Jasmin: Barber, Poet, Philanthropist

eighty miles above Bordeaux. The country to the south of Agen contains some of the most fertile l

e town. A holy hermit had once occupied a cell on the ascending cliffs; and near it the Convent of the Hermitage has since

, covered with woods, vineyards, and greenery. The spires of village churches peep up here and there am

e for ordinary traffic, a light and elegant suspension bridge, and a bridge of t

et-the Rue de la Republique-has recently been erected through the heart of the old town, which greatly adds to the attractions of the place. At o

eighbourhood who have not been commemorated in any form. Amongst these were Bernard Palissy, the famous potter{1}; Joseph J. Scaliger, the

que, and nearly opposite the little shop in which he carried on his humble trade of a barber and hairdress

ng pages. He has told the story of his early life in a bright, natural, and touching style, in one of his best poems, entitled, "My Recollections"

rgina Fullerton. The elegant translation by Longfellow is so well known that it is unnecessary to repeat it in the appendix to this v

rhaps be found more attractive to English readers than any rendering of his poems, however accurate, into a language different from his own. For poetry, more than all forms of lite

subject of this story, was born. It was on the morning of Shrove Tuesday, the 6th of March, 1798,-just as the day had flung aside its black night-cap, and the morning sun was about to shed its rays upon the earth,-that this son of a crippled mother

he sound of a popgun." Yet Jasmin was afterwards to become a king of hearts! A Charivari was, however, going on in front of a neighbour's door, as a nuptial serenade on the occasion of some unsuitable mar

gs as a tailor of the lowest standing, the mother occasionally earned a little money as a laundress. A grandfather, Boe, formed one of the family group. He had been a soldier, but was now too

le; two jugs of cracked earthenware; a wooden cup broken at the edges; a rusty candlestick, used when candles were available; a small half-black looking-glass without a frame, held against the wall by three little nails;

ildren more richly nurtured. The infant Jasmin slept no less soundly in his little cot stuffed with larks' feathers than if he had been laid on a bed of down. Then he was nouris

ap on his head, like a French clown, and with a horn in his hand he made as much noise, and played as many antics, as any fool in the crowd. Though the tailor could

f a heterogeneous kind occurred in any proposed union, a terrible row began. The populace assembled in the evening of the day on which the banns had been first proclaimed, and saluted the happy pair in their respective houses with a Charivari

se and violence, entered the church with the marriage guests; and at night they besieged the house of the ha

, though it still exists among the Basques as a Toberac. It may also be mentioned that a similar practice once prevailed in D

rivaris brought

ding of old clothes. However sharp his needle might be, his children's teeth were still sharper; and often they had

en, so soon as they could walk, accompanied her to the willows along the banks of the Garonne, where the clothes were hung out to dry. There they had at leas

ounds, or, tales

tch, and showed ho

en he came home at eve he emptied his wallet and divided the spoil amongst the family. If he obtained, during his day'

ures of fellowship and the happiness of living. Rich and poor, old and young, share in this glorified gladness. Jas

wallet-to enjoy the afternoon with his comrades. Without cap or shoes he sped' away. The sun was often genial, and he never be

st given me,' a well known carol in the south. The very recollection of that pleasure even now enchants me. 'To the Island-to the

sible. There were climbings of rocks, and daring leaps, with many perils and escapades, according to the nature of boys at play. At length, after becoming tired, there was the return home an h

re a part; his raids upon the cherry and plum orchards-for the neighbourhood of Agen is rich in plum-trees, and prunes are one of the princ

ctories." Then he describes the dancing round the bonfires, and the

es or cattle, or running errands, or performing any trifling commission for the farmers or graziers. When he had filled to a slight extent his little purse, he went home at night and emptied the whole contents into his mother's ha

to their manufacture into wine. The boy was able, with his handy helpfulness, to add a little more money to the home store. Winter followed, and the weather became colder. In the dearth of firewood, Jasmin was fain to preserv

spended from the ceiling. The women had distaffs and heavy spindles, by means of which they spun a kind of coarse pack-thread, which the children wound up, sitting on stools at their feet. All the while some old dame would relate the old-world ogre

yet been taught to read; he had not even learnt his A B C. The word school frightened him. He could not bear to be shut up in a close room-he who had

d their conversation, he could scarcely conceal his tears. Old Boe determined to do what he could. He scraped together his little savings, and handed them

a burden on the impoverished family. He made up his mind to rid them of the incumbrance, and desired the parents to put h

ddenly a dreadful spectacle disturbed my royalty. I saw an old man in an arm-chair borne along by several persons. The bearers approached still nearer, when I recognised my afflicted g

?' 'My child,' said the old man, 'I am going to the hospital,{2} where all the Jasmins die.' He again embraced me, closed his e

old man quietly breathed his last. His wallet was hung upon its usual nail in his former home, but

"I for the first time knew an

ect in the first part of the Souveni

s to Ch

at, being a Huguenot, he was imprisoned in the Bastille at Paris, and died there in 1590, shortly after the massacre of St. Bartholomew. But Pal

esterday at Villeneuvesur-Lot, his native t

irmary or almshouse for ol