Corentin

“ We pull the wires of political dramas, and are treated with politeness by very great people.—Come, my dear Jacques Collin, do you say yes?”
“Have you orders to act in this matter?” said the convict.
“I have a free hand,” replied Corentin, delighted at his own happy idea.
“You are trifling with me; you are very shrewd, and you must allow that a man may be suspicious of you.—You have sold more than one man by tying him up in a sack after making him go into it of his own accord. I know all your great victories—the Montauran case, the Simeuse business—the battles of Marengo of espionage.” ”

“ That convict holds the secrets of two kings."
"He is a man of mettle and temper. We have only two courses open to us," said the public prosecutor. "We must secure his fidelity, or get him out of the way."
"The same idea has struck us both, and that is a great honor for me," said Corentin. "I am obliged to have so many ideas, and for so many people, that out of them all I ought occasionally to meet a clever man." ”

“ Under Charles X., Corentin was chief of the political police of the chateau. (Scenes from a Courtesan's Life) For more than thirty years he lived on rue Honore-Chevalier under the name of M. du Portail. He sheltered Lydie, daughter of his friend, Peyrade, after the death of the old police-agent. About 1840 he brought about her marriage with Theodose de la Peyrade, nephew of Peyrade, after having upset the plans of the very astute young man, greatly in love with Celeste Colleville's dowry. ”

“ Corentin stood nonplussed for the first time in his life, and allowed his terrible antagonist to wring his hand.
"If so," said he, "I think it will be to our interest on both sides to remain chums."
"We shall be stronger each on our own side, but at the same time more dangerous," added Jacques Collin in an undertone. "And you will allow me to call on you to-morrow to ask for some pledge of our agreement."
"Well, well," said Corentin amiably, "you are taking the case out of my hands to place it in those of the public prosecutor. You will help him to promotion ”

“ Oh!” said Jacques Collin.
“And you were very near winning the day!” said Corentin, noticing the exclamation. “You are quite the most extraordinary man I ever met in my life, and I have seen many very extraordinary men, for those I have to work with me are all remarkable for daring and bold scheming.
“I was, for my sins, very intimate with the late Duc d’Otranto; I have worked for Louis XVIII. when he was on the throne; and, when he was exiled, for the Emperor and for the Directory. You have the tenacity of Louvel, the best political instrument I ever met with ”

“ CHAPTER XV THE MECHANISM OF THE CORNELIAN TRAGEDY
The ideal of the deliberative will, then, formed the real, living passion of this man devoid of passions; for no one that lives can withhold himself from passion: he is only able to change its object by passing from one to the other. The judgment that holds Corneille to be an intrinsically prosaic, ratiocinatory and casuistical genius is therefore to be looked upon as lacking of penetration. Had he been a casuist, it seems clear that he would have composed casuistical works. ”

“ V Everybody had heard of Periander, king of Corinth. Some had heard of his great learning, and others had heard of his selfishness and cruelty.
Strangers admired him for his wisdom. His own people despised him for his wickedness.
When he heard that some men had come to Corinth with a very costly golden tripod, he had them brought before him.
"I have heard all about that tripod," he said, "and I know why you are carrying it from one place to another. Do you expect to find any man in Corinth who deserves so rich a gift?"
"We hope that you are the man," said the messengers. ”

“ Corneille, who sufficiently discovers himself without being named, becomes an ordinary man when he speaks for himself. He dares say any thing for a Greek or a Roman : a Frenchman or Spaniard abates his Courage; and when he speaks for him, he is quite dispirited. He racks his Imagination for all that is noble to adorn his old Heroes, and you would say, that he debarr’d himself the advantage of his own wealth, as if he were not worthy the use of it.
If you know the world perfectly, you will find in it abundance of men valuable for their Talents, and as contemptible for their Failings. ”

