CONTENTS.

PAGE.
PREFATORY NOTE[ 4]
SONNET TO LOVE[ 6]
MARGUERITE, OR THE ISLE OF DEMONS[ 8]
EUDORA[79]
THE VOICE OF THE AGES[88]
THE WOODLAND WALK[90]
THE STREET WAIF[94]
THE SONG OF A GLORIFIED SPIRIT[100]
BOUND TO THE WHEEL[103]
THE APPLE WOMAN[106]
ON MOUNT ROYAL[111]
MAIDEN LONGINGS[117]
ASPIRATION[119]
THE HAWK AND THE SPARROW[123]
CELESTINE[129]
TO A YOUNG LADY[131]
BETRAYED[134]
EPITHALAMIUM[137]
IN THE WOODS OF ST. LEON[147]
THE LOVER’S DREAM[149]
THE HEROES OF VILLE-MARIE[153]
CHANGE ON THE OTTAWA[161]
THE BLIND MINSTREL OF THE MARKET PLACE[167]
TO W. H. MAGEE[173]
LINES ON RECOVERING FROM ILLNESS[178]
HALLOWEEN IN CANADA[181]
ETHEL[192]
KEATS[195]
THE CRISIS[198]
IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH GUIBORD[201]
“IT MOVES”[204]
SUPERSTITION[207]
VIGER SQUARE[208]
1881[210]
DESPONDENT[211]
THOMAS D’ARCY McGEE[213]
THE NEWS-BOY[215]
CHARLES HEAVYSEGE[219]
BOOKS[222]
THE DRUNKARD[224]
A NIGHT ON THE SKATING RINK[227]
JACK FROST’S HAPPY DREAM[231]
MONTREAL CARNIVAL SPORTS[234]
PETER WIMPLE’S COURTSHIP[242]
FEAR OF BLINDNESS[269]
UNKNOWN[271]
FLORAL ENVOY[273]
ON THE DEATH OF A VETERAN JOURNALIST[276]
HEART-HUNGER[277]
TO A YOUNG AUTHOR ON HIS BIRTHDAY[278]
TO G. I., AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON[279]
MERCY[280]
LOVE AND DEATH[281]

MARGUERITE.

PREFATORY NOTE.

The story narrated in the following poem is one of the most touching of the many romantic legends of the early history of Canada. Some foundation in fact it undoubtedly has, for it forms the basis of one of the stories in the collection of Queen Margaret of Navarre, written while the chief actors in the tragedy were alive. The version of Queen Margaret differs from that of Thevet in many respects. He gives for his authorities Roberval and the unfortunate Marguerite herself.

Parkman, in the first volume of his admirable series of histories—the Pioneers of New France—gives the story as related by Thevet. The subject readily lends itself to poetical treatment, and, if the heroine in the poem is made to put a more favourable construction upon her conduct than the chronicler, it is surely no more than, as the narrator of her own story, she might have a right to do. The harsh and tyrannical character of Roberval is drawn in dark lines by Parkman. His cruelties, in the short lived colony at Cap Rouge, were such than even the Indians were moved to pity for his victims. On his return to France he was assassinated at night in the streets of Paris, probably by the hand of one who had suffered from his tyranny.

In these prosaic days of ocean steamers, cable telegraphs and light-houses, it is difficult to realize the mystery which, in old days, enshrouded the shores of the Western continent. The imaginations of the daring sailors who in their little vessels explored the stormy seas of the West, teemed with stories of dangers, spiritual as well as physical. In those days of supernaturalism, Satan might well stand guard over the great world, where, until then, he had held undivided sway. This Isle of Demons was one of his outposts. On Wytfliet’s Map (1597), I. de las Demonios is laid down to the North of Newfoundland, but too far out of Roberval’s course to be the island of our story. It is necessary to the narrative that the island in question should be in the regular route of vessels, and, as the earliest course of sailors to the Gulf of St. Lawrence was by the straits of Belle Isle, some of the islands which shelter the harbours of Labrador would probably have been the scene of the events narrated. Jean Alphonse of Saintonge, who was Roberval’s first pilot, no doubt indicates the island of our heroine’s trials under the name of Isles de la Demoiselle in latitude 50° 45′, and he says there is a good harbour there. This name clung for a long time to the locality and is found on many old maps. To-day the most important of the group is known as Grand Meccatina Island.