you shave me?' I asked. 'Willingly, sir,' he replied, I sat down
and we entered into conversation. 'I have read your verses, sir,' said
I, while he was covering my chin with lather.

"'Monsieur then comprehends the patois?' 'A little,' I said; 'one of
my friends has explained to me the difficult passages. But tell
me, Monsieur Jasmin, why is it that you, who appear to know French
perfectly, write in a language that is not spoken in any chief town or
capital.'

"'Ah, sir, how could a poor rhymer like me appear amongst the great
celebrities of Paris? I have sold eighteen hundred copies of my little
pieces of poetry (in pamphlet form), and certainly all who speak Gascon
know them well. Remember that there are at least six millions of people
in Languedoc.'

"My mouth was covered with soap-suds, and I could not answer him for
some time. Then I said, 'But a hundred thousand persons at most know how
to read, and twenty thousand of them can scarcely be able to enjoy your
works.'

"'Well, sir, I am content with that amount. Perhaps you have at Paris
more than one writer who possesses his twenty thousand readers. My
little reputation would soon carry me astray if I ventured to address
all Europe. The voice that appears sonorous in a little place is not
heard in the midst of a vast plain. And then, my readers are confined
within a radius of forty leagues, and the result is of real advantage to
an author.'

"'Ah! And why do you not abandon your razor?' I enquired of this
singular poet. 'What would you have?' he said. 'The Muses are most
capricious; to-day they give gold, to-morrow they refuse bread. The
razor secures me soup, and perhaps a bottle of Bordeaux. Besides, my
salon is a little literary circle, where all the young people of the
town assemble. When I come from one of the academies of which I am a
member, I find myself among the tools which I can manage better than
my pen; and most of the members of the circle usually pass through my
hands.'

"It is a fact that M. Jasmin shaves more skilfully than any other poet.
After a long conversation with this simple-minded man, I experienced
a certain confusion in depositing upon his table the amount of fifty
centimes which I owed him on this occasion, more for his talent than
for his razor; and I remounted the diligence more than charmed with the
modesty of his character and demeanour."

Endnotes for Chapter VI.

{1} M. Duvigneau thus translated the words into French: