gh-bred Anacreon of France at the close of the fifteenth
century.

The town of Vire, as the reader may have already had intimation, is
the chief town of that department of Normandy called the BOCAGE; and
in this department few places have been, of old, more celebrated than
the _Vaux de Vire_; on account of the number of manufactories which
have existed there from time immemorial. It derives its name from two
principal valleys, in the form of a T, of which the base (if it may be
so called--"jambage") rests upon the _Place du Chateau de Vire_. It is
sufficiently contiguous to the town to be considered among the
fauxbourgs. The rivers _Vire_ and _Virene_, which unite at the bridge
of Vaux, run somewhat rapidly through the valleys. These rivers are
flanked by manufactories of paper and cloth, which, from the XVth
century, have been distinguished for their prosperous condition.
Indeed, BASSELIN himself was a sort of cloth manufacturer. In this
valley he passed his life in fulling his cloths, and "in composing
those gay and delightful songs which are contained in the volume under
consideration." _Discours Preliminaire_, p. 17, &c. Olivier Basselin
is the parent of the title _Vaudevire--_which has since been corrupted
into _Vaudeville_. From the observation of his critics, Basselin
appears to have been the FATHER of BACCHANALIAN POETRY in France. He
frequented public festivals, and was a welcome guest at the tables of
the rich; where the Vaudevire was in such request, that it is supposed
to have superseded the "Conte, or Fabliau, or the Chanson d'Amour."[B]
p. xviij:

Sur ce point-la, soyez tranquille:
Nos neveux, j'en suis bien certain,
Se souviendront de BASSELIN,
_Pere joyeux du Vaudeville:_ p. xxiij.

I proceed to submit a few specimens of the muse of this ancient
ANACREON of France; and must necessarily begin with a few of those
that are chiefly of a bacchanalian quality.

_VAUDEVIRE II_.

AYANT le doz au feu et le ventre a la table,
Estant parmi les pots pleins de vin delectable,
Ainsi comme ung poulet
Je ne me laisseray morir de la pepie,
Quant en debvroye avoir la face cramoisie
Et le nez violet;

QUANT mon nez devendra de couleur rouge ou perse,
Porteray les couleurs que cherit ma maitresse.
Le vin rent le tein