A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time by Rose

these societies. His travels were not important, and only such as were necessary in the prosecution of study or on business. His religious views have always been those held by the Baptist church, but he was not united with any religious society until 1867, when he became a member of the Fredericton Baptist Church. On the 5th of June, 1877, he was married to Helen M. Estey, second daughter of the late Harris S. Estey. The first representative of this family in New Brunswick was Zebulon Estey, who came to New Brunswick from Newburyport, Mass., about 1765. Before leaving Newburyport he was married to Mollie Brown. After coming to New Brunswick they had a large family, one member of which, Nehemiah B. Estey, was great-grandfather of Harris S. Estey. Dr. Currie has been eminently successful in every respect in the practice of his profession. He was the originator and one of the principal promoters of the movement which led to the passage of the New Brunswick Medical Act. He is devoted to his profession, giving his whole time to it, and taking a lively interest in everything which pertains to its well-being. * * * * * =Elliott, Andrew=, Almonte, one of the most enterprising of our woollen manufacturers, was born on the 3rd April, 1809, at Stanishwater, parish of Westerkirk, Eskdale, Scotland. His father, William Elliott, and his mother, Jane Jardine, were both natives of Dumfriesshire, Scotland. Mr. Elliott received his education at the Langholme and Corrie school, near Lockerby, which he left at the age of thirteen, and began the battle of life unaided. In 1834 he came to Canada, and two years after his arrival he began business as a grocer in Galt, Ontario. Here he did a good business, built a distillery, ran it for several years, sold it out, and joined Robert Hunt, of Preston, in the woollen business. In 1853 they changed the factory into a four-set mill, and worked it very successfully for about ten years. About 1864, while Mr. Elliott was in Great Britain buying wool, the mill was burnt down, but on his return he rebuilt it, and associated with him in his new venture (the old partnership having been dissolved) J. L. Hunt and George Stephen (now Sir George Stephen, bart.). The new firm abandoned the manufacture of cloth, and went into that of flax and linseed oil. After spending a great deal of money in importing first-class machinery from Great Britain, Ireland and the United States, and pushing the business for about four years, they found that Canada was unsuited for such an enterprise, and parted with the concern, having lost a considerable sum of money by the venture. Mr. Elliott then sold out all his property in Preston and Galt, and purchased a woollen mill in Almonte, where for the past seventeen years he has successfully prosecuted his business. Mr. Elliott was elected district (Gore district) councillor for the township of Dumfries (Upper Canada), and in 1840 he was chosen the first reeve for the village of Galt, and occupied the position for several years. The late Hon. Robert Baldwin made him a magistrate, and in this capacity he acted for about ten years; and was sent as a delegate from the village of Galt and the township of Dumfries with an address to Lord Elgin, in Montreal, shortly after the destruction of the Parliament buildings by a mob. Mr. Elliott took an active interest in railway extension, and did his share in getting the Great Western Railway Company to build a branch line from Harrisburg to Galt. In his younger days he was a strong supporter of the Baldwin administration, and even supported the late Hon. George Brown, but refused longer to follow him as a party leader when he left the government of the day and formed the “Grit” party; and he has ever since been an opponent of the Reform party. Mr. Elliott has been a Presbyterian from his youth up. In 1839 he married Mary Hanley, a native of the county of Longford, Ireland. He has been a busy man, and now enjoys the fruits of his industry. * * * * * =Morson, Walter Augustus Ormsby=, Barrister, etc., Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, was born on the 24th December, 1851, at Hamilton, Prince Edward Island. His father, Richard Willock Morson, formerly of the island of Montserrat, in the West Indies, now of Upton, Dundas, Prince Edward Island, was a son of the late Richard Willock Morson, of Montserrat, and nephew of the Hon. Walter Morson, M.D., physician to the late Princess Sophia, daughter of George III. His mother, Elizabeth Codie, daughter of the late Hon. Patrick Codie, of Cascumpec, P. E. Island, and Annabella Stewart, his wife, daughter of the late Dugald Stewart, of Hamilton, P. E. Island. Mr. Morson, jr., received his