18 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
possesses a distinct historical value. The Talbot Papers are, therefore, 
their own excuse for the demand they make upon public attention. 
Among the interesting points of major or minor importance con- 
nected with the papers published, attention may be properly directed to 
the following: 
(a) The grant made in 1475 by King Edward IV to the then 
Thomas Talbot, Esquire, of Malahide, is interesting not only from its 
intrinsic importance, but also on account of its apparent relation to 
Colonel Talbot’s motives in establishing his settlement. As far as the 
changed conditions would permit, he probably desired to acquire in the 
new world dignities, privileges and estates worthy to be compared with 
those of his 15th century ancestor. The water mark of his copy (1820) 
would indicate that he procured it from Dublin about the time when 
he sent in his report to the Provincial Executive Council, showing that 
he had completed the settlement in Dunwich and Aldborough, according 
to the terms claimed by him to have been agreed upon in 1803. Like 
his favoured fifteenth century ancestor, he too received a grant from 
the Crown of a tract of land equal to a petty principality. And if the 
older manor of Malahide was a sort of palatinate, was not the younger 
Thomas Talbot also virtually exercising the authority of a king over 
a far more extensive region? 
(b) The legend current for nearly a century as to Talbot’s aversion 
to female domestics is shown to be in opposition to the facts down to 
the year 1809, Talbot’s account book containing the accounts of at 
least four who served him in that capacity as well as the terms of 
agreement. it is possible that the difficulty which, according to the 
Due de Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Simcoe had found insuperable at 
Niagara, had been experienced at Port Talbot, and that Talbot also 
had found it necessary to employ only men servants if he desired con- 
tinuity of service. Cecil Rhodes is another instance of a prominent 
colonial who limited his household in the same way, and perhaps for 
the same reason. 
(c) In the Sessional Papers of Upper Canada for 1836, the official 
relations existing between Talbot and the Executive Council of the 
province are fully set forth. In the papers now published, fresh light 
is thrown upon their controversies. 
(d) A large number of the papers now presented relate to the | 
war of 1812-1815. These furnish many details not otherwise available, 
relating to the operations of the war. Those dealing with Simon 
Zelotes Watson enable us to understand to a certain extent the personal 
