I

N his suggestive work

on

American literature, Mr. Charles F. Richardson emphasizes the point, that in a measure, American literature is an offshoot of English literature; and the idea is further advanced that no language and literature except the English have ever put forth an offshoot in another country: that is, a new literary development, having the form and characteristics of the parent stem, yet growing under essentially different conditions. This interesting statement seems, to my mind, somewhat open to modification. In a corner of the North American continent, in the province of Quebec, we have precisely the same condition of things, only the language is French and not English. Up to half a century ago, French Canada had no literature at all. With the rebellion of 1837, the literary spirit began its career. A vigorous newspaper press was patriotically maintained long before that date. Printed books in plenty were to be had, of course; but though they treated of Lower Canada, and dwelt on her splendid historical past, her sacrifices for Church and State, her missionary progress and mental development, these studies were not the work of native authors. Most if not all of the books were written by priests and travellers from old France; and though these works are copious enough, very few of them are trustworthy. The contests of the periods which they describe developed antagonisms, and prejudice and partisanship tinge deeply the various narratives. Still, the early printed books are not devoid of value, though as true chronicles they hardly claim our respect. Of unity and sympathy there is little, but as expressions of current partisan feeling on the different movements of the time, the books often throw light, which the investigator will not fail to prize. With the aid of official documents, now easy of access, he will find little difficulty in satisfying his mind as regards facts. Le Clercq, as is

well known, wrote his remarkable volume, now a rare treasure in the storehouse of the bibliophile, - for I believe less than half a dozen copies exist,- Premier établissement de la foy dans la Nouvelle France, as a protest in behalf of the Recollet Fathers (so warmly favored by Count Frontenac) and to offset the encroachments of the Jesuits, at that time very powerful in the new country. Charlevoix, on the other hand, espouses the cause of the Society of Jesus, and presents the excellent Recollets in a light which robs them of much color. Ferland wrote his history from the severely ecclesiastical side, and from Garneau we have the national view, though the reader is to be warned against the wretched translation of the work by Bell, which takes extraordinary liberties with the text, and constantly misrepresents the author. Of course, as has been said, these works have their value, but they must be read with caution, and only after due allowance is made for the conditions under which they were composed and the purpose which they were intended to

serve.

The literary spirit in Quebec has been derived from France, and Hugo, Lamartine, and Beranger have exercised a marvellous influence on the pens of the French-Canadian authors. Statecraft, however, the French Canadian has worked out from the English model, that form of government offering him the greater number of advantages, and being eminently suited to his requirements. The strongest name in his list of patriots is that of Sir George Etienne Cartier, a father of the present confederation, and whose speeches to-day afford inspiration to the budding orator. It was for many years that statesman's boast that he was an Englishman who spoke French, and yet at heart, in sentiment and in practice, Cartier was thoroughly French, and the prime upholder of the French Canadian's chief articles of faith, "our laws, our language, and our institutions."

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stantly its true origin, and echoes the maternal voice always. A French academician, however, once fancied that in the poetry of Frechette he detected signs of something with which he was unfamiliar. He described it as something French, and yet not wholly French. The poet partially relieved him of his doubt by suggesting that the unknown quantity in his work might be Canadian. But there are very few French-Canadian writers who are so distinctively French-Canadian as Frechette. We must not forget, however, that French Canada has practically only begun her literary career.

The influence of the model

is still strong, and originality may come in time.

Mr. Richardson's task was to discover wherein American literature really differs from English literature, and wherein it is but a branch bearing the same fruit in a different corner of the enclosure. We may not follow him in his investigation. English literature may be said to have two branches on this continent, the contribution from the United States, and the contribution from Canada; the latter, it must be confessed, is not yet extensive nor very valuable, though it is creditable. But England's French Canadians are also adding to a parent stem; the stem, however, is French. The French Canadians are exceedingly loyal to Britain. A distinguished son of the soil once said that the last shot for the maintenance of British connection in Canada would be fired by a French Canadian. His queen rewarded his patriotism and his services by creating him a knight and conferring upon him the coveted title of aide-de-camp on her personal staff. But though the devotion of the French Canadians to Britain is strong, and a plebiscite would establish it beyond peradventure to-morrow, yet for all that, the poets love to sing the praises of the patriots of 1837, and Papineau is still their idol, though fifty years and more have rolled away since he raised the flag of revolt, and the old wrongs have long ago been redressed. This, perhaps, is only natural; but with all their admiration of British institutions it is surprising how little in the way of praise the Quebec poets and essayists find to say about them. Many writers are ready to admit at once that on no account would they change their allegiance to that of France, with her conscription

and infidelity; but for all that, British valor and the British throne find little, if any, expression in the heroic verse of the province. And yet no one would think of questioning the fealty of the French Canadians. Their loyalty is particularly effusive, and at all banquets and public dinners the health of the queen is drank with enthusiasm, and the national anthem invariably closes the entertainment at all places of amusement, the people standing with uncovered heads. But, notwithstanding all this, the only heroes who are immortalized in French-Canadian poems are men of the blood who fought Englishmen, and the only battlefields which find place in their songs are those on which the common enemy appeared. One exception there is, the generous-hearted De Salaberry, who fought under the British flag against the Americans at Chateauguay. Pæans in his honor are sung, but they are dedicated to his personal renown alone, and not to the general cause.

