[From Montreal Gazette, 4th August, 1894.] 



I have been favored with advance sheets of the new volume 

 of Maple Leaves, by Mr. J. M. LeMoine, president of the 

 Royal Society of Canada. My first duty is to correct a possible 

 misconception. This volume is not a second edition of a 

 former work of the same title, but consists of papers never 

 before published in book form. The first series of Mapk 

 Leaves was brought out in 1863. Its success induced the 

 author to continue the series in 1864, 1865 and 1873. Since 

 this last date, Mr. LeMoine has contributed to various perio- 

 dicals in the United States and Canada a number of essays 

 on a wide range of subjects, marked by his characteristic 

 charm of style and intimate knowledge of his country's annals. 

 I have already in a general way indicated the contents of this 

 attractive book,which, while comprising some things to be found 

 nowhere else, sheds a fresh, warm light on many topics touched 

 by less sympathetic pens. As the title implies, Canadian his- 

 tory, romance, folk lore, biography and adventure take up the 

 most of the five hundred pages, but this list does not exhaust 

 Mr. LeMoine's themes. His book on Canadian Ornithology, 

 now out of print, was one of the most successful of his works, 

 and his admirers will be glad to know that his beloved birds 

 have a place assigned them in these latest Maple Leaves. 

 The late Xavier Marmier was one of Canada's best friends in 

 the old land. Mr. LeMoine portrays him as he found him in 

 his own hospitable home. Then we are invited to accompany 

 the autxior to Edinburgh, where the Scotchman in him grows 

 rapturous over the haunts of Scott ; to Normandy, the home of 

 his fathers, where his observing eye sees the source of many a 

 Canadian usage and expression. A paper read before the Folk- 

 Lore society in this city treats of some venerable oaths. The, 

 paper on the Beaver club gives a vivid picture of old Montreal 

 in the days when Nor'westers ruled the roast. Of old Quebec 

 the reminiscences are, as might be expected, rich and vivid. 

 Not the least pleasing feature of the book is Mr. LeMoine's 

 tribute to his brelhren of the pen, Abbe Bois, Garneau, 

 De Gaspe, etc. Mr. William Kirby, the able author of •' Chien 

 d'Or," prefaces the book with a sketch of Mr. LeMoine's 

 career, while a portrait of him in winter garb, and a view 

 of Spencer Grange and its vineries from the flower garden 

 in the rear adds not a little to the reader's satisfaction. 

 Such, in briefest outline, is this latest (but, his admirers will 

 hope, not last) volume of Maple Leaves. It is entirely worthy 

 of its name and of the reputation therewith associated. The 

 work is dedicated by permission to the Countess of Aberdeen." 



John Reade. 



