Rideau Hall, Ottawa: people using a toboggan slide in the presence of the Marquis of Lorne, governor-general of Canada, and his wife Princess Louise. Wood engraving by H. Harral after S.P. Hall.

John Campbell, Marquis of Lorne, married Princess Louise, the sixth child of Queen Victoria, in 1871. He was governor-general of Canada from 1878 to 1883. He succeeded his father as Duke of Argyll in 1900. Princess Louise was injured in a sleigh accident in Canada in February 1880

"Tobogganing at Ottawa "A toboggan," says a Canadian writer, "is a light Indian sleigh, made of very thin wood, curled over in front, and used chiefly by pleasure parties in sliding down hill sides covered with crusted but lightly packed snow." "In Canada," observes Mr. John White in his 'Sketches from America,' "a toboggan is made to hold at least two persons, and, as these persons are usually of different sexes, some light is thus thrown on the great esteem in which the sport is held by Canadians. The sitter in the back seat of the toboggan steers with his hand. Any want of care or skill on his part is pretty sure to lead to an upset. But as the sleigh is slight, and the selected snow-bank not very hard, such upsets are usually only occasions for the more merriment." These remarks do not altogether apply to artificially made toboggan grounds, such as that depicted in our engraving, which represents the tobogganing slide erected at Rideau Hall, Ottawa, by Lord Dufferin. The top of it from level ground is eighty feet. It descends first at an angle of thirty degrees, and then, when it touches the natural hill, at one of twenty-five degrees. The townspeople say it is dangerous. Two legs have been broken on it in five years: nevertheless Lord Dufferin's children used to go down it standing up. The sketch illustrates the moral of 'Much ado for an instant's pleasure'."Thus, for a moment's doubtful bliss / We toil and struggle up like this.""--The graphic, op. cit. p. 99

[London] : [The graphic], [1879]

1 print : wood engraving ; image 30 x 22.5 cm

The Marquis of Lorne and the Princess Louise in Canada - tobogganing at Ottawa. S.P. Hall. H. Harral sc.

Wellcome Collection 37041i