authority for saying that he was subsequently apprenticed to one Laisney, a printer at Péronne. In a note to his "Bonsoir,” (p. 22.) which is a very touching tribute to this, the earliest of his friends, he says of him, "N'ayant pu parvenir à m'enseigner l'orthographe, il me fit prendre goût à la poésie, me donna des leçons de versification, et corrigea mes premiers essais." It is said that Béranger's first poetical attempts attracted the favourable notice of Napoleon's litero-political brother Lucien, and also that the offers of patronage made by the author of Charlemagne, were refused by his brother bard. However this may be, it was probably owing to his influence that Béranger was appointed in 1809 to an office in the University. Of this he was deprived, as we shall hereafter see, upon the publication of his recueil in 1821, and thus the office for which he was indebted to his songs under one dynasty, was for the same reason taken from him under another. Béranger's situation in the (then imperial) University appears to have been very humble. A seat in what is now termed the conseil Royal (then Impérial) d'instruction publique is one of considerable dignity and emolument, but our poet's employment was merely that of an expéditionnaire, or a simple clerkship, with a salary of 1200 francs per annum As most of the pieces in this collection bear the date of their composition, the progress of the poet is easily traced, but as the earliest period assigned to any in these volumes is 1810, and as the apprenticeship to the trade of poet is rarely so long as to the other professions, it is supposed that many previous effusions have been omitted: and, perhaps, it is not to be lamented that the existence of these earlier productions was limited to that of the periodicals, under whose auspices they were ushered into being. The first fruits of his muse would probably send up no very sweet savour. Indeed, for the sake of decency, it is to be regretted that many even in this collection were not consigned to an early grave and a brief epitaph. There is a licentiousness, and what is far worse, a grossness in some of these earlier poems which would be almost incredible to one who had only read the latter works of our author. In a preface to one of the editions of his poems, but which will not be found in either of the volumes before us, he has said in excuse of the liberties he has taken; "c'est parceque je ne crains point qu'on examine mes mœurs, que je me suis permis de peindre celles du temps avec une exactitude qui participe à leur licence." It is very gratifying, however, to reflect, that the poet himself has, in the most practical manner-by a gradual and marked improvement in all his subsequent productions-passed sentence of condemnation on the pieces in question. Among the earliest of his songs we have what may be termed an elegiac eulogy of Parny; and we think that we have seen Béranger condemned for his unqualified praise of so licentious an author. It would be well if he had not committed himself in matters more essential. Parny is one of those subjects, which may be discussed with the utmost facility pour or contre. His "Galanteries du Bible" would form an apt supplement to "Faublas," and his "Guerre des Dieux" might serve as an epilogue to the "Bible of Reason"-yet there were moments when he avoided both obscenity and profaneness, and to these lucid intervals we owe his "Isnel et Uslega," his "Rosecroix," and the other truly beautiful and poetical productions which have obtained for him, and justly too, the appellation of le Tibulle Francais. The early songs of Béranger, deserve, as a class, comparatively no particular notice. The subjects are trifling, and the manner in which they are treated is still more so. It is true they speak of an "hereafter," for in the mere physique of poetry; in ease and flexibility of versification, in richness, nay exuberance of diction, they equal his later productions. Still they possess no such peculiar excellence as should have rescued their author from the neglect and obscurity, into which so many of the lyric poets of France have hopelessly sunk. To this sweeping sentence there are however some striking exceptions; and here we may mention" L'Académie et Le Caveau" (t. 1. p. 97,) "Le Printemps et L'Automne" (p. 237,) and "Le Coin de L'Amitié," (p. 47.) This last especially has a softness of expression and beauty of sentiment, worthy of all commendation; it may be further noticed as one of the very few of Béranger's songs which resemble Moore's highly elaborated verse. We find here also, among a host of satires upon the prevailing follies and fashions of the day, one or two political effusions, as "Le Roi d'Yvetot" (t. 1. p. 1.) and "Le petit homme gris" (p. 25,) which are remarkable for that peculiar. humour which runs through so many of his songs. Of these pasquinades on the emperor, for such they both are, the former "Le Roi d'Yvetot," is by far the better, and at the time of its publication, May, 1813, produced a great sensation in the Faubourg St. Germain. It is very good humoured and playful to be sure, but it is still somewhat remarkable that the author received none of those energetic hints to silence for * Yvetot is a small town on the road from Havre to Paris. which Napoleon was so famous, and that his acquaintance with Parisian prisons did not commence with Charenton or Bicêtre. This would, however, have been scarcely reasonable, for Béranger's opposition to Buonaparte, personally, seems to have existed in appearance, rather than in reality; but in his bold and elastic mind indifference or a sort of frolicksome contempt seemed to supply the place of the awe and reverence excited in common minds, by the dignified fripperies and imposing fooleries with which even genius seeks to invest itself. At any rate, however his feelings may have been affected towards the Emperor during his despotic sway, he, at a later period, made for his fearless gibes full amends to him, whose power he neither feared nor flattered, but whose fall he deeply lamented, by