PHILIPPE, the celebrated dramatic author, was born at Rouen in 1606. He was educated for the bar, but soon abandoned law for pursuits more congenial to his taste. A little amorous adventure first developed his poetical talent, the incidents of which are said to have formed the groundwork of Melite, his first comedy. This play contains some ingenious comic combinations, and met with extraordinary success. Melite was succeeded by several other pieces which seemed to indicate no great power; but the genius of Corneille suddenly took a loftier flight, and produced the tragedy of Medee. His fame, however, was not completely established till the appearance of the Cid in 1637, which at once placed him in the first rank of dramatic writers, and drew down the envy and persecution of Richelieu, who was as despotic in the realm of criticism as in that of state policy. But the cardinal found taste to be more stubborn than politics; and the man who swayed kingdoms could not crush the fame of a poet. The Cid was so universally admired, that it became proverbial to say of anything beautiful, Cela est beau comme le Cid. This excellent tragedy was followed by the Horace, Cinna, Pompee, Poliante, the comedy of Le Menteur, and numerous other dramatic pieces. Corneille, who is said to have been of a devout and melancholy cast, wrote a translation in verse of Kempis' Imitation of Jesus Christ, and some smaller poems. He was dean of the French Academy at the time of his death, which took place in 1684, in the seventy-ninth year of his age.

From the appearance of the Cid the literary age of Louis XIV. dates its commencement; and to Corneille is generally assigned the honourable title of the father of dramatic art in France, which was afterwards so successfully cultivated by Racine, Molière, and Voltaire. His best works display forcible conception and delineation of character. He raises sentiment into true poetical pathos and sublimity, and exhibits the contending passions, affections, and interests of human nature in all their turbulence and impotency, with great vigour of thought and expression. Many of his descriptive passages are marked with singular beauty; his dialogues are skilfully conducted, giving rise to bold declamation, replete with rich imagery, and glowing with fervour and energy. The vividness with which some of the replies are made is one of the most striking characteristics of his dramas. The celebrated exclamation of the elder Horace, qu'il mourrit, is a well-known illustration of this peculiar quality in the colloquial power of Corneille. His style is occasionally rather formal and pompous, and his sentiments forced and even wire-drawn. But in general he is true to nature, and few writers have been more successful in re-animating and reproducing on the stage the heroes of antiquity. The tragedies of Corneille contain some of the best specimens of chaste diction, and varied and harmonious versification, which are to be found in the French language. The dramatic works of Corneille, with commentaries by Voltaire, were published at Geneva in 1764, in 12 vols. 8vo. This edition has been several times reprinted. An edition of his whole works, with observations by Palissot, was published at Paris in 1802, in ten large octavo volumes. See DRAMA. (A. II.)

THOMAS, brother of the preceding, was born at Rouen in 1625. He gave early indications of his poetical talent; and his plays, when first produced on the stage, attained the very highest popularity. They are remarkable for the purity of their style; but from the haste and carelessness of their composition, they have long since been forgotten. He was elected a member of the French Academy; and on the death of his brother he contributed to the Dictionnaire. He also wrote A Translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses, and some of Ovid's Epistles, Paris, 1669; Remarks on "Vaugelas on the French Language," Paris, 1687, 2 vols. 12mo; A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, 2 vols. fol., Paris, 1694-1732; A Universal Geographical and Historical Dictionary, 3 vols. fol., Paris, 1705; and some other works. Thomas Corneille died at Andelys in 1709, having lost the use of his sight during the latter years of his life.

MICHAEL (1642-1708), a celebrated painter, was born at Paris, where his father was a painter of considerable merit. Having gained a prize at the academy, young Corneille was rewarded with a pension from Louis XIV. and sent to Rome, where that prince had founded a school for young artists of genius. After studying there for some time, he gave up his pension, and applied with great industry to the study of the antique. He is said to have equalled the Caracci in drawing, but in colouring he was deficient. Upon his return from Rome he was made a professor in the academy of Paris, and was employed in all the great works then in progress at Versailles and the Trianon, where some specimens of his genius are still to be seen.