ourage
of another kind was required. It is no slight expense to produce an
octavo volume of three hundred and thirty pages; there must have been
much anxious self-consultation, a great call for patience, fortitude,
and hope, with who may know what doubts and despondencies, before, in
1857 "Saul" was given to the world.

Nothing could have been more depressing than its reception, if, indeed,
the term "reception" can be applied to complete indifference. A country
like Canada, possessing no nationality, and looking across the Atlantic,
not only for its political rule, but also (until very recently, at
least) for its opinions, tastes, and habits, is especially unfavorable
to the growth of an independent literature. Although there are many men
of learning and culture among the residents of Montreal, they do not
form a class to whom a native author could look for encouragement or
appreciation sufficient to stamp him as successful. The reading public
there accept the decrees of England and the United States, and they did
not detect the merits of "Saul," until the discovery had first been made
in those countries.

Several months had elapsed since the publication of the volume; it
seemed to be already forgotten, when the notice to which we have
referred appeared in the "North British Review." The author had sent a
copy to Mr. Hawthorne, then residing in Liverpool, and that gentleman,
being on friendly terms with some of the writers for the "North
British," procured the insertion of an appreciative review of the poem.
Up to that time, we believe, no favorable notice of the work had
appeared in Canada. The little circulation it obtained was chiefly among
the American residents. A few copies found their way across the border,
and some of our authors (among whom we may mention Mr. Emerson and Mr.
Longfellow) were the first to recognize the genius of the poet. With
this double indorsement, his fellow-townsmen hastened to make amends for
their neglect. They could not be expected to give any very enthusiastic
welcome, nor was their patronage extensive enough to confer more than
moderate success; but the remaining copies of the first small edition
were sold, and a second edition--which has not yet been
exhausted--issued in 1859.

In February, 1860, we happened to visit Montreal. At that time we had
never read the poem, and the bare fact of its existence had almost faded
from memory, when it was recalled by an American resident who wa