of his office a seven-pointed golden star, the other Majoraux, a golden
grasshopper.

The other Félibres are unlimited in number. Any seven Félibres dwelling
in the same place may ask the Maintenance to form them into a school.
The schools administer their own affairs.

Every seven years the Floral Games are held, at which prizes are
distributed; every year, on the feast of St. Estelle, a general meeting
of the Félibrige takes place. Each Maintenance must meet once a year.

At the Floral Games he who is crowned poet-laureate chooses the Queen,
and she crowns him with a wreath of olive leaves.

To-day there are three Maintenances within the limits of French soil,
Provence, Languedoc, Aquitaine.

Among other facts that should doubtless be reported here is, the list of
Capouliés. They have been Mistral (1876-1888), Roumanille (1888-1891),
and Félix Gras; the Queens have been Madame Mistral, Mlle. Thérèse
Roumanille, Mlle. Marie Girard, and the Comtesse Marie-Thérèse de
Chevigné, who is descended upon her mother's side from Laura de Sade,
generally believed to be Petrarch's Laura.

Since the organization went into effect the Félibrige has expanded in
many ways, its influence has continually grown, new questions have
arisen. Among these last have been burning questions of religion and
politics, for although discussions of them are banished from Felibrean
meetings, opinions of the most various kind exist among the Félibres,
have found expression, and have well-nigh resulted in difficulties.