Though the poem when published was read with much interest,it was not nearly so popular as Me cal Mouri.This last-mentioned poem,his first published work,touched the harp of sadness;while his Charivari displayed the playfulness of joy.
Thus,at the beginning of his career,Jasmin revealed himself as a poet in two very different styles;in one,touching the springs of grief,and in the other exhibiting brightness and happiness.
At the end of the same year he sounded his third and deepest note in his poem On the Death of General Foy--one of France's truest patriots.Now his lyre was complete;it had its three strings--of sadness,joy,and sorrow.
These three poems--Me cal Mouri,the Charivari,and the ode On the Death of General Foy,with some other verses--were published in 1825.What was to be the title of the volume?
As Adam,the carpenter-poet of Nevers,had entitled his volume of poetry 'Shavings,'so Jasmin decided to name his collection 'The Curl-papers of Jasmin,Coiffeur of Agen.'The title was a good one,and the subsequent volumes of his works were known as La Papillotos (the Curl-papers)of Jasmin.The publication of this first volume served to make Jasmin's name popular beyond the town in which they had been composed and published.His friend M.Gaze said of him,that during the year 1825he had been marrying his razor with the swan's quill;and that his hand of velvet in shaving was even surpassed by his skill in verse-making.
Charles Nodier,his old friend,who had entered the barber's shop some years before to intercede between the poet and his wife,sounded Jasmin's praises in the Paris journals.
He confessed that he had been greatly struck with the Charivari,and boldly declared that the language of the Troubadours,which everyone supposed to be dead,was still in full life in France;that it not only lived,but that at that very moment a poor barber at Agen,without any instruction beyond that given by the fields,the woods,and the heavens,had written a serio-comic poem which,at the risk of being thought crazy by his colleagues of the Academy,he considered to be better composed than the Lutrin of Boileau,and even better than one of Pope's masterpieces,the Rape of the Lock.
The first volume of the Papillotes sold very well;and the receipts from its sale not only increased Jasmin's income,but also increased his national reputation.Jasmin was not,however,elated by success.He remained simple,frugal,honest,and hard-working.He was not carried off his feet by eclat.
Though many illustrious strangers,when passing through Agen,called upon and interviewed the poetical coiffeur,he quietly went back to his razors,his combs,and his periwigs,and cheerfully pursued the business that he could always depend upon in his time of need.
Footnotes to Chapter V.
[1]Hallam's 'Middle Ages,'iii.434.12th edit.(Murray.)
[2]His words are these:"La conception m'en fut suggeree par mes etudes sur la vieille langue francaise ou langue d'oil.
Je fus si frappe des liens qui unissent le francais moderne au francais ancien,j'apercus tant de cas ou les sens et des locutions du jour ne s'expliquent que par les sens et les locutions d'autrefois,tant d'exemples ou la forme des mots n'est pas intelligible sans les formes qui ont precede,qu'il me sembla que la doctrine et meme l'usage de la langue restent mal assis s'ils ne reposent sur leur base antique."(Preface,ii.)
[3]'Bearn and the Pyrenees,'i.348.
[4]THIERRY--'Historical Essays,'No.XXIV.
[5]Les Poetes du Peuple an xix.Siecle.Par Alphonse Viollet.
Paris,1846.
[6]Portraits contemporains,ii.61(ed.1847).
[7]'Pilgrimage to Auvergne,'ii.210.