some of the most earnest and touching offerings of sympathy and devotion which have ever been laid upon the defaced and mouldering shrine of fallen dominion. There are also to be found among the productions of this period, some very spirited satires upon the follies and vices of the times, but unfortunately he has adapted his style so admirably and peculiarly to his subject, that we should really be puzzled to find one which it would be practicable to cite. Without, however, bestowing further attention upon topics which have already detained us too long, we proceed to the more agreeable subject of his political songs-songs, which with him are almost invariably national. The earliest of these is " Les Gaulois et les Francs" (t. 1. p. 61) dated Jan. 1814. It belongs, as all know, to a period, every day of which teemed with news to which the whole nation listened as one man. Immediately after the battle of "Bar sur Aube," (24th Jan.) Napoleon left Paris for the army-and it is to this deeply interesting moment, when the whole country echoed, as one of her poets has expressed it, with the cry— "Il est chez nous, cet ennemi sauvage, that we owe two spirited productions; the one by Béranger, mentioned above, and the other by Desaugiers, a stanza of which we have just quoted, "Le Départ :" and perhaps in no way can we better show the superiority of Béranger to all his contemporary poets, than by comparing "Les Gaulois et les Francs" with "Le Départ:" for the exceeding beauty and eloquence of the latter VOL. VII.-No. 13. 7 render it in some respects more than a rival. Désaugier's poem is certainly the more touching in its expression, but if you would feel with him while you admire him, you must confine the current of your sympathies within very narrow banks: the poet speaks only of Napoleon's danger, laments Napoleon's sufferings, and petitions heaven for his safe return-and while, to be sure, none but an ultra-federalist or a thrice-dyed tory can forbear commiseration for that great man in those days of darkness and debasement—still the feelings gradually and involuntarily unlink themselves from the solitary idol upon which the bard would fix them, and you revert to the strains of Béranger as containing the purer, the loftier, and the more controlling emotions. In this poem, the author alludes to no individual interests; he depicts the arrogance of the allies, and bewails the most remote possibility of their success, not with reference to any one man-but to his country-to France; and he calls upon her to arm for the preservation of her own honour and her own dominion. This is but one instance of a characteristic deeply impressed upon all his national poetry; and we cannot but suppose that it is the strong reflection of a trait of his mind. His poems are, indeed, rendered peculiarly national by this single and absorbing love of France. It matters not to him whether she be a republic, an empire, or a kingdom: In all changes, in glory or in shame, she still is his country; he regards her rulers only as they increase or diminish her fame, and the man Louis or the man Napoleon, seems to be no more to him than the rudder or the sail. These also are the feelings, it should be remembered, of a very large portion of those who have had any share in the events of the last forty years. You may hear Napoleon condemned and his overthrow rejoiced in ; but the Bourbons were never forgiven for being the medium through which France was debased and degraded in an unprecedented manner. The prevalence of these feelings, even in the days of their ascendancy, accounts, in some degree, for the very wide-spread reputation enjoyed by Béranger. And there is perhaps no reputation so enviable as that of the poet, who, in popular verse, chooses for his subject either national glories or misfortunes. It may be ephemeral, but in its day and generation it is universal, and in this respect it stands alone. It unites and enlists in its service the two extremes of society; it blends, in one tide, the admiration of the lofty with that of the lowly, and while the poet reposes in gilt binding upon the table of the boudoir, and his words glide gently from the lips of the young and the beautiful, he is echoing from the bare wall and the low roof, and calling from the rude and unlettered breast, those fierce and uncontrollable energies which are but too apt to overwhelm their evoker. It is not merely the tribute of admiration for language and imagery that he levies-it is not merely the critic's soul that he ravishes, he appeals to a far different tribunal. He addresses himself, it is true, to the taste, but far more to the passions; to the mind far less than to the heart; and he sweeps at will every chord of that many and curiously stringed instrument. In 1815 Béranger collected his songs which were scattered through the periodicals of the day, and published them in a small duodecimo, entitied" Chansons morales et autres;" of which the latter is rather the more comprehensive term. In this collection, which comprises the first 188 pages of the edition of 1826, we find, on subjects of national interest, in addition to the one above mentioned, "Ma dernière chanson, peut-être" (fin de Janvier, 1814;) "Le bon Français" (Mai, 1814;) and one or two satires as "La Censure" and "Requête présentée par les chiens de qualité," (Juin, 1814.) Passing by, however, for the present, those of this class, we will give one or two of the productions which come more particularly under the denomination of the song, and endeavour to exhibit the grace and elegance which we have attributed to him. It is said that Béranger's acquaintance with ancient lore is very much that of a garçon d'auberge, and in general his poetry shews no traces of classical learning, but it is difficult to believe that the writer of the following stanzas, had not served an apprenticeship to Anacreon as well as to M. Laisney. It is entitled "La Bouteille volée." (t. 1. p. 143.) "Sans bruit, dans ma retraite, Hier l'Amour pénétra, Courut à ma cachette; Et de mon vin s'empara. |