Frederic Mistral Part 19

Lord, giving an evil example, and denying thee like the heathen, we had one day closed up thy temples and mocked thy Holy Christ.

Lord, leaving behind us thy sacraments and commandments, we had brutally lost belief in all but self-interest and progress!

Lord, in the waste heavens we have clouded thy light with our smoke, and to-day the sons mock the nakedness and purity of their fathers.

Lord, we have blown upon thy Bible with the breath of false knowledge; and holding ourselves up like the poplar trees, we wretched beings have declared ourselves G.o.ds.

Lord, we have left the furrow, we have trampled all respect under foot; and with the heavy wine that intoxicates us we defile the innocent.

III

Lord, we are thy prodigal children, but we are thy Christians of old; let thy justice chastise us, but give us not over unto death.

Lord, in the name of so many brave men, who went forth fearless, valiant, docile, grave, and then fell in battle;

Lord, in the name of so many mothers, who are about to pray to G.o.d for their sons, and who next year, alas! and the year thereafter, shall see them no more;

Lord, in the name of so many women who have at their bosoms a little child, and who, poor creatures, moisten the earth and the sheets of their beds with tears;

Lord, in the name of the poor, in the name of the strong, in the name of the dead who shall die for their country, their duty, and their faith;

Lord, for so many defeats, so many tears and woes, for so many towns ravaged, for so much brave, holy blood;

Lord, for so many adversities, for so much mourning throughout our France, for so many insults upon our heads;

IV

Lord, disarm thy justice. Cast down thine eye upon us, and heed the cries of the bruised and wounded!

Lord, if the rebellious cities, through their luxury and folly, have overturned the scale-pan of thy balance, resisting and denying thee;

Lord, before the breath of the Alps, that praiseth G.o.d winter and summer, all the trees of the fields, obedient, bow together;

Lord, France and Provence have sinned only through forgetfulness; do thou forgive us our offences, for we repent of the evil of former days.

Lord, we desire to become men, thou canst set us free. We are Gallo-Romans, and of n.o.ble race, and we walk upright in our land.

Lord, we are not the cause of the evil, send down upon us a ray of peace. Lord, help our cause, and we shall live again and love thee.

THE PRESENT CAPOULIe OF THE FeLIBRIGE.

M. Pierre Devoluy, of the town of Die, was elected at Arles, in April, 1901. The Consistory was presided over by Mistral.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

The following list contains the most important works that have been published concerning Mistral and the Felibrige. Numerous articles have appeared in nearly all the languages of Europe in various magazines. Of these only such are mentioned as seem worthy of special notice.

WORKS CONCERNING THE FeLIBRIGE IN GENERAL

_America_

JANVIER, THOMAS A., Numerous articles in the Century Magazine, New York, 1893, and following years.

_An Emba.s.sy to Provence_. New York, 1893.

PRESTON, HARRIETT, _Mistral's Calendau_. The Atlantic Monthly, New York, 1874.

_Aubanel's Miugrano entreduberto_. The Atlantic Monthly, New York, 1874.

_England_

CRAIG, DUNCAN, _Miejour Provencal Legend, Life, Language, and Literature_. London.

_The Handbook of the Modern Provencal Language_.

CROMBIE, J.W., _The Poets and Peoples of Foreign Lands: Frederic Mistral_. Elliot, London, 1890.

HARTOG, CECIL, _Poets of Provence_. London Contemporary Review, 1894.

_France_

BOISSIN, FIRMIN, _Le Midi litteraire contemporain_. Douladoure, Toulouse, 1887.

DE BOUCHAUD, _Roumanille et le Felibrige_. Mougin, Lyons, 1896.

BRUN, C., _L'Evolution felibreenne_. Paquet, Lyons, 1896.

DONNADIEU, F., _Les Precurseurs des Felibres_. Quantin, Paris, 1888.

HENNION, C., _Les Fleurs felibresques_. Paris, 1893.

JOURDANNE, G., _Histoire du Felibrige_. Roumanille, Avignon, 1897.

LINTILHAC, E., _Les Felibres a travers leur monde et leur poesie_.

Lemerre, Paris, 1895.