“ My occasional appearance in literary circles will not be misconstrued, as I have the reputation of unusual erudition." He began to write: "Cornelia!" He paused. "Cornelia! It was a lofty spirit that gave her this proud name; is she a true child of this spirit? I almost believe it. That she glides into the cells of the lowest criminals does not spring from humility,--it is the defiance of compassion against the harshness of force, and the consciousness of the joy-giving power of her own individuality. Woe to him who ventured to wound her pride! He would have lost her." ”

“ The most recent interpreters have found Corneille's ideal to reside in will for its own sake, the "pure will," superior or anterior to good and evil, in the energy of the will as such, which does not pay attention to particular ends. Thus the false conception of him as animated with the ideal of moral duty or with that of the triumph of duty over the passions has been eliminated, and agreement has been reached, not only with the reality of the tragedies, but also with what Corneille himself laid down in his Discours as to the dramatic personage. ”

“ Corin looked at him commiseratingly.
“My dear man,” he said gently, “you’ll find that your figuring will bring you to but one conclusion. You’ve got to interpret for yourself. If you go off to ask other people, what will you find? Every man will tell you that his way is the right way. ”

“ Cornelli has cost me neither patience, care, nor trouble. If by a little love I have been able to draw out the good kernel of her nature and bring it to happy development, then that is all I have done. Cornelli has never made my task hard for me. We have all become so fond of her that we had to think with sorrow of the time when she would leave us. I shall never forget what happy hours Dino had with Cornelli during his illness and how she constantly entertained my sociable little Mux with her constant merriment and kindness. ”

“ But Corneille was Cornélien even when he wrote rhymed comedy—he could not have been anything else—and he never would have fallen into rhyme had he not wished to make concessions to the prevailing fashion. [69]
Even when engaged in the most absorbing of [171] intrigues his lovers pretend that they are their own masters, and that they feel only such sentiments as they have elected to feel. At that early day—when Médée and Clitandre were written—the culte of the will had germinated; and time proved that it was predestined to become the chief director of Corneille's work. ”

“ In face, this same Corin was plump, smooth-skinned, rosy-cheeked, fair-haired, with short-sighted blue eyes that gazed at you kindly from behind gold-rimmed spectacles. His own [Pg 9] appearance caused him moments of acute anguish.
“Look at me!” he would cry on occasions, having met his reflection in some unexpected mirror in a friend’s house or studio, “Look at me! The soul of an artist, and the appearance of a benign and grown-up baby! If I didn’t know my own nature and character, I vow I’d be taken in. I am taken in when I come upon myself in this disgusting and unexpected fashion. ”

“ CHAPTER LII
“There is nothing to be afraid of, Cornélie,” he said, convincingly. “That man has no power over you if you refuse, if you refuse with a firm will. I do not see what he could do. You are quite free, absolutely released from him. That you ran away so precipitately was certainly not wise: it will look to him like a flight. Why did you not tell him calmly that he can’t claim any rights in you? Why did you not say that you loved me? If need were, you could have said that we were engaged. How can you have been so weak and so terrified? It’s not like you! ”

“ Cornelia clung closely to him. "Do without you? Oh, Heinrich, how could I?"
"Well, promise me you will take courage and refuse Linderer's proposal; then, Cornelia, I shall first believe in the strength of your love."
"But the world,--how would it judge of such a plan?"
"Cornelia, I should have thought you philosopher enough to despise the world and its judgments."
"Perhaps,--but custom--"
"You may offend against custom, but not morality. Our love bears the highest consecration in itself. If you are thoroughly pervaded with its influence, you may trust yourself to it without fear. ”

“ You are looking fifty years older than when I saw you last, and I know too well that fate has treated me no better!'
'Ah, do not say that,' replied Cornichon, clasping her hand, 'You are different, it is true; but every age has its graces, and surely no woman of sixty was ever handsomer than you! If your eyes had been as bright as of yore they would have matched badly with your faded skin. The wrinkles which I notice on your forehead explain the increased fulness of your cheeks, and your throat in withering is elegant in decay. ”

