d land of the
Troubadours. All the charm and beauty of that sunny land, all that is
enchanting in its past, all the best, in the ideal sense, that may be
hoped for in its future, is expressed in his musical, limpid, lovely
verse. Such a poet and such a leader of men is rare in the annals of
literature. Such complete oneness of purpose and of achievement is rare
among men.

[Footnote 17: See _Revue de Paris_, 15 avril, 1898.]

APPENDIX

We offer here a literal prose translation of the _Psalm of Penitence_.

THE PSALM OF PENITENCE

I

Lord, at last thy wrath hurleth its thunderbolts upon our foreheads, and
in the night our vessel strikes its prow against the rocks.

Lord, thou cuttest us down with the sword of the barbarian like fine
wheat, and not one of the cravens that we shielded comes to our defence.

Lord, thou twistest us like a willow wand, thou breakest down to-day all
our pride; there is none to envy us, who but yesterday were so proud.

Lord, our land goeth to ruin in war and strife; and if thou withhold thy
mercy, great and small will devour one another.

Lord, thou art terrible, thou strikest us upon the back; in awful
turmoil thou breakest our power, compelling us to confess past evil.

II

Lord, we had strayed away from the austerity of the old laws and ways.
Virtues, domestic customs, we had destroyed and demolished.

Lord, giving an evil example, and denying thee like the heathen, we had
one day closed up thy temples and mocked thy Holy Christ.

Lord, leaving behind us thy sacraments and commandments, we had brutally
lost belief in all but self-interest and progress!

Lord, in the waste heavens we have clouded thy light with our smoke, and
to-day the sons mock the nakedness and purity of their fathers.

Lord, we have blown upon thy Bible with the breath of false knowledge;
and holding ourselves up like the poplar trees, we wretched beings have
declared ourselves gods.

Lord, we have left the furrow, we have trampled all respect under foot;
and with the heavy wine that intoxicates us we defile the innocent.

III

Lord, we are thy prodigal children, but we are thy Christians of old;
let thy justice chastise us, but give us not over unto death.

Lord, in the name of so many brave men, who went forth fearless,
valiant, docile, grave, and then fell in battle;

Lord, in the name of so many mothers, who are about to pray to God for
their sons, and who next year, alas! and