CASIMIR DELAVIGNE. SKETCH OF HIS LIFE AND WORKS. 1 CASIMIR DELAVIGNE was born in 1793 at Havre, where his father carried on business as a merchant. He received a classical education at the lycée Napoléon at Paris, and while still at school began his literary career by a Dithyrambe sur la naissance du roi de Rome (1811) which gained him both a prize and an appointment. In 1815 he made himself exceedingly popular by a series of elegies, called Les Messéniennes, in which he bewailed the misfortunes of his native country, and of which we shall speak below. Next he turned his attention to the stage and brought out in 1819 the Vêpres Siciliennes, which was acted with great success at the Odéon, though the Théâtre-Français had previously rejected it. This slight the author avenged by a satirical comedy, Les Comédiens, which, though a very moderate production, was favourably received nevertheless. It was followed in 1821 by a tragedy Le Paria. About this time the ministry, who were displeased at the liberal spirit which appeared in the poet's writings, deprived him of the modest post he held, a loss for which the duke of Orléans (LouisPhilippe) hastened to indemnify him by appointing him librarian at the Palais Royal (1823). In this year appeared L'Ecole des Vieillards, the best of the comedies of Casimir Delavigne. It was acted by the company of the Théâtre-Français, with whom he had made his peace, and proved the means of his being elected into the French Academy. On his return from a tour to Italy, which the weak state of his health had compelled him to take, Delavigne put on the stage La Princesse Aurélie, a comedy which was somewhat coldly received, and Marino Faliero (1829), a tragedy suggested by Byron's drama of the same name, but of very doubtful merit. On the occasion of the events of July 1830 he improvised the Parisienne, a patriotic song which was soon heard from one end of France to the other. Returning to his dramatic labours he successively produced Louis XI (1832) the most remarkable of his tragedies, Les Enfants d'Édouard (1833), Don Juan d'Autriche (1835), a drama in prose, La Popularité (1838), a comedy in verse, and a series of minor pieces. Such long-continued labour had exhausted him and he found himself once more compelled to seek a softer climate; but before he reached his journey's end, he died at Lyon in 1843. By his Messéniennes Casimir Delavigne showed himself a lyric poet of no mean order. In his earlier dramatic works he followed in the steps of the so-called Classical writers, while his later ones, beginning with Marino Faliero belong to the Romantic school, without however following it in its excesses. Both in his tragedies and his comedies Delavigne showed himself a clever and correct writer and a master of rhyme; he is deficient only in originality, his plays being masterpieces rather of cleverness and perseverance han poetic genius. We have followed Bouillet, Dictionnaire historique. 2 V. the article on Victor Hugo. I. LES MESSÉNIENNES. Casimir Delavigne called the first volume of his lyrical poems Les Messéniennes, comparing, as he said, the misfortunes suffered by his country in 1814 and 1815 to those of ancient Messenia. When we remember that those among the Messenians who did not fall under the sword of the victors lost not only all political but even their personal freedom and were reduced to the condition of Helots (i. e. slaves), and then glance at the stipulations of the two treaties of Paris, we can scarcely forbear smiling at the fanciful title chosen by the poet. The beauty of the language and the patriotic sentiments of the Messéniennes sufficiently account for their great popularity; for these sentiments were in perfect unison with those of the large majority of the nation. But at the same time we must not shut our eyes to the palpable exaggerations not to say falsehoods, which disfigure a great many of these beautiful elegies. Take for instance the first few stanzas of the second Messénienne, which is entitled La Dévastation du Musée et des Monuments: La sainte Vérité, qui m'échauffe et m'inspire, Par le glaive insolent de nos libérateurs! Où vont ces chars pesants conduits par leurs cohortes? Viennent-ils lui ravir ses sacrés ornements? Muses, penchez vos têtes abattues: Du siècle de Léon les chefs d'oeuvre divins Sous un ciel sans clarté suivront les froids Germains; Des profanateurs inhumains Vont-ils anéantir tant de veilles savantes? Dieu du jour, dieu des vers, ils brisent ton image. Ne couronnent plus ton visage D'une double immortalité. C'en est fait: loin de toi jette un arc inutile. Toi qui n'as pas un trait pour venger ton outrage Holy Truth, which is particularly fond of prosaïc facts, compels us to add that the cold Germans and others of the outer barbarians (ineluding the English), who invaded