The subject of Mr. Street's Frontenae, a Poem, is a
war waged by the French Governor of Canada against the Iroquois nation, towards the close of the seventeenth century. The expedition failed, from the absence of an enemy ; but when Frontenae, baffled and disappointed, retraced nis steps, the Indians waylaid his flanks and hung upon his rear, till he withdrew from their territory.
Upon a theme adapted for the exhibition of American scenery, Indian II& and warfare with the peculiar characteristics of the old French noble and the Canadian settler, Mr. Street has engrafted a private interest. The Governor, in addition to public objects, has some personal motives for the war; as his Indian mistress is reported killed, his little daughter is carried off while playing in the woods near Quebec, and a friend who was with her is murdered on the spot. The dead man of course cannot be restored : Sa-ha-wee, the vine, is discovered towards the close of the poem with her daughter Lucille ; but only to perish through a misunderstanding, leaving Frontenac to die of grief.
The Dutchman in Peregrine Pickle had after all some reason on his side when he rated the excellence of a book by its bigness. There is a merit in magnitude. A hillock is nothing, a mountain is sublime ; five feet eight walks unregarded, six feet three attracts the eye. To praise of this kind ,Frrnitenac may lay claim. In structure and in style the poem is an imitation of Scott's ballad tales : had Mr. Street written only a short poem, he might have passed among the numerous echoes of Scott.; but when his spirit carries him fluently along through nearly three hun- dred pages, he cannot be denied the merit of energy and perseverance.
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