— 9 — 



a task for one man alone to undertake, and I for one, was 

 happy in being apprized by letter, that a much needed rest, 

 was granted the author, after his long official career and that 

 in July he was to sail per " S. Moravian " for a short tour to 

 Europe, from whence he brought back with a re-invigorated 

 frame, an ample fund of information, reminiscences and 

 anecdote which he subsequently freely used in the series of 

 lectures he was called on to give before the Literary and 

 Historical Society of Quebec, of which he had been five times 

 re-elected president. Long before this, his writings and 

 researches had obtained recognition on behalf of scientific 

 societies in Canada and abroad. The Socie'te' oV Ethnoyraphie 

 of Paris conferred on him a diploma, as D6l6gn6 Regional at 

 Quebec ; he was made a member of the Soci6t6 oVHistoire 

 Diplomatique, presided over by the due de Broglie ; his name 

 was inscribed on the register of the New England Historic 

 Genealogical Society ; on that of the State Wisconsin Histo- 

 rical Society ; of the SocUt6 Historique of Montreal ; of the 

 Genealogical and Biographical Society of New York ; of 

 the Institut of Ottawa ; on the roil of the Institut Canadien 

 of New York ; on that of the Royal Society of Canada ; (1) 



(1) Whilst these pages were going through the press, our friend has been 

 unanimously elected President of the Royal Society of Canada, the highest 

 position in literature or science, open to a Canadian. 



[Montreal Star, 30th May, 1894.] 



PRESIDENT LeMOLNE. 



" Among Canadian writers no one is more favorably known than Mr. 

 J. LeMoine, the newly-elected president of the Royal Society of Canada. He 

 belongs to one of the oldest Canadian families, being a descendant of Jean 

 LeMoyne, who was a seigneur of three fiefs, (Ste Marie, la Noraye and Gas- 

 tineau) and a near relative of Charles LeMoyne, Baron of Longueuil. His 

 House at Spencer Grange, Sillery, is a literary man's paradise ; here Mr. 

 LeMoine has entertained some of the most eminent writers and scholars of 

 our time. Dean Stanley, Charles Kingsley, Sala, Howells, Gilbert Parker ; 

 the historians Garneau and Ferland have all partaken of the hospitalities of 

 Spencer Grange ; the late Francis Parkman was a frequent visitor, and in 

 the preface to some of his works acknowledges the valuable aid rendered him 

 by Mr. LeMoine. For over thirty years hardly a year has passed that we 

 have not to welcome some new product of his pen in French or English. His 

 best known works are Ornithologie du Canada (2 vols.). Les Pecheries du 

 Canada, Maple Leaves, L' Album du Touriste, Chronicles of the St. 

 Lawrence, Quebec Past and Present, Monographies et Esquisses, and Pictu- 

 resque Quebec, all works of historical value. In addition to these. Mr. 

 LeMoine has contributed numerous articles to the magazines and the daily 

 press. Imbued with a deep love for the history and traditions of his country, 

 his writings are replete with graphic narratives of incidents that have occured 

 during the old regime, as well as stories of Canadian life and character of 

 more recent date. To tell the story of our past is the chief delight of his life, 

 and he tells it truthfully and impartially ; he jars no feelings of race and 

 creed,, for Mr. LeMoine's ideal is a Canada whose people shall be neither 

 English nor French, but Canadian. In conclusion, we may say that the 

 Royal Society of Canada could not have selected one more deserving of the 

 honor of president of that distinguished body than the historian of Quebec." 



