XIV THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 



He was born at Ballyshannon, County Donegal, on the 13th of 

 Novemtjer, 1837. He was educated at Queen's College, Belfast, 

 came to Canada in 1856, studied law, then served three years as 

 Rector of Lachute Academy, and officiated from 1864 to 1870 as a 

 clergyman of the Church of England in the Province of Quebec. 



In the sixties he became a writer on the staff of the Montreal 

 Gazette, and its literary editor in 1879. In that position he spent the 

 rest of his long life. His death occurred peacefully at his residence on 

 the afternoon of the 26th of March, 1919, in his eighty-second year. 



Although, by reason of a very delicate constitution, his life was 

 spent in retirement, his vast stores of knowledge, his clear and moving 

 style, ~and his universal kindness of disposition, brought him a host of 

 friends and several high literary distinctions. He was elected in 1896 

 a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature of Great Britain, received 

 the LL.D. from Ottawa University in 1906, was President of the Mont- 

 real Branch of the American Folk-Lore Society (of which he was co- 

 founder with Professor Penhallow), of the Society of Canadian 

 Literature, the Canadian Society of Historical Studies, and the English 

 Section of the Royal Society of Canada. 



He poured out his accumulations of learning, chiefly in articles 

 contributed to Canadian magazines, and to many learned societies. 

 These articles were on varied subjects; for example: "Some Wabanaki 

 Songs," "Thomas D'Arcy McGee as a Poet," "Exploration before 

 Columbus," "British Canada in the Last Century" (the 18th), "Some 

 Curious Kinships; An Essay in Philology." 



He compiled a complete list of early Canadian writers of verse. 

 His leading articles in the Gazette on historical subjects were always 

 learned, interesting, wise, and punctiliously correct; and to these he 

 added the delightful antiquarian column, published every Saturday, 

 headed "Old and New," which he signed by the well-known initials 

 "R. V." In 1870 he published the volume entitled "Merlin and Other 

 Poems." The title poem was in the style of Tennyson's "Idylls of 

 the King"; it was composed on the occasion of the visit to Canada of 

 Prince Arthur, afterwards Duke of Connaught. The subject enabled 

 him to treat in prophetic strain of the glories of the Victorian reign, 

 and the future of the New Dominion. The volume contained several 

 more characteristic poems — amongst them the exquisite "Goodnight," 

 and "In My Heart are Many Chambers." His style was refinement it- 

 self, and, at his best, no writer could be more sweet and sadly touching. 



It is not too much to say that Dr. Reade was looked up to by the 

 whole literary and journalistic world of Canada. He counted among 

 his devoted friends the intellectuals of the Dominion. 



