The Sun.
London, England, 1857-07-18 00:00:00

DEATH OF

The severe illness with which the poet has been
for some time struggling has at length terminated
fitally, his decease having taken place yesterday
evening at his residence in the Rue Vendome. A
great crowd of persons, chiefly of the working
classe,, amounting to upwaris of a thogsand, were
assembled throughout the day iu front of the house,
the extreme weakness of the patient rendering it
unlikely that he could get through the day. As
soon as his death became known, the Prefect of
Police had the follewing-notice placarded in every
part of Paris :
"France has just lost her national poet ! The
Government of the t mperor has determined that
public honours shall be paid to the memory of
B.:ranger. This pious homage was due to the poet
whose songs, consecrated iu the worship of the
country, have aided in perpetuating in the hearts
of the people the reminiscence of the Imperial glo-
ries. I learn that party men only see in this sad
solemnity an occasion of renewing the disorders
which at other times have signali-ed similar cere-
moni: s. The Government will not allow a tumul-
tuous maiiiftstation to b 3 substituted for the re-
spectful and patriotic sorrow which ought to pre-
vail at the funeral of Beranger. On the other hand,
the wishes of t'ie de:e ise I have been expressed
in these touching words :—' As to my funeral, if
you can avoid public noise, do so, 1 beg of you,
my dar Perrotin. I hold in horror the tumult of
a crowd, and the éclat of speechee, at the inter.
ment of frien'is whom I lose ; and if mine can be
effected without a public gathering, 'one of my
wishes will be accomplished !' It has, therefore,
1 eau resolved, in accord with the testamentary
executor, that the funeral procession shall be exclu-
sicelycomposed of official deputations and of persons
who receive letters of convocation. I request the
populatien to conform to the prescriptions. Mea-
sures are taken to cause the determination of the
government and the desire of the deceased to be
rigorously and religiously respected. Paris, July,
116, 1857.

" PIETRI, senator."
The Moniteur announces the event in the fol-
lowing terms :
" France has sustained a painful loss ; Beranger,
died yesterday after a long, and severe malady.
The Emperor, wishing to do honour to the memory,
of this national poet, whose works have so power-
fully contributed to keep up patriotic sentiment in
France, and to popularise the glory of the Empire,
has decided that the expenses of the funeral
shall be defrayed by the Imperial civil list.
The funeral of Beranger will take place today
at noon." •We cannot record the death of Beranger
without a passing word of admiration for his genius,
and regret for his loss, which robs France of another
of her few—her very few—real poets. It is true,
he was l.ut a song writer, but into his songs his
genius threw the character and feeling of a nation
—and sometimes its wrongs. Essentially the poet
of the people, gallant, gay, witty, satirical, and
above all French • perhaps no writer ever so com-
pletely photographed the character of his country-
men as Beranger, or loved h's country better. It
will be seen from the following sketch of his career
that the deceased had nearly reached his 77th

