(Mirèio, Canto I.)

In one of the divisions of _Lou Tambour d'Arcolo_ (The Drummer of
Arcole), the poet uses ten-syllable verse with the cæsura after the
sixth syllable, an exceedingly unusual cæsura, imitated from the poem
_Girard de Roussillon_.

"Ah! lou pichot tambour | devenguè flòri!
Davans touto l'arma | --do en plen soulèu,
Pèr estelà soun front | d'un rai de glòri," etc.

Elsewhere he uses this verse divided after the fourth syllable, and less
frequently after the fifth.

The stanza used by Mistral throughout _Mirèio_ and _Calendau_ is his own
invention. Here is the first stanza of the second canto of _Mirèio_:--

"Cantas, cantas, magnanarello,
Que la culido es cantarello!
Galant soun li magnan e s'endormon di tres:
Lis amourié soun plen de fiho
Que lou bèu tèms escarrabiho,
Coume un vòu de blóundis abiho
Que raubon sa melico i roumanin dóu gres."

This certainly is a stanza of great beauty, and eminently adapted to the
language. Mistral is exceedingly skilful in the use of it, distributing
pauses effectively, breaking the monotony of the repeated feminine
verses with enjambements, and continuing the sense from one stanza to