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I shall feel fully repaid for my pains if this 〃Life〃 of one of the

greatest of the world's naturalists; by enabling men to know him better;

also leads them to love him the more。





FABRE; POET OF SCIENCE。





CHAPTER 1。 THE INTUITION OF NATURE。



Each thing created; says Emerson; has its painter or its poet。 Like the

enchanted princess of the fairy…tales; it awaits its predestined liberator。



Every part of nature has its mystery and its beauty; its logic and its

explanation; and the epigraph given me by Fabre himself; which appears on

the title…page of this volume; is in no way deceptive。 The tiny insects

buried in the soil or creeping over leaf or blade have for him been

sufficient to evoke the most important; the most fascinating problems; and

have revealed a whole world of miracle and poetry。



He saw the light at Saint…Léons; a little commune of the canton of Vezins

in the Haut Rouergue; on the 22nd December; 1823; some seven years earlier

than Mistral; his most famous neighbour; the greater lustre of whose

celebrity was to eclipse his own。



Here he essayed his earliest steps; here he stammered his first syllables。



His early childhood; however; was passed almost wholly at Malaval; a tiny

hamlet in the parish of Lavaysse; whose belfry was visible at quite a short

distance; but to reach it one had to travel nearly twenty…five rough;

mountainous miles; through a whole green countryside; green; but bare; and

lacking in charm。 (1/1。)



All his paternal forebears came from Malaval; and thence one day his

father; Antoine Fabre; came to dwell at Saint…Léons; as a consequence of

his marriage with the daughter of the huissier; Victoire Salgues; and in

order to prepare himself; as working apprentice; in the tricks and quibbles

of the law。 (1/2。)



In the roads of Malaval; bordered with brambles; in the glades of bracken;

and amid the meadows of broom; he received his first impressions of nature。

At Malaval too lived his grandmother; the good old woman who could lull him

to sleep at night with beautiful stories and simple legends; while she

wound her distaff or spun her bobbin。



But what were all these imaginary marvels; what were the ogres who smelt

fresh meat; or 〃the fairies who turned pumpkins into coaches and lizards

into footmen〃 beside all the marvels of reality; which already he was

beginning to perceive?



For above all things he was born a poet: a poet by instinct and by

vocation。 From his earliest childhood; 〃the brain hardly released from the

swaddling…bands of unconsciousness;〃 the things of the outer world left a

profound and living impression。 As far back as he can remember; while still

quite a child; 〃a little monkey of six; still dressed in a little baize

frock;〃 or just 〃wearing his first braces;〃 he sees himself 〃in ecstasy

before the splendours of the wing…cases of a gardener…beetle; or the wings

of a butterfly。〃 At nightfall; among the bushes; he learned to recognize

the chirp of the grasshopper。 To put it in his own words; 〃he made for the

flowers and insects as the Pieris makes for the cabbage and the Vanessa

makes for the nettle。〃 The riches of the rocks; the life which swarms in

the depth of the waters; the world of plants and animals; that 〃prodigious

poem; all nature filled him with curiosity and wonder。〃 〃A voice charmed

him; untranslatable; sweeter than language and vague as a dream。〃 (1/3。)



These peculiarities are all the more astonishing in that they seem to be

absolutely spontaneous and in nowise hereditary。 What his parents were he

himself has told us: small farmers; cultivating a little unprofitable land;

poor 〃husbandmen; sowers of rye; cowherds〃; and in the wretched

surroundings of his childhood; when the only light; of an evening; came

from a splinter of pine; steeped in resin; which was held by a strip of

slate stuck into the wall; when his folk shut themselves in the byre; in

times of severe cold; to save a little firewood and while away the

evenings; when close at hand; through the bitter wind; they heard the

howling of the wolves: here; it would seem; was nothing propitious to the

birth of such tastes; if he had not borne them naturally within him。



But is it not the very essence of genius; as it is the peculiarity of

instinct; to spring from the depths of the invisible?



