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LES ANCIENS CANADIENS — LES MEMOIRS. 



II 



In the previous chapter, the reader has followed 

 M. de Gaspe through his bright, sunny boyhood, his 

 boisterous youth, his sport-loving manhood, so full of 

 promise and professional success at its dawn, in its 

 zenith, clouded and very dark. 



His first work, Les Anciens Canadiens, by its fresh- 

 ness and piquancy of style and by its wealth of old 

 souvenirs, and traditions accumulated in its copious 

 appendix, had quite taken by storm the little literary 

 world of the " Ancient Capital ; " congratulations, eulog- 

 istic reviews and critiques, poured in from all quarters. 

 De Gaspe's heroes and heroines, Jules de Haberville, 

 his lovely sister Blanche, Archy Lockeil, the old gen- 

 tilhomme M. d'Egmont, were in every one's mouth, 

 discussed, admired. 



" Les Anciens Canadiens " was more than a pleasing- 

 tale, illustrative of early colonial life and Canadian 

 scenes : it struck one as an artistic canvass, alive with 

 romantic personages and dramatic events, recalling the 

 days of alarm, rout and blooshed of 1759. Under the 

 veiled figure of M. d'Egmont, a careful eye could recog- 

 nize the still genial, but saddened face of the Laird of 

 Haberville Manor in his exile. 



In the graphic description of the shipwreck of the 

 transport Auguste, on the storm-beaten shores of Cape 

 Breton, in 1761, the harrowing drowning- scene of a 

 group of distinguished Canadians expatriating them- 

 selves and returning to France, was reproduced with 

 marvellous, realistic effect. 