education at Hamilton, and in 1866 removed to Charlottetown, where he secured employment in the “City Hardware Store.” In this situation he remained until 1872, when he gave up mercantile pursuits, and began the study of law with the Hon. W. W. Sullivan, the present attorney-general and premier of Prince Edward Island. In February, 1877, he was admitted as an attorney of the Supreme Court, and became a member of the firm of Sullivan, Maclean & Morson. In February, 1878, he was called to the bar of the Superior Court and admitted as solicitor of the Court of Chancery. In March, 1877, he was made a notary public. Mr. Maclean having retired from the above firm in 1878, it then became Sullivan & Morson, and so continued until December, 1882, when it was dissolved. Mr. Morson then entered into partnership with the Hon. Neil Macleod, M.A., and this arrangement continued until October, 1883, when Neil Macquarrie, the stipendiary magistrate of Sommerside, was admitted a partner, when the name was changed to MacLeod, Morson & Macquarrie, with offices at Summerside Charlottetown. Mr. Morson was appointed master in Chancery in 1885. In April of the same year, on the death of the Hon. John Longworth, he was appointed clerk of the Crown and prothonotary of the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island, and also registrar of the Court of Chancery, all of which positions he resigned in June, 1885. On the formation of the Prince Edward Island Provisional Brigade of Garrison Artillery, Mr. Morson was appointed adjutant, with rank of lieutenant, 2nd June, 1882; and on the 8th November, 1884, he obtained a first class special course certificate from the Royal School of Artillery in Quebec. He volunteered with two batteries of the brigade for the North West Territory on the outbreak of the rebellion in 1885. Mr. Morson is a busy man, yet he finds time to devote his attention to Masonry. He has been a member of Victoria lodge, No. 383, of the Registry of Scotland, since April 1870, and has held several important offices in his lodge, and been depute master. In religion Mr. Morson is a member of the Episcopal communion, and in politics belongs to the Conservative party. He is a rising man, and has a grand future before him. * * * * * =Gray, James=, Manager of the Merchants Bank of Canada, Perth, Lanark county, Ontario, was born on the 3rd of September, 1820, at Black Hills, parish of Elgin, Morayshire, Scotland. Arthur Gray, the father of the subject of this sketch, was a native of Morayshire, Scotland, and joined the active militia in 1809, and in 1811 was gazetted ensign in the 2nd battalion of the 24th Regiment of the line. In November of the same year he proceeded with his regiment to the Peninsula, where he joined the army under the command of the late Duke of Wellington, and served till the end of the war, during which he was present at the following battles and sieges: In the covering division at the siege and capture of Badejoz; the battle of Salamanca (where he carried the colours); the capture of the Retiro and the siege of Burgos, where he was engaged in the storming of the outer line, on which occasion the battalion suffered so severely that it became necessary to incorporate it in a provisional battalion with the 58th Regiment; on the raising of the siege of Burgos he was the last officer to quit the trenches, having been left with a piquet to see the works blown up at all hazards, and at the imminent risk of being taken prisoner, being fortunate enough, however, to regain his regiment after executing the orders he had received; he commanded a company during the rest of the retreat into Portugal, and suffered great hardships consequent upon such retreat. He was also engaged in the battle of Vittoria, and the actions in the Pyrenees for four successive days, including the attack on the heights of Echellar, where the battalion in which he was serving received on the grounds the thanks of Lord Dalhousie for their gallant conduct. He was also at the battles of Nevelle and Orthes, the investment of Bayonne, besides a great number of affairs of outposts and skirmishes, and was not absent from his battalion for one day during the whole period of these memorable events. On the return of the battalion he was removed to the 1st Battalion of the 24th Regiment, and proceeded to join it in the East Indies in February, 1815. He served with this corps in the Nepaul war, the campaigns of 1815 and 1816, including the battle of Harriagrove; and in the Mahratta campaigns of 1817 and 1818. During the Indian campaign he fell a victim to severe liver disease, and was compelled to return to England in 1819, and on the expiration of his leave in 1820, still being disabled from active duty from this cause, he