down from the walls in solitary grandeur, and already begin to overcrowd each other. We search in vain for allegorical paintings by eminent Canadian artists, or monuments of illustrious statesmen, such as we see in the Capitol at Washington, or in the elegant structure nearly completed at Albany. In one respect we are still much behind hand, and that is in our Public Libraries. The library of the Parliament of Canada still remains the only institution worthy of much notice in the Dominion. It was certainly an event in the history of literary culture in Canada when this library was moved into the edifice whose architectural beauty is in itself an illustration of the rapid advance in taste of the Dominion. As one looks up at its chaste, vaulted ceiling, which lights the tiers of volumes, arranged in a circle, one recalls the now forgotten poem of Crabbe, that ardent lover of books:-- Come, Child of Care! to make thy soul serene, Approach the treasures of this tranquil scene; Survey the dome, and, as the doors unfold, The soul's best cure, in all her cares, behold! Where mental wealth the poor in thought may find, And mental physic the diseased in mind. * * * * * With awe, around these silent walks we tread; These are the lasting mansions of the dead:-- "The dead!" Methinks a thousand tongues reply: "These are the tombs of such as cannot die! "Crowned with eternal fame, they sit sublime "And laugh at all the little strife of time."