INTRODUCTORY NOTE JEAN BAPTISTE RACINE, the younger contemporary of Corneille, and his rival for supremacy in French classical tragedy, was born at Ferte-Milon, December 21, 1639. He was educated at the College of Beauvais, at the great Jansenist school at Port Royal, and at the College d'Harcourt. He attracted notice by an ode written for the marriage of Louis XIV in 1660, and made his first really great dramatic success with his "Andromaque."... more...

SCENE: A farmyard, two slaves busy beside a dungheap; afterwards, in Olympus. FIRST SERVANT Quick, quick, bring the dung-beetle his cake. SECOND SERVANT Coming, coming. FIRST SERVANT Give it to him, and may it kill him! SECOND SERVANT May he never eat a better. FIRST SERVANT Now give him this other one kneaded up with ass's dung. SECOND SERVANT There! I've done that too. FIRST SERVANT And where's what you gave him just now; surely he can't... more...

SCENE I Cromwell's house at Ely, about the year 1639. An early summer evening. The window of the room opens on to a smooth lawn, used for bowling, and a garden full of flowers. Oliver's wife, Elizabeth Cromwell, is sitting at the table, sewing. In a chair by the open window Mrs. Cromwell, his mother, is reading. She is eighty years of age. Mrs. Cromwell: Oliver troubles me, persuading everywhere. Restless like this. Elizabeth: He says that... more...

PREFACE If I have turned aside from Euripides for a moment and attempted a translation of the great stage masterpiece of Sophocles, my excuse must be the fascination of this play, which has thrown its spell on me as on many other translators. Yet I may plead also that as a rule every diligent student of these great works can add something to the discoveries of his predecessors, and I think I have been able to bring out a few new points in the... more...

ACT I SCENE.—The scene is in the Great Hall in the Palace of the Caesars. At the back are steps leading to a platform with balustrade opening on the air, and beyond, a view of the city. [On the right of the stage is a cedarn couch on which CLAUDIUS is uneasily sleeping. On the right is a door communicating with the inner apartments. On the left a door communicating with the outer halls. [XENOPHON is standing by the couch of CLAUDIUS.... more...

SCENE I. A common apartment in the Castle of Fotheringay.HANNAH KENNEDY, contending violently with PAULET, who is aboutto break open a closet; DRURY with an iron crown.KENNEDY.How now, sir? what fresh outrage have we here?Back from that cabinet!PAULET.Whence came the jewel?I know 'twas from an upper chamber thrown;And you would bribe the gardener with your trinkets.A curse on woman's wiles! In spite of allMy strict precaution and my active... more...

PREFACE. In the selection of my last Shakespearean revival at the Princess’s Theatre, I have been actuated by a desire to present some of the finest poetry of our great dramatic master, interwoven with a subject illustrating a most memorable era in English history. No play appears to be better adapted for this two-fold purpose than that which treats of Shakespeare’s favorite hero, and England’s favorite... more...

ACT THE FIRST. SCENE I. THE TOWER. Enter the Duke of Gloster, Sir Richard Ratcliffe, and Catesby. Glos. Thus far success attends upon our councils, And each event has answer'd to my wish; The queen and all her upstart race are quell'd; Dorset is banish'd, and her brother Rivers, Ere this, lies shorter by the head at Pomfret. The nobles have, with joint concurrence, nam'd me Protector of the realm: my brother's... more...

ACT THE FIRST. SCENE I. A Grove before the Temple of Diana. IPHIGENIA. Beneath your leafy gloom, ye waving boughsOf this old, shady, consecrated grove,As in the goddess' silent sanctuary,With the same shudd'ring feeling forth I step,As when I trod it first, nor ever hereDoth my unquiet spirit feel at home.Long as the mighty will, to which I bow,Hath kept me here conceal'd, still, as at first,I feel myself a stranger. For the seaDoth sever me,... more...

ACT FIRST. (A room at Ostrat. Through an open door in the back, the Banquet Hall is seen in faint moonlight, which shines fitfully through a deep bow-window in the opposite wall. To the right, an entrance- door; further forward, a curtained window. On the left, a door leading to the inner rooms; further forward a large, open fireplace, which casts a glow over the room. It is a stormy evening.) (BIORN and FINN are sitting by the fireplace. The... more...