was retired on half-pay. His health having been restored, in 1839 he was appointed to the first battalion Royal regiment, with which he served at Gibraltar to August, 1841, when Lord Hill removed him to the Royal Canadian rifle regiment. In 1847 he was appointed by His Grace the Duke of Wellington captain in the Ceylon rifle regiment, and proceeded to Ceylon. An insurrection breaking out there he was placed second in command, and shortly after the commander of a corps to scour the jungle and disperse the rebels. In consequence of exposure while on this mission he was attacked with dysentery, and being carried along with his column to Kandy he there died. James Gray received an English and classical education in the St. Andrew’s school of his native shire, and came to Canada in 1844, and settled in Montreal. The same year he entered the service of the Bank of Montreal, in that city. He was over a quarter of a century in the employ of this great monetary institution, and during this time resided in Kingston, Picton, and Perth. In 1868 he resigned his position in the Bank of Montreal, and was appointed manager of the branch of the Merchants Bank in Perth, which position he still occupies with credit to himself and satisfaction to his employers. Mr. Gray is connected with the Presbyterian church; but in politics he takes little interest. He is married to Mary Robinson, a daughter of the late Dr. Moore, of Picton, who, during his lifetime, was a staunch supporter of the late lamented Hon. George Brown, and in sympathy with the political reforms advocated by that great man. * * * * * =La Mothe, Guillaume Jean Baptiste=, Postmaster, Montreal, was born in Montreal on September 24th, 1824. He is the son of Capt. Joseph Maurice La Mothe, who married Marie J. Laframboise, in Montreal, on the 1st February, 1813. Captain Joseph Maurice La Mothe was superintendent of the Indian Department from 1816 until his decease in 1827. He was also captain and in command of the Indian allies at the battle of Chateauguay, and was favourably reported in the orders of the day for gallant conduct. His grandfather was Captain Joseph La Mothe, who was born 26th January, 1742, and married 24th November, 1777, to Catherine Blondeau. In March, 1776, the military commandant in Montreal entrusted Captain J. La Mothe with most important despatches for General Guy Carleton, then besieged in Quebec by the American army. Accompanied by Mr. Papineau (father of the Hon. L. J. Papineau), he started from Montreal on foot, and after a long and dangerous tramp, managing to cross the American lines at night, safely delivered the despatches in proper time, which contributed to the salvation of Quebec. His great-grandfather was Pierre La Mothe, married first to Marie Anne St. Ives, and in January, 1740 (being then a widower), he married Angélique Caron, in Montreal. His father and mother were Bruno La Mothe and Jeanne Le Valois, who came originally from the diocese of Bordeaux, France. The family, whose correct name is de La Mothe (as mentioned in old family documents), was residing in Montreal as early as 1673, and in 1689 Pierre de Saint Paul de La Mothe had the command of the town and island of Montreal. The subject of our sketch received his education at St. Hyacinthe College and at Montreal College. In September, 1852, he received a commission as lieutenant in the Montreal Sedentary Cavalry, but this position he resigned in March, 1854. On the 17th of January, 1856, he was appointed lieutenant in No. 2 troop Militia Cavalry, Montreal, and on the 23rd of April, 1857, was retransferred to and promoted captain in the Sedentary Cavalry of Montreal. On the 7th of November, 1862, he was transferred to and promoted major commanding the Rifle Companies (Police) Active force in Montreal. On the 26th of November, 1861, Captain La Mothe was appointed chief of police for Montreal. This office he held until the 30th January, 1865, when he resigned. He effected the capture of the famous St. Albans raiders a few months previous. And on the 15th of July, 1874, he was appointed to the postmastership of his native city, and this important position he fills to-day. Mr. La Mothe has been actively connected with the development of gold mines in Nova Scotia; copper mines in the Eastern Townships, and iron mines in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where he discovered the magnetic iron ore deposit at Moisie. Upon report made to friends respecting the value of the ore and extent of the deposit, the Moisie Iron Company was formed. This company has manufactured malleable iron pronounced in England and France equal to the best. During the years from 1846 to 1851 inclusive, Mr. La Mothe travelled extensively through England, France, Switzerland, and