fference in worldly wealth is too great, her
father and mother violently oppose their union, and so, one night, the
maiden, in despair, rushes away from home, across the great plain of
the Crau, across the Rhone, across the island of Camargue, to the church
of the three Maries. Vincen had told her to seek their aid in any time
of trouble. Here she prays to the three saints to give Vincen to her,
but the poor girl has been overcome by the terrible heat of the sun in
crossing the treeless plains and is found by her parents and friends
unconscious before the altar. Vincen comes also and joins his
lamentations to theirs. The holy caskets are lowered from the chapel
above, but no prayers avail to save the maiden's life. She expires, with
words of hope upon her lips.

This simple tale is told in twelve cantos; it aims to be an epic, and in
its external form is such. It employs freely the _merveilleux chretien_,
condemned by Boileau, and in one canto, _La Masco_ (The Witch), the
poet's desire to embody the superstitions of his ignorant landsmen has
led him entirely astray. The opening stanza begins in true epic
fashion:--

"Cante uno chato de Prouvenco
Dins lis amour de sa jouvenco."

I sing a maiden of Provence
In her girlhood's love.

The invocation is addressed to Christ:--

Thou, Lord God of my native land,
Who wast born among the shepherd-folk,
Fire my words and give me breath.

The epic character of the poem is sustained further than in its mere
outward form; the manner of telling is truly epic. The art of the poet
is throughout singularly objective, his narrative is a narrative of
actions, his personages speak and move before us, without intervention
on the part of the author to analyze their thoughts and motives. He is
absent from his work even in the numerous descriptions. Everything is
presented from the outside.

From the outset the poem enjoyed great success, and the enthusiastic
praise of Lamartine contributed greatly thereto. In gratitude for this,
Mistral dedicated the work to Lamartine in one of his most happy
inspirations, and these dedicatory lines appear in _Lis Isclo d'Or_ and
in all the subsequent editions of _Mireio_. Mistral had professed great
admiration for the author of _Jocelyn_ even before 1859, but as poets
they stand in marked contrast. We may partly define Mistral's art in
stating that it is utterly unlike that of Lamartine. Mistral's
inspiration is not that