50 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
And so on, ud nauseam. One would be glad to think that Heavysege 
meant all this as a species of rather clumsy humour, but his works reveal 
very little that might be called humour, and certainly nothing that 
would help us in the present case. The style of the book is stilted and 
affected, the action is generally impossible, and sometimes absurd, and 
many of the characters are overdrawn. The character of the whole 
novel is such as to reveal Heavysege’s utter inability to write even 
mediocre prose fiction. 
One turns with relief, and not a little surprise, from this gro- 
tesque failure, to the undoubted dignity and charm of his poetry. On 
this his reputation may securely rest, and especially upon the drama 
Saul, the dramatic poem Jephthah’s Daughter, and the sonnets. His 
work is in no sense distinctively Canadian, but it is none the less 
valuable, and should not be overlooked by anyone who takes an intelli- 
gent interest in Canadian literature.* 

+ For the information of those who may care to still further pursue the 
subject, it may be mentioned that Heavysege and his works are briefly 
treated in the following works and articles, among others :— 
Bibliotheca Canadensis, by Henry J. Morgan, p. 181. 
“Our Intellectual Strength and Weakness,” by Dr. (now Sir) John George 
Bourinot, l'ransactions of the Royal Society of Canada, Vol. XI. (1893), pp. 13, 41. 
Also in the same author’s Intellectual Development of the Canadian People. 
“A Sketch of Canadian Poetry,” by Professor. A. B. DeMille, in Canada: 
An Encyclopædia of the Country. Vol. V. 
“ Canadian Poets and Poetry,” in Dr. Thomas O’Hagan’s Canadian Essays. 
Histoire de la Littérature Canadienne, par Edmond Lareau, p. 77 et seq. 
“ Heavysege,” in Dominion Illustrated, Vol. III., p. 266. 
Our Strength and their Strength, by Rev. Ain. MacD. Dawson, p. 154 et seq. 
