re we not inclined to cry out, like the little children
listening to the old grandmother who speaks of Napoleon: "He spoke to
you, grandmother! He sat down there, grandmother! You have yet his
glass, grandmother!" The whole song is poetic, natural, and simple.
Francois Coppee, the great poet, said of it: "Ah! if I had only written
'The Reminiscences of the People,' I should not feel concerned about the
judgment of posterity."

Other works of Beranger's are on serious subjects, as 'Mary Stuart's
Farewell to France,' 'The Holy Alliance,' 'The Swallows,' and 'The Old
Banner,' All his songs have a charm. His wit is not of the highest
order, and he lacks the _finesse_ of La Fontaine, but he is often quaint
and always amusing in his songs devoted to love and Lisette, to youth
and to wine. He is not one of the greatest French lyric poets, and
cannot be compared with Lamartine, Hugo, Musset, and Vigny; nevertheless
he has much originality, and is without doubt the greatest song-writer
that France has produced. He elevated the song and made it both a poem
and a drama, full of action and interest.

Beranger wrote slowly and with great care, and many of his songs cost
him much labor. He was filled with compassion for the weak, for the poor
and unfortunate; he loved humanity, and above all he dearly loved
France. Posterity will do him justice and will preserve at least a great
part of his work. M. Ernest Legouve in his interesting work, 'La Lecture
en Action,' relates that one day, while walking with Beranger in the
Bois de Boulogne, the latter stopped in the middle of an alley, and
taking hold of M. Legouve's hand, said with emotion, "My dear friend, my
ambition would be that one hundred of my lines should remain." M.
Legouve adds, "There will remain more than that," and his words have
been confirmed. If we read aloud, if we sing them, we too shall share
the enthusiasm of our fathers, who were carried away by the pathos, the
grandeur, the wit, the inexpressible charm of the unrivaled
_chansonnier_.

[Illustration: Signature: ALCEE FORTIER]

FROM 'THE GIPSIES'

(LES BOHEMIENS)

To see is to have. Come, hurry anew!
Life on the wing
Is a rapturous thing.
To see is to have. Come, hurry anew!
For to see the world is to conquer it too.

* * * * *

So naught do we own, from pride left free,
From statutes vain,
From heavy chain;