BERANGER.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 528, 25 November 1857, Page 4

BERANGER.

(From the Monileur.) For years Beranger has not sung, but Prance has learnt by his loss to what a degree he was ever dear and present to her—how the soul of his songs was part of her own soul,, of her own immortal genius, whether she be considered as a race or as a people. The Emperor, by taking upon himself the charge of his j funeral, and hy wishing, as it were, to preside over them in..thought, has shown how in this, as in .--everything else, his sentiments are those of France. Beranger, when he died, had nearly completed his 77th year- Even his age was engraven on every memory, and the date of his birth, when it became the subject of inquiry, always recurred in the shape ef a songI,— : " Dans cc Paris plein dor et de misere, En Tan dv Christ mil sept cent qiiatre-vingt, Chez un tailleur, mon pauvre et vieux grandpere, Moi nouveau ne, sachez cc gui m'advint. . ." | His life was simple, and by his good sense, his probity., and the moderation of his tastes, he rendered it consistent and dignified. When he was young and in poverty, notwithstanding* the temptation of the age, he contrived by a secret and obstinate toil to prepare a talent superior to the light and; already charming ebullitions on which .he tried his hand. A Humble situation *in a" public; office.: was sufficient for his wants, and he held it till he found it was likely to compromise his independence. Then he became thoroughly free, and, taking his grand flight, as "a minstrel—acknowledged by the young and by his native land, doating on the glories, and S3'mpathising with the sorrows of France, whom he consoled by his reminiscences aud His hopes, he desired no other vocation. In his old age, when he saw more events come to pass than doubtless he had expected, when he found himself a better prophet than he had supposed himself to be, he had the wisdom still to remain the great and simple poet he had always been, without repudiating the prodigious public results-to which he had contributed to the best of his power.

Beranger had naturally that patriotic soul that cannot be communicated. He was susceptible of joys and sorrows which have never been felt by many literary J gentlemen who have applauded him, but j which are felt at once by a people. Hence that long intimacy between the people and Beranger, notwithstanding these finesses j which popular works do not absolutely require. The invasions of 1814 and 1815, the fall of the " Grand Empire," the degradation of the " braves," and the insolent triumph of the " incapables"—the Myrmidons vaunting themselves on the car of Achilles—these were to him sources of grief, indignation, and derision—occasions for vengeful reprisals; No one understood better than Beranger how much the genius of Napoleon was, at a certain period, identified with that of France, how much the national pride and the pride of the hero were, in fact, the same, and how one defeat was common to them both. No one has better shown how the day of reparation for both these glories—the glory of France and that of-the name of Napoleon—belonged to one and the same cause. He saw this as a poet, but the poet saw further than many a politician, and when the dream was realized Beranger the honest man had the gocd sense not to belie Beranger the poet!

Is it necessary to remind those generations of his immortal snngs who from the age of 20 to the age of 60 knew them all by heart? Such, for instance, a3 that which is the first of its class, but is still gay and lively, because victory still (January 1814) shows the prospect of a brilliant change— - . : , 4 .

> "Gail gail serrons no» rang* • Esperance De la France; • - Gai! gai! serrona nos rangs; En avant, Gaulois et Francs!" ■ and, indeed, all those in which, after so many humiliations and defeats, he begins, as a sympathetic poet, to probe and dress the wounds of brave hearts '{ In 1819 the allies have at last quitted the soil of France, which they occupied, and Be*ranger exclaims:— ••.-■" Reine dv monde 6 France 6 ma patrie! Souleve enfin tou front cicatrise 1" . , .' With Beranger it is sufficient to give the key-note; everyone follows in his train. What finer hymns than Le Cinq Mai, Le vievw Sergent, Le vievx Drapeauy Le Chant dv Cosaque, Waterloo, ever emanated from a national and warlike soul? B6ranger, more than any other, has kept alive in France the worship of glory and the noble symbols with which it is connected in the heroic annals of the age-=- ---" Quand secourai-je la poussiere Qui ternit ses nobles couleurs ?" The tricoloured flag was the banner of Beranger. Once it reappeared, but without the eagle j and hence it was not complete. Beranger saw this day, in which all his friends took some part in affairs, and all were more or less ministers j but, nevertheless, he never sang in honour of the half-triumph. Was this because he loved always to be the poet of the vanquished, never the poet of the conquerors? We cannot believe anything of the kind. A victory gallantly achieved is to a genuine poet as much a source of inspiration as a noble defeat. In 1830, and the years that immediately followed, Beranger sang but little, or not at all, because his feelings as a patriot were but half satisfied. He | knew all that could be said by the wise i and the prudent, and even said it himself, { but the poetical part of his nature felt a | regret; and when, gradually and successively military days, honourable to that politic government which he assisted actually arrived, he did not —patriotic poet as he was—feel an unmingled and inspiring ! joy. There was not then to be found ! an ample compensation for that mournful day on which he had said,-—-

"Son norn jamais n'attristera mes vers." As yet there was nothing* to silence the insulting song* of the savage victor, whom he had represented as exclaiming-, in the drunkenness of his joy,—• " Ketourne boire a la Seine rebeile, Ou tout sanglant tv t'es lave deux fois; Hennis d'orgueil, 6 mon coursier fidele, Et foule aux pieds les peuples et les rois." However, Beranger lived to see the* days of ample reparation—the days of victorious struggle, and, doubtless, if his muse had teen twenty years younger, she would have found notes for their celebration. "Le retour deVarmee de Crimeeet son entree dans Tai'is "—xvh&t a theme for a song by Be"ranger ! His last songs, which, have not yet been published, and which have only been communicated to some of his friends in confidence, are, we are informed, in the style oi the fSouvenirs dv Peiiple: — " On parlera, de sa gloire Sous le.chaurae bien longtemps. Parlez-nous de lvi grand'mere, Parlez-nous de lvi!" These are epic songs in their way, finished and severe in point of form, and intended to mark certain moments in that grand destiny of Napoleon which occupied Beranger to the last, jealous as he wasio identify more and more his own popularity with the glory of the Emperor. Beranger, during the latter years of his life, before he was confined to his room by the malady" to which he at last fell a victim, was remarkable for a rare quality that denoted the excellence of his disposition. He was the most actively obliging and S serviceable of mankind. Honoured by all, | finding nothing but friends and admirers, i and desiring nothing for himself, he still j ventured to ask for others; few persons : ever applied to him without deriving some ; advantage from the application. He excelled in giving practical and appropriate advice. His letters, naturally but carefully written, have assuredly been treasured up by all who have received them, and a charming collection could be made of them as a moral treasure, in the style of Franklin. Such a collection would offer a new but not unforeseen aspect of his moral character. ■ ■ .■'■•. "' ■". ' "■".

There will be fi'eejuent opportunities to direct public attention towards a fame which .has long been an universal patrimony. At present it will be sufficient to point out th&t superior power of talent by which a poet so light and often so brilliant

in^his gaiety has dexterously ancf^T fully contimied to en^ave^is nai «e „!?'" the most indestructible marbles of liist pOn