It seems that I can
create kingdoms but not poets. Whom do you consider to be the greatest
French writer?'
'Racine, sire.'
'Then you are a blockhead, for Corneille was infinitely greater. I have
no ear for metre or trivialities of the kind, but I can sympathise with
the spirit of poetry, and I am conscious that Corneille is far the
greatest of poets. I would have made him my prime minister had he had
the good fortune to live in my epoch. It is his intellect which I
admire, his knowledge of the human heart, and his profound feeling.
Are you writing anything at present?'
'I am writing a tragedy upon Henry IV., sire.'
'It will not do, sir. It is too near the present day, and I will not
have politics upon the stage. Write a play about Alexander. What is
your name?'
He had pitched upon the same person whom he had already addressed.
'I am still Gretry, the musician,' said he meekly.
The Emperor flushed for an instant at the implied rebuke. He said
nothing, however, but passed on to where several ladies were standing
together near the door of the card-room.
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