Mistral_1

Mistral, Frederic (b. 1830), a French poet, whose success as a writer in the ancient and beautiful langue d'oc, the resources of yvhich had already been shown by Jasmin (q.v.), has been followed by the rise of quite a large group of Provencal bards. The Provencal language, now a mere dialect, was Mistral's native tongue, for he was born (the son of a peasant), near Maillaune, in the department, of Bouches-du-Rhone. His epic poem Mireio (1859) has been ably translated by