Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist Part 11

Franconnette was shortly after published, and the poem was received with almost as much applause by the public as it had been by the citizens of Toulouse. Sainte-beuve, the prince of French critics, said of the work:--

"In all his compositions Jasmin has a natural, touching idea; it is a history, either of his invention, or taken from some local tradition.

With his facility as an improvisatore, aided by the patois in which he writes,... when he puts his dramatis personae into action, he endeavours to depict their thoughts, all their simple yet lively conversation, and to clothe them in words the most artless, simple, and transparent, and in a language true, eloquent, and sober: never forget this latter characteristic of Jasmin's works."{5}

M. de Lavergne says of Franconnette, that, of all Jasmin's work, it is the one in which he aimed at being most entirely popular, and that it is at the same time the most n.o.ble and the most chastened. He might also have added the most chivalrous. "There is something essentially knightly," says Miss Preston, "in Pascal's cast of character, and it is singular that at the supreme crisis of his fate he a.s.sumes, as if unconsciously, the very phraseology of chivalry.

"Some squire (donzel) should follow me to death. It is altogether natural and becoming in the high-minded smith."

M. Charles Nodier--Jasmin's old friend--was equally complimentary in his praises of Franconnette. When a copy of the poem was sent to him, with an accompanying letter, Nodier replied:--

"I have received with lively grat.i.tude, my dear and ill.u.s.trious friend, your beautiful verses, and your charming and affectionate letter. I have read them with great pleasure and profound admiration. A Although ill in bed, I have devoured Franconnette and the other poems. I observe, with a certain pride, that you have followed my advice, and that you think in that fine language which you recite so admirably, in place of translating the patois into French, which deprives it of its fullness and fairness. I thank you a thousand times for your very flattering epistle. I am too happy to expostulate with you seriously as to the gracious things you have said to me; my name will pa.s.s to posterity in the works of my friends; the glory of having been loved by you goes for a great deal."

The time at length arrived for the presentation of the testimonial of Toulouse to Jasmin. It consisted of a branch of laurel in gold. The artist who fas.h.i.+oned it was charged to put his best work into the golden laurel, so that it might be a chef d'oeuvre worthy of the city which conferred it, and of being treasured in the museum of their adopted poet. The work was indeed admirably executed. The stem was rough, as in nature, though the leaves were beautifully polished. It had a ribbon delicately ornamented, with the words "Toulouse a Jasmin."

When the work was finished and placed in its case, the Mayor desired to send it to Jasmin by a trusty messenger. He selected Mademoiselle Gasc, a.s.sisted by her father, advocate and member of the munic.i.p.al council, to present the tribute to Jasmin. It ought to have been a fete day for the people of Agen, when their ill.u.s.trious townsman, though a barber, was about to receive so cordial an appreciation of his poetical genius from the learned city of Toulouse. It ought also to have been a fete day for Jasmin himself.

But alas! an unhappy coincidence occurred which saddened the day that ought to have been a day of triumph for the poet. His mother was dying.

When Mademoiselle Gasc, accompanied by her father, the Mayor of Agen, and other friends of Jasmin, entered the shop, they were informed that he was by the bedside of his mother, who was at death's door. The physician, who was consulted as to her state, said that there might only be sufficient time for Jasmin to receive the deputation.

He accordingly came out for a few moments from his mother's bed-side. M.

Gasc explained the object of the visit, and read to

Jasmin the gracious letter of the Mayor of Toulouse, concluding as follows:--

"I thank you, in the name of the city of Toulouse, for the fine poem which you have dedicated to us. This branch of laurel will remind you of the youthful and beautiful Muse which has inspired you with such charming verses."

The Mayor of Agen here introduced Mademoiselle Gasc, who, in her turn, said:--

"And I also, sir, am most happy and proud of the mission which has been entrusted to me."

Then she presented him with the casket which contained the golden laurel. Jasmin responded in the lines ent.i.tled 'Yesterday and To-day,'

from which the following words may be quoted:--

"Yesterday! Thanks, Toulouse, for our old language and for my poetry.

Your beautiful golden branch enn.o.bles both. And you who offer it to me, gracious messenger--queen of song and queen of hearts--tell your city of my perfect happiness, and that I never antic.i.p.ated such an honour even in my most golden dreams.

"To-day! Fascinated by the laurel which Toulouse has sent me, and which fills my heart with joy, I cannot forget, my dear young lady, the sorrow which overwhelms me--the fatal illness of my mother--which makes me fear that the most joyful day of my life will also be the most sorrowful."

Jasmin's alarms were justified. His prayers were of no avail. His mother died with her hand in his shortly after the deputation had departed. Her husband had preceded her to the tomb a few years before. He always had a firm presentiment that he should be carried in the arm-chair to the hospital, "where all the Jasmins die." But Jasmin did his best to save his father from that indignity. He had already broken the arm-chair, and the old tailor died peacefully in the arms of his son.

Some four months after the recitation of Franconnette at Toulouse, Jasmin resumed his readings in the cause of charity. In October 1840 he visited Oleron, and was received with the usual enthusiasm; and on his return to Pau, he pa.s.sed the obelisk erected to Despourrins, the Burns of the Pyrenees. At Pau he recited his Franconnette to an immense audience amidst frenzies of applause. It was alleged that the people of the Pyrenean country were prosaic and indifferent to art. But M.

Dugenne, in the 'Memorial des Pyrenees,' said that it only wanted such a bewitching poet as Jasmin--with his vibrating and magical voice--to rouse them and set their minds on fire.

Another writer, M. Alfred Danger, paid him a still more delicate compliment.

