CANADA IN THE BODLEIAN. 



BY HENRY SCADDING, D.D., 



HONOEAEY LIBRARIAN OF THE CANADIAN INSTITUTE. 



Having a prolonged access to the famous Bodleian Library at Oxford, 

 a short time since, I decided, while in the enjoyment of the much- 

 valued privilege, to obtain a view of as many volumes as possible of 

 early travels likely to contain references to Canada, and, in particular, 

 to the neighborhood of the present site of Toronto. I found several 

 works that I had never seen before, containing matter of the kind 

 desired ; and I made a number of excerpts from them. I did the same 

 afterwards in the magnificent library of the British Museum. Whilst 

 pursuing my researches in the Bodleian, I lighted on a folio volume of 

 Academic exercises of the year 1761, principally in the Latin and 

 Greek languages, productions of members of the University of Oxford, 

 on the occasion of the death of George the Second, and the accession 

 of George the Third. The title of the book in full was " Pietas . 

 Universitatis Oxoniensis in Obitum Serenissmi Regis Georgii II, et 

 Gratulatio in Augustissmi Georgii III, iaaugurationem. Oxonii, 6 

 Typographeo Clarendoneano. MDCCLXI.'' 



By a superscription of this nature, the cry of the old heralds on the 

 demise of the Crown was of course instantly suggested — " Le roi est 

 mort ! Vive le roi ! " — and one expected to find in such a record the 

 griefs, real and simulated, for the royal luminary just departed, plenti- 

 fully mixed with prudential salutations to the young sun ia the act of 

 rising above the horizon. It was apparent at a glance that such an 

 expectation was well-founded; and naturally the interest in a collection 

 of pieces of the character indicated would have been limited, had not 

 another circumstance happened to excite curiosity. On turning over 

 the leaves, the eye was caught by words that looked strange in the 

 midst of Latin and Greek texts, however familiar in a plain English 

 guise. I saw "Canada" recurring again and again, and "America," 

 and other names to be read on maps of this western hemisphere, but 

 inconceivable as appertaining in any way to the dead tongues of Greece 

 and Some. The explanation was this : the conquest of Canada had 

 taken place just before the decease of George the Second. The 

 academic versifiers of 1761, therefore, made a point of celebrating that 



