uvenirs his Blind Girl and his
Franconnette--and then refers to his personal appearance. "Jasmin is
handsome in person, with eyes full of intelligence, of good features,
a mobility of expression absolutely electrifying, a manly figure and an
agreeable address; but his voice is harmony itself, and its changes have
an effect seldom experienced on or off the stage. The melody attributed
to Mrs. Jordan seems to approach it nearest. Had he been an actor
instead of a poet, he would have 'won all hearts his way'... On the
whole, considering the spirit, taste, pathos, and power of this poet,
who writes in a patois hitherto confined to the lower class of people
in a remote district--considering the effect that his verses have made
among educated persons, both French and foreign, it is impossible not
to look upon him as one of the remarkable characters of his age, and to
award him, as the city of Clemence Isaure has done, the Golden Laurel,
as the first of the revived Troubadours, destined perhaps to rescue his
country from the reproach of having buried her poetry in the graves of
Alain Chartier and Charles of Orleans, four centuries ago."

It is probable that this article in the Athenaeum was written by Miss
Louisa Stuart Costello, who had had an interview with the poet, in his
house at Agen, some years before. While making her tour through Auvergne
and Languedoc in 1840,{2} she states that she picked up three charming
ballads, and was not aware that they had ever been printed. She wrote
them down merely by ear, and afterwards translated Me cal Mouri into
English (see page 57). The ballad was very popular, and was set to
music. She did not then know the name of the composer, but when she
ascertained that the poet was "one Jasmin of Agen," she resolved to go
out of her way and call upon him, when on her journey to the Pyrenees
about two years later.{3} She had already heard much about him before
she arrived, as he was regarded in Gascony as "the greatest poet in
modern times." She had no difficulty in finding his shop at the entrance
to the Promenade du Gravier, with the lines in large gold letters,
"Jasmin, Coiffeur"

Miss Costello entered, and was welcomed by a smiling dark-eyed woman,
who informed her that her husband was busy at that moment dressing a
customer's hair, but begged that she would walk into his parlour at the
back of the shop. Madame Jasmin took advantage of her husband's absence
to exhibit the memorials which h