"His poetry," he said, "is not merely the poetry of illusions; it is alive, and inspires every heart. His admirable delicacy! His profound tact in every verse! What aristocratic poet could better express in a higher degree the politeness of the heart, the truest of all politeness."{6}

Jasmin did not seem to be at all elated by these eulogiums. When he had finished his recitations, he returned to Agen, sometimes on foot, sometimes in the diligence, and quietly resumed his daily work.

His success as a poet never induced him to resign his more humble occupation. Although he received some returns from the sale of his poems, he felt himself more independent by relying upon the income derived from his own business.

His increasing reputation never engendered in him, as is too often the case with self-taught geniuses who suddenly rise into fame, a supercilious contempt for the ordinary transactions of life. "After all," he said, "contentment is better than riches."

Endnotes to Chapter X.

{1} Journal de Toulouse, 4th July, 1840.

{2} The Society of the Jeux-Floraux derives its origin from the ancient Troubadours. It claims to be the oldest society of the kind in Europe.

It is said to have been founded in the fourteenth century by Clemence Isaure, a Toulousian lady, to commemorate the "Gay Science." A meeting of the society is held every year, when prizes are distributed to the authors of the best compositions in prose and verse. It somewhat resembles the annual meeting of the Eisteddfod, held for awarding prizes to the bards and composers of Wales.

{3} The following was his impromptu to the savants of Toulouse, 4th July, 1840:--

"Oh, bon Dieu! que de gloire! Oh, bon Dieu! que d'honneurs!

Messieurs, ce jour pour ma Muse est bien doux; Mais maintenant, d'etre quitte j'ai perdu l'esperance: Car je viens, plus fier que jamais, Vous payer ma reconnaissance, Et je m'endette que plus!"

{4} This is the impromptu, given on the 5th July, 1840:

"Toulouse m'a donne un beau bouquet d'honneur; Votre festin, amis, en est une belle fleur; Aussi, clans les plaisirs de cette longue fete, Quand je veux remercier de cela, Je poursuis mon esprit pour ne pas etre en reste Ici, l'esprit me nait et tombe de mon coeur!"

{5} 'Causeries du Lundi,' iv. 240 (edit. 1852).

{6} "La politesse du coeur," a French expression which can scarcely be translated into English; just as "gentleman" has no precise equivalent in French.

CHAPTER XI. JASMIN'S VISIT TO PARIS.

Jasmin had been so often advised to visit Paris and test his powers there, that at length he determined to proceed to the capital of France.

It is true, he had been eulogized in the criticisms of Sainte-Beuve, Leonce de Lavergne, Charles Nodier, and Charles de Mazade; but he desired to make the personal acquaintance of some of these ill.u.s.trious persons, as well as to see his son, who was then settled in Paris. It was therefore in some respects a visit of paternal affection as well as literary reputation. He set out for Paris in the month of May 1842.

Jasmin was a boy in his heart and feelings, then as always. Indeed, he never ceased to be a boy--in his manners, his gaiety, his artlessness, and his enjoyment of new pleasures.

What a succession of wonders to him was Paris--its streets, its boulevards, its Tuileries, its Louvre, its Arc de Triomphe--reminding him of the Revolution and the wars of the first Napoleon.

Accompanied by his son Edouard, he spent about a week in visiting the most striking memorials of the capital. They visited together the Place de la Concorde, the Hotel de Ville, Notre Dame, the Madeleine, the Champs Elysees, and most of the other sights. At the Colonne Vendome, Jasmin raised his head, looked up, and stood erect, proud of the glories of France. He saw all these things for the first time, but they had long been a.s.sociated with his recollections of the past.

There are "country cousins" in Paris as well as in London. They are known by their dress, their manners, their amazement at all they see.

When Jasmin stood before the Vendome Column, he extended his hand as if he were about to recite one of his poems. "Oh, my son," he exclaimed, "such glories as these are truly magnificent!" The son, who was familiar with the glories, was rather disposed to laugh. He desired, for decorum's sake, to repress his father's exclamations. He saw the people standing about to hear his father's words. "Come," said the young man, "let us go to the Madeleine, and see that famous church." "Ah, Edouard,"

said Jasmin, "I can see well enough that you are not a poet; not you indeed!"

During his visit, Jasmin wrote regularly to his wife and friends at Agen, giving them his impressions of Paris. His letters were full of his usual simplicity, brightness, boyishness, and enthusiasm. "What wonderful things I have already seen," he said in one of his letters, "and how many more have I to see to-morrow and the following days. M.

Dumon, Minister of Public Works" (Jasmin's compatriot and a.s.sociate at the Academy of Agen), "has given me letters of admission to Versailles, Saint-Cloud, Meudon in fact, to all the public places that I have for so long a time been burning to see and admire."

After a week's tramping about, and seeing the most attractive sights of the capital, Jasmin bethought him of his literary friends and critics.

The first person he called upon was Sainte-Beuve, at the Mazarin Library, of which he was director. "He received me like a brother," said Jasmin, "and embraced me. He said the most flattering things about my Franconnette, and considered it an improvement upon L'Aveugle.

'Continue,' he said, 'my good friend' and you will take a place in the brightest poetry of our epoch.' In showing me over the shelves in the Library containing the works of the old poets, which are still read and admired, he said, 'Like them, you will never die.'"

Jasmin next called upon Charles Nodier and Jules Janin. Nodier was delighted to see his old friend, and after a long conversation, Jasmin said that "he left him with tears in his eyes." Janin complimented him upon his works, especially upon his masterly use of the Gascon language.