tion>Samuel Smiles
Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066213718
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I. AGEN.—JASMIN'S BOYHOOD.
CHAPTER III. BARBER AND HAIRDRESSER.
CHAPTER IV. JASMIN AND MARIETTE.
CHAPTER V. JASMIN AND GASCON.—FIRST VOLUME OF "PAPILLOTES."
CHAPTER VI. MISCELLANEOUS VERSES—BERANGER—'MES SOUVENIRS'—PAUL DE
CHAPTER VII. 'THE BLIND GIRL OF CASTEL-CUILLE.'
CHAPTER VIII. JASMIN AS PHILANTHROPIST.
CHAPTER IX. JASMIN'S 'FRANCONNETTE.'
CHAPTER X. JASMIN AT TOULOUSE.
CHAPTER XI. JASMIN'S VISIT TO PARIS.
CHAPTER XII. JASMIN'S RECITATIONS IN PARIS.
CHAPTER XIII. JASMIN AND HIS ENGLISH CRITICS.
CHAPTER XIV. JASMIN'S TOURS OF PHILANTHROPY.
CHAPTER XV. JASMIN'S VINEYARD—'MARTHA THE INNOCENT.'
CHAPTER XVI. THE PRIEST WITHOUT A CHURCH.
CHAPTER XVII. THE CHURCH OF VERGT AGAIN—FRENCH ACADEMY—EMPEROR AND
CHAPTER XVIII. JASMIN ENROLLED MAITRE-ES-JEUX AT TOULOUSE—CROWNED BY
CHAPTER XIX. LAST POEMS—MORE MISSIONS OF CHARITY.
CHAPTER XX. DEATH OF JASMIN—HIS CHARACTER.
JASMIN'S DEFENCE OF THE GASCON DIALECT.
PREFACE.
My attention was first called to the works of the poet Jasmin by the eulogistic articles which appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes, by De Mazade, Nodier, Villemain, and other well-known reviewers.
I afterwards read the articles by Sainte-Beuve, perhaps the finest critic of French literature, on the life and history of Jasmin, in his 'Portraits Contemporains' as well as his admirable article on the same subject, in the 'Causeries du Lundi.'
While Jasmin was still alive, a translation was published by the American poet Longfellow, of 'The Blind Girl of Castel-Cuille,' perhaps the best of Jasmin's poems. In his note to the translation, Longfellow said that "Jasmin, the author of this beautiful poem, is to the South of France what Burns is to the South of Scotland, the representative of the heart of the people; one of those happy bards who are born with their mouths full of birds (la bouco pleno d'aouvelous). He has written his own biography in a poetic form, and the simple narrative of his poverty, his struggles, and his triumphs, is very touching. He still lives at Agen, on the Garonne; and long may he live there to delight his native land with native songs."
I had some difficulty in obtaining Jasmin's poems; but at length I received them from his native town of Agen. They consisted of four volumes octavo, though they were still incomplete. But a new edition has since been published, in 1889, which was heralded by an interesting article in the Paris Figaro.
While at Royat, in 1888, I went across the country to Agen, the town in which Jasmin was born, lived, and died. I saw the little room in which he was born, the banks of the Garonne which sounded so sweetly in his ears, the heights of the Hermitage where he played when a boy, the Petite Seminaire in which he was partly educated, the coiffeur's shop in which he carried on his business as a barber and hair-dresser, and finally his tomb in the cemetery where he was buried with all the honours that his towns-fellows could bestow upon him.
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