The Express.
London, England, 1857-07-17 00:00:00

DEATH OF DERANGER.

By a telegraphic despatch we learn that modern
French literature brie lost tho moat jovial, the oo*t popular
of her sons. Pierre Joan Beranger, whose illness we
have already onnounixxl, expired yesterday in l'aria, in
the eeveuty-eighth year of his age. From the first all hopes
of his recovery were prohibited, but, prepared ae we were, we

ettranot without * shock reoeive the Dews of the death of

ono who, for nearly two ithirele of a century, bee held a pro-
minent place, not only in the affections of hie countrymen,
but in the estimation of the world. Viewed as a literary
man, in his own peculiar line he was without a rival;
brjedidous friends have trumpeted forth his praises as a
pear dopy...ire rang, and wished to sesame fur him a posi-
tion to which he never aspired, and to which none knew
better than himself that he had no just clean.
Sprung from the people, his highest ambition was
Ile be the people's bard, and he knew that
le be listened to by thein he must not be full of detail and
verbiage, but eau.et write chart pithy verses from which the
thought should stand out in bold relief, and be at once ap-
parent to the reader. That he succeeded in the line of
writing ho undertook is kdisputable, and while his " Clovis,"
11 Deluge" and " Dandy Jugement" have long since been
'Yellowed up in the see of oblivion, his charwomen,.
will live for ever—aye, and would live, though the art of
printing itself should fail, fur there are thousands
id workmen and posaante in Frame, who, with-
out being able to real • word, are well acquainted
with Diranger's lay., wan have learned them from their
fathers, and will teach Clem to their children. Unlike his
own Roi d'Yvend," thus is no fear of the deemed poet
being " pee conen laza l'histeire ; in crowded
workshop., in roadside nibarete, at village fides, and
all thou,' harming joyous finned., so priced and
so frequently taken advantage of by the French lower order.,
tbo name and memory of Biranger will be loved and
reverenced, and Ida verges yid be the staple mega. Nur,
although no courtly rhyntetter, no palace laureate, should
his memory bo despised by thole Pitting in high plaices,
for what Inbdin was to the leritish sailor, that was lie ranger
to the French *oldie', and de hearty patriotic inspiring
amo.. did almost es much ti popularise the name of Na-
poleon and the Grande drool, as did the victoria. which
they celebrated, and the glory they predicted.
The deveased post was been in Paris, August 19,
1784, of bumble parentage, and I. his earliest year. was
brought up by Ilia grandfather, • tailor. Ile witnessed the
taking of the Bastille in 1789, and we then removed to the
care of an aunt, who kept :131 inn at Peronne. Here ho Out
learnt to road. At fourteen he was apprenticed to s printer
in Peronne. Somewhat later he attended • primary school'
founded at the same place. At sixteen is returned to bit
tither at Perk, and having attended emit theatrical rem-
sentations, ho resolved to attempt a conaMy, and produi rel
Los Hermaphrodites." At eighteen ha projected the
writing of an epic, to be called "Clovis;" this he proposed
se the task of the succeeding twelve yaws. Ile aban
produced vorace on sacred subjects, rams of which have
boon given in the edition of kin works edited by M.
Perrone, and publitibed it. 11134. Them performance

did not improve his fortunes ; and, reduced to great die
teem, he thought of proceeding to Egypt, where Bonaparte
then wee, and whose first STICCOIRP• had excited extravagant
visions of glory and prosperity among the French popula-
tion. The return, however, of 1011.0 members of the expedi-
tion dissipated Bininger's dream, and be retwiinod in l'aria.
It was at tbie period, when suffering from his dieappointed
hope*, and even actual indigence, that he seems to have re-
solved to be gay, if he °odd not be happy, and he produced
his " Boger Bolsterer," " Le Orenier," " Les (deems," and
"Le Vita Habit." They were not immediately moos-
fel; but in 1803 he sent some of his poems to Lucien llo•
impute, who promised to ameliorate his situation. Lucien
we. suddenly called to Rome. !Wronger thought
liimeelf forgotten, when a letter rarer from Lucien, r-
eigning to Iliranger his income aa a member of the In-
stitute. He next obtained some employment as an
editor, and in 1800 sea appointed • clerk in the secretary's
department of the Academy. Ilia songs were now becoming
popular in every quarter. During the " hundmil days" of
Bonaparte, Wronger refused the lucrative 00'4 of censor.
In 1815, when he published hie first collection of songs,
which were popular throughout Fence, he wee informed
that it would his dismissal from the office he held
in the Academy. He wavered not, and was retained; but
in 1821, when the emend collection was published, he was
at once discharged. Ile wrote more and more poignant
satires upon the government ; he was prosecuted, and sen-
tenced to three months' imprisonment and a fine of 500
francs. In 1828 he published him third collection. For
this he was again prosecuted, and was condemned
to nine months' imprisonment and • fine of
10,000 ?ranee. Cgmfined more strictly in the prime
of La Force, the undaunted poet continued ale
attacks on the faults and follies of the government, and then
remarkable lyrics aided not a litt'e In accelerating the fall of
the Bourbon..
In 1830 the revolution of July would have acted forme-
ably for ft.tranger's fortunes if he would have given up Ids
beloved independence. Ile says, "1 wsa treated With IN one
of the great powers ; " "satiety all my friends have become
minister* ; " "unfortunately I have no love of Pinworm,
and all compulsory labour has become insupport-
able." We-anger waa convinced that France was
not fitted at thin time for a republican goverment,
and he supported the establishment of a Vraiged
saonarrhy. In 1833 he published hie fifth and last collection
of songs, containing mine of hi. most striking pieces. After
the revolution he was elected, in April, a representative of the
deportment of the Seine in the Constituent Artmenbly, by
mote than 200,000 votes; bet in May be sent in hie resigna-
tion. It wan unanimously refused, but a week afterwards he
renewed it, and it wra accepted.
Ilf tenger continued to write, Ent not to publish. He is
known to have hod a large colketion of songs, and to ham
employed himself also with a " Biographic. des Cm-
temporains."

Biiranger, of late yearn identified himself with the
republican party, and did not attempt to conceal his aversion
to the Imperial reginse. Sit much was this the ewe, that
the French government, in determining to rerogniw hie
charar'er ILA the national poet, appear also to have turiumed
and to have acted upon the assumption that the fenced
would, in the ordinary course of things, be made an oppw-
tunity fora hostile politics' demonstration.

The First Lord of the Admiralty held his sixth
levee at the Admiralty ye.tculay afternoon. when the follow-
ing. Mars wit.. present .—CapfniosJoinealtawstorne. Dishy
Mash, John J. Kennedy, Charles G. Robinson, Thorium
Fisher, Wm, Smith, awl Wm. Radcliffe. Commanders Jas.
M. Drive, Frederick A. Ellis, Matthew C. Forster, Edmtmd
A. Glynn, Fracia Peel. Henry C. Majendie, George F.
Westbrook. end Wm. E. Fisher. Lieutenants Wm. E.
Anne' and Wm. Serynignor. Deputy Inspector of ID spitids
John Drummond. Naval Inspector Richard Croker.
A crew has been 'gent from Southampton to Liver-
pool to bring round the:Peninsular and Oriental CempeaVe
Meaner Cunha, which is to proceed to India ea the 16th
proximo.