Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist

SS

cts. In 1828 he wrote an impromptu to M. Pradel, who had improvised a Gascon song in honour of the poet. The Gascon painter, Champ

of Nerac, near Agen, a bronze statue of Henry IV., executed by the sculptor Raggi-of the same character as the statue erected to the same monarch at Pa

grated to Geneva, still exists. The Protestant faith extended to Agen and the neighbouring towns. When the Roman Catholics obtained the upper hand, persecutions began. Vind

ion, who had been the most diligent and industrious in the town and neighbourhood, were all either "converted," hanged, sent to the gall

Henry IV. was unveile

words "Alumno, mox patri nostro, Henrico quarto," and

es Ga

per bous aou

! ey plaze d

ucha-

hose of; Henry IV., and may be

e Gas

l trust my

I leave to y

r! Appro

the Gascon dialect. The committee were at first of opinion that they could not award the prize to the author of any poem written in the vulgar tongue. At the same time they reported that one of the poems written in Gascon possessed such real merit, that the committee decided by a unanimous vote that a prize should be awarded to the author of the best poem written in the Gascon dialect. Many poems were accordingly sent in and examined. Lou Tres de May was selected as the best; and on the letter attached

ch Godolin wrote his fine poems is not without its literature. "The fact," says Rodiere, "that Jasmin used some of his time in studying the works of Godolin is, that while in Lou Charibari there are some French words ill-disguised

rd of Agen; and in 1830 he addressed his comrades in a series of verses. One of these was a song entitled 'The Flag of Libert

non-commissioned officers of the 14th Chasseurs. Of course, the improvisation was carefully prepared;

h, and especially of the Gascons. The l

! mother o

ways brings

cons we sing

our foes wit

Beranger replied in prose; his answer was dated the 12th of July, 1832. He thanked Jasmin for his fervent eul

repeat the first words of your address, in which you assume the title of a Gascon{2} poet. It would please me much better if you would be a French poet, as you prove by your epistle, whic

d. At the end of this year I intend to publish my last volume; I will then take my leave of the public. I am now fifty-two years old. I am tired of the world. My little mission is fulfilled, and the public has had enough of me. I am therefore making arrangements fo

ain for the pleasure you have given me. I do not understand the language of Languedoc, but, if you speak this lang

ittle time to spare for the study of classical French; he was occupied with the trade by which he earned his living, and his busine

ke Burns's Vision, when he dreamt of becoming a song-writer. The only consolation that Jasmin received from M. Minier was a po

c qualities of his mind, his candour, his pathos, and his humour, than in these verses. He used the rustic dialect, from which he never afterwards departed. He showed that the Gascon was not yet a de

nto was added in 1835, when the poem was published in the first volume of his 'Curl-Papers' (Papillotes). These recollections, in fa

s of his youth, and described few of the events of his later life. "What a pity," says M. Rodiere, "that Jasmin did not continue to write hi

sports with his playfellows on the banks of the Garonne, his blowing the horn in his father's Charivaris, his enjoyment of the tit-bits which old Boe brought home from his begging-tours, the decay of the old man, and his conveyance to the

to relate. Should he soften and brighten it? Should he dress it up with false lights and colours? For there are times when fa

ss, nor more, I

ht, the likenes

ian's romances and poems, his solitary meditations, and the birth and growth of his imagination. Then he falls in love, and a new era opens in his life. He writes verses and sings them. He opens a barber's sho

ring softly

is wing and

s of balmie

e shepherd l

ng, or shap

stronger love

lessons!

s I said, when at

spirit back whence

and burns the wretched arm-chair in which his ancestors were borne to the hospital to die. His wife no longer troubles him with her doubts as to his verses interfering with his business. She supplies

ve I told my tale

sing, I hazar

us rear and flin

led all my f

'tis true; though

will serve for c

unfinished, and hasty as they are, it can be read there." Jasmin might have used the same words.

which Jasmin exhibited the true bent of his genius. He avoided entirely the French models which he had before endeavoured to imitate; and he now gave full flight to the artless gaiety and humour of his Gascon muse. It is unfortunate that the poem cannot b

ender it into any language but its own. In the case of the Charivari he shrinks from attempting to translate it. There is one pas

o, fourrado en

san brut, las p

ght seem vulgar, though in Gascon they are

enfurred in he

noise, the doors

uite his own; 'unbars the doors of the morning'; it is done without noise, like a goddess, patient and silent, who announces herself to mortals

says, "this expression of enthusiasm; and I regret that I cannot be more lavish in my praises. There is almost nothing

ve you painful recollections of public schools, and perhaps give you hope of better things to come. You wil

nt-beuve thinks the latter one of Jasmin's best works. "It is full of pathos," he says, "and rises to the sublime through its very simplicity. It is indeed difficult to exaggerate the poetic instinct and the unaffected artlessness of this amiable bard. "At th

n moments of heat and emotion we are all eloquent and laconic, alike in speech and action-unconscious poets in fact

s a patriot, whether under the Empire, the Monarchy, or the Republic. He loved France above all things, while he entertained the warmest affection for his native province. If Jasmin had published his volume in clas

ze, an advocate of the Royal Court of Agen, it created considerable excitement, not only at Bordeaux and Toulouse, but also at Paris,

te; and her lyrical songs, whose masculine vigour and energetic sentiments have more than once excited patriotic transports and awakened popular enthusiasm. For Jasmin is above all a poet of the people. He is not ashamed of his origin. He was bor

of literature. "It is a veritable Saint Bartholomew of innocent and beautiful idioms, which can scarcely be employed even in the hours of recreation." He pronounced Jasmin to be a Gascon B

Portraits.{5} He there gives a general account of his poems; compares him with the English and Scotch poets of the working class; and contrasts him with Reboul, the baker of Nimes, who writes in classical French,

Mondes-by Charles Labitte, M. Ducuing, and M. de Pontmartin. The latter classed Jasmin with Theocritus, Horace, and La Fontaine, and paid him the singular tribute, "that he

blication of his second volume of poems. Paul de Musset was the author of several novels, as well as of Lui et Elle,

oat from Marmande. You will then find yourself on the Garonne, in the midst of a beautiful country, where the air is vigorous and healthy. The roads are bordered with vines, arranged in arches, lovely to the eyes of traveller

bout seven, the diligence stopped in the middle of a Place, where I read this inscription over a shop-door, 'Jasmin, Coiffeur des jeunes gens.' We were at Agen. I descended, swa

ur service,' replied a handsome brown-haired fellow, with a ch

sat down and we entered into conversation. 'I have read your

to me the difficult passages. But tell me, Monsieur Jasmin, why is it that you, who appear t

ld eighteen hundred copies of my little pieces of poetry (in pamphlet form), and certainly all who

time. Then I said, 'But a hundred thousand persons at most know how to r

reputation would soon carry me astray if I ventured to address all Europe. The voice that appears sonorous in a little place is not heard in t

fuse bread. The razor secures me soup, and perhaps a bottle of Bordeaux. Besides, my salon is a little literary circle, where all the young people of the town assemble. When I come fro

xperienced a certain confusion in depositing upon his table the amount of fifty centimes which I owed him on this occasion, more f

for Cha

ords into French: he begins his verses

t, mille cri

lais et montent

u comme dans

ecevait le ba

harme qui des

semble di

scons, acc

our vous vous

evoir mon bonhe

ez, approc

is often used as implyin

had decided to publish the second volume

ing are the li

an bous fini ma

antat, n'hazardi

eguinno, et qu

friza mas

es bray, mais no

bers en pa

. 50. Par C. A. Sainte-Beuve, Mem

oete Jasmin' (Journal politique