poet squeezing my hand like a vice,
and immediately thereafter dashing into all that appertains to
curling-irons, scissors, razors, and lather, with just as much apparent
energy and enthusiasm as he had flung into his rhapsodical discourse on
poetry and language!"

It is scarcely necessary to apologise for the length of this extract,
because no author that we know of--not even any French author--has given
so vivid a description of the man as he lived, moved, and talked, as
Mr. Reach; and we believe the reader will thank us for quoting from an
almost entirely forgotten book, the above graphic description of the
Gascon Poet.

Endnotes for Chapter XIII.

{1} The Athenaeum, 5th November, 1842. 'The Curl-papers of Jasmin, the
Barber of Agen.' ('Las Papillotos de Jasmin, Coiffeur.')

{2} 'A Pilgrimage to Auvergne, from Picardy to Velay.' 1842.

{3} 'Bearn and the Pyrenees.' 1844.

{4} "There are no poets in France now", he said to Miss Costello. "There
cannot be. The language does not admit of it. Where is the fire, the
spirit, the expression, the tenderness, the force, of the Gascon? French
is but the ladder to reach the first floor of the Gascon; how can you
get up to a height except by means of a ladder?"

{5} Westminster Review for October, 1849.

{6} Published by David Bogue, Fleet Street. 1852. Mr. Reach was very
particular about the pronunciation of his name. Being a native of
Inverness, the last vowel was guttural. One day, dining with Douglas
Jerrold, who insisted on addressing him as Mr. Reek or Reech, "No," said
the other; "my name is neither Reek nor Reech,but Reach," "Very well,"
said Jerrold, "Mr. Reach will you have a Peach?"

CHAPTER XIV. JASMIN'S TOURS OF PHILANTHROPY.

The poet had no sooner returned from his visit to Paris than he was
besieged with appeals to proceed to the relief of the poor in the South
of France. Indeed, for more than thirty years he devoted a considerable
part of his time to works of charity and benevolence. He visited
successively cities and towns so far remote from each other, as Bayonne
and Marseilles, Bagneres and Lyons. He placed his talents at the
service of the public from motives of sheer benevolence, for the large
collections which were made at his recitations were not of the slightest
personal advantage to himself.

The first place he visited on this occasion was Carcassonne, south-east
of Toulouse,--a town of considerable importance, and containing a large