X INTRODUCTION

and the youth, with his délicate constitution and his defective éducation, was left as the sole support of his mother and an unmarried sister.

Nothing daunted, the young man toiled on, full of hope, in the evenings prosecuting his studies and the reading of literature, and increasing his income by the pittance he received as copyist or for journalistic work.

This mode of life continued until Coppée was twenty-seven years of âge, when fortune suddenly smiled upon him.

The poet is born, not made, or at least the self-conscious power to create must be in born; and it was this self-consciousness, this hope and trust in himself, that enabled Coppée to work on with unswerving purpose.

He composed poems, sonnets, odes, and plays, which, because of his modesty, wcre afterward destroyed.

Probably this is fortunate, for the young author was not yet proficient in his art. But the criticism of his

INTRODUCTI^H. TU

friends was favorable^ and with thîs encouragement and through the kindly help of the young author Mendès Coppée mastered the rudiments and the technical détails of poetic composition. At the âge of twenty-four he published through Lemerre his first work, a collection of poems under the title of "Le Reliquaire/' The cost of this édition he himself paid from his meagre earnings. Although the volume was favorably received by the critics^ its sale of only one hundred copies was not an occasion for self-congratulatiour His publisher, however, saw that there waS" genius hère, and at his own expense pmblished for Coppéc a second volume, entitled "Les Intimités/' This was received like the fîrst.

Later Coppée was invited by the actress Agar to write for her benefit night at the Odéon, and in January, 1869, Agar and Sarah Bernhardt presented " Le Passant," a one-act dialogue, which, f uU of f reshness, in-

Xll INTRODUCTION.

nocence, and youthful dreams, and acted wîth much charm, captivated Society and made its author famous.

From that time to the présent Coppée's pen has not been laid aside, and his numerous productions, whether poems, plays, sketches, taies, or novels, hâve brought him ever-increasing famé and popularity.

Coppée was appointed archiviste of the Comédie Française in 1878, but resigned that laborious position in 1884, when he became one of the immortals of the French Academy.

He was made a member of the Légion of Honor in 1888.

We know Coppée first and chiefly as poet, then as dramatist, and finally as story-writer. But the poetic vein is never wanting ; even in his prose he shows himself a poet. The master hand to touch the heart is his alone, who has felt and has experienced, his who has been trained in the school of adversity, whose early years hâve made him familiar with

INTRODUCTION, xîii

life's trials and its hardships. Coppée's thought and feeling hâve been moulded by the circumstances of his Hfe. His life bas been real and his sympathies are large, marked by great earnestness and depth. He delights in depicting the humble scènes of life, rather than those of luxury and pomp in their forced and uhnatural environment. Ail his Works, too, are characterized by intense patriotism. Frora Paris itself he draws his inspiration. Every Street and corner is f uU of suggestion and of scènes that strike his poetic fancy. Unlike many of the literary men of modem Paris, Coppée is not only Parisian himself, but of Parisian parents, and thus, in a sensé, to the manor born. His affection for the city of his birth is deeper and truer and more nearly ail -inclusive than that of even the typical Parisian, to whom Paris is the universe, and Paris life the beginning and the end of ail çxistence. f aris is his thème, Paris

XIV INTRODUCTIOH,

breathes upon him the divine afflatus, Paris is the muse that never fails.

Coppée's style is easy, flowing, rhythmic. His diction is musical, and full of grâce and pleasing fancy.

He is a realist. His pictures are true to life, his touch is sure, his delineation accurate, and his colors always harmonize.

The text hère offered is a little sketch that appeared in 1892, as the first half of a volume entitled " Les Vrais Riches." The editor has taken the liberty to omit hère and there a Une or even a page that would render the text objectionable for school use.

Thèse omissions and a few other slight changes are made in such a manner as to be unnoticeable, and to detract in no degree from the interest of the story.

Lawrenceville School, May, 1896.