THE WAY-SIDE CROSS. TRANSLATED FROM THE DIALECT OF CORNOUAILLE. A little bird with azure head Amidst the forest sings, The feathers near his heart are red, That bird flew down at day-break fair His words were many, and as sweet 'Twas near the cross beside the way As lucid water in a glass Her eyes were bright to see; As white as pearls her small teeth gleam, Her hands as milk pour'd fresh may seem The lord of Ponkalek can tell The mention of the name of Ponkalek, in this ballad, shows it to have been composed anterior to the close of the last century, as the family have since that time quitted their estates in Basse-Cornouaille. ONG have the Bretons, amongst other traits of character connected with the primitive simplicity of their manners, retained their respect for the singers and recounters of their national poetry. The reverence paid to their bards of old, which arose from religious feeling, appears to be perpetuated towards the race who, in their turn, have high claims on such a distinction; for their object is not only to amuse and to please, but they seem to feel that they have a more serious mission to fulfil. This class of persons are the preservers of the language and of popular records; they may also justly be said to be the encouragers and promoters of propriety and good manners, and are certainly the most active instruments of civilization in Bretagne, if the cultivation of noble, 266 THE MINSTREL. honest, and kind feelings be looked upon as a means. The eloquent and patriotic writer whose opinion I follow,-M. de Villemarqué, in the introduction to his delightful work, which, by its truth, taste, and the exquisite translations it presents, has renewed at the present day all the ancient enthusiasm for ballad lore, which Percy and Sir Walter Scott awoke amongst us, gives many instances of the power exercised by the modern minstrels of Bretagne over the common people. He mentions, amongst others, the following facts which have come under his own observation. In the heart of Basse Cornouaille, lives, in a solitary cottage, a poor peasant, named Loïz Guivar, who, from an infirmity, has acquired the appellation of Loïz Kam, or Louis le Boiteux: he is altogether, in his outward appearance, a correct representation of the dwarf who figured at the courts of the ancient Kings of France he is endowed with a very remarkable share of intelligence: his temper is mild and calm, and he possesses perfect equanimity: his manners and conduct are irreproachable, but he is considered in the light of a being gifted beyond ordinary mortals, and having occult knowledge he is a poet, and his memory is stored THE MINSTREL. 267 with an immense quantity of ballads and legends. He had many traditional secrets transmitted to him by his ancestors, and the belief in his superhuman qualities, joined to his personal probity, have gained for him in his parish a certain moral authority. He is consulted on all occasions, and his decisions have great weight, for his judgment is generally sanctioned by public opinion, and his songs have always a useful end which fixes them in the memory. The vice of the Bretons, which has been already alluded to, that of drinking to excess on fête and market days, though, on other occasions, they are sober, has been attacked in various ways for a series of years, and, unfortunately, with little result. A few years ago, the frightful consequences of this habit exhibited themselves in an appalling manner in the parish in which Loiz Kam resides. He composed a poem on the subject, which had so good an effect, that in his canton the frequenters of the tavern have sensibly diminished. He lets no opportunity escape for inculcating morality and conveying instruction by means of his songs, which are so much more efficacious than any other mode, that it is well known while the cholera raged in Bretagne, no better plan could be devised by the physicians to spread a knowledge |