De Btranger. 



247 



Pres de Rose il n'e&t point fade, 

 Et n'a rien de freluquet, 

 Lorsque ma femme est malade, 

 II fait mon cent de piquet. 

 II m'embrasse au jour de 1'an ; 

 11 me fete a la Saint Jean. 



Quel honneur ! 



Quel bonheur! 

 Ah! monsieur le senateur, 

 Je suis votre humble serviteur. 



Chez moi qu/un temps effroyable 

 Me retienne aprfes diner, 

 II me dit d'un air aimable : 

 " Allez done vous promener ; 

 Mon cher, ne vous genez pas, 

 Mon equipage est la bas." 



Quel honneur! 



Quel bonheur ! 

 Ah ! monsieur le senateur, 

 Je suis votre humble serviteur. 



Certain soir a sa campagne 

 II nous mena par hasard ; 

 II m'enivra de champagne, 

 Et Rose fit lit a part ; 

 Mais de la maison, ma foi, 

 Le plus beau lit fut pour moi. 



Quel honneur ! 



Quel bonheur! 

 Ah ! monsieur le senateur, 

 Je suis votre humble serviteur. 



A 1'enfant que Dieu m'envoie 

 Pour parrain je 1'ai donne', 

 C'est presque en pleurant de joie 

 Qu'il baise lo nouveau-ne' ; 

 Et mon fils, des ce moment, 

 Est mis sur son testament. 



Quel honneur ! 



Quel bonheur ! 

 Ah ! monsieur le senateur, 

 Je suis votre humble serviteur. 



Having abandoned all views in regard to the theatre, he resolved, 

 for the purpose of satisfying his lofty aspirations for poetical distinc- 

 tion, to undertake the composition of an epic poem. Clovis was the 

 hero he chose. The care of preparing the materials, the study of 

 the character of the principal personages, the harmonizing of the 

 different combinations, was to occupy several years : as to the execu- 

 tion, properly so called, he deferred that till he had attained his 

 thirtieth year ! 



But, alas ! our poet's actual situation contrasted bitterly with these 

 magnificent day-dreams. Eighteen months of comparative comfort 

 .and prosperity were followed by years of severe suffering ; and our 

 unhappy young man was almost overwhelmed by poverty and desti- 

 tution. He was driven of necessity to seek some means of existence, 

 and turned his thoughts to an expatriation to Egypt, at that time in 

 the power of the French army. A member of the grand expedi- 

 tion, who had returned to France (completely disenchanted by his 

 adventures in the East), at once, by his advice, put an end to this 

 brilliant enterprise of our poet. 



Youth, with its powerful illusions and natural gaiety, hope, confi- 

 dence, self good-opinion, those internal resources which seldom fail 

 with the young, enabled De Beranger to triumph over adversity, and 

 even in the midst of his most straitened circumstances to discover 

 new sources of enjoyment. It was at this period that he became 

 more intimately acquainted with all classes and conditions of what 

 maybe emphatically called the people ; and throwing off the arti- 

 ficial and the conventional of society, he set narrow bounds to his 

 desires, still rinding ample space for simple and unsophisticated plea- 

 sures. This was, in fact, the time of his boon companions and con- 

 genial amusements, which he describes with such truth and force of 

 delineation, and with so much feeling of regret, in the following- 

 verses : 



