They compared Jasmin to O'Connell; but the barber of Agen, by the power which he exercised for the good of the people, proved himself more than equal to the greatest of agitators.
Sainte-Beuve quotes with keen enjoyment{4} the bantering letter which Jasmin sent to Peyrottes, a Provencal poet, who challenged him to a poetical combat.

It was while he was making one of his charitable tours through Languedoc, that Jasmin received the following letter (24 December, 1847):-- "SIR,--I dare, in my temerity, which may look like hardihood, to propose to you a challenge.

Will you have the goodness to accept it?
In the Middle Ages, the Troubadours did not disdain such a challenge as that which, in my audacity, I now propose to you.
"I will place myself at your disposal at Montpellier on any day and at any hour that may be most convenient to you.

We shall name four persons of literary standing to give us three subjects with which we are to deal for twenty-four hours.

We shall be shut up together.