There appeared recently in this Journal the _fabulous_ account of
the origin of the 'Marseillaise:' the following is said to be the
_fact_:--In April 1792, at the opening of the campaign against Austria
and Prussia, Rouget de l'Isle was a captain of engineers stationed at
Strasburg. The day before the volunteers from that city were about to
join the main army of the Rhine, M. Dietrich, mayor of the city, gave
an entertainment, at which Rouget de l'Isle and several other officers
were present. A question arose as to what air should be played on the
departure of the new levies; and it was thought desirable that some
appropriate and spirited national song should be chosen. Various pieces
having been tried and rejected as unsuitable to the occasion, Rouget de
l'Isle left the company, retired to his own rooms, and in the course
of the evening wrote the words and music of 'Le Chant de l'Armée du
Rhin.' Before the party at the _mairie_ broke up, he returned with his
composition. Mademoiselle Dietrich accompanied him on the piano, and
he sang the inspiriting song to the delight of all present. It was
immediately put in rehearsal, played at parade the next day, and its
popularity at once established. Gradually it spread through France,
the Marseillais sang it on entering Paris, and the name it now bears
was irrevocably substituted for the original title. It was produced
on the stage of the Opera at Paris in October 1792, much in the style
in which Rachel gave it in 1848, and was received by the audience as
enthusiastically as it had been by the populace.