boileau, joint historiographer to the king. Humble as were these places, he was not much ambitious of higher, but to promote the interests of his family he frequented court regularly. One day, as the result of some conversation on the subject, Madame de Maintenon requested him to draw up a memoir respecting the sufferings of the poorer classes. This memoir, candidly enough attributing these sufferings to the prolonged wars of the period, unfortunately came under the eye of Louis XIV., who inquired at Madame the name of the author, and then put the question whether because he was a great poet he wanted to be a minister. All this was duly reported to Racine, and he sank into a state of melancholy; fever supervened, and finally an abscess of the liver carried him off, 21st April, 1699. Thus passed away, with perhaps too much respect for Louis XIV., but with no worse fault, with true christian fortitude and serenity, the greatest after Corneille of French tragic authors. He left two sons and three daughters. Besides his dramatic works, Racine wrote "Cantiques" for the use of St. Cyr; "Abregé de l'Histoire de Port Royal;" epigrams, letters, and some minor pieces, among which the eloge of Corneille is especially interesting. A complete edition of his works, by A. Martin, appeared at Paris, 6 vols., 8vo, 1820. Among the editions of his "Theatre," those of Firmin Didot are represented as the best.—J. S., G.
RACINE, Louis, son of the preceding, born in Paris in 1692, inherited the poetical tastes, and to some extent the genius of his father. He was educated for the bar, but finding that literature was his proper vocation he retired into the Oratory, and there in 1720 produced his poem on "Grace." In 1722 he obtained a place in the finance department of government, which he retained till 1750, when he finally settled in Paris. Losing his only son in the great earthquake at Lisbon, Racine withdrew altogether from society, and devoted himself to religious exercises. He died in 1763. A complete edition of his works was published in 1808—it contains, besides the above-mentioned poem, a poem on Religion, Odes, Epistles, a translation of Paradise Lost, and an essay on Epic Poetry. In prose he wrote "Reflexions sur la Poesie," "Memoires sur la vie de Jean Racine," "Remarques sur les tragedies de Jean Racine."
RACZYNSKI, Eduard, Count, a Polish writer, was born at Posen on the 2d of April, 1786, being the son of Count Philip Raczynski, a military officer. Edward pursued his father's career and served in a regiment of his countrymen under the Emperor Napoleon. After the triumph of the allies he retired into private life, and devoted himself to literature. In 1821 he published at Breslau, in a magnificent edition in folio, "An Account of his travels in Turkey in 1814," written in the Polish language. In 1840 appeared the first volume of his collection of unpublished memoirs relating to Poland, which was completed in twenty-one volumes, under the title of "Pictures of the Poles and Poland in the Eighteenth Century." His "Cabinet of Polish Medals, from the most ancient to those of the reign of King John III.," was published in 1841-45. He also edited and printed the "Codex Diplomaticus Majoris Poloniæ," which had been compiled by his grandfather. Count Casimir, and added a similar contribution to the historical literature of his country in
