PROCEEDINGS FOR 1900 XLII 
never have emerged from thence. One great poet there is, one not long 
lost, who sat silent for years and nursed his muse until the fire burned 
bright and he was constrained to speak with his tongue. If all our poets 
could emulate the humility and reticence of Tennyson, some of them 
might be numbered among the immortals. And we believe that much 
of their work will live on beyond the age of its birth. It is not quite 
easy to discriminate, and one is sure to pass over some poets and poems 
most worthy of remembrance. Yet some names may be mentioned. 
To begin with some of our own members no longer in their youth. One 
remembers a volume consisting largely of real poetry by Mr. George 
Murray, and wonders, as we do also with Mr. Moir, that we do not hear 
of them again. And there are our younger poets. 
I was about to mention the names of those who were known to 
myself when there came into my hands a volume, just published, entitled 
“ A Treasury of Canadian Verse,” edited by Professor Theodore Rand, 
himself a poet of high distinction and excellence. In the preface to 
that volume Dr. Rand seems to me to have characterized the productions 
of our Canadian poets with so much insight and judgment that I would 
gladly have reproduced his words in this place. As, however, they are 
within the easy reach of us all, and as the reading of the preface*may 
lead to our making acquaintance with the very remarkable collection 
of poems which fill nearly 400 pages of the volume, this reference may 
suffice. A survey of the mere list of writers whose poems are collected 
in this volume makes one shrink from the attempt to enumerate them. 
As regards the poems themselves, I venture to say that few, even of those 
best acquainted with our literature, will read them without astonishment. 
But to return—even supposing that our literature is but a small 
branch on the great English tree, is that a reason why it should be 
neglected or undervalued ? May we not have a work of our own to 
accomplish ? May we not contribute something to the common stock 
and fund? There are always some among us who seem apprehensive 
and jealous of our drawing nearer to the Mother Country. They are 
not merely for Canada first, but they seem unwilling that Canada should 
be enriched from without, as though any nation bad ever been enriched, 
materially, intellectually, or spiritually by being shut up within itself. 
Has Scotland lost its individuality by its closer union with its great 
neighbour, England ? It has gained in every sense and in every way. 
It has received much, and it has given much in exchange. If Scotland 
honours Shakespeare and Milton, would not England be poorer without 
Burns and Scott? Canada has a great outlook and immense resources, 
and, under any conditions, is destined to be great ; but Canada will be 