Italy; and while in England he joined the expedition against Ecuador (South America), which, after putting to sea, was overtaken by a British man-of-war, and brought back to London. He also took part in the French Revolution of 1848, and at the storming of the Tuileries he was one of the first to enter the place. After this event he travelled through Switzerland on foot, then on to Italy, where he married, and then returned to Canada. For fifteen years of his life, Mr. La Mothe was actively engaged in politics on the Liberal side. In religion he is a respected member of the Roman Catholic church. He was married in Florence, Italy, in 1850, to Marguerite de Savoye, and his family consists of one son and four daughters, all living. The son, Henri, is married to Marie, youngest daughter of the late Hon. Judge Bossé, of Quebec. The eldest daughter, Marguerite, is married to Hon. J. R. Thibaudeau, senator for division of Rigaud. His second daughter is married to Henri Hamel, of the firm of J. Hamel & Frère, Quebec. The two youngest daughters, Juliette and Marie, are unmarried. * * * * * =MacColl, Evan=, Kingston, Ontario, was born at Kenmore, Lochfyne-side, Scotland, on the 21st of September, 1808, where he is well-known as the “Mountain Minstrel.” He early developed a taste for poetry, and in 1837 contributed to the Glasgow _Gaelic Magazine_. The poet gives a very striking account of his first attempt at Gaelic verse. He took into his confidence a young friend, a capital singer, taught him a song without mentioning that he was the author of it, and got him to sing it the same evening at a neighbour’s house at Kenmore. It was received with great applause. From that hour Evan MacColl felt himself a bard and became supremely happy. Some time after he published a small volume of poems in Gaelic, and another in English, which were reviewed by Dr. McLeod, Hugh Miller, the celebrated geologist, and other British critics, in the highest terms of admiration. In 1831 Mr. MacColl’s father, with the rest of his family, emigrated to Canada, but Evan remained behind, and eight years afterwards he accepted a position in the Customs at Liverpool. In 1846 he published a second volume of poems which was even more highly appreciated than the first. Of this work, Dr. Norman McLeod wrote: “Evan MacColl’s poetry is the product of a mind impressed with the beauty and grandeur of the lovely scenes in which his infancy has been nursed. We have no hesitation in saying that this work is that of a man possessed of much poetic genius. Wild, indeed, and sometimes rough are his rhymes and epithets; yet there are thoughts so new and striking—images and comparisons so beautiful and original—feelings so warm and fresh—that stamp this Highland peasant as no ordinary man.” In 1850, in consequence of ill-health, he visited Canada, and while here received an appointment to the Customs at Kingston. He never solicited any favour from the Conservatives, and the overthrow of the Mackenzie government in 1878 effectually quenched his hopes of preferment, and two years afterwards he was superannuated. No man ought to know Mr. MacColl better than his friend, Charles Sangster, a poet of considerable repute, who speaks thus of him in his article in Wilson’s work on Scottish, bards:— “In private life he is, both by precept and example, all that could be desired. He has an intense love for all that is really good and beautiful, and a true and manly scorn for all that is false, time-serving, or hypocritical; there is no narrow-mindedness, no bigotry in his soul. In the domestic circle, all the warmth in the man’s heart—the full flow of genuine feeling and affection—is ever uppermost. He is a thoroughly earnest man, in whose daily walks and conversation as well as in his actions, Longfellow’s ‘Psalm of Life’ is acted out in verity. In his friendship he is sincere; in his dislikes equally so. He is thoroughly Scottish in his leanings. His national love burns with intensity. In poetry, he is not merely zealous, but enthusiastic, and he carries his natural force of character into all he says and does.” All his virtues he inherited from his parents. Among Evan MacColl’s old country friends have been John Mackenzie, of “The Beauties;” the late R. Carruthers, LL.D., Hugh Miller, the brothers Sobeiskie Stewart, at Eilean-Aigais, and drank with them out of a _cuach_, once the property of Prince Charlie; Dugald Moore, author of “Scenes before the Flood,” and “The Bard of the North;” Alexander Rogers, the author of “Behave yourself before Folk,” Rev. Dr. Norman McLeod, Dr. Chambers, Bailey, the author of “Festus;” Leighton, author of “The Christening of the Bairn;” J. Stuart Blackie, the great Edinburgh professor; James Logan, author of “The Scottish