And planted their standard, with sea-foam still wet,
Above and around us their spirits shall hover,
Rejoicing to mark how we honour it yet.
Chorus—"Hail to the day," etc.
ESSAYISTS.
[44] Page 27.—The principal contributors to the English and American periodical press of late years have been George Stewart of Quebec, Principal Grant, J. G. Bourinot, Martin J. Griffin, W. D. LeSueur, G. M. Dawson, S. E. Dawson, Arnold Haultain, John Reade, J. M. Oxley and Sir W. Dawson. Dr. Stewart of Quebec, despite the demands of journalism, has been always a most earnest literary worker, foremost by his own contributions and by his efforts to encourage the labours of others in the too indifferent little Canadian world. Goldwin Smith has always been a contributor of note, but he is rather an English than a Canadian writer. Among the names of the French Canadian general writers are those of Fréchette, Sulte, Marmette, Faucher de Saint-Maurice, J. Tassé, DeCelles, Dionne, Casgrain and LeMoine; but their efforts have been confined as a rule to the numerous French Canadian periodicals which have appeared for the last thirty years, and after a short career died for want of adequate support. In the numerous periodicals of England and the United States English Canadian writers have great advantages over French Canadians, who are practically limited to their own country, since France offers few opportunities for such literary work.
WILLIAM KIRBY'S WORKS AND OTHER ROMANCES BY CANADIANS.
[45] Page 27.—"The Golden Dog: a Legend of Quebec." New York and Montreal, 1877, 8vo. Also translated by Pamphile LeMay, the French Canadian poet, Montreal, 1884. Mr. Kirby is also the author of several poems of merit: "The U. E.: a Tale of Upper Canada. A Poem in XII. Cantos." Niagara, 1859, 12mo. "Canadian Idylls," Toronto, 1878, etc. He was born in England in 1817, but came to Canada at the early age of fifteen. He was one of the original members of the Royal Society of Canada.
Mr. Lespérance, F.R.S.C., was the author of the "Bastonnais" and other historical romances of some ability, but not of that high order of merit which gives a permanent reputation. The Hon. L. Seth Huntington, long known in Canadian political life, was the author of a semi-political novel, "Professor Conant" (Toronto, 1884), which had its merits, but it fell practically still-born from the press. Many other efforts have been made in the same branch of literature, but the performance, as stated in the text, has not been equal to the ambition that prompted the experiment.
MAJOR RICHARDSON.