APPENDIX G CLV 



country, namely, the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec; and 

 in the first volume of the Transactions of your Society you will find a 

 memoir from my pen referring to the earliest beginnings of the Society 

 I now represent for a second time after so many years. The members 

 of the Royal Society whom I addressed on that occasion have for the 

 most part passed from their literary labours — men of Canadian talent 

 and literary enthusiasm, to whom all honour is due by the present 

 generation. And it is needless to say that something of the same kind 

 has happened to our Quebec Society, though there is still no lack of 

 literary activity to report about. 



Dr. James Douglas has now for many years been a prominent bene- 

 factor to our institution, his last donation of ten thousand dollars under 

 trustees providing dividends for the meeting of library expenses and 

 other annual liabilities. Within the last thirteen years the library has had 

 five thousand volumes added to its twenty thousand volumes, and these 

 with the supplementary volumes of the Aylwin Library make up a 

 total of over thirty thousand volumes. The chamber in which the 

 latter is located has been suitably renovated, and the books segregated 

 in divisions and carefully catalogued. A second catalogue is being 

 prepared at the present moment and will be issued in a month or so. 



The liberality of Dr. Douglas and the Governors of Morrin College 

 has placed the Society on such a sound financial basis that it may 

 expect not onty to continue the good work of the past but to enhance 

 its usefulness in the future from year to year. In addition to the 

 support from these patrons of the institution, Mrs. Turnbull's donation 

 of five thousand dollars has brought the endowment fund up to over 

 eighteen thousand dollars, the dividends from which have added to 

 the other sources of revenue to the point of placing the Society on the 

 most favourable financial basis. The Morrin College Building has been 

 set aside in large part for the use of the members, including the con- 

 vocation hall that can be utilized for lectures, literary seances, and 

 other public gatherings. The lectures have been for the most part 

 free, the expenses and honorariums paid to the lecturers being defrayed 

 by the Morrin College Board. 



The antiquarian side of the Society has not been much improved 

 of late, the last rarety added being Father Marquette's Prayer Book, 

 a reprint of said volume having been issued under the auspices of the 

 Society, with Dr. Douglas providing for the expense of the same. The 

 approaches to the rooms have been decorated with the portraits of the 

 past presidents and other engravings. The literary printed contribu- 

 tions continue to be as large as ever, to be taken note of, as they are, 

 in the annual of Transactions and original contributions. This year 

 the society has undertaken the publication of historical documents in 



