564 



MUSSET 



MUSTARD 



liiin for some time to life and lio|H-, but during his 

 lout halt' do/en years he wrote nothing "I import- 

 ance, lie was elected to the Acodem\ . but not 

 without ilillioiilly, in 1832, and SainU- Bcuve has 

 told u of his coining tipsy to its sitting*. ' Mussel 

 s'alieente Imp,' said a meml>er on one ixvo>ion : ' II 

 g'alminthe iron,' was the response. He died of 

 heartdista.se, May 1, ls.">7. 



Of I)e Mussel's iwetry the four pieces entitled 

 A'iV.v mark the highest reach of his lyrical talent. 

 The tfuit de Mm and that d'Octobre are perfect 

 and immortal (HH-IIIS, like Milton's // J'enseroso 

 with p!Linii added, says Sttinte-Beuve. The 

 Ai'< iff Ihi'-nilirc is a subtle realisation of that 

 other self that had shadowed all his life. These 

 poems quiver with the quick pul.se of life and the 

 tliKili 01 sutl'eiiiig, yet the poet's eyes are open 

 throughout to all the innumerable beauties of 

 the universe. The <>,!, la Maltbran is a 

 splendid tribute of admiration to a great actress ; 

 the Lettre a Luiiuirtiue, to a master in his own 

 art; /.'AV//w en Dicu, a noble expression of tlie 

 longing of the human soul for certainty ; the 

 famous l;liin Al/cmaiid, a .spirited retort to 

 Nikolaus Becker's too patriotic German poem, 

 which brought him a crop of challenges from 

 fonli.sh German officers. The greatest merit of 

 these poems i- that they tlirill with real, not simu- 

 lated passion. ' Mon vurre n'est pas grand, niais je 

 IKIIS dans mon verre' was his own judgment of 

 himself, ami so far as regards his genuineness it is 

 true. He is the poet of a certain range of per- 

 sonal emotions, of yoiitlifuluess, and, above all, of 

 passion, in which respect he follows close upon 

 Byron in power, while far surpassing him in 

 unatlectedness and reality, if not always in finish 

 ami exi|iiisitcness of art. 



His dramatic work is unique in 19th-century 

 literature of its kind for originality, intensity, and 

 variety, linked to biilliant wit and real dramatic 

 genius. It consisted of comedies, or regular 

 dramas, full of tragic quality and ending with 

 tragic abruptness, and jiroverltes, the latter short 

 dramatic illustrations of some common saying. 

 Of the former class are Andre del Sarto, perhaps 

 his greatest work ; Lurenzaccio ; Lcs Caprices tie 

 Martanne ; and On ne badine pas aoec I' Amour. 

 To the class of proverbcs belong Fantasia and 

 Harberitte, both bright and graceful, if fantastic ; 

 /.c Chandelier, slight in structure, but absolutely 

 perfect in art ; 11 ne fiiut iurer de liicn, more 

 serious, but no less successful; Un Caprice, grace- 

 ful and brilliant ; II fmit yu'une Porte soil ouverte 

 ouj'ermee, bright ana charming ; Louison, in verse, 

 less interesting ; On tic xnuriitt penser A tout, an 

 extravaganza ; < w/-,//. ,.///,. a charming little master- 



}iie,-i. iif iniiiaiiee iii miniature ; and fiettine, a lively 

 ittlc drama. 



Of his largest although not greatest prose work 

 we have already spoken. It remains only to speak 

 i.i his biilliant and inimitable X olivettes or short 

 stories and his Conies. To the former belong Les 

 Deux Mattresses, in which Valentin is said to have 

 been a study of his own character; Emmcline ; Le 

 Pi/a <ln Titien, pcrha]>s his finest, work in prose ; 

 lerie et liernerctte, which grew out of an un- 

 worthy Unison of hi own ; Croisilles ; and Margut. 

 The Contcn are Pierre et Camille ; Mnilniiniselle 

 Minn 1'inson, a charming study of the best aspect 

 of that peculiar 1'aiisian product, the grisette, as a 

 work of art an absolute masterpiece ; Le Secret de 

 Jamitle ; Le Merle Iflunc ; and Lcttres de Dupuis 

 et Cotonet. His Mrlmxjci and CEuvres 1'oslhumes 

 are less valuable. l)e Mussel's whole work fills 

 but ten small volumes ( l.emerrc, IHTli). but it is 

 not too much to say that these include some of the 

 noblest poetry, greatest plays, and best short 

 tones French literature has yet produced. 