Gael;” Fraser, of _Fraser’s Magazine_, and Hugh Fraser, the publisher of “Leabhar nan Cnoc.” He is a member of the Royal Canadian Literary and Scientific Society, founded by the Marquis of Lorne, and was the guest several times of his lordship and the Princess Louise at Rideau Hall, Ottawa. MacColl has been twice married. Of a family of nine sons and daughters, Evan, the poet’s eldest son, has been educated for the ministry, and is now pastor of the Congregational Church at Middleville, Ontario. His eldest daughter’s productions have merited a very high admiration, and the more youthful members of his family give promise of proving worthy of the stock from whence they sprang. John Massie, of Keene, a brother poet, not having heard from the “Bard of Lock Fyne” for over six weeks after having written him a letter, thus addressed the Limestone City:— Say, Kingston, tell us where is Evan? Thy bard o’ pure poetic leaven! And is he still amang the livin’? Or plumed supernal, Has taen a jink and aff to heaven, There sing eternal! Or if within your bounds you find him, A’ bruised and broken, skilfu’ bind him; Or sick, or sair, O! carefu’ mind him, Thy darling chiel! And dinna lat him look behind him Until he’s weel. But if he’s gane, ah, wae’s to me! His like we never mair shall see,— Nae servile, whinging coof was he, Led by a string, But noble, gen’rous, fearless, free, His sang he’d sing. Hech, sirs! we badly could bide loss him, For should this world vindictive toss him. Or ony hizzie dare to boss him. Clean gyte he’d set her; The deil himsel’, he daur’dna cross him, Faith, he ken’d better! Let any man, o’ any station, But wink at fraud, or wrong the nation, E’en gowd, nor place, ’twas nae temptation To sic a chiel,— He’d shortly settle their oration, And drub them weel. Or let them say’t, be’t high or low, Auld Scotia ever met the foe, That laid her in the dust fu’ low, Right at them see him! Professor George still rues the blow MacColl did gie him. Is history in Fiction’s grip, Does Falsehood let her bloodhounds slip, Crack goes his castigating whip, With patriot scorn! Macaulay laid upon his hip. Amidst the corn. Does English critic meanly itch, To cast old Ossian in the ditch, And trail his laurels through the pitch Of mind benighted; Our bardie gies his lugs a twitch And sees it righted. In a’ this warld, there’s no a skellum, Nor silly self-conceited blellum, But Evan, lad, wad bravely tell ’em The honest truth; E’en if he kend that they should fell ’im Withouten ruth. Ye feathered things in mournfu’ tune, Come join my waesome, doleful croon; Ye dogs that bay the silver moon, Your sorrow show it; And a’ ye tearfu’ starns aboon, Bewail our poet. What though this grasping world, and hard, May barely grant him just reward, Still shall his genius blissful starred, Effulgent shine, And endless ages praise the bard Of fair Loch Fyne. Mr. MacColl has many admirers in Canada, in proof of which he has lately issued the third edition of his poems here, and they are having a good sale. His Gaelic Lyrics, lately issued in Edinburgh, is also attracting attention among his countrymen on this side of the Atlantic. * * * * * =Lake, John Neilson=, Stock Broker, Toronto, was born on the fourth concession of the township of Ernesttown, county of Addington, Ontario, on the 19th August, 1834. His great-grandfather and grandfather owned part of Staten Island, New York state, and when the war of independence broke out they took sides with the British, and with sons and sons-in-law fought for their king and country. The family removed to Upper Canada about 1782, and as U. E. loyalists received a grant of 15,000 acres of land, and settled near the village of Bath, west of Kingston. James Lake, the father of the subject of our sketch, was born near Bath in 1791, and with the exception of a short period, he resided, until his death, in the township of Ernesttown. His mother was Margaret Bell, daughter of John Bell, of Ernesttown, who, though a U. E. loyalist, did not remove to Canada until 1810. John, until his sixteenth year, attended school, when he joined his brothers in the carriage business, and at the same time he learned drafting and architecture. At twenty-one he gave up this profession and entered the ministry of the Wesleyan Methodist church as a probationer, and spent the years 1855-6 in the town of Picton; 1857 in Aylmer; 1858 in Ingersoll; 1859 in Hullsville; 1862 in Markham; 1865 in Pickering, followed as stations in succession; but in 1866, in consequence of a peculiar affection of the eye producing double vision, and preventing all study, he was compelled to relinquish the ministry for awhile. In 1869, his health being somewhat improved, he again attempted the ministerial work, and was stationed