Yet who shall say what stores of thought unspoken; what unknown treasures

of observation never to be communicated; what patient reflections

unuttered; may be housed in those toil…worn brains; in which; perhaps;

slowly and obscurely; accumulate the germs of faculties and talents by

which some more favoured descendant may one day benefit? How many poets

have died unpublished or unperceived; in whom only the power of expression

was lacking!



When he was seven years old his parents recalled him to Saint…Léons; in

order to send him to the school kept by his godfather; Pierre Ricard; the

village schoolmaster; 〃at once barber; bellringer; and singer in the

choir。〃 Rembrandt; Teniers; nor Van Ostade never painted anything more

picturesque than the room which served at the same time as kitchen;

refectory; and bedroom; with 〃halfpenny prints papering the walls〃 and 〃a

huge chimney; for which each had to bring his log of a morning in order to

enjoy the right to a place at the fireside。〃



He was never to forget these beloved places; blessed scenes of his

childhood; amid which he grew up like a little savage; and through all his

material sufferings; all his hours of bitterness; and even in the

resignation of age; their idyllic memory sufficed to make his life

fragrant。 He would always see the humble paternal garden; the brook where

he used to surprise the crayfish; the ash…tree in which he found his first

goldfinch's nest; and 〃the flat stone on which he heard; for the first

time; the mellow ringing of the bellringer frog。〃 (1/4。) Later; when

writing to his brother; he was to recall the good days of still careless

life; when 〃he would sprawl; the sun on his belly; on the mosses of the

wood of Vezins; eating his black bread and cream〃 or 〃ring the bells of

Saint…Léons〃 and 〃pull the tails of the bulls of Lavaysse。〃 (1/5。)



For Henri had a brother; Frédéric; barely two years younger than he;

equally meditative by nature; and of a serious; upright mind; but his

tastes inclined rather to matters of administration and the understanding

of business; so that where Frédéric was bored; Henri was more than content;

thirstily drinking in science and poetry 〃among the blue campanulas of the

hills; the pink heather of the mountains; the golden buttercups of the

meadows; and the odorous bracken of the woods。〃 (1/6。) Apart from this the

two brothers 〃were one〃; they understood one another in a marvellous

fashion; and always loved one another。 Henri never failed to watch over

Frédéric with a wholly fatherly solicitude; he was prodigal of advice;

helpful with his experience; doing his best to smooth away all

difficulties; encouraging him to walk in his footsteps and make his way

through the world behind him。 He was his confidant; giving an ear to all

that befell him of good or ill; to his fears; his disappointments; his

hopes; and all his thoughts; and he took the keenest interest in his

studies and researches。 On the other hand; he had no more sure and devoted

friend; none more proud of his first success; and in later days no more

enthusiastic admirer; and none more eager for his fame。 (1/7。)



He was twelve years old when his father; 〃the first of all his line; was

tempted by the town;〃 and led all his family to Rodez; there to keep a

café。 The future naturalist entered the school of this town; where he

served Mass on Sunday; in the chapel; in order to pay his fees。 There again

he was interested in the animal creation above all。 When he began to

construe Virgil the only thing that charmed him; and which he remembered;

was the landscape in which the persons of the poem move; in which are so

many 〃exquisite details concerning the cicada; the goat; and the laburnum。〃



Thus four years went by: but then his parents were constrained to seek

their fortune elsewhere; and transported their household to Toulouse; where

again the father kept a café。 The young Henri was admitted gratuitously to

the seminary of the Esquille; where he managed to complete his fifth year。

Unfortunately his progress was soon interrupted by a new exodus on the part

of his family; which emigrated this time to Montpellier; where he was

haunted for a time by dreams of medicine; to which he seemed notably

adapted。 Finally; a run of bad luck persisting; he had to bid farewell to

his studies and gain his bread as best he could。 We see him set out along

the wide white roads: lost; almost a wanderer; seeking his living by the

sweat of his brow; one day selling lemons at the fair of Beaucaire; under

the arcades of the market or before the barracks of the Pré

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