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FAMOUS SONGS
by M. Arthur Loth in the " Univers," who de-clared that Grisons, although a clerical, had embraced the cause of the Revolution. But Grisons did not avow himself the composer until 1793—a year after it was really written —when he actually did introduce it into a into a score which was executed by choristers from the church of St. Omer. Of course his claim was very soon put out of court when the matter was thoroughly investigated—he had simply stolen a few bars from " La Marseillaise," and embodied them in his own work. It is odd that the piece should have been so often tem-porarily appropriated by some charlatan anxious to secure a little cheap fame. The " Marseil-laise" has been made use of by many well-known people, but invariably the indebtedness has been acknowledged by them: Salieri, for instance, in the opening chorus of his opera, "Palmira" (1795). It stands in Grisons' intro-duction to his oratorio, " Esther," which is still in MS., and which excited so much speculation as to whether he invented the melody or de Lisle. Schumann uses it in his song of the " Two Grenadiers" with excellent effect, also in his overture to " Hermann and Dorothea."
Louis Philippe conferred a pension on de Lisle for his patriotism and poetry. There is a
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