CANADIAN MELODIES.

CANADIAN MELODIES
{i}AND
POEMS
BY
GEORGE E. MERKLEY.

Toronto:
HART & RIDDELL
1893

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[Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year of our Lord,
one thousand eight hundred and ninety three, by George E. Merkley,
in the office of the Minister of Agriculture.]

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DEDICATION.
——
TO ONE WHOM CANADIANS EVERYWHERE
HOLD IN
GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE,
HIS EXCELLENCY THE MARQUIS OF LORNE,
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED.

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PREFACE.

NO apology is made for bringing this volume before the public. Severalof the poems it contains were mere attempts to relieve the monotonousroutine of college life; many of them were written under foreign skies,and this will account for that lack of national spirit which the titleof the volume might seem to imply. They have all been written hastily,and with frequent interruptions, so that no time was left for refiningor amplifying. These remarks are not made to forestall criticism. Thosewho look with a jealous eye to the honor of English literature, arebound to pass what judgment they please upon every intruder into thegroves of Parnassus, regardless of any extenuating circumstances whichmay be brought forth by way of palliation.

The dearth of national literature in Canada is to be deplored; andwhatever may have a tendency to stimulate activity in this line ought{vi}not to be discouraged. The history of Canada has a poetic background.Our people are by nature inclined to literature, as may be seen from thehigh character of our home journals and from the large importation offoreign books and magazines. Yet our national literature is meagre,compared with that of other countries whose advantages have not beensuperior to our own. Are not the pearly whiteness of our skies, theplacid loveliness of our lakes, the lonely majesty of our forests, aswell as the heroic struggles of our ancestors for the flag which they sodearly loved, fit themes for poetic inspiration and for minstrelreverie? It is true that we look to the Mother Country for our models;but did not the Greek colonies produce a literature worthy to becompared to that of Athens in her glory?

It is hoped that these remarks may not appear presumptuous; and as theprisoner whose case is hopeless appeals to the mercy of the court inorder to ameliorate his condition, so the writer of these verses laysaside his pen, promising to impose no further upon public sentiment.

North Williamsburg, Ont.

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