re stray curios among the crowding
souvenirs of the old home over sea. No other bridge can rival _le Pont
d'Avignon_. "_Ici_" in _C'est le ban vin qui danse ici_ can be nowhere
else but in old France--_le ban vin_ alone proves this. And the Canadian
folk-singer, though in a land of myriad springs, still goes _a la claire
fontaine_ of his ancestral fancy; while the lullabies his mother sang
him, like the love-songs with which he serenades his _blonde_, were
nearly all sung throughout the Normandy of _le Grand Monarque_. The
_habitant_ was separated from old-world changes two centuries ago by
difference of place and circumstances, while he has hitherto been
safeguarded from many new-world changes by the segregative influences of
race, religion, language and custom; and so his folk-lore still remains
the intimate _alter et idem_ of what it was in the days of the great
pioneers. It is no longer a living spirit among the people at large; but
in secluded villages and "back concessions" one can still hear some
charming melodies as old and pure as the verses to which they are sung,
and even a few quaint survivals of Gregorian tunes. The best collection,
more particularly from the musical point of view, is _Les Chansons
populaires du Canada_, started by Ernest Gagnon (1st ed. 1865).

Race-patriotism is the distinguishing characteristic of French-Canadian
literature, which is so deeply rooted in national politics that L.J.
Papineau, the most insistent demagogue of 1837, must certainly be named
among the founders, for the sake of speeches which came before written
works both in point of time and popular esteem. Only 360 volumes had
been published during 80 years, when, in 1845, the first famous book
appeared--Francois Xavier Garneau's (1809-1866) _Histoire du Canada_. It
had immense success in Canada, was favourably noticed in France, and has
influenced all succeeding men of letters. Unfortunately, the imperfect
data on which it is based, and the too exclusively patriotic spirit in
which it is written, prevent it from being an authoritative history: the
author himself declares "_Vous verrez si la defaite de nos ancetres ne
vaut pas toutes las victoires_." But it is of far-reaching importance as
the first great literary stimulus to racial self-respect. "_Le Canada
francais avait perdu ses Ictlres de noblesse; Garneau les lui a
rendues_." F.X. Garneau is also remembered for his poems, and he was
followed by his son Alfred Garneau (18