90 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



done,*' — much as, in tlie military exercise known as the "physical drill," 

 .the music not only enlivens it all, but serves to mark the duration of the 

 separate " practices " as well, I wonder how many songs go to the 

 making of a piece of Canadian homespun — IV'totfe du pays; I am sure 

 no spinner, -'en filant ma quenouille," could truthfully say 



Je le mène bien 

 Mon dévidoi', 



if she did not sing as she worked. As a rule, work-songs i-efer as much 

 to other callings as to the singer's own ; and most of them have nothing 

 at all to do with work — except to lighten it — hut are variations on the 

 endless theme of love. Lord Dalhousie's canoemen, as they paddled, used 

 to sing the Je le mène bien mon dévidoi',*- just quoted, which is, of course, 

 a spinning-song ; but only as regards the refrain, for the song itself is one 

 of the many variants of Cecilia}^ So here we have a sea-song adapted 

 to the sjDinning-whcel, and then sung in this adapted form by "voya- 

 geurs." The great thing always is to get a suitable rhythmical form. 

 Tallemant des Eéaux tells a story of a Huguenot arquebus-maker who 

 sang as he worked, 



Appelez Robin ette, 



Qu'elle vienne ici-bas. 



The well-known theologian, Pierre Dumoulin, happening to pass by, re- 

 monstrated with him and advised him to sing psalms instead ; the man, 

 however, knew liis own business best — " Voyez comme ma lime va viste 

 en chantant Jiobinette, et comme elle va lentement en chantant Lève 

 le cœiw, ouvre l'oreille. It was more a matter of sound than sense with 

 the worthy arquebus-maker, as it is with the Savoyard sweep, the words 

 of whose cry, "avec sa bizarre vocalise descendante,"''*'' 



Ramonez-ci, ramonez-là— ah ! 

 La cheminée du haut en bas — 



are not separated from even those of 



Who will buy m,y sweet lavender 



by anything like the im)ncnse dilference separating their respective airs. 



In the words set to trumpet- and bugle-calls the sense is even more an 



echo to the sound: in fact, the words owe their very existence to the call, 



as in la soupe, which has inspired ''le lignai'd " to sing, 



C'est pas d" la soup' ; c'est du rata, 

 C'est assez bon pour le soldat ; 

 Pour le soldat français ; 



and Tommy Atkins to make up his British variant, 



Ofticers' wives have puddings and pies, 

 And soldiers" wives have skilly. 



Weddings, of course, come in for their share of attention iu Mr. 

 Gagnon's collection. The folksongs proper to the fêtes des noces ai-e 



