CASIMIR DELAVIGNE. THE author of Modern Painters, in a well-known chapter on the "pathetic fallacy," quotes "Casimir Delavigne's terrible ballad La Toilette de Constance" as an instance of that truth of poetry which is only carried away to the statement of what is unreal by the influence of strong emotion. He adds the following comment upon it. "The reader will find that there is not from beginning to end of it, a single poetical (so called) expression, except in one stanza. The girl speaks as simple prose as may be; there is not a word she would not actually have used when dressing. The poet stands by, impassive as a statue, recording her words just as they come. At last the doom seizes her, and in the very presence of death, for an instant, his own emotions conquer him. He records no longer the facts only, but the facts as they seem to him. The fire gnaws with voluptuousness, without pity. It is soon past. The fate is fixed for ever; and he retires into his pale and crystalline atmosphere of truth. He closes all with the calm veracity, "They said 'Poor Constance.'' This was my first introduction to Casimir Delavigne's poetry, and a further acquaintance with it has only confirmed the impression which this extract produced. Mr. Ruskin's words might very well be taken as descriptive of the character not only of this particular ballad, but of his non-dramatic poetry generally. It is marked by the same severe simplicity, the same powerful pathos of circumstance rather than of language, the same absence of appeal to a morbid imagination. But I am rushing somewhat abruptly "in medias res" the question may not unnaturally be asked, who is or was Casimir Delavigne ? He was the son of a Havre merchant, and was born on the 4th of April, 1793. His childhood appears to have shown little promise of the power which he was afterwards VOL. V. S to display. At the age of ten he was sent to school in Paris, under the care of an elder brother. His talent for verse first showed itself in his translations from Latin, and attracted the notice of his uncle at whose house in Paris his holidays were spent. Some of his early attempts were shown to Andrieux, then professor of Belles Lettres, and in some measure autocrat of the literary world. 'They are not bad" was his remark upon them-"but he had better go on with his law studies." This was in 1810 when Delavigne was attending the rhetoric classes, as a preparation for the bar. In the following year the king of Rome was born, and the event to which so many looked forward with expectancy gave fresh inspiration to the young poet's muse, and extorted from the veteran critic a more favorable judgement. "This is different," he said, "we must not torment him any more; I see he must write." But this youthful effort bore other fruits perhaps more important at the time, for it won for its author the kindly patronage of the count Français, and an appointment under him (apparently a sinecure) in the department of the revenue. Among his fellow students and the youth of his native place he appears to have been a great favorite, whether for his personal or for his intellectual qualities does not appear. But their affection or esteem for him was shown about this time in a very striking manner. Like the rest of them he was liable to the conscription, and though his health was but delicate, yet nothing but some well authenticated infirmity would exempt him from service, and this plea for exemption must be attested by the other conscripts of his class. The plea put in by Delavigne was that of deafness (from which he suffered in his early years) and all his young comrades eagerly signed his certificate, though each knew that he might be the one called on to fill the vacant place. Such an act of noble generosity is an equal honour to both parties concerned. We have little trace of the poet's work during the next three years except in some unsuccessful prize-poems. One of these, on the discovery of vaccination, is somewhat of a literary curiosity, as containing the metrical results of studies in vaccination under the direction of an eminent doctor at Paris. Though the too didactic tone of the poem The following is a specimen: Le remède nouveau dort longtemps inactif. prevented its obtaining the prize, it gained a special honorable mention. We may be sure however that the time was not wasted by him, for when his golden opportunity did at last come, he rose at once to the highest place and was hailed as the national poet of France. When he gave to the world the first of his Messéniennes, a threnody on the vanquished at Waterloo, he struck a chord which vibrated more or less in every Frenchman's heart, whether he were Imperialist or Bourbonist. It is no drawback to his merit that the effect was so far intensified by the national feeling of the time. No higher success could a poet desire than that of giving clear and vigorous expression to thoughts and feelings which all share, but none but himself are able to clothe in words. This first Messénienne was followed by two others, and 21,000 copies of them were sold in the first year. I shall have more to say of them presently. Meanwhile the downfall of the empire deprived Delavigne of his only settled means of subsistence, and he began to think of literature more seriously as a profession which was to support him. A poet in France seems naturally to look to the theatre as the scene and occasion of his highest efforts. I know few instances in the present century of poets who have made themselves a name without working in this particular field. It would be interesting to inquire into the causes of this. Is it from a feeling that the language with all its clearness is somewhat wanting in the rhythmical capabilities which are necessary for lyrical composition, or from a sense that the dramatic faculty is the highest which a poet can possess, a sense which in England produces dramatic poems and dramatic lyrics but no dramas? Or is it rather on our side that the singularity lies, that our poets in their pride of vocation refuse to submit to the trammels which surround a writer for the stage, unless he wishes to throw up all chance of success. Be the cause what it may, Et la chair par dégrés se gonfle et se colore: * M. Pasquier however created for him the office of librarian to the Chancellerie, (where there was as yet no library), as a reward for the Messénienne. the fact accounts in some degree for the acknowledged superiority of the French stage in the works which it produces.* Casimir's first effort was the Vêpres Siciliennes which was refused by the Théâtre Français. He corrected its more glaring faults, but it was again refused. It was however accepted afterwards by the company of the Odéon, and was produced on the 23rd of October, 1819, at the reopening of that theatre, which had been burnt down in the previous year. It was a thorough success, and from this time Delavigne was engaged mainly on dramatic composition. Les Vêpres Siciliennes was followed by a comedy, les Comédiens, written under the irritation of the refusal at the Théâtre Français. It was not originally intended for representation, but as the work advanced it assumed more important dimensions and was produced on the stage of the Odéon with fair success. On the 1st of December, 1821, was produced at the same theatre a second tragedy, Le Paria, the idea of which was suggested by de Maistre's well-known tale Le Lepreux d'Aoste. The lyrical passages in this play are considered by French critics to be the poet's finest productions. But I propose in this paper to speak only of his Poésies, and shall therefore pass over his dramatic works with but little remark. Twice an unsuccessful candidate for a chair at the Academy, he won his election on a third trial by the success of a comedy written as a token of reconciliation with the company of the Theatre Français and produced by them, the principal parts being taken by Talma and Mdlle. Mars. It was called l'Ecole des Vieillards, and is still a popular play on the French stage. At the same time a pension was offered him by the government, but being suspicious of the tendencies of the men in power and of their intention to deprive France of the liberties which she still enjoyed, he firmly but respectfully declined it. He was already librarian at the Palais Royal, the residence of the duke of Orleans, afterwards Louis Philippe, whose friendship he had won by his talents. But this constant work began to prey upon the poet's of the individual mind from the trammels which the literary *Since writing the above I have met with the following strong corroboration in one of M. Sainte Beuve's Portraits Littéraires : "C'est au théâtre principalement, c'est là comme à leur rendezvous naturel et à leur champ de bataille décisif, que visent les plus nobles ambitions poétiques." |