56 ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
XXXIV.—THE CoLoNEL’s DEATH. 
After fifty years of residence in the forest, it was hardly to be 
expected that Talbot would feel permanently at home in England. He 
_ renewed his acquaintance with his old friend, the Great Duke, at Apsley 
House, and with many others in high station, but pined for the lake 
and cliffs and the winding waters of Talbot Creek. He returned to 
find his old home rented by Colonel Airey to a stranger. He was 
obliged to take a small room in the house of Mrs. Hunter, the faithful 
Jeffrey’s widow. Here for some time he lived, cooped in a small 
apartment, within sight of the hilltop where he had spent nearly half 
a century of his life. 
Mr. George Macbeth, the careful manager of the estate, became 
his sole devisee and legatee. Mr. Macbeth, having on his marriage 
removed to London, the Colonel left Port Talbot, and resided at Mr. 
Macbeth’s until his death, which oceured on the 5th February, 1853, 
only a few months after that of his friend, the Iron Duke. The 
funeral proceeded on the 9th as far as Fingal. There, through the 
misconduct of the undertaker, according to one account, but more pro- 
bably by reason of the crowded condition of the little tavern, the coffin 
was left over night in a shed or lean-to attached to the rear portion 
of the building. The following day, the little procession went on to 
Burwell’s Corners, and thence over hill and dale by the winding road 
through “The Colonel’s Woods” to Port Talbot. Here the body lay 
for a short time in the old familiar home. St. Peter’s church is four 
or five miles farther west. There the brief service for the dead 
was recited. It was a bitterly cold day, and comparatively few were 
present. Near by, on the high cliff overlooking the lake, is the final 
resting place of many of the brave pioneers. There, in their midst, 
end close to the grave of Lord Airey’s little daughter, under a plain 
slab, lie the mortal remains, as the epitaph bears witness, of 
“The Honorable Thomas Talbot, 
Founder of the Talbot Settlement.” 
XXX V.—CoLoNEL TALBO'T’Ss APPEARANCE. 
Colonel Talbot was rather under medium height. As a youth he 
must have been strikingly handsome, and he possessed an engaging and 
courtly manner. His disposition was amiable, and he sought oppor- 
tunities to make himself useful. Mrs. Simcoe in her journal refers 
to this trait in terms of warm appreciation. Fleming, who, in the 
capacity of boatman, accompanied the Lieutenant-Governor on an expe- 
dition up the lake in 1793 or 1794, used to speak with enthusiasm of 
Talbot’s conduct on the occasion. “The Colonel,” he said, “was the 
