MARGUERITE;OR, THE ISLE OF DEMONSAND OTHER POEMS

BY GEORGE MARTIN.

MONTREAL: DAWSON BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 1887.

Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada in the year 1886, by George Martin, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture.

GAZETTE PRINT, MONTREAL.

TO A TRUE WOMAN, IN WHOM ARE UNITED THE MANY VIRTUES WHICH ADORN HER SEX, WITH A STRENGTH OF INTELLECT RARELY SURPASSED,

THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED BY HER HUSBAND

PREFACE.

The poems in this volume have been written at various periods of a busy life, and are widely separated in date of composition. Most of the minor poems have appeared in Canadian periodicals, and some of them have the local colour of the city in which they were written. The poem most recent in date is Marguerite, which has been written under conditions more favourable than the rest, and which appears now for the first time. The poems have been inspired by the history and the scenery of Canada, and in collecting them, and in issuing and publishing them, the author hopes to put in permanent literary form some of the natural and social aspects which are peculiar to this country.

Montreal, Nov., 1886.

CONTENTS.

[Pg 3]

MARGUERITE.

[Pg 4]

PREFATORY NOTE.

The story narrated in the following poem is one of the most touching of the many romantic legends of the early history of Canada. Some foundation in fact it undoubtedly has, for it forms the basis of one of the stories in the collection of Queen Margaret of Navarre, written while the chief actors in the tragedy were alive. The version of Queen Margaret differs from that of Thevet in many respects. He gives for his authorities Roberval and the unfortunate Marguerite herself.

Parkman, in the first volume of his admirable series of histories—the Pioneers of New France—gives the story as related by Thevet. The subject readily lends itself to poetical treatment, and, if the heroine in the poem is made to put a more favourable construction upon her conduct than the chronicler, it is surely no more than, as the narrator of her own story, she might have a right to do. The harsh and tyrannical character of Roberval is drawn in dark lines by Parkman. His cruelties, in the short lived colony at Cap Rouge, were such than even the Indians were moved to pity for his victims. On his return to France he was assassinated at night in the streets of Paris, probably by the hand of one who had suffered from his tyranny.

[Pg 5] In these prosaic days of ocean steamers, cable telegraphs and light-houses, it is difficult to realize the mystery which, in old days, enshrouded the shores of the Western continent. The imaginations of the daring sailors who in their little vessels explored the stormy seas of the West, teemed with stories of dangers, spiritual as well as physical. In those days of supernaturalism, Satan might well stand guard over the great world, where, until then, he had held undivided sway. This Isle of Demons was one of his outposts. On Wytfliet’s Map (1597), I. de las Demonios is laid down to the North of Newfoundland, but too far out of Roberval’s course to be the island of our story. It is necessary to the narrative that the island in question should be in the regular route of vessels, and, as the earliest course of sailors to the Gulf of St. Lawrence was by the straits of Belle Isle, some of the islands which shelter the harbours of Labrador would probably have been the scene of the events narrated. Jean Alphonse of Saintonge, who was

Roberval’s first pilot, no doubt indicates the island of our heroine’s trials under the name of Isles de la Demoiselle in latitude 50° 45′, and he says there is a good harbour there. This name clung for a long time to the locality and is found on many old maps. To-day the most important of the group is known as Grand Meccatina Island.

[Pg 6]

SONNET.

[Pg 8]

MARGUERITEOR THE ISLE OF DEMONS.

The interior of a Convent in France: Group of Nuns listening to Marguerite narrating her adventure.

1545.

Part I.

Ave Maria.

[Pg 29]

Part II.

The tale continued in the Convent grounds; the same group of Nuns listening.

[1] Note to p. 24.—The settlement of Roberval at Quebec was a disastrous failure. It is said that the King, in great need of Roberval, sent Cartier to bring him home. It is said, too, that, in after years, the Viceroy essayed to repossess himself of his transatlantic domain, and lost his life in the attempt. Thevet, on the other hand, with ample means of learning the truth, affirms that Roberval was slain at night, near the Church of the Innocents, in the heart of Paris.—Parkman, Pioneers of France.

[Pg 78]

[Pg 79]

EUDORA.

[Pg 88]

THE VOICE OF THE AGES.

[Pg 90]

THE WOODLAND WALK.

[Pg 94]