LCoYNE] THE TALBOT PAPERS 29 
have wished — but I have one request to make, which, if your Royal 
Highness will have the goodness to exert yourself in carrying into effect, 
will complete my happiness in this world.” Referring to General Sim- 
coe’s promise, and the expense and difficulty in the way of securing 
lands, he asks the Duke’s influence to have it confirmed, “as I flatter 
myself, that your Royal Highness will admit that I am as loyal a sub- 
ject, and equally entitled to the degree of Hidalgo as other adventurers 
in a new country.” 
“I have to petition that you will have the goodness (I may add 
charity) to ask of the King the grant of a Township in Upper Canada 
for yourself, exempted from the fees to Government and obligations of 
location—for instance, The Township of Houghton in the County of 
Norfolk on Lake Erie, or any other adjacent one.’ The Duke could 
then transfer the property to Talbot. “Being a Royal Patent,’ it 
would be exempt from fees. The Duke was to be the cat’s-paw to pull 
Talbot’s chestnuts out of the fire. 
Houghton at that time included what is now Malahide, immediately 
east of Yarmouth. “I have pointed out the Township of Houghton as 
it is situated near to my place of residence. Should your Royal High- 
ness succeed, I will have infinite happiness in paying my duty personally 
to express my very great obligation for the protection afforded to the 
once Gay Tom Talbot.” 
“I promise myself the enjoyment of every comfort in this Country 
excepting that material one, of seeing those I most respect and love; 
a small income provides the necessary luxuries in this Provinee to 
a Settler, as his own industry and labour procure him provisions. I 
am out every morning at sunrise in my smock-frock, felling and burn- 
ing the Forest to form a farm; could I but be seen by some of my 
St. James’s friends when I come home to my frugal supper, as black 
as any chimney sweeper—they would exclaim, “ What a damn’d block- 
head you have been, Tom ”—but I say, no; as I actually eat my homely 
fare with more zest than I ever did the best dinner in London.” The 
writer closes with an apology for the intrusion and good wishes 
for the prince, and signs “with the most unfeigned gratitude, Your 
Royal Highness’s most dutiful and faithful servant, Thomas Talbot.” 
IX.—Royat LOBBYISTS IN LONDON. 
Nearly five months later, the Duke of Kent, at his brother of 
Cumberland’s request, encloses this letter to Lord Hobart, the Colonial 
Secretary, whom he writes at some length, enlarging upon Talbot’e 
merits. The Duke of Cumberland did not wish his name to appear 