at the town of Niagara; but in less than twelve months thereafter it became evident that this mode of usefulness could not be continued, and he was reluctantly compelled to abandon the ministry. He moved to Toronto, and in 1870 opened a real estate and loan office, just at the time when the value of property was beginning to improve, and when there were only two real estate brokers in the city. In 1875 he was joined by J. P. Clark, of the town of Brampton, and soon the firm of Lake & Clark became widely known and highly trusted. In 1882 Mr. Lake retired from the firm, and four years later Mr. Clark gave up business, when the firm of Lake & Clark ceased to be longer known as dealers in real estate. During all these years Mr. Lake was very intimately associated with church work, and the Sherbourne Street Methodist Church owes not a little of its success to his labours and generous contributions. In 1881 he was induced by his numerous friends to permit himself to be put in nomination as alderman for St. Thomas ward, and having surrendered his standing as a minister, he consented, and was elected a member of the city council. One year in the council seems to have satisfied Mr. Lake, for although next year he was strongly urged by his St. Thomas ward constituency to again act as their representative, he refused to concede to this request, and retired from municipal politics. Politically Mr. Lake has always been a Reformer, but he is not a person who would support a party without a good and sufficient reason. He has been a member of the Toronto Stock Exchange, and of the Toronto Board of Trade, for many years, and is president of the American Watch Case Company; secretary of the Ontario Folding Steel Gate Company; director of the North American Life Assurance Company, and chairman of the agency committee. He is also treasurer of the Union Relief Fund, and of the Church and Parsonage Aid Fund of the Methodist church; has been treasurer from the beginning of the Sherbourne Street Methodist Church, and was organizer and superintendent of its Sunday school for the first eleven years. Mr. Lake was lately elected chairman of the committee on plans for the new Victoria College buildings to be erected in the Queen’s Park, Toronto, for the Methodist Church, at a cost of about $200,000. We may add that Mr. Lake has done a good deal to improve Toronto during the past fifteen years, having built residences worth about $200,000, in the most improved style of architecture, and his own residence,—286 Sherbourne street—is a model of completeness and convenience. In June, 1859, he was married to Emily Jane, youngest daughter of S. V. R. Douglas, of Burford, Brant county, and granddaughter of the Rev. Thomas Whitehead, a gentleman who occupied a prominent position in the Methodist church from 1790 to 1840. * * * * * =De Sola, Abraham=, LL.D.—The late Dr. de Sola was one of the most distinguished scholars who ever graced an American-Jewish pulpit. His reputation as an Orientalist, theologian and linguist, was not confined to his own people; the profundity and extraordinary intellectual acumen which characterized his numerous writings and researches having won for him wide renown among the _savants_ both of this continent and of Europe. He was descended from a very ancient and celebrated Jewish family, his ancestors having, in their migration from Judea, gradually moved across Northern Africa, until, crossing the Straits of Gibraltar, we find them settled in Spain as early as the close of the sixth century. Here the de Solas became very distinguished in the higher walks of life. They assisted the Saracens, when the mighty sons of the desert overran the Iberian Peninsula, and in return were received in high favour at the court of the Caliphs. The Gothic princes also treated them with distinction; and in Navarre, where a branch of the family settled, Don Bartolomé de Sola attained to such influence as to be ennobled and created a minister of state, and at one time exercised the functions of Viceroy. Another de Sola won renown by his prowess in battle, when fighting under the Infante of Aragon, in the fourteenth century. For several centuries they continued to flourish in Spain, the family being famed for the large number of illustrious men it produced, eminent as authors, rabbis, physicians, and courtiers. In 1492, in consequence of their adherence to Judaism, they suffered the fate of all Spanish Jews, being condemned to exile by the edict of the bigoted Ferdinand and Isabella. They fled to Holland, where they soon again rose to distinction in the world of letters. One member of the family, however, lingered behind in Portugal, eluding the vigilance of his persecutors by professing to become a New Christian (as Jewish