edition of his works.  Basselin appears to have been a Virois;
    in other words, an inhabitant of the town of Vire.  But he had a
    strange propensity to rusticating, and preferred the immediate
    vicinity of Vire—­its quiet little valleys, running streams, and rocky
    recesses—­to a more open and more distant residence.  In such places,
    therefore, he carried with him his flasks of cider and his flagons of
    wine.  Thither he resorted with his “boon and merry companions,” and
    there he poured forth his ardent and unpremeditated strains.  These
    “strains” all savoured of the jovial propensities of their author; it
    being very rarely that tenderness of sentiment, whether connected with
    friendship or love, is admitted into his compositions.  He was the
    thorough-bred Anacreon of France at the close of the fifteenth
    century.

The town of Vire, as the reader may have already had intimation, is the chief town of that department of Normandy called the BOCAGE; and in this department few places have been, of old, more celebrated than the Vaux de Vire; on account of the number of manufactories which have existed there from time immemorial.  It derives its name from two principal valleys, in the form of a T, of which the base (if it may be so called—­“jambage”) rests upon the Place du Chateau de Vire.  It is sufficiently contiguous to the town to be considered among the fauxbourgs.  The rivers Vire and Virene, which unite at the bridge of Vaux, run somewhat rapidly through the valleys.  These rivers are flanked by manufactories of paper and cloth, which, from the XVth century, have been distinguished for their prosperous condition.  Indeed, BASSELIN himself was a sort of cloth manufacturer.  In this valley he passed his life in fulling his cloths, and “in composing those gay and delightful songs which are contained in the volume under consideration.” Discours Preliminaire, p. 17, &c.  Olivier Basselin is the parent of the title Vaudevire—­which has since been corrupted into Vaudeville.  From the observation of his critics, Basselin appears to have been the FATHER of BACCHANALIAN POETRY in France.  He frequented public festivals, and was a welcome guest at the tables of the rich; where the Vaudevire was in such request, that it is supposed to have superseded the “Conte, or Fabliau, or the Chanson d’Amour."[B] p. xviij: 

Sur ce point-la, soyez tranquille:  Nos neveux, j’en suis bien certain, Se souviendront de BASSELIN, Pere joyeux du Vaudeville: p. xxiij.

I proceed to submit a few specimens of the muse of this ancient
ANACREON of France; and must necessarily begin with a few of those
that are chiefly of a bacchanalian quality.

VAUDEVIRE II.

AYANT le doz au feu et le ventre a la table,
Estant parmi les pots pleins de vin delectable,
Ainsi comme ung poulet
Je ne me laisseray morir de la pepie,
Quant en debvroye avoir la face cramoisie
Et le nez violet;