391 Songs from the French. [APRIL, 



" LES ROIS DE FRANCE AU SACRE; 



ou, 

 LES PORTRAITS DE FAMILLE." 



It seems that the pictures of the most illustrious kings crowned in 

 Rheims were hung up in the banquetting-room, on the occasion of the 

 coronation of his Majesty Charles X. Among them were Clovis. Louis 

 IX, Philip de Valois, Charles V, Charles VII, Louis XII, Francis I. 

 and Louis XIV. On this hint the songster speaks . 



Des rois, dont son auguste enceinte 



Vit beriir le sceptre et les droits, 

 J'ai vu Reims, dans la fete sainte 



Entourer le meilleur des rois. 

 CHARLES, autour de ton image, 



Ainsi ces monarques fameux 

 Semblaient unir A notre hommage 



Celui de tes nobles a'ienx. 



And so on, to the end. Henri Quatre, who is uniformly introduced on all 

 such occasions, happened, unluckily, not to have been crowned at Rheims; 

 but the poet will not miss him for that. After regretting that Henry's 

 picture could not appear among the rest, he assures him, 



Par une heureuse ressemblance 



Un portrait au sien supplera ; 

 Henri Quatre de ton absence, 



CHARLES Dix nous consoleia I 



In which particular Charles X resembles Henry IV, it would, we think, 

 be hard to discover; but a court poet must not inquire into such things too 

 curiously. This song is from the pen of a Monsieur Gurry editor, we 

 believe, of the Journal de Pan's a gentleman whose muse is ever ready 

 on such occasions. Last year he published a volume of poems, in which 

 he made it a merit that he had sung the praises of the reigning dynasty 

 since 1814 ; on which an opposition wag remarked, that there was a mis- 

 take of print in the date as every body knew that Monsieur Ourry had 

 sung the praises of the reigning dynasty, whatever it was, since J804. 

 The joke happened to be true; but many others in France are in the same 

 predicament. 



This song is not worth translating ; and, with this specimen, we pass 

 by all the politics of the volume. Some of the drinking-songs, in which, 

 a la Fmncaise y love is almost invariably mingled, are clever. The follow- 

 ing is by Beranger, who has, besides, contributed another : 



I. 



Deux saisons reglent toutes choses, 



Pour qui sait vivre eri s'amusant : 

 Au printemps nous devons les rose;;, 



A I'aut6mne un jus bienfaisant, 

 Les jours croissent, le coeur s'eveille ; 



On fait le vin quand ils sont courts. 

 Au printemps, adieu la bouteille ! 



En automne, adieu les amours. 



It 



Mieux il vaudrait unir sans doute 



Ces deux penchans faits pour charmer; 



Mais pour ma sanfe je redoute 

 D. tiop bone et du tn-p aU'u-i. 



