works. His great
influence in southern France and his great personal popularity are not
difficult to understand when one has seen the man.

As the striking fact in the works of this Frenchman is that they are not
written in French, but in Provencal, a considerable portion of the
present essay is devoted to the language itself. But it did not appear
fitting that too much space should be devoted to the purely linguistic
side of the subject. There is a field here for a great deal of special
study, and the results of such investigations will be embodied in
special works by those who make philological studies their special
province. In the first division of the present work, however, along with
the life of the poet and the history of the Felibrige, a description of
the language is given, which is an account at least of its distinctive
features. A short chapter will be found devoted to the subject of the
versification of the poets who write in the new speech. This subject is
not treated in Koschwitz's admirable grammar of the language.

The second division is devoted to the poems. The epics of Mistral, if we
may venture to use the term, are, with the exception of Lamartine's
_Jocelyn_, the most remarkable long narrative poems that have been
produced in France in modern times. At least one of them would appear to
be a work of the highest rank and destined to live. Among the short
poems that constitute the volume called _Lis Isclo d'Or_ are a number of
masterpieces.

This book aims to present all the essential facts in the history of this
astonishing revival of a language, and to bring out the chief aspects of
Mistral's life-work. In our conclusions we have not yielded to the
temptation to prophesy. The conflicting tendencies of cosmopolitanism
and nationalism abroad in the world to-day give rise to fascinating
speculations as to the future. In the Felibrean movement we have a very
interesting problem of this kind, and no one can terminate a study of
the subject without asking himself the question, "What is going to come
out of it all?" No one can tell, and so we have not ventured beyond the
attempt to present the case as it actually exists.

Let me here also offer an expression of gratitude to Professor Adolphe
Cohn and to Professor Henry A. Todd of Columbia University for their
advice and guidance during the past six years. Their kindness and the
inspiration of their example must be reckoned among those things that
canno