ABSTRACT
After the storm had passed, Racine steadily strengthened his position at Court. Never presuming to step above his rank, he made many friends by his modesty and affability, and in time acquired the protection of the woman who, together with Louis’s confessor, wielded the strongest influence over the King’s later years. The Queen died in 1683. The Montespan, though still at Versailles, was only held in regard as the mother of the King’s children. Madame de Maintenon was his true helpmate and probably soon became his morganatic wife. If Racine cultivated her friendship he was not necessarily obeying an ulterior motive. Her character and his were sufficiently compatible to draw them together.
