Page:A Sheaf Gleaned in French Fields.djvu/373

340 write sweetly in the old style, and that was all. The little poem we give here has been called, oddly enough, 'la Marseillaise des Mélancoliques.' It has been translated into several languages, and was once retranslated into French from the Russian, by a Frenchman who did not know its origin.

The Young Girl. Charles Nodier was born at Besançon in 1783 and died in 1844. His strength lay in prose more than in poetry. His stories are charming, and remind one very much of Washington Irving. His 'Souvenirs' also are very interesting. A very graphic account of his life and works has been given by Alexandre Dumas who was a personal friend of his. Nodier travelled in England and Scotland, and some verses addressed by him to Sir Walter Scott, after a visit, will be found in one of the earlier numbers of 'Blackwood's Magazine.'

Greece. Pierre Lebrun is better know as a dramatist than as a poet, but his poetry is excellent. The antique and classical is his line. His poem 'Voyage en Grèce' has much merit, and some of his small pieces, such as 'Le Ciel d'Athènes,' are charming. He was admitted into the Academy in 1828 and died in 1873.

The Peasant's Dilemma. This piece will be found in the popular collection called 'La Lyre Française' by Gustave Masson.

À la Grâce de Dieu. Gustave Lemoine, the author of this piece, must not be confounded with André Lemoyne, the author of 'The Lost Path' (page 278). There is a homely but sincere pathos in this short poem, very inadequately rendered, which reminds one of 'Wapping Old Stairs,' 'Black-eyed Susan,' and pieces of the same stamp in English literature.

The Maiden and the Ring-dove. In one of her later volumes Madame Valmore has the following motto on the title-page—

The line contains the secret of her success. Her soul is in her book. She writes from the heart. The music of her verses is very attractive. Charles Baudelaire compares her poems to 'un simple jardin anglais romantique et romanesque,' and sets forth his illustration in the following terms—'Des massifs de fleurs y représentent les abondantes expressions du sentiment. Des étangs, limpides et immobiles, qui réfléchissent toutes choses s'appuyant à l'envers sur la voûte renversée des cieux, figurent la profonde résignation toute