“ Corneille was "of the Court" by all his feelings and by all his prejudices, and he shared Mademoiselle's belief that there is a natural difference between the man of quality and the man below the quality, because generous virtues are mingled with the blood which runs in noble veins, while the blood of the man of lower birth is mingled with lower passions. Being a true courtier, Corneille believed that above the two varieties of the human kind—the quality and the lesser people—Providence set the order of Princes who are of an essence apart, elect, and quasi-divine. ”

“ Mais qui hait par devoir ne s'aveugle jamais; c'est sa raison qui hait ...." His ideal personages sometimes declare, when face to face with their enemy: "je te dois estimer, mais je te dois haïr." [Pg 372] On the other hand, we perceive clearly why Corneille was led to admire the will, even when without moral illumination, even indeed when it is actively opposed to or without morality; for it has the power of not yielding to and of dominating the passions, of not being violent weakness, but strength, or as it was called during the Renaissance, "virtú." ”

“ Our first impression was, “she is a fool;” our second, “she is a wit;” our third, “she is something between both!” Oh! that it were possible for us to commit to paper one-half of what was uttered by Corinna! Our recollection of our tête-à-tête is like the recollection of a dream. In dreams we remember that we were at one [Pg 68] moment in a mud-built cottage, and were the next transported to a Gothic chapel, but by what means the transmutation of place was effected our waking thoughts are unable to conceive. Thus it was when we listened to Corinna. ”

“ The only thing was that he blessed her for bringing it back. "Ah, the ideas of people now—!"
"Yes, their ideas are certainly not about us." But he ruefully faced it. "We've none the less, however, to live with them."
"With their ideas—?" Cornelia questioned.
"With them—these modern wonders; such as they are!" Then he went on: "It must have been to help me you've come back."
She said nothing for an instant about that, only nodding instead at his photograph. "What has become of yours? I mean of her." ”

“ I once visited Corinna when all her lovers happened to be there together. I suppose Le Vive was let in by some accident she could not avoid. The grave man of sense appeared diffident of himself, and seemed afraid to speak to her. The artful man sat silent, and seemed to be laying some very deep plot. The man who was so apt to be hurt by the behaviour of others could hardly forbear breaking out in reproaches. ”

“ It was after that fashion he might easily have been moved, and with almost no transition, to break out to Cornelia—quite as if taking up some old talk, some old community of gossip, just where they had left it; even with the consciousness perhaps of overdoing a little, of putting at its maximum, for the present harmony, recovery, recapture (what should he call it?) the pitch and quantity of what the past had held for them. ”

“ ACT II—SEVERUS. FABIAN SEV. Let Felix bow to Jove and incense pour, I seek a dearer shrine, for I adore Nor Jove, nor Mars, nor Fortune—but Pauline. This fruit now ripening late my hand would glean: You know, my friend, the god who wings my way, You know the only goddess I obey: What reck the gods on high our sacrifice and prayer? An earthly worship mine, sole refuge from despair! FABIAN. Ah! You may see her—— SEV. Blessed be thy tongue! O magic word, that turns my grief to song! ”

“ Corneille, who was not, like Racine, a subtle student of emotions, never outgrew the conception of love he had learned from Spanish plays and heroic romances,—a conception in full harmony with the romantic theme and spirit of plays like Le Cid and Don Sanche d'Aragon,—much less so with more essentially tragic themes. But with this qualification it may be admitted that the next three tragedies which Corneille produced—Horace (1640) , Cinna (1640) , and Polyeucte (1643) —are the flower of his work in interest of situation and character. ”

“ O Cornelius, it won't be lucky for us when father hears about
Ellen and Matt.
CORNELIUS
That's true. No man sees his house afire but looks to his rick.
SALLY Come down a bit of the road with me, Cornelius. The sow will be grunting and grunting, reminding father that I'm away. Och, a minute ago I was as contented as if there was no land or pigs, or harsh words to trouble one. (She goes to the door) The boys and girls for America are coming here.
CORNELIUS Give me your hands to hold, Sally. (She gives him her hands) We are as young as any of them after all. ”