=Cross, Hon. Alexander=, Judge of the Court of Queen’s Bench, Montreal, was born on a farm situated on the banks of the Clyde, in Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the 22nd of March, 1821, and came to Montreal with his parents when only a boy of five years of age. His father, Robert Cross, was a gentleman farmer, and was a scion of the Cross family who for many generations lived in Old Monklands, and were among the well-to-do farmers in that part of Scotland. His mother, Janet Selkirk, was from an adjoining parish. Mr. Cross, sr., died about a year after his arrival in Canada, and this sad event rendered it necessary for the family to remove to a farm on the Chateauguay river, the land on which the celebrated battle of that name was fought between a handful of Canadian militia and a strong force of United States troops—the Canadians coming off victorious—during the war of 1812-14. Alexander, who was the youngest son of the family, as he grew up to manhood, showed a strong leaning towards literary pursuits instead of towards agriculture; and in his laudable desire for knowledge he was encouraged by his elder brother, who had been educated for the Scottish bar, and who, while he lived, helped him in every way possible to gratify his literary aspirations. In 1837, at the age of sixteen, he left the farm and went to Montreal to study. Here he entered the Montreal College as a pupil, but after being a short time in this institution he found the classes did not progress fast enough to suit his restless craving for knowledge, when he left and put himself under private tutors. He also entered the office of John J. Day, of Montreal, to study law; and the rebellion at this time breaking out, he enlisted as a volunteer in Colonel Maitland’s battalion, and served in this corps until the close of the rebellion in 1838, retiring with the rank of sergeant. When the rebels were defeated at Beauharnois, Sergeant Cross was among the first to enter the village. And in this connection we may say that while a law student he was chosen clerk of the first municipal council of the county of Beauharnois, then embracing three or four times its present area, and so well did he perform his duties at the first meeting of the council that he was highly complimented for the ability he displayed, by such gentlemen as Lord Selkirk and Edward Gibbon Wakefield, who were guests at the Seigniory house, staying there to observe the working of the new institution. Mr. Cross was called to the bar in 1844, and practised his profession in Montreal more than thirty years, at first with the late Duncan Fisher, Q.C., and subsequently with Attorney-General Smith (who afterwards became the Hon. Judge Smith). During this long period Mr. Cross had an extensive and remunerative practice, and on several occasions he represented the Crown while connected with the distinguished gentlemen mentioned above. During the administration of Viscount Monck, in 1864, he was created a Queen’s counsel. On the 30th