XXVI ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



And unsubdued; 



The savage wilderness, 



Where wild beasts howled 



And Indians prowled; 



The lonely wilderness 

 Where social joys must be forgot 

 And budding childhood grow untaught, 

 Where hopeless hunger might assail 

 Should autumn's promised fruitage fail, 

 Where sickness, unrestrained by skill, 

 Might slay their dear ones at its will, 



Where they must lay 



Their dead away, 

 Without the man of God to say 

 The sad, sweet words, so dear to men. 

 Of resurrection hope. But then, 



'Twas British wilderness. 



Where they might sing 



God save the King, 

 And live protected by his laws. 

 And loyally uphold his cause." 



They had no villages, no roads, no postal arrangements, no news- 

 papers, no booksi, neither the leisure for, nor the possibility of, record- 

 ing their opinions or principles, or of placing before the world their 

 side of the great cause for which they had fought, and given up every- 

 thing. 



The Loyalists arrived in Upper Canada in 1784. The first literary 

 production published in that province was printed at Kingston in 

 1824. It was a short novel, called " St. Ursula's Convent, or The 

 English Nun." The only copy known to exist of this book, wag secured 

 by Dr. Bain for the Toronto Public Library, a few months since, at 

 the sa,le of Senator Masson's library. 'The next book was a small poem 

 published in 1826. The first work of a historical character ever printed 

 in Upper Canada, was Thompson's " History of the War of 1812,"' 

 published at Niagara, in 1832. It will be seen, therefore, that for 

 nearly fifty years after the old I^oyalists settled in Upper Canada, there 

 were practically no facilities for publishing books, or for placing them 

 before the public. 



There were, of course, no literary papers or journals available 

 either, and from the difficulty of communication and the breaking off 

 of all the old ties, there was very little correspondence kept up which 