converts to Christianity were styled), while he secretly continued to follow Judaism. During several generations some of his descendants continued to reside in Lisbon, where they possessed much wealth, remaining ever true to their ancestral faith, and all resorting to the same hazardous expedient to escape the notice of the Inquisition. But the fact that they often sent their children to Holland, that they might be the better able to follow Judaism, at length aroused the suspicions of the Holy Office; and towards the close of the seventeenth century David de Sola was suddenly pounced upon and incarcerated in the cells of the Inquisition-House. He bore the most frightful tortures heroically, and, as no confession could be forced from his lips, nor aught proved against him, he was released; but his shattered frame never recovered from the terrible agonies he had suffered. Years afterwards the suspicions of the Inquisition were again aroused, and two members of the family were seized, tortured, and having been found guilty of secret adherence to Judaism, suffered death at an _Auto-da-Fé_. Aaron de Sola (son of the above-mentioned David) was then the head of the Lisbon branch of the family, and, alarmed at the frightful fate of his two relatives, took refuge with his wife and children on an English man-of-war, which then lay at the mouth of the Tagus, only just in time to escape the officers of the Holy Office, who were in pursuit of him. Landed safely in London, by the friendly English captain, Aaron de Sola had no sooner put foot upon free soil, than he openly proclaimed his adherence to the faith which he and his fathers had so long followed in secret. This was in 1749. He proceeded shortly after with his family to Amsterdam, where he took up his abode. His eldest son, David, was the ancestor of the Abraham de Sola who forms the subject of this sketch; while his youngest son, Benjamin, became one of the most eminent practitioners in Holland, and was Court Physician to William V., and the author of numerous medical works. Another son of Aaron de Sola settled in Curaçao, and was the progenitor of that General Juan de Sola who won such high military distinction fighting under Bolivar and Paez in the revolt of the South American Colonies from Spain. In 1690 another member of the family, Isaac de Sola, became famed in London as a preacher and author. Some volumes of his writings are still to be seen among the rare collections of European libraries. Abraham de Sola was born on the 18th September, 1825. His father, David Aaron de Sola, was a very prominent rabbi, celebrated for his theological writings, and had removed from Amsterdam to London, England, early in the present century, where the subject of this sketch was born. His mother was of the illustrious Meldola family, who had furnished leading rabbis to the Jews of Europe for twelve consecutive generations. From childhood Abraham de Sola betrayed a strong inclination for study, and having received a thorough training in those branches which form the usual curriculum of higher education, he turned his attention to theological and linguistic studies, and early laid the foundation of that deep acquaintance with oriental languages and literature which afterwards won him such renown. In 1846 he was offered the position of minister of the Congregation of Portuguese Jews of Montreal, and, having accepted this call, arrived in Canada early in 1847. Here began the great work of his life. Shortly after his advent to Montreal his eloquent sermons in the Synagogue attracted the attention of the Mercantile Library Association, and upon invitation he delivered before this body a series of lectures upon the history of the Jews of England. The interest evoked by these efforts led to his delivering a further course of lectures upon Jewish history before this association the following year, and also before the Mechanics’ Institute. In 1848 he published his “Notes on the Jews of Persia, under Mohammed Shah.” This was followed by “A History of the Jews of Persia,” and within the same year he published his “Lectures on Scripture Zoology” which was succeeded by his “Lectures on the Mosaic Cosmogony.” Shortly afterwards he gave to the world “The Cosmography of Peritsol,” a work which at once attracted great attention and brought its author prominently to the front. It received such favourable notice from leading reviews as to be republished in part by the _Occident_ and other magazines, and translations in various languages were brought out by publishers in foreign countries. As late as 1881 we find it attracting the attention of the learned Chevalier Pesaro, of Italy, in the columns of an Italian review. His next important work “A Commentary on Samuel Hannagid’s