head or was carried away by the enthusiastic
cheers which accompanied his efforts, but remained simple and unaffected
to the last.

Another characteristic of him was, that he never forsook his friends,
however poor. His happiest moments were those in which he encountered
a companion of his early youth. Many still survived who had accompanied
him while making up his bundle of fagots on the islands of the Garonne.
He was delighted to shake hands with them, and to help, when necessary,
these playmates of his boyhood.

He would also meet with pleasure the working women of his acquaintance,
those who had related to him the stories of Loup Garou and the
traditions of the neighbourhood, and encouraged the boy from his
earliest youth. Then, at a later period of his life, nothing could have
been more worthy of him than his affection for his old benefactor, M.
Baze, and his pleading with Napoleon III., through the Empress, for his
return to France "through the great gate of honour!"

Had Jasmin a fault? Yes, he had many, for no one exists within the
limits of perfection. But he had one in especial, which he himself
confessed. He was vain and loved applause, nor did he conceal his love.

When at Toulouse, he said to some of his friends, "I love to be
applauded: it is my whim; and I think it would be difficult for a poet
to free himself from the excitement of applause." When at Paris, he
said, "Applaud! applaud! The cheers you raise will be heard at Agen."
Who would not overlook a fault, if fault it be, which is confessed in so
naive a manner?

When complimented about reviving the traditions of the Troubadours,
Jasmin replied, "The Troubadours, indeed! Why, I am a better poet than
any of the Troubadours! Not one of them could have composed a long poem
of sustained interest, like my Franconnette."

Any fault or weakness which Jasmin exhibited was effaced by the good
wishes and prayers of thousands of the poor and afflicted whom he had
relieved by his charity and benevolence. The reality of his life
almost touches the ideal. Indeed, it was a long apostolate.

Cardinal Donnet, Archbishop of Bordeaux, said of him, that "he was
gifted with a rich nature, a loyal and unreserved character, and
a genius as fertile as the soil of his native country. The lyre of
Jasmin," he said, "had three chords, which summed up the harmonies of
heaven and earth--the true, the useful, and the beautiful."

Did not the members of the French Academy