THOMAS

See also:

• CORNEILLE, PIERRE (1606–1684)
• THOMAS CORNEILLE (1625-1709)

CORNEILLE (1625-1709)  , French dramatist, was born at Rouen on the 20th of August 1625, being nearly twenty years younger than his brother, the great Corneille . His skill in verse-making Seems to have shown itself early, as at the age of fifteen he composed a piece in Latin which was represented by his fellow-pupils at the Jesuits' college of Rouen . His first French play, Les Engagements du hasard, was acted in 1647 . Le Feint Astrologue, imitated from the Spanish, and imitated by Dryden, came next year . At his brother's death he succeeded to his vacant chair in the Academy . He then turned his attention to philology, producing a new edition of the Remarques of C . F . Vaugelas i341687, and in 1694 a dictionary of technical terms, intended to supplement that of the Academy . A complete translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses (he had published six books with the heroic Epistles some years previously) followed in 1697 . In 1 704 he lost his sight and was constituted a " veteran," a dignity which preserved to him the privileges, while it exempted him from the duties, of an academician . But he did not allow his misfortune to put a stop to his work, and in 1708 produced a large Dictionnaire universel geographique et historique in three volumes folio . This was his last labour .

He died at Les Andelys on the 8th of

December 1709, aged eighty-four . It has been the custom to speak of Thomas Corneille as of one who, but for the name he bore, would merit no notice . This is by no means the case; on the contrary, he is rather to be commiserated for,his connexion with a brother who outshone him as he would have outshone almost any one . But the two were strongly attached to one another, and practically lived in common . Of his forty-two plays (this is the utmost number assigned to him) the last edition of his complete works contains only thirty-two, but he wrote several in conjunction with other authors . Two are usually reprinted as his masterpieces at the end of his brother's selected works . These are Ariane (1672) and the Comte d' Essex, in the former of which Rachel attained success . But of Laodice, Camma, Stilico and some other pieces, Pierre Corneille himself said that " he wished he had written them," and he was not wont to speak lightly . Gamma (1661, on the same story as Tennyson's Cup) especially deserves notice . Thomas Corneille is in many ways remarkable in the literary gossip-history of his time . His Timecrate boasted of the longest run (8o nights) recorded of any play in the century . For La Devineresse'he and his coadjutor de Vise (1638-1710, founder of the Mercure plant, to which Thomas contributed) received above 60oo livres, the largest sum known to have been thus paid .