The Lone Shieling: Origin and Authorship of the Blackwood 'Canadian Boat-Song'

This book is a bit of literary detective work. A poem, which has endeared itself as perhaps no other to Scots away from their home country, appeared anonymously in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine for September, 1829, under the title “Canadian Boat-Song.” Since then a great number of attempts to ferret out the author have been made in books, review articles, and newspaper correspondence. Among those to whom it has been ascribed are the Earl of Eglinton, Sir Walter Scott, Christopher North, James Hogg, Lockhart, John Galt, and others. Recently, the guessing has included also Galt’s friend David Macbeth Moir. Professor Needler presents here the evidence that the poem, more appropriately called “The Lone Shieling,” forms a beautiful tie of sentiment between Upper Canada and the Scottish Highlands, as it was Galt’s work for the Canada Company that gave Moir the direct inspiration for the writing of it.