CONSOLATION. TO M. DU PERRIER, GENTLEMAN, OF AIX IN PROVENCE, ON THE DEATH OF HIS DAUGHTER. FROM THE FRENCH OF FRANÇOIS DE MALHERBE. WILL then, Du Perrier, thy sorrow be eternal? Whispered within thy heart, by tenderness paternal, Thy daughter's mournful fate, into the tomb descending Has it become to thee a labyrinth never ending, I know the charms that made her youth a benediction: As a censorious friend, to solace thine affliction, But she was of the world, which fairest thing exposes A rose, she too hath lived as long as live the roses, Death hath his rigorous laws, unparalleled, unfeeling; Cruel, he stops his ears, and, deaf to our appealing, The poor man in his hut, with only thatch for cover, The sentinel that guards the barriers of the Louvre To murmur against death, in petulant defiance, To will what God doth will, that is the only science, THE ANGEL AND THE CHILD. FROM THE FRENCH OF JEAN REBOUL.* AN angel with a radiant face "Dear child! who me resemblest so," It whispered, "come, O come with me! Happy together let us go, The earth unworthy is of thee! "Here none to perfect bliss attain; The soul in pleasure suffering lies; Joy hath an undertone of pain, And even the happiest hours their sighs. "Fear doth at every portal knock; From the o'ershadowing tempest's shock "What, then, shall sorrows and shall fears "Ah no! into the fields of space, "Let no one in thy dwelling cower In sombre vestments draped and veiled; "Without a cloud be there each brow; And waving wide his wings of white, *The Baker of Nismes. A CHRISTMAS CAROL. FROM THE NOEL BOURGUIGNON DE GUI BARŌZAI. I HEAR along our street Hark! they play so sweet, On their hautboys, Christmas songs! Ever higher Sing them till the night expire! In December ring In the streets their merry rhymes. Sing them till the night expire! Shepherds at the grange, Sing them till the night expire! These good people sang There they stood with freezing feet. Let us by the fire Ever higher Sing them till the night expire! Nuns in frigid cells At this holy tide, For want of something else, Christmas songs at times have tried. Ever higher Sing them till the night expire! THE BLIND GIRL OF CASTEL-CUILLÈ. FROM THE GASCON OF JASMIN. Only the Lowland tongue of Scotland might Let me attempt it with an English quill: 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'aouzelous). 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! Those who may feel interested in knowing something about "Jasmin, Coiffeur "-for such is his calling-will find a description of his person and mode of life in the graphic pages of Béarn and the Pyrenees (Vol. i., p. 369, et seq.), by Louisa Stuart Costello, whose charming pen has done so much to illustrate the French provinces and their literature. I. AT the foot of the mountain height When the apple, the plum, and the almond tree On a Wednesday morn of Saint Joseph's Eve: "The roads should blossom, the roads should bloom, So fair a bride shall leave her home! Should blossom and bloom with garlands gay, This old Te Deum, rustic rites attending, Of rosy village girls, clean as the eye, Each one with her attendant swain, Came to the cliff, all singing the same strain: Resembling there, so near unto the sky, Rejoicing angels, that kind Heaven has sent For their delight and our encouragement. Together blending, And soon descending They wind aslant Toward Saint Aman "The roads should blossom, the roads should bloom, It is Baptiste, and his affianced maiden, The sky was blue; without one cloud of gloom, When one beholds the dusky hedges blossom, To sounds of joyous melodies, That touch with tenderness the trembling bosom, Gaily frolicking, A band of youngsters With fingers pressing, Till in the veriest Madness of mirth, as they dance, They retreat and advance, Trying whose laugh shall be loudest and merriest; While the bride, with roguish eyes, Sporting with them, now escapes and cries: "Those who catch me Married verily This year shall be!" And all pursue with eager haste, Meanwhile, whence comes it that among What lovers! they give not a single caress! In yon cottage, by whose walls Stand the cart-house and the stalls, And you must know, one year ago, |