young Irish lieutenant, who possessed no inconsiderable share of the humour characteristic of his nationality, and could make himself a boon companion. At this time there would seem to have been nothing of the misanthrope about Lieutenant Talbot. He seemed to take fully as much enjoyment out of life as his circumstances admitted of. His constitution was robust, and his disposition cheerful. He was prim, and indeed fastidious about his personal appearance, and was keenly alive to everything that was going on about him. He was popular among all the members of the household, and was the especial friend of Major Littlehales, the adjutant and general secretary, whose name is familiar to most persons who take an interest in the history of the early settlement of this Province. On the 4th of February, 1793, an expedition which was destined to have an important bearing upon the future life of Lieutenant Talbot, as well as upon the future history of the Province, set out from Navy Hall[1] to explore the pathless wilds of Upper Canada. It consisted of Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe himself and several of his officers, among whom were Major Littlehales and the subject of the present sketch. The Major kept a diary during the journey, which was given to the world more than forty years afterwards in the _Canadian Literary Magazine_, a periodical of which several numbers were published in Toronto in 1834. The expedition occupied five weeks, and extended as far as Detroit. The route lay through Mohawk village, on the Grand River, where the party were entertained by Joseph Brant; thence westward to where Woodstock now stands; and so on by a somewhat devious course to Detroit, the greater part of the journey being necessarily made on foot. On the return journey the party camped on the present site of London, which Governor Simcoe then pronounced to be an admirable position for the future capital of the Province. One important result of this long and toilsome journey was the construction of Dundas Street, or, as it is frequently called, "the Governor's Road." The whole party were delighted with the wild and primitive aspect of the country through which they passed, but not one of them manifested such enthusiasm as young Lieutenant Talbot, who expressed a strong desire to explore the land farther to the south, bordering on Lake Erie. His desire was gratified in the course of the following autumn, when Governor Simcoe indulged himself and several members of his suite with another western excursion. During this journey the party encamped on the present site of Port Talbot, which the young Lieutenant declared to be the loveliest situation for a dwelling he had ever seen. "Here," said he, "will I roost, and will soon make the forest tremble under the wings of the flock I will invite by my warblings around me." Whether he was serious in this declaration at the time may be doubted; but, as will presently be seen, he ultimately kept his word.