24 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
and raised to the peerage as Baron Wharneliffe of Wortley. Stuart’ 
was a grandson of King George III’s early minister and favourite, the 
first Earl of Bute. The friendship of the Duke, Stuart and Talbot, 
continued during their lives, and was of service to the latter on impor- 
tant occasions. Among the naval officers on board the Triton was 
Lieutenant John Talbot, elder brother of Thomas. 
Towards the close of the year, the Triton was again at Quebec, 
having on board the first lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, lieuten- 
ant-colonel John Graves Simcoe, on his way to the western wilderness 
to undertake the establishment of the new province. Among the offi- 
cers in garrison he met the young Irish lieutenant of foot. Handsome 
in person, courtly in manner, full of the enthusiasm, gaiety and energy 
of youth, and withal the inheriter of a great and famous name, Talbot 
was a social favourite. Simcoe was endowed with an attractive per- 
sonality and talents of a high order. He had won fame in the Revolu- 
tionary war, and more recently rendered political service in the House of 
Commons. In England, the political reaction was setting in strongly, 
in consequence of the French Revolution, and “ the glorious constitution 
of Great Britain ” was in everybody’s mouth. 
Both Simcoe and Taibot were sincere and fervent admirers of every- 
thing British, and Simcoe, as representative of the sovereign, had come 
to introduce into the new province a constitution, which, to borrow his 
own language, was “the very image and transcript” of that of Great 
Britain. 
Simcoe was in his fortieth year, Talbot in his twenty-first. A 
strong attachment sprang up between them. Talbot’s experience at 
Dublin Castle, as Buckingham’s aide-de-camp, had qualified him for the 
position which the new lieutenant-governor now offered to him. 
IV. SIMCOFS AIDE-DE-CAMP. 
To an adventurous youth Upper Canada presented at that time 
powerful attractions; mighty inland seas, an almost unbroken wilder- 
ness, great hunting grounds, vast unexplored regions to be opened to 
civilization. Moreover, the capital of the province was to be in the 
near vicinity of the world-renowned cataract. Already Talbot’s mind 
had been excited by Charlevoix’ glowing descriptions of southwestern 
Ontario, the “ Paradise of the Hurons,” and its wonderful forests, “ the 
most beautiful in the world.” What more could an imaginative youth 
demand? In a word, the young lieutenant accompanied Simcoe to 
Niagara in the capacity of confidential secretary and aide-de-camp. His 
name is attached to Simcoe’s first proclamations. He remained a mem- 
her of the governor’s family until June, 1794, when he returned to 
