The minister bore witness to the worth of Jasmin,notwithstanding the rusticity of his idiom;and he was classed amongst the men who did honour to French literature.He was considered great,not only in his poems,but in his benevolent works:"You build churches;you help indigence;you possess the talent of a powerful benefactor;and your muse is the sister of charity."When the news of the honours conferred upon Jasmin reached Agen,the people were most sympathetic in their demonstrations.
The shop of the barber-poet was crowded with visitors,and when he himself reached the town he was received with the greatest enthusiasm.The Philharmonic Society again treated him to a serenade,and the whole town was full of joy at the honour done to their beloved poet.
To return to the church of Vergt,which was not yet entirely finished.A bell-tower had been erected,but what was a bell-tower without bells?There was a little tinkling affair which could scarcely be heard in the church,still less in the neighbourhood.With his constant trust in Providence,the Abbe did not hesitate to buy a clock and order two large bells.
The expense of both amounted to 7000francs.How was this to be paid?His funds were entirely exhausted.The priest first applied to the inhabitants of Vergt,but they could not raise half the necessary funds.There was Jasmin!He was the only person that could enable the Abbe to defray his debt.
Accordingly,another appeal was made to the public outside of Vergt.The poet and the priest set out on their fifth and last pilgrimage;and this time they went as far as Lyons--a city which Jasmin had never seen before.There he found himself face to face with an immense audience,who knew next to nothing of his Gascon patois.He was afraid of his success;but unwilling to retreat,he resolved,he said,"to create a squadron in reserve";that is,after reciting some of the old inspirations of his youth,to give them his Helene or 'Love and Poetry,'in modern classical French.The result,we need scarcely say,was eminently successful,and the Abbe;was doubly grateful in having added so many more thousand francs to his purse.
During this journey another priest,the Abbe Cabanel,united his forces with those of Jasmin and Masson.This Abbe was curate of Port de Sainte-Foi-la-Grande.He had endeavoured to erect in his parish a public school under the charge of religious teachers.
He now proposed to partake of the profits of the recitations for the purpose of helping on his project;and Jasmin and Masson willingly complied with his request.They accordingly appeared at the town of Sainte-Foi,and the result was another excellent collection.
After visiting other towns,sufficient subscriptions were collected to enable the Abbe to pay off his debts.The clock and bells were christened by Monseigneur de Sangalerie,who had himself been a curate of the parish of Vergt;and the bells were inscribed with the name of JASMIN,the chief founder and rebuilder of the church.The bells were the last addition to Jasmin's bell-tower,but the final result was reached long after the beginning of the rebuilding of the church.
Footnotes for Chapter XVII.
[1]The Baron de Montyon bequeathed a large sum to the Academie Francaise,the Academie des Sciences,and the Faculte de Medecine,for the purpose of being awarded in prizes to men of invention and discovery,or for any literary work likely to be useful to society,and to rewarding acts of virtue among the poor.
Jasmin was certainly entitled to a share in this benevolent fund.
[2]Chambers'Edinburgh Journal,July,1853
[3]The following are the Gascon words of this part of the poem:
"O moun bres,d'un councer festejo moun aoureillo!
Rouseignol,canto fort!brounzino fort,Abeillo!
Garono,fay souna toun flot rizen et pur;
Des ourmes del Grabe floureji la cabeillo,Non de glorio.mais de bounhur!"[4]The editor of Vol.IV.of Jasmins Poems (1863)gives this note:
"In this circumstance,Jasmin has realised the foresight which the ancients afforded to their poets,of predicting,two years in advance,the birth of the Prince Imperial."