98 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



Next comes an exhortation to prayer : 



Quand tu ser.as dans ces rapides, 



Ti'ès dangereux, 

 Ah ! prie la Vierge Marie, 



Fais-lui des vœux ; 

 Alors laiice-toi dans ces rtots 



Avec hardiesse, 

 Et puis dirige ton canot 



Avec beaucoup d'adresse. 



Excellent advice ; Avliich reminds us of tliat given by Oliver Cromwell to 

 the soldiers of the New Model, when they were about to ford a river in 

 presence of the enemy : " Trust in the Lord — and keep your powder 

 dry.' Prayer is again recommended at the end of the song, as the only 

 talisman against the perils of flood and field : 



Ami, veuxtu marcher par terre 



Dans CCS grands bois ; 

 Les sauvages te feront la guerre 



En vrai sournois. 

 Si tu veux braver leur fureur, 

 , Sans plus attendre. 



Prie alors de tout ton ctcur. 



Ton ange de te défendre. 



Thus we can see for ourselves that there really is a class of purely 

 Christian folksongs, and that Canada has produced some tine examples 

 of it. But these ver}' Canadian exam]:)les serve to prove how sterile this 

 class has always been, even under the most favouring conditions ; for, 

 though Mr. Gagnon and Dr. Larue are the last collectors in the world to 

 neglect a folksong of Christian origin, though they have collected in a 

 countrv conspicuous for the religious character of its foundation and 

 laraous. throughout its entire history, for the extraordinary zeal, devotion, 

 discipline and wide-spread influence of an omnipresent priesthood, yet, in 

 spite of all these advantages, the specimens they give us are few in number 

 and of no great intrinsic value. " Le nombre de nos chansons populaires 

 est incalculable " ; in Normandy the songs were as plentiful as the apples ; 

 and, in all English speaking countries, the Borders have long been cele- 

 brated as the land of song ; yet, neither in the French tongue nor in the 

 English, neither in the Old "World nor in the New, neither by priest nor 

 by puritan has the folksong ever been converted. If a universal collection 

 of folksongs were made, and the different classes placed in order of 

 genuine popularity, it would ])robably be found, that in the class of 

 purely Christian origin, Canada stood an undisputed first ; but it is quite 

 ecrtaiii that this class itself would be the very last of all. 



