Celebrations of this kind have become a regular institution in southern
France. Since the day in 1862 when the town of Apt received the Félibres
officially, organizing Floral Games, in which prizes were offered for
the best poems in Provençal, the people have become accustomed to the
sight of these triumphal entries of the poets into their cities. Reports
of these brilliant festivities have gone abroad into all lands. If the
love of noise and show that characterizes the southern temperament has
caused these reunions to be somewhat unfavorably criticised as
theatrical, on the other hand the enthusiasm has been genuine, and the
results real and lasting. The _Félibrées_, so they are called, have not
all taken place in France. In 1868, Mistral, Rournieux, Bonaparte-Wyse,
and Paul Meyer went to Barcelona, where they were received with great
pomp and ceremony. Men eminent in literary and philological circles in
Paris have often accepted invitations to these festivities. In 1876, a
Felibrean club, "La Cigale," was founded in the capital; its first
president was Henri de Bornier, author of _La Fille de Roland_.
Professors and students of literature and philology in France and in
other countries began to interest themselves in the Félibres, and the
Félibrige to-day counts among its members men of science as well as men
of letters.

In 1874 one of the most remarkable of the celebrations, due to the
initiative of M. de Berluc-Pérussis, was held at Vaucluse to celebrate
the fifth centenary of the death of Petrarch. At this _Félibrée_ the
Italians first became affiliated to the _idea_, and the Italian
ambassador, Nigra, the president of the Accademia della Crusca, Signor
Conti, and Professor Minich, from the University of Padua, were the
delegates. The Institute of France was represented for the first time.
This celebration was highly important and significant, and the scenes of