THE INCIDENTAL PRE-CONFEDERATION LITERATURE OF CANADA—ALEXANDER HENRY’S TRAVELS—MRS. BROOKE’S NOVELS—MRS. JAMESON’S NATURE-STUDIES—THE ÉMIGRÉ PRE-CONFEDERATION LITERATURE OF CANADA —MRS. SUSANNA MOODIE—ADAM KIDD—JOHN READE—GEORGE MURRAY— ALEXANDER M^{c}LACHLAN—WILLIAM WYE SMITH—ISABELLA V. CRAWFORD. Broadly taken, the Incidental Pioneer Literature of Canada was produced by the wits and _bon vivants_ amongst the officers of the British army and navy during or after the taking of Louisburg and Quebec, and by certain ‘birds of passage,’ British-born men and women, who were sojourning in the Canadas. It was considerable in quantity, embracing verse, narratives, social and nature studies and sketches, and even fiction. But it did not affect the life and ideals of the people. It was simply literature produced in the Canadas—incidentally. From Louisburg to Quebec and Montreal the poets in the British navy and army exhibited a special preoccupation with a species of war poetry. In 1759, for instance, when the British frigate’s guns were breaching the walls of the French stronghold, Louisburg, Valentine Neville penned his poem _The Reduction of Louisburgh_. In 1760, George Cockings produced another war poem for the delight of London—_The Conquest of Canada_, or _The Siege of Quebec: A Tragedy_. In this species of literature, the most remarkable performance was Henry Murphy’s _The Conquest of Quebec: An Epic Poem in Eight Books_. It was published at Dublin in 1790 and runs to the amazing length of eight thousand lines. Quantity, not literary quality, was the only distinguishing mark of these early Canadian poems of heroism in war. A really remarkable book, with genuine literary quality was the elder Alexander Henry’s narrative of his experience as a traveller and explorer, published in 1809 under the title _Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories_. In point of publication it was anticipated by narratives dating as early as 1736, when John Gyles wrote his memoirs of _Odd Adventures_, an account of his experience while exploring the region through which runs the St. John River. There were many volumes of narratives, but the most of them lacked literary style and are of interest chiefly to the antiquarian.