CANADIAN TYPES OF THE OLD REGIME.
Canadian Types of the Old Ildginte. By C. W. Colby. (George Bell and Sons. 10s. 6d. net.)—Professor Colby, of McGill University, selects his types from the period 1608-1698. They are the explorer, Champlain; the missionary, BrUbouf ; the colonist, IISbert, and so on. Tho typical colonist, by the by, Hobert, was a Parisian apothecary, and his short life was remarkable for its courageous; fulfilment of the settler's ideals. Professor Colby in these reprinted lectures treats this phase of French-Canadian history with a wide and generous impartiality and considerable breadth of view. Perhaps he attaches too much blame to the autocratic methods of French colonial government as the restricting enemy of the habitant. The seigniorial system itself, as has been shown, was not inimical to the growth of settlement, and men like Talon certainly reinvigorated it as a means of colonisation. The prefatory lecture, " The historical Background of New England," both from a literary and a critical point of view is excellent, and is a powerful and illuminating study. The comparison between chf.toaux on the Loire and homes of Now France, and the more suc- cessful repetition of English homes in Now England, is one of those able and striking illustrations we expect from a student of history. It is the best chapter in the book, and perhaps absorbs our interest unfairly to the detriment—be it never so little—of the careful and thoughtful chapters which succeed.
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