He himself said of the first, _Melite,_ which he wrote at three and twenty, "It was my first attempt, and it has no pretence of being according to the rules, for I did not know then that there were any.

I had for guide nothing but a little common sense, together with the models of the late Hardy, whose vein was rather fertile than polished." "The comedies of Corneille had met with success; praised as he was by his competitors in the career of the theatre, he was as yet, in their eyes, but one of the supports of that literary glory which was common to them all.

Tranquil in their possession of bad taste, they were far from foreseeing the revolution which was about to overthrow its sway and their own." [_Corneille et son Temps,_ by M.Guizot.] Corneille made his first appearance in tragedy, in 1633, with a _Medee_.
"Here are verses which proclaim Corneille," said Voltaire:-- "After so many boons, to leave me can he bear?
After so many sins, to leave me can he dare ?" They proclaimed tragedy; it had appeared at last to Corneille; its features, roughly sketched, were nevertheless recognizable.

He was already studying Spanish with an old friend of his family, and was working at the _Cid,_ when he brought out his _Illusion Comique,_ a mediocre piece, Corneille's last sacrifice to the taste of his day.
Towards the end of the year 1636, the _Cid_ was played for the first time at Paris.

There was a burst of enthusiasm forthwith.