only held the seat for about a year, when he resigned to accept the collectorship of the port of Quebec, and this office he still holds. When the Hon. Mr. Blanchet was speaker of the Quebec House of Assembly, he showed fine talents in that capacity, and made an admirable presiding officer, and some time before the fourth parliament had met, his name was again mentioned in connection with the speakership, he being a Conservative and his party once more in power. On the meeting of the House of Commons in February, 1879, he was unanimously elected speaker of that august body, and the choice proved a wise one, for he soon showed himself an adept in parliamentary rules and tactics, was prompt and impartial, and on his retirement from office carried with him the good will and respect of both sides of the House. In August, 1850, Hon. Mr. Blanchet was married to Emilie, daughter of G. D. Balzaretti, of Milan, Italy, and the fruit of this marriage has been six children, four of whom are dead, three having died in infancy. * * * * * =Harris, Michael Spurr.=—The late Michael Spurr Harris, of Moncton, New Brunswick, who was born at Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia, September 22nd, 1804, and married, May 11th, 1826, Sarah Ann Troop, of Granville, Annapolis county, N.S., was descended from a long line of ancestors. One of these, Arthur Harris, came from England, and was among the earliest settlers in Duxbury, Plymouth county, Massachusetts. In 1640 he moved to Bridgewater, Mass., and a few years afterwards, about 1656, he took up his residence in Boston, where he died on the 10th June, 1674, leaving a widow and five children. Samuel Harris, a direct descendant of Arthur Harris, married, in 1757, Sarah Cook, in Boston, from whence, about 1763, they emigrated to Nova Scotia, and settled in Annapolis county at a place called Mount Pleasant, near Bridgewater, and here Samuel Harris died in 1801, leaving several children, among others the father of the subject of our sketch, Christopher Prince Harris, who died in Annapolis county, near Digby, 30th January, 1853, and his widow at the same place in 1862. Sarah Cook, wife of Samuel Harris, was a grandchild of Francis Cook, who came with the first Pilgrims from Plymouth, England, to Plymouth, America, in 1620. Six years afterwards her grandfather, on her mother’s side, came out to the Plymouth settlement, and he it was who, in 1676, captured the celebrated Indian chief “Annawan.” Michael Spurr Harris received his early education in the parish schools of Nova Scotia, and passed his boyhood at his father’s home in Digby county, N.S. When quite young he went to St. John, N.B., and entered the employ of Mr. Peterson, a carriage-builder, where, after serving his apprenticeship, he began business; and in 1826 married Sarah Ann Troop, and settled in St. John, continuing his trade of carriage-making. A few years later moving to Norton, Kings county, N.B., he extended his