PREFACE. 



Canada having become, of late, a very prominent and 

 engrossing object of attention, it is hoped that it may not be 

 altogether uninteresting to the public, to consider it in a 

 new point of view. It is here presented in a light on which 

 there can be no clashing of opinion, no discordancy of senti- 

 ment : the smiling face of Nature, the harmony and beauty 

 of the works of God, may be turned to by men of all parties 

 as a refreshing relief from the stem conflict of political war- 

 fare. During a residence of some years in the Lower Pro- 

 vince, the Author has felt it to be no common privilege to be 

 able to solace himself by these simple but enchanting studies, 

 amidst the fatigues of labour, and the stormy politics and 

 martial alarms of the times ; and even now, the recollection 

 of those pleasant scenes sheds forth a lustre which gilds the 