the sacred precincts of the Paris Museum in 1815, only took back what was their own, when they despoiled the Louvre of its sacred ornaments. No one buried his sword in the living canvass; on the contrary, the paintings, statues, vases and other works of art, which the French had industriously pillaged for fifteen or twenty years through the length and breadth of Europe, were carefully packed up and returned to their former owners; in particular the God of light and poetry, who is no other than the celebrated Apollo of the Belvedere, was not in any way injured by falling into the hands of the Goths, as the poet seems to fear, but may be seen to this day in the Vatican Museum at Rome. We reprint the whole of the fifth Messénienne which is one of the noblest poems of the volume. MORT DE JEANNE D'ARC.1 Silence au camp! la vierge est prisonnière; A qui réserve-t-on ces apprêts meurtriers? L'airain sacré tremble et s'agite . . .. D'où vient ce bruit lugubre? où courent ces guerriers La joie éclate sur leurs traits! Ils vont pour un assaut former leurs rangs épais: Qu'ils sont nobles dans leur courroux! Qu'il est beau d'insulter au bras chargé d'entraves! Lâches, que lui reprochez-vous? D'un courage inspiré la brûlante énergie, En faut-il d'autres que des armes Pour combattre, pour vaincre et punir l'étranger? Jeanne d'Arc (some historians write Darc), surnamed the Maid of Orleans, was born in 1410 at Domremy near Vaucouleurs. In 1429 she succeeded in one week in raising the siege of Orleans, which the English had been on the point of taking, defeated them in the battle of Patay, and escorted Charles VII to Reims, where he was crowned. In 1430 she was taken prisoner in a sally from Compiègne. The Eng lish caused her be to condemned as a sorceress by a packed court of judges, whose president was the bishop of Beauvais, their creature. Joan of Arc was burned alive at Rouen, May 30, 1431. 2 The duke of Bedford, brother to Henry V, who was regent in France during the minority of Henry VI, proclaimed his nephew king of England and France and carried on the war against the party of Charles VII. Du Christ, avec ardeur, Jeanne baisait l'image; Elle avançait à pas lents. Tranquille elle y monta. Quand, debout sur le faîte, Les bourreaux en suspens, la flamme déjà prête, Et se prit à pleurer. Ah! pleure, fille infortunée! Dans sa fleur trop tôt moissonnée! Tu ne reverras plus tes riantes montagnes, Et ton père expirant sous le poids des douleurs. Chevaliers, parmi vous qui combattra pour elle? Çieux, obscurcissez-vous de nuages épais; A défaut du tonnerre, un chevalier français. Après quelques instants d'un horrible silence, Montre aux Anglais son bras à demi consumé. Anglais, son bras est désarmé. La flamme l'environne et sa voix expirante Qu'un monument s'élève au lieu de ta naissance, Elle y viendra gémir sous de jeunes cyprès; Que sur l'airain funèbre on grave tes combats, II. LOUIS XI. The plot of this tragedy is weak; the feeble love-making carried on by Mary, daughter to the minister Commines, and the duke of Nemours, is not likely to produce an entrancing interest in the audience. There is absolutely no reason for the tragical ending of the play; for the old tyrant, whom everybody supposes to be dead, comes back to life for a few moments. merely to allow of his ordering his hangman Tristan to put young Nemours to death. That which really gives an interest to the play and has mainly contributed to its success, is the striking picture Delavigne has drawn of the suspicious, jealous, cruel and treacherous character of Louis XI and the constant terror and remorse which embittered his latter days. The idea of producing on the stage a living sketch and local colouring such as this is characteristic of the Romantic school,' and this play classed Delavigne definitively among its adherents. As to the sources from which the poet drew, they are two in number: Commines' Mémoires and Sir Walter Scott's Quentin Durward. The latter especially, with its masterly description of the character of Louis XI and his life in the castle of Plessis near Tours, served as his model. The approaches to the castle are defended by numerous traps and the terrifying aspect of the victims of the grand-provost Tristan, who are hanging from the boughs of the trees all around. The poet has, if anything, coloured the picture more highly even than the novelist, that so he might produce a greater effect on the stage. The scenes we reprint are selected from those in which the character of Louis XI displays itself, without reference to the intrigue mentioned above. When the curtain rises on the stage, it is night; in the distance we discern the castle of Plessis, at the side a few scattered huts. Out of one of these comes a shepherd, who is immediately arrested by the terrible Tristan and his guards. |