notice from us. We shall endeavour to cull a few of the neglected flowers from the garden of song, or, if not neglected, comparatively unknown. We commence our selection from La Fontaine. He addressed the following to a young female relation, twelve years of age, who had sent him some juvenile verses. We select another beautiful sample from the lyrical ballads of La Fontaine, which forms part of the romance of Psyché, and which the French critics consider a chef d'œuvre. I. Tout l'univers obéit à l'amour : Des jeunes cœurs c'est le suprême bien : II. Sans cet amour tant d'objets ravissants Et leurs plaisirs sont moins doux que ses Des jeunes cœurs c'est le suprême bien, La Fontaine places these stanzas in the mouth of love. Whichever of 'the two composed them, whether Cupid himself or La Fontaine, they are worthy of their author. The following couplet, which is anonymous, is an imitation of the beautiful lines of the Pastor Fido, so often quoted and so often translated. We insert the original with the French imitation. Se'l peccar e si dolce E'l non peccar si necessario o troppo Che repugni alla legge ! O troppo dura legge Che la natura offendi! De la nature un doux penchant Et l'on dit que la loi défend Mais la nature est faible en soi, Ou bien la loi trop dure: Grands Dieu! réformez votre loi, Ou changez la nature. We annex another translation of the same verses of Guarini, much more literal and faithful, but by no means so pleasing to our minds, Sans doute, ou la nature est imparfaite en soi, Qui nous donne un penchant que condamne la loi, Qui condamne un penchant que donne la nature. The Abbé Pellegrin condensed the idea of Guarini into one line, and the preceding couplet may be considered as a paraphrase or amplification of this single verse. Dieux! changez la nature, ou revoquez la loi. The following bacchanalian claims M. Malezieux for its author. He was the captain Morris of the age of Louis the Sixteenth. We have often heard it sung and admired in the salons of Paris, but the only merit we ever saw in it makes its appearance in the concluding lines of the second stanza. We leave our readers to judge. I. Trève aux chansons, ne vous déplaise; Quand il faut arranger des mots. La liberté jusqu'au langage. II. Evitons toute servitude, We are pleased with the wit and philosophy of the following, by M. De Coulange, on the origin of nobility. D'Adam nous sommes tous enfants, La preuve en est connue, Et que tous nos premiers parents Mais, las de cultiver enfin La terre labourée, Jean Baptiste Rousseau, usually called the poet Rousseau, to distinguish him from his philosophic namesake, is the author of the following, copied from La Fontaine's fable of Tircis and Amarante. The following is by the Abbé de Lattaignant, who, during thirty years enjoyed a much higher reputation as a "chansonnièr" than as a "prédicateur." He has left to posterity four volumes of songs of very indifferent merit. We select a somewhat curious one, the idea being purely financial, and it is a rarity to find the lyric muse in the company of Cocker. I. Vous me devez depuis deux ans Vous en augmenterez le nombre II. Trente baisers, charmante Iris, Valent bien cinq baisers de rente Trente baisers de capital, Dix d'intérêt joints à ces trente III. Acquittez-vous, car il est temps; Je vous y contraindrai par corps. Our next specimen is a matrimonial lamentation, and the sentiments expressed lead us to conclude that it proceeds from a female pen. We are satisfied that there is much truth in it, and that husbands in general deserve the censure of the poetess. We claim, however, exemption for ourselves, and as we propose shortly to explain our opinions on marriage, on the proper education of women, and on the undue and illiberal assumption of the male sex, we shall then prove that we have a right to this exception. I. Un amant léger, frivole, D'une jeune enfant raffole. Le font choisir pour époux. II. Sitôt que du mariage Le lien sacré l'engage, Plus de vœux, pas un hommage, En vertu de l'hyménée, Il vous gronde à la journée ; Et Dieu sait s'il dort la nuit. III. Sa contenance engourdie, Quelque grave fantaisie, Oui, c'est là tout votre bien. Et pour avoir l'avantage Un cœur dont il ne fait rien. The following exquisite ballad we found in an old collection of songs, and it certainly belongs to the seventeenth century, although faultless in style and equal to any lyrical effusion of Beranger. It contains a scene, a dialogue, and a picture; and though all is precise and neat in thought and in expression, it is wholly free from stiffness or common place. We account it a literary gem of the purest water. We recommend some of our professional composers to adapt it to music, and if they succeed in producing an air in the slightest degree proportioned to the harmony of the poem, they may be assured of reaping a rich reward from their labours. The following couplet, though short, is beautiful, and little known. It is by Madame de Murat. Faut-il être tant volage? Ai-je dit au doux plaisir. Tu nous fuis, las! quelle domage Dès qu'on a cru te saisir. Ce plaisir tant regrettable Me répond: Rends grâce aux dieux: S'ils m'avaient fait plus durable, Ils m'auraient gardé pour eux. The French theatre is rich in pastoral opera, and Favart unquestionably stands at the head of this department of literature. No author ever depicted the loves of the village with such fidelity and spirit. La Chercheuse d'esprit, Jeannot and Jeannette, Bastien et Bastienne, Ninette à la cour, and Annette et Lubin, are models of perfection in this style of writing. We shall endeavour to justify this praise by contrasting Favart with Rousseau, and for that purpose we select the opera of Bastien et Bastienne, which is a quasi parody on the Devin du Village. The scenes of the former are chalked on those of the latter, not in the spirit of hostile criticism, but as a confessed imitation, Favart having resolved, in generous emulation, to try his powers against Rousseau. Both these operas are in sentiment an expansion of the Donec gratus eram of Horace: both are excellent, but we must give the palm of superiority to Favart over Vol. I.-No. I. 4 Jean Jacques. Rousseau certainly displays more theatrical invention, but the poetry of Favart is truly "simplex munditiis," ingenuous, natural, easy, and inartificial. The characters of both are villagers, but those of Rousseau speak the more polite language of the town, while the rustics of Favart converse in the dialect of the country. The following is the address of Colin to his absent mistress from the Devin du Village. 1. Dans ma cabane obscure, Si tu viens l'habiter, Colin dans sa chaumière N'a rien à regretter. II. Des champs, de la prairie, Je charmerai mes peines In these lines we recognise the hand of a master in the art of composition, but we think more of Rousseau than of Colin. The verses are beautiful, but they are out of keeping with the character of a rustic, and thus the scenic illusion is lost. For instance, the following expressions, "Devancer le retour du soleil, and, charmer mes peines," are too elegant for a ploughman, and they thus violate that rule of the drama which insists on identifying the speaker with his speech. Let us now listen to Bastienne speaking of her lover. These verses breathe an air of rusticity. It is the village girl who speaks. We think only of Bastienne and forget Favart. To produce this effect is the triumph of the dramatic art. The two last lines of the third stanza are peculiarly beautiful, and proclaim the sincerity of deepseated affection. We shall place in contrast Colette and Bastienne, both complaining of the caprice of their lovers; both alluding to the more tempting offers they had received; and both innocently praising their own fidelity. This first song is from the Devin du Village, by Colette. Si des galants de la ville |