ce but must
frequently have heard proverbial allusion made to a certain monarch of
Yvetot; and still fewer must be those who, having the slightest
knowledge of French literature, are unacquainted with Beranger's happy
lyric--

There reigned a monarch in Yvetot
But little known in story,
Who, stranger all to grief and wo,
Slept soundly without glory;
His night-cap tied by Jenny's care
(The only crown this king would wear),
He'd snooze!
Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!
The merry monarch of Yvetot.

His jolly court he held each day,
'Neath humble roof of rushes green;
And on a donkey riding gay,
Through all his kingdom might be seen:
A happy soul, and thinking well,
His only guard was--sooth to tell--
His dog!
Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!
The merry monarch of Yvetot.

No harsh exacting lord was he,
To grasp more than his folks could give;
But, mild howe'er a king may be,
His majesty, you know, must live;
And no man e'er a bumper filled,
Until the jovial prince had swilled
His share!
Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!
The merry monarch of Yvetot.

He ne'er sought to enlarge his states,
But was a neighbour just and kind;
A pattern to all potentates,
Would they his bright example mind.
The only tears he e'er caused fall,
Fell when he died--which you'll not call
His fault.
Ha, ha, ha! Ho, ho, ho!
The merry monarch of Yvetot.

It is well known that Beranger's song, from which we have extracted
the preceding four verses, as translated by Anderson, was a friendly,
though rather satirical remonstrance with Napoleon--of course we mean
_the_ Napoleon--touching his ambitious and bellicose policy. But it is
not so well known, that there really was a kingdom of Yvetot, and that
its several dynasties reigned peacefully for upwards of eleven
centuries. Anderson, in a note to the song, says: 'Yvetot, a district
in the north of France, possesses a monarch of its own, a sort of
burlesque personage, whose royal charger is a donkey; his guard, a
dog; his crown, a night-cap; and his revenue, a gratuitous draught of
_wine_ at the _ale_ houses of his liege subjects!' Young, another
translator of Beranger, not any better informed