The old streets are narrow and tortuous, paved with pointed stones; but a fine broad street--the Rue de la Republique--has recently been erected through the heart of the old town, which greatly adds to the attractions of the place.

At one end of this street an ideal statue of the Republic has been erected, and at the other end a life-like bronze statue of the famous poet Jasmin.
This statue to Jasmin is the only one in the town erected to an individual.

Yet many distinguished persons have belonged to Agen and the neighbourhood who have not been commemorated in any form.

Amongst these were Bernard Palissy, the famous potter{1}; Joseph J.Scaliger, the great scholar and philologist; and three distinguished naturalists, Boudon de Saint-Aman, Bory de Saint-Vincent, and the Count de Lacepede.
The bronze statue of Jasmin stands in one of the finest sites in Agen, at one end of the Rue de la Republique, and nearly opposite the little shop in which he carried on his humble trade of a barber and hairdresser.

It represents the poet standing, with his right arm and hand extended, as if in the act of recitation.
How the fame of Jasmin came to be commemorated by a statue erected in his native town by public subscription, will be found related in the following pages.