Note 50 — VI.

Page 29.—James De Mille was a native of New Brunswick, and a professor in Dalhousie College, N. S., at the time of his death. His first work of fiction was "Helena's Household: a Tale of Rome in the First Century" (New York, 1858). His most popular works, "The Dodge Club Abroad" (1866), "Cord and Creese" (1867), "The Cryptogram" (1871), and "A Castle in Spain" (1883), first appeared in 'Harper's Monthly.' A strange, imaginative work, "A Curious MS. Found in a Copper Cylinder," was published in New York in 1888, and is understood to have been written by him. It was not until Rider Haggard's fiction became popular that the New York publishers ventured to print a book which so severely taxes the credulity of the reader. As a work of pure invention it is in some respects superior to those of the English author. Mr. De Mille died in 1880, at the age of 43, when much was expected of him. See Appleton's "Cyclo. Am. Biogr.," ii., 138, for a list of his published works except the one just mentioned.