Frédéric Mistral | Page 7

Paris, and was again the lion of the hour. The
_Société de la Cigale_, which had been founded in 1876, as a Paris
branch of the Félibrige, and which later became the _Société des
Félibres de Paris_, organized banquets and festivities in his honor, and
celebrated the Floral Games at Sceaux to commemorate the four
hundredth anniversary of the day when Provence became united, of her
own free-will, with France. Mistral was received with distinction by
President Grévy and by the Count of Paris, and his numerous Parisian
friends vied in bidding him welcome to the capital. His new poem was
crowned by the French Academy, receiving the Prix Vitet, the
presentation address being delivered by Legouvé. Four years later,
_Lou Tresor dóu Felibrige_, a great dictionary of all the dialects of the
langue d'oc, was completed, and in 1890 appeared his only dramatic
work, _La Rèino Jano_ (Queen Joanna). In 1897 he produced his last
long poem, epic in form, _Lou Pouèmo dóu Rose_ (the Poem of the
Rhone). At present he is engaged upon his Memoirs.
Aside from his rare journeys to Paris, a visit to Switzerland, and
another to Italy, Mistral has rarely gone beyond the borders of his
beloved region. He is still living quietly in the little village of Maillane,
in a simple but beautiful home, surrounded with works of art inspired
by the Felibrean movement. He has survived many of his distinguished
friends. Roumanille, Mathieu, Aubanel, Daudet, and Paul Arène have
all passed away; a new generation is about him. But his activity knows
no rest. The Felibrean festivities continue, the numerous publications in
the Provençal tongue still have in him a constant contributor. In 1899
the Museon Arlaten (the Museum of Aries) was inaugurated, and is
another proof of the constant energy and enthusiasm of the poet. He is
to-day the greatest man in the south of France, universally beloved and
revered.
His life after all has been less a literary life than one of direct and
unceasing personal action upon the population about him. The
resurrection of the language, the publication of poems, magazines, and
newspapers, are only part of a programme tending to raise the people of

the south to a conception of their individuality as a race. He has striven
untiringly to communicate to them his own glowing enthusiasm for the
past glories of Provence, to fire them with his dream of a great rebirth
of the Latin races, to lay the foundation of a great ideal Latin union.
Wonderful is his optimism. Some of the Félibres about him are
somewhat discouraged, many of them have never set their aspirations
as high as he has done, and some look upon his dreams as Utopian.
Whatever be the future of the movement he has founded, Mistral's life
in its simple oneness, and in its astonishing success, is indeed most
remarkable. Provence, the land that first gave the world a literature
after the decay of the classic tongues, has awakened again under his
magic touch to an active mental life. A second literature is in active
being on the soil of France, a second literary language is there a reality.
Whether permanent or evanescent, this glorification of poetry, this
ardent love of the beautiful and the ideal, is a noble and inspiring
spectacle amid the turmoil and strife of this age of material progress.
[Footnote 1: The word mas_, which is kin with the English _manse and
mansion, signifies the home in the country with numerous outbuildings
grouped closely about it.]
CHAPTER II
THE FÉLIBRIGE
The history of the Félibrige, from its beginning, in 1854, down to the
year 1896, has been admirably written by G. Jourdanne.[2] The work is
quite exhaustive, containing, in addition to the excellently written
narrative, an engraving of the famous cup, portraits of all the most
noted Félibres, a series of elaborately written notes that discuss or set
forth many questions relating to the general theme, a very large
bibliography of the subject, comprising long lists of works that have
been written in the dialect or that have appeared in France and in other
countries concerning the Félibres, a copy of the constitution of the
society and of various statutes relating to it. It not only contains all the
material that is necessary for the study of the Félibrige, but it is worthy
of the highest praise for the spirit in which it is written. It is an honest
attempt to explain the Félibrige, and to present fairly and fully all the

problems that so remarkable a movement has created. A perusal of the
book makes it evident that the author believes in future political
consequences, and while well aware that it is unsafe to prophesy, he
has a chapter on the future of the movement.
His history endeavors