Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/148

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CANADIAN LITERATURE. 120 CANADIAN LITERATURE. produced elsewhere in America during the same period. The peasantry, too, brought with them from Brittany and Normandy many popuhir songs which in course of time became imbued with the scenery and spirit of the new land. Orally transmitted from generation to genera- tion, they were written down at a later period. A collection of these popular songs was edited, with music, by Ernest Gaguon (Quebec, 1805), and a translation was made by William McLen- nan under the title Songs of Old Canada (Montreal, 1886). Of them, one of the choicest is the love song, with interlocked stanzas, be- ginning, "A la claire fontaine." By the Treaty of Paris (1763) Canada passed into the hands" of the English. Then followed a period of strife and bickering which did not close until 1867, when the provinces were united under the name of the Dominion of Canada. Awakened by the civilization of her conquerors, French Canada, which still holds to her own language, produced her first native-born writers. Among them were several historians of their country. Michel Bibaud was the earliest, with the Histoi're du Canada sous la domination fran(aise (Montreal, 1837), and the Histoirc du Canada sous la domination anglaise (Montreal, 1844) . In 1845 Francois Xavier Carneau published the first volume of his Ilistoire du Canada, from the dis- covery to his own time. This great work, com- pleted in 1852, is regarded by the French as the standard authority on their history. Other ad- mirable histories have been written by J. B. A. Ferland, a priest and professor of Laval Univer- sity; the Abbe Faillon. a Sulpician priest, born in France, but long a resident of Canada ; Louis Tur- cotte, who was connected with the legislative library of Quebec; Benjamin Suite (q.v.), a pro- lific contributor to the periodical press and learned societies; the Abbe Casgrain, who has given much attention to the time of Montcalm and Levis, and whose Pticrinage au pags d'Fvan- geline was crowned by the French Academy in 1888; and the Abbe Tanguay, sometime profes- sor of arehspology in Laval University, and au- thor of the Dictionnaire gi^n^alogique dcs families canadiennes, a work of immense research. French Canada has her own newspapers and periodicals, which have made an audience for tke essay, the sketch, and the novel. Faucher de Saint - Maurice (q.v.), a journalist, who ser'ed in Mexico under Maximilian, wrote Dc Quebec d Meiico; Les J'rovinces ifaritimcs ; and many other volumes of description. Sir James !MacPlierson LeMoine is the author of a large number of legendarj-, historical, and crit- ical sketches both in French and in English, as L'ornithoUigie du Canada (1861) ; The Chron- icles of the tiaint Laurence (1879); and Pic- iurenque Quehec (1882). Arthur Buics, who haa edited several journals, began in 1871 the pub- lication of his popular Clironiques, which ex- tended to several volumes. He has also written many other pieces of delightful description, as Le Saguenay ct la ralh'e du Lac Saint Jean (1880). L. O. David, who opposed the union of the Canadaa, is regarded as one of the most brilliant of recent writers. His Patriotes de 18S7-SS (1884) and Les deux Papincau (1896) are a defense of the rebellion of the French Canadians in 1837. In Le clerge canadien (1896) he vigorously attacked the Roman Cath- olic clergy for meddling in jjolitics. Besides these works, he is author of liiograjihies et por- traits (1876) and .1/es contcmporuins (1894). Among other essayists schooled in journalism arc Alfred Duclos de Celles and Xarcisse Eu- trope Dionne. The fomier has written much on social and political questions, and his Etats- T'nis: Origine, institutions, developpcments (1890) won the prize of the French Academy of Political and iloral Sciences. The latter is author of Jacques Cartier (1889); Samuel Champlain (1891 et seq.) ; and other historical sketches, written in a finished style. For the historical romance, Canada possesses richer ma- terial than the United States ; but no Cooper has yet appeared among cither the French or the English population. Still, there have been some noteworthy attempts at historical fiction. A pioneer work was Philippe de Gaspe's Les auciens Cartadiens (1863), which was translat- ed into English. De Gasp6 was followed by Joseph Marmette, who wrote four historical romances — Fi-an(ois de Bienville (1870); L'in- tendant Bigot (1872); />e chevalier dc Mornac (1873) ; and La fiancee du rehelle (1875). The first in the list passed through several edi- tions, and may he taken as one of the best speci- mens of historical romance jet produced by French Canada, .mong other novelists who have met with a measure of success are P. J. O. Chauveau and L. P, LeMay, the latter better known as a poet. The French Canadians, though they have culti- vated history, the descriptive sketch, and the novel, excel in their verse. We have already men- tioned the popular ballads which their ancestors brouglit over seas from old France. Kccent French-Canadian verse, though lacking in depth, is graceful and rhythmical. The chief poet is Louis Honore Frechette (q.v.), whose Fleurs boreales and Les oiseaux de neige were crowned by the French Academy in 1880. His finest poem is on the discovery of the ^Mississippi. Next to him is ranked Octave Crfmazie, who passed his last years in France. His poems, which were contributed to various Canadian journals, were collected and published, with an introduction by the .-Xbhtj Casgrain, in Montreal, in 1882. They include a beautiful elegy on Les ■morts, and a stirring lyric on Le drapeau de Ca- rillon, recalling the victories of Montcalm and Lfvis. Leon I'amphilc l.e^fay. already mentioned for his stories of Canadian life, gained fame far beyond his country for a translation (1870) of Longfellow's "Evangeline." He has also pub- lished several volumes of original verse, begin- ning with Essais poftiques (1865). As in the case of Cremazie, his best poems are patriotic lyrics. To the same group of poets belongs, too, " the historian Benjamin Suite (q.v.), who, by Les Laurentiennes (1870) and Les chants nou- veaux (ISSO). inspired by the songs of his peo- ple, won tlic title of national poet. English Canada, settled by English, Irish, Scotch, and Germans, was really built up by the T-oyalists (known in the United States as To- ries) who emigrated from the United States at the close of the Revolutionary War. It is esti- mated that fully 35,000 left their sout|iern homes. Some settled in Xova Scotia, and others founded New Brunswick and Upper Canada, or Ontario. During the period of struggle that followed down to the union of 1867, men had little time to devote to literature. As in the