Then the wife stepped in and said: "Jasmin, you must stop; leave the remainder of the poem for another day." Thus the recital ceased for the time.
The people of Agen entertained a lively sympathy for their poet.

Even those who might to a certain extent depreciate his talent, did every justice to the nobility of his character.

Perhaps some might envy the position of a man who had risen from the ranks and secured the esteem of men of fortune and even of the leaders of literary opinion.

Jasmin, like every person envied or perhaps detracted, had his hours of depression.
But the strong soul of his wife in these hours came to his relief, and assuaged the spirit of the man and the poet.
Jasmin was at one time on the point of abandoning verse-making.

Yet he was encouraged to proceed by the demands which were made for his songs and verses.