n 1891, after the death of Roumanille, the highest office in
the Felibrige was taken by a man who could rally about him the two
elements that we have seen manifested, sufficiently Republican to
satisfy the most ardent in the extreme Left, sufficiently steady not to
alarm the Royalists, a great enough poet to deserve without any dispute
the first place in an assembly of poets."

He, like Mistral, wrote epics in twelve cantos. His first work, _Li
Carbounie_, has on its title-page three remarkable lines:--

"I love my village more than thy village,
I love my Provence more than thy province,
I love France more than all."

Possibly no other three lines could express as well the whole spirit of
the Felibrige.

Our subject being Mistral and not Felix Gras, a passing mention must
suffice. One of his remarkable works is called _Toloza_, and recounts
the crusade of the Albigenses, and his novel, _The Reds of the Midi_,
first published in New York in the English translation of Mrs. Thomas A.
Janvier, is probably the most remarkable prose work that has been
written in Provencal.[4] Only the future can tell whether the Provencal
will pass through a prose cycle after its poetic cycle, in the manner of
all literatures. To many serious thinkers the attempt to create a
complete literature seems of very doubtful success.

The problems, then, which confront the Felibres are numerous. Can they,
with any assurance of permanence, maintain two literary languages in the
same region? It is scarcely necessary to state, of course, that no one
dreams of supplanting the French language anywhere on French soil. What
attitude shall they assume toward the "patoisants," that is, those who
insist on using the local dialect, and refuse to conform to the usage of
the Felibres? Is it not useless, after all, to hope for a more perfect
unification of the dialects of the _langue d'oc_, and, if unification is
the aim, does not logical reasoning lead to the conclusion that the
French language already exists, perfectly unified, and absolutely
necessary? In the matter of politics, the most serious questions may
arise if the desires of some find more general favor. Shall the Felibres
aim at local self-government, at a confederation something like that of
the Swiss cantons? Shall they advocate the idea of independent
universities?

As a matter of fact, none of these problems are solved, and they will
only be solved by the natural march of events.