PREFACE.
most popular songs, such as A Saint-Malo, Marianne s'en va-t-au Moulin and La belle Françoise, have been most unwillingly passed over, on account either of the form or the subject. When one remembers the difficulty of sustained rhyming in our language, and the absolute necessity of it in such songs as these, the repetition of terminal words and phrases which occurs will be understood.
It will be noticed that most of the songs bear only their first line by way of title, but in this M. Gagnon has been followed, and it must be remembered that he took down the songs as he heard them sung by the people. Few of them had ever been printed, and fewer still had names.
Those who are interested in the subject, will find a rich store of information in Les Chansons populaires du Canada by M. Ernest Gagnon, an invaluable work the second edition of which was published by Robert Morgan, Quebec, in 1880, and, in an able and useful article by Dr. Larue, in the Foyer Canadien of 1863. To these sources the translator is deeply indebted both for the original text and for much of the information contained in the notes.
Montreal, December 1st, 1885.