A few years ago Frechette's drama of Papineau was produced on the stage, in Quebec, before an audience of a thousand persons. The heroic and patriotic passages, with which the play abounds, were applauded to the echo. The English military officers, however, and the sentiments which they uttered, were roundly hissed by three hundred young fellows in their teens, who inherited the feeling, doubtless, in their cradles. And yet those half-grown men would fight willingly to maintain British connection to-morrow, were it in danger of being severed, even though they oppose, with all their might, the policy of imperial federation.

French Canada, notwithstanding its limited opportunities, and the ever-watchful eye of the extreme wing of the church, which exercises censorship over the pens of the faithful, has done very well in letters. Poetry, history, and the Chronique

the latter borrowed from France-are prosecuted with industry, and not a little ability. Two or three respectable magazines are maintained, and their circulation is on a paying basis. Fifty years ago, the mental activity of the people of Lower Canada found expression principally in the stormy arena of politics. The great problem of responsible or constitutional government occupied the attention of her public men, the Papineaus, Lafontaines, and

Nelsons never dreaming of the ample liberties which their descendants enjoy to-day. The newspaper and the pamphlet, and occasionally the ballad, formed the literature of the period. There was no great variety in the subject-matter of this letter-press, which reached the reader, in one form and another, almost every day. It continually told of the struggle for political life which was going on among the politicians and the people, and romance, poetry, history, and philosophy stood aside for statesmanship and party warfare. Since those times, French-Canadian authorship has made rapid progress, and the friendly aid of a paternal government has always protected the printer from material loss. Hardly a branch of literature has remained untouched. In poetry, perhaps, the highest merit has been attained, though there are no successors to Cremazie, Frechette, and LeMay. The latter is better known by his translation of Longfellow's Evangeline, which has passed into two or three editions, and which won the high approval of the author himself, when first published.

Cremazie is the strongest poet French Canada has produced, and his name and memory are much revered. Of minor singers of various grades there is a long train. The French-Canadian ear is keen for melody, and all poets of the race are musicians in the truest sense of the word. The best among them, however, has failed to produce a really great poem, such as Heavysege's Saul, faulty as that production is; but in the way of light and fanciful love songs, sonnets to womanly virtue, and addresses to patriotic sentiment, the French certainly hold ground on which few of the English-Canadian poets may enter; none, perhaps, save Roberts, Carman, Lampman, Campbell, and John Reade. Of purely classical poetry the French have given us but few examples; while of poems which breathe the teachings of Christianity to a superlative degree, the verses of Judge Routhier and Chauveau are the most notable examples.

In fiction, Lower Canada, like English Canada, is notoriously weak. She has produced no novelist or short-story writer of any mark. The best novel is Dr. Chauveau's Charles Guerin, a tale of habitant life and character, good in its descriptions of the manners and customs of French Canada, but in the way of character

drawing and incident taking hardly any rank at all. Jacques et Marie, by Napoleon Boueassa, artist and litterateur, is a story of a much broader and higher type. It deals with war, sacrifice, patriotism, and banishment, and in part is fairly well done, though the author lacks style. As it treats of the expulsion of the Acadians, from the Abbé Raynal point of view, the reader must be prepared to accept a good deal on trust. Joseph Marmette's early novels lack spontaneity and knowledge of the social life with which the author attempted to deal. He took up historical subjects, such as the Intendant Bigot's career in Quebec, and the fortunes of Count Frontenac. It is not always easy to invest an historical novel with the sort of interest which commends fiction to the lover of high-spiced romance. Mr. Marmette had many difficulties to overcome. He was a student, and he learned of men and women in society through books and memoirs. He had travelled little. The outer world was to him a sealed book, and the salon of high-born dames, and the intrigues of a peculiarly vicious court, though not lacking in attractiveness as studies, proved beyond his strength or skill to depict. His stories of fifteen years or so ago are deficient in grace and form, and though dramatic enough in a way, for the incidents march, they fail entirely to interest and entertain. François de Bienville, which furnishes a romantic picture of Frontenac's time, is, perhaps, Marmette's most successful novel, and is freer from objectionable mannerisms than the others from his pen. LeMay's stories are even less vigorous than Marmette's, and are much overdrawn. range, too, has been more limited.

His

In historical writing, French Canada is not badly off. The Abbé Faillon cannot be claimed as a French Canadian. He was a Sulpician priest of very great ability, and his really remarkable work, the Histoire de la Colonie Française en Canada, though a monument to the labors and trials of his order in Montreal, is a book of powerful interest and value. On three separate occasions the Abbé visited Canada, living in the country several years, and consulting materials wherever he found them. The archives of the Propaganda at Rome and the various departments in Paris readily yielded their treasures to him also. But though Faillon cannot be claimed