16 APRIL 1887, Page 23

Songs of Old Canada. Translated by William lif`Lennan. (Dawson Brothers,

Montreal.)—A volume from Canada, where there seems to be very little indigenous literature, is always welcome. This ie par- tioalarly so, as it preserves for the future, what is otherwise likely to pass away, old French songs, mostly forgotten in the land of their birth, and soon, it is feared, to endure the same fate in the land of their adoption. The French and English (which might with advan- tage have been somewhat more faithful) are printed on opposite pages; but where are the airs 7 It must be owned that the songs are not very much, save as curiosities, without them.