The art which produces verses one by one, depends upon inspiration, not upon manufacture.

Therefore my muse declares itself vanquished in advance; and I authorise you to publish my refusal of your challenge." In a postscript, Jasmin added: "Now that you have made the acquaintance of my Muse, I will, in a few words, introduce you to the man.

I love glory, but the success of others never troubles my sleep at night!" "When one finds," says Sainte-Beuve, "this theory of work pushed to such a degree by Jasmin, with whom the spark of inspiration seems always so prompt and natural, what a sad return we have of the poetical wealth dissipated by the poets of our day." Sainte-Beuve summed up his praise of the Gascon poet by insisting that he was invariably sober in his tone.
"I have learned," said Jasmin of himself, "that in moments of heat and emotion we may be eloquent or laconic, alike in speech and action--unconscious poets, in fact; but I have also learned that it is possible for a poet to become all this voluntarily by dint of patient toil and conscientious labour!" Jasmin was not the man to rest upon his laurels.

Shortly after his visit to Paris in 1842, he began to compose his Martha the Innocent, which we have already briefly described.

Two years later he composed Les Deux Freres Jumeaux--a story of paternal and motherly affection.