year :
" Pierre Jean Beranger was born on the 17th
August, 1780, at ,the residence of his grandfather,
a poor tailor living at No. 50, Rue 'Montorgueil.
His father, who followed the same calling
was a man of unsteady propensities, who cared
little for his family, and was at no pains to pro-
vide for their subsistence. His favourite crotchet
was that he was the descendant of illustrious an•
cestors, and the greater part of his time was occu-
pied in tracing his pedigree to noble and aristocra-
tical sources. Of his son he took little heed, leav-
ing him to grow up as h. e pleased, and to wander
about the streets of Paris with any associates that
chance might throw in his way. The boy remained
with his grandfather until he was nine-years of age,
when he was sent to live wi▪ th his maternal aunt,
laprreou
i
his
for
at
such
who kept a small inn in the suburbs of Peronne.
His
th o dutiesindulgencebrbrief
ofefintervals
tavern
of boyll
iass
vagrant lheef t
could
butson propensities
lichstl fies m leisure
h
homely employment he managed to form
writingsanacquain-
ameCidfLFaie:neelonhap,Vinolg:aa:ccicliar,neddaa tpa,riuncteerwaitt with the
Peronne,
n
Racine. At the age of 14 he was apprenticed renticed to
what little be knew at the ' Instit'ut Patrro
branch of the school founded by M. B. de Bellangese'
upon the system of J. J. Rousseau for the dissemi-
naton of liberal principles. His new occupation
was doubtless more favourable to his literary taste.
It was whilst he was engaged in setting up the
types for an edition of the poetry of Andre Chenier
that young Beranger first attempted the composi-
tion of verse, and from that day his chief ambition
was to become a poet. At the age of 17 he returned
to the house of his grandfather, and tried his hand
in several styles of versification, but does not ap-
pear to have satisfied himself or those about him
that be was born a poet. Sick of the poverty by
which he was surrounded, and thewant of sympathy
which it was his fate to encounter on all- sides—for
he had published before he left Peronne, without
exciting any attention, a small volume of songs, en-
titled the ' Garland of Roses'—he determined to go
to Egypt, then in the occupation of the French
army, but the unpromising account given him
by an acquaintance who had, returned thence,
induced him to abandon his project. About
that time ho wrote a comedy, entitled
' The Hermaphrodites,' but being unable
to get it accepted at any of the theatres, he throw
it into the fire. For more than a year be followed
no settled occupation, although during that inter-
val he is said to have produced his best songs.
Embittered by disappointment, and almost hope-
less of success, he resolved to collect all the poems
he had written, and send them to Lucien Bona-
parte, the brother of the first consul, who was
known to be a liberal patron of literature. 'ln
1803,' says he, ' without resources, tir•
ed of falla-
cious hope', versifying without aaand without
encouragement, I conceived the idea—and how
many similar ideas have remained without result ! i
—I conceived the idea of enclosing all my crude
poems to M. Lucien Bonaparte, already ce
for his great oratorical talents, and for his love of
literature and of the arts. My letter accompanying
lebrated
.ultra-republican
them was worthy cf a young
impress of pride wounded by
bra'n ! How well I remember it I It bore the
the necessity of
having recourse to a protector.
upon the success of a Poor, unknown,
so often disappcinted, I could
.scarcely count
slep whic.h no one se-
conded. Nor was he on this occa.sion, doomed to
ferther disappointmen't. The prince, favourably
di.posed to the young poet, not only by the spe-
cimens which he had forwarded, but by the manly
relieved him almost immediately from his. suspense.
tone of the letter by which. they were accompanied,
He ar;swered his application in the kindest. and
most encouraging terms, and having sent for him to
his house advised him as to his future course, and
promised to afford him more substantia• l. assistance.
benevolent intentions, the prince became himself
Before he had an opportunity of carrying o.ut his
an exile. On his arrival at Rome, howe. ver, he trans-
mitted to Beranger an order to receive and apply
the s,lary coming to him as member of the Institute.
The aid thus afforded was most seasonable. He was
soon able to find employment for his pen. During the
two years 1805-6 he assisted in editing " Landon's
Annals of the Musee," and in 180. 9 he managed to
obtain the post of copying cl rk ein the office of the
Secretary of the University, with saiar.y of 1,200 f.
a-year. He was now in comparatively independent
circumstances. MI genius had, moreover, begun
to attract notice iu high places. Napoleon's laugh-
- ter on reading, for the first time, Beranger's ' Uoi
d' Yvetot ' (a good-humoured satire on his own pre-
tensions) is said to have been exuberant. In 1813
Baranger was elected a member of the Society of
the Caveau, then the' resort of the most distin-
guished literary men of the time ; and, encouraged
by the cordial reception his songs met with from its
frequenters, he resolved to devote himself exclu-
gs made its appearance, he had
sively to that class of composition. Towards the
known to the French public.
latter part of the year 1815, when the first collected
this time on the lips of all Paris.
begun
en
toefbheiswsioduely.
had well nigh brought him
' La Requete des Chiet.is de Qualite ' and ' Le Cen-
seur ' were by
among.other changes Beranger wa s The last last named song
post in the office of the Imperial
into trouble ; but Bonaparte had made his escape
fromtuiil
yE Elba,
offered
a
censorship. The e proposal was received by Berau-
ger and his jovial friends of the Caveau with laugh-
ter, and he continued to retain his humble clerk-
ship in the office of the Secretary of the University.
songs, published in 1821, cost
(no great loss) and three months' im-
prisonment in the pri▪
son of Ste. Pelagie. His
him His secondhis place series of
third (1828) subjected him to nine months' impri-
sonment in La Force and a fine of 10,000 francs.
The fine was, however, paid by the poet's admirers,
behind his prison bars Beranger
and the prison in which be was confined became
r:aindly a tire on the government that he
' the rendezvous of the. most distinguished men of
I
of the heroes. of the Three Days. After
tkhoeptduapy.soFd
contributed more effectually to destroy it than all
eeofdusse,clwhtoo
were
x a the blows
having assisted so importantly in winning the battle,
accept any share in the
however, he
now occupying the
high places, would have loaded him with titles
and honours, but he declined all payment for his
services, and to. avoid. being mixed up with the
ever-variable politics of the capital he retired, first
to Passy, next to Fontainebleau, and finally to
ihsed
Tours, where he completed what he called his
' Mei:noires Chantantes,' by the publication of his
fourth volume of songs, At the revolution of