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s a first sketch, or Grundriss of Canadian Literature, this little treatise differs in several respects from all previous attempts to perform the same task.

Its chief singularity lies in treating together the Canadians who write in French and the Canadians who write in English.

It avoids the dictionary type of literary history; it narrows the definition of 'Canadian;' it suggests a new criterion for judging the success of a 'Canadian' book; it tries to establish a relationship between the growth of national, at first, provincial, self-consciousness and the production of books; and it emphasises the importance of Canadian periodicals in the different literary movements.

It lays no claim to being exhaustive and it makes no apology for omitted names or works. It is emphatically a sketch, an outline, not a complete history of Canadian Literature, but, the author offers it to the judgment of his compatriots in the hope that his motive in writing,—the greater glory of Canada—will atone for its faults and imperfections. The margin of error has been reduced by my old friend Professor John Squair, who was kind enough to read the proof.

A. M. M.