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FAMOUS SONGS
to both words and music have often been dis-puted. Of the many claimants to the honour I shall have a word to say later. Rouget de Lisle was greatly esteemed among his friends for his poetical and musical gifts, and was a particular friend of the family of the Baron de Dietrich, a noble Alsatian then Mayor of Strasburg. " One night during the winter of 1792 the young officer was seated at the table of this family. The hospitable fare of the baron had been so reduced by the calamities and necessities of war that nothing," says Mdme. Fanny Raymond Ritter, " could be provided for dinner that day except garrison bread and a few slices of ham. Dietrich smiled sadly at his friend, and lament-ing the poverty of the fare he had to offer, de-clared he would sacrifice the last remaining bottle of Rhine wine in his cellar, if he thought it would aid de Lisle's poetic invention, and in-spire him to compose a patriotic song for the public ceremonies shortly to take place in Strasburg. The ladies approved, and sent for the last bottle of wine of which the house could boast." After dinner de Lisle sought his room, and though it was bitterly cold he at once sat down at the piano, and between reciting and playing and singing eventually composed " La Marseillaise," and, thoroughly exhausted, fell
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