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The incident which forms the heading to this paper 

 occurred, during a sojourn, alas ! too short, I was 

 making in Paris, a few years back. It is noted in my 

 dairy, under date of " Thursday, 11th August, 1881." 



After paying my respects to the eminent Oriental 

 scholar, Leon de Rosny, who had named me a Delegate, 

 at Quebec, of the BocUU d'Ethnographie, of which he 

 was President, I hastened to call on the respected 

 patron of Canadians, Xavier Marmier, with whom I 

 had previously corresponded, and who had sent me his 

 portrait by a mutual friend, M. Faucher de Saint-Mau- 

 rice, of Quebec. 



The same cordial greeting extended to Quebecers 

 accredited to Mr. Marmier, awaited me, I am happy to 

 say, at his residence, No. 1 Rue Saint-Thomas d'Aquin* 



I can well recollect his demure old housekeeper, 

 Mademoiselle Annette, showing me up politely to her 

 master's sanctum, a vast library in two compartments, 

 au troisieme, literaly crowded with books (1). After 

 enquiring about his Quebec friends, Mr. Chauveau, 

 Abbe Casgrain and a few others, the academician's 

 conversation diverted to recent works published in 

 Canada ; he interrupted my replies, by asking me to 

 follow him into the adjoining wing of the library, 

 saying he wished to introduce me to some old friends. 



(1) " Marmier was a great book collector, and leaves behind 

 him a colossal library. When he became too feeble to walk^ 

 his bath-chair might have been seen daily on the Quai Voltaire 

 and other bookworm resorts, whither he repaired to amuse 

 himself by looking at the second-hand bookstalls. His strange 

 figure, with his long white locks and ascetic cast of counte- 

 nance was familiar to every body in the neighborhood. A 

 more amiable man could not be found. Of rare simplicity, 

 he was the sworn enemy of noise and puffing, and lived a 

 secluded life, surrounded by his books, wmich he loved as a 

 miser loves his hoard. For the last twenty years he was a 

 vegetarian, feeding only on eggs and salad, washed down with 

 a little wine and water. It was perhaps this sobriety which 

 helped him to attain the ripe age of 84, for physically he 



