Frédéric Mistral _Frontispiece_ Mas du Juge--Birthplace of Frédéric Mistral 18 Mistral in 1864 60 Arlesiennes at Maillane 84 Joseph Roumanille 106 Anselm Mathieu 158 Théodore Aubanel 158 Mas des Pommiers--Home of Joseph Roumanille 188 Madame Frédéric Mistral, First Queen of the Félibres 196 Félix Gras, Poet and Félibre 202 Mistral and his dog Pan-Perdu 226 Thérèse Roumanille (Madame Boissière), Second Queen of the Félibres 266 Paul Mariéton, Chancelier des Félibres 307 Madame Gasquet (_née_ Mlle. Girard), Third Queen of the Félibres 318 Madame Bischoffsheim (_née_ Mlle. de Chevigney), Fourth and present Queen of the Félibres 326 MEMOIRS OF MISTRAL CHAPTER I CHILDHOOD AT MAILLANE As far back as I can remember I see before me, towards the south, a barrier of mountains, whose slopes, rocks and gorges stand out in the distance with more or less clearness according to the morning or evening light. It is the chain of the Alpilles, engirdled with olive-trees like a wall of classic ruins, a veritable belvedere of bygone glory and legend. It was at the foot of this rampart that Caius Marius, Saviour of Rome, and to this day a popular hero throughout the land, awaited the barbarian hordes behind the walls of his camp. The record of his triumphs and trophies engraved on the Arch and Mausoleum of Saint-Rémy has been gilded by the sun of Provence for two thousand years past. On the slopes of these hills are to be seen the remains of the great Roman aqueduct, which once carried the waters of Vaucluse to the Arena of Arles; an aqueduct still called by the country people Ouide di Sarrasin (stonework of the Saracens), for it was by this waterway the Spanish Moors marched to Arles. On the jagged rocks of these Alpilles the Princes of Baux built their stronghold, and in these same aromatic valleys, at Baux, Romanin, and Roque-Martine, the beautiful châtelaines in the days of the troubadours held their Courts of Love. It is at Mont-Majour, on the plains of the Camargue, that the old Kings of Arles sleep beneath the flag-stones of the cloisters, and in the grotto of the Vallon d’Enfer of Cordes that our fairies still wander, while among these ruins of old Roman and feudal days the Golden Goat lies buried.