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John Charles Dent, the author of the following remarkable stories, wasborn in Kendal, Westmorland, England, in 1841. His parents emigrated toCanada shortly after that event, bringing with them, of course, theyouth who was afterwards to become the Canadian author and historian.Mr. Dent received his primary education in Canadian schools, andafterwards studied law, becoming in due course a member of the UpperCanada Bar. He only practised for a few years. He found the professionprofitable enough but uncongenial—as it could not well help being, inan obscure Canadian, village, twenty years ago—and very probably hewas already cherishing ambitious dreams of literary labors, which hewas eager to begin in the world's literary centre, London. Heaccordingly relinquished his practice as soon as he felt himself in aposition to do so, and went to England. He had not miscalculated hispowers, as too many do under like circumstances. He soon foundremunerative literary work, and as he became better known, was engagedto write for several high-class periodicals, notably, Once aWeek, for which he contributed a series of articles on interestingtopics. But in England Mr. Dent produced no very long or ambitiouswork. Perhaps he found that the requisite time for such an undertakingcould not be spared. At this period he had a wife and family dependingon him for support, and it speaks well for his abilities, that he wasable to amply provide for them out of the profits solely derived fromhis literary labours. But of course to do this he had to devote himselfto work that could be thrown off readily, and which could be as readilysold.
After remaining in England for several years, Mr. Dent and his familyreturned to America. He obtained a position in Boston, which he heldfor about two years. But he finally relinquished it and came toToronto, having accepted a position on the editorial staff of theTelegram, which was then just starting. For several years Mr.Dent devoted himself to journalistic labours on various newspapers, butprincipally the Toronto Weekly Globe. To that journal hecontributed a very notable series of biographical sketches on "EminentCanadians." Shortly after the death of the Hon. George Brown, Mr. Dentsevered his connection with the Globe, and immediatelythereafter commenced his first ambitious undertaking, The CanadianPortrait Gallery, which ran to four large volumes. It proved to bea most creditable and successful achievement. Of course in a briefsketch no detailed criticism of either this or the succeeding works canbe attempted. Suffice it to say that the biographies of Canadian publicmen, living and dead, were carefully prepared, and written from anun-partisan standpoint. In this book there was no padding; everyindividual admitted had achieved something of national value, and thebiographies are, therefore, of importance to the student of Canadianhistory. This book deserved and attained a considerable circulation,and brought to its author a comparatively large sum of money.
Mr. Dent's second book was "The Last Forty Years: Canada since theUnion of 1841." This work has been highly praised in all quarters, andis in every way a credit to its author's really brilliant powers as aliterary artist.
The third work was a "History of the Rebellion in Upper Canada."Although written in his best manner, with the greatest possible care,from authen