See the Life by his brother Paul de Mumot (3d ed. 

 1877); frcnek Poets and NartlMi (1884), by Henry 

 James ; a itudy by C. F. Oliphant ( 1890) ; and the mono- 

 graph by 'Arvede Barine' (Orandt Eorivaini, 1893). Old 

 and Jfeu (1890) U a translation by AV. II. Pollock uf the 

 A'uits. There is a translation of four of the Comedie* 

 in the ' Camelot ' series ( 1890 ). 



. See I.ASDAUR. 

 Si-e K'AliAKdltfM. 



See HOK.SE. 



.IlllstaphiU a suburb of Algiers (q.v.). 



Mustard (Sina/ris), a genus of plants of the 

 natural order Cruciferrc, now generally included, 

 as a sub-genus of lirassica. Three species, all 

 annuals, of Sinapis contribute their seeds to the 

 manufacture of mustard. (1) Black Mustard (S. 

 niijrn), a native of the middle and the south uf 

 Europe, also of Britain, but rare in Scotland ; a 

 rather coarse plant, two or more feet high, having 

 the lower leaves lyrate and usually hispid, the 

 upper leaves linear-lanceolate, entire, and hair- 

 les>. The flowers are yellow, in slender racemes. 

 The pods rarely exceed half an inch in length, 

 closely pressed to the stem. The seeds are deep 

 brown. (2) White Mustard (S. alba), a native 

 of southern Europe and western Asia, naturalised 

 in the southern parts of Britain ami in Ireland, ami 

 in the United States. The whole plant is more 

 or less hairy, the leaves pinnately lobed. The 

 flowers are large compared with those of the pre- 

 ceding siiecies ; the pods nearly twice as long, with 

 a long flattened beak, and live prominent nerves : 

 and the seeds are pale yellow. (3) The Wild 

 Mustard (!>'. arrcnsis), in nearly all parts of the 

 country better known as Charlock, is a weed of 

 cultivation only too common throughout Britain 

 and Ireland in cornfields, and in some pails of the 

 United States. It is from the ground seeds 

 of the two first named that mustard is chiefly 

 obtained, but those of the last named are also u.-rd 

 in the manufacture of that condiment. The wild 

 mustard is reputed to have yielded the original 

 Durham Mustard, but its seeds are now only 

 gathered for mixing with those of the two preced- 

 ing species. The black mustard is the most pun- 

 gent, and is almost exclusively used in the nianii- 

 tacture of mustard on the Continent. White 

 mustard is most favoured in Britain, chiefly lie- 

 cause the skin is more easily separated from the 

 seed. The greatest bulk of it is grown in the fens 

 of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, also in Kent 

 and Essex. White mustard is sown in gardens, 

 and used as a small salad. Much of the mustard 

 seed imported from India is Sarepta Mustard (S. 

 juitfea). Mustard is often adulterated (see ADUL- 

 TKUATION); but 'mustard condiment,' mode of 

 mustard flour and wheaten flour or starch flour, is 

 less bitter and stinging than pure mustard, and 

 keeps better. Both black and white mustard seed 

 yield by expression a non-dr\ing tixed oil, which is 

 known as oU of muslm-il, and is tree from pungency. 

 When the residual rake, possessing in itself little 



{iiingent odour, is treated with water it immediately 

 tecomes powerfully irritating to tin: skin. This is 

 due to a chemical action between an albuminous 

 body, inyrosin, and complex bodies dillering in the 

 two varieties of seed which are present in the cells. 

 These in presence of water react, giving, in the 

 case of black mustard, a volatile oil, having the 

 composition of isosnlphocyanate of allyl, C,H 6 SCN, 

 while in the white seed the non-volatile sulpha- 

 cv/tnate of acrinyl, C 7 H 7 SCNO, is produced. This 

 action is similar to that of oil of bitter almonds 

 i see AI.MONDS). It is to the formation of these 

 vesicating substances that the pungency and 

 activity of a mustard plaster are due. As the 

 white seed contains more myrosin than the black, 



