Part 2 — CHAPTER III. (continued 2)

Mr. Lemay, in replying for French literature, said—It is particularly agreeable to be called on to speak on this occasion because it affords me the opportunity to render to our host an evidence of the admiration and friendship which I bear towards him this evening. It is now over twenty years since we were together at College, and the same tastes which pleased us then govern us now. The same destiny which led us towards the bar guided us also on the paths of literature. The speaker here improvised a magnificent address to the genius of French-Canadian letters. He alluded to the first pages of Canadian history written in the blood of martyrs, thus giving to the Canadian people a literature of heroes. The speaker then traced the changeful epochs from the days of the soldiers of the sword to the warriors of the pen, and he drew forth loud applause as he alluded to the brave polemists who traced their literary endeavors in the brave work of defending their country and redeeming its liberties. In quoting Sir Geo. Cartier's well known line, "O Canada, my country and my love," ("O Canada, mon pays, mes amours,") the eloquent orator elicited the warm and hearty applause of the assemblage. From the troublous days of 1837 to the present moment, Mr. Lemay reviewed the various efforts at literary renown of the French Canadian people, and concluded one of the finest speeches of the evening amidst the tumultuous applause of his sympathising auditors.

The next toast was that of the Literary and Historical Society and of the Institut Canadien of Quebec.

Mr. J. M. LeMoine, in replying to the first part of the toast said:—

GENTLEMEN,—In the name of the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, I thank you cordially for the health just proposed—As the President of a society numbering close on 400 members, who though diverse in creed and language, are united for one common object—the promotion of culture and science and the encouragement of historical studies,—I cannot help feeling I stand here somehow in the character of a representative man. In tendering a welcome to Mr. Fréchette, our honoured guest, I can add but little to the sentiments conveyed in the resolution adopted at our last meeting and which you have heard read. In presence of so many distinguished persons, several of whom have made their mark, at the Bar—or on the Bench—the forum—in literature—in the bank parlor or in the counting house,—with so many fluent speakers here present and prepared to applaud, with all the graces of oratory and fervour of patriotism,—the distinction conferred on French Canada, by the highest literary tribunal in France—convinced myself of the honour which Mr. Fréchette's laurels must confer on this ancient and picturesque Province of Quebec, with its glorious though yet unrevealed destinies, I feel proud as a Canadian in standing here, the bearer even of a solitary rosebud for the fragrant bouquet, which a grateful country offers this night to its gifted child. Alas! had not the relentless hand [32] of death—had not a self-imposed fate, darker even than death, removed from our midst, another "mind pregnant with celestial fire," Canada this night might possibly have counted two laurel-crowned poets—Louis Honoré Fréchette and Octave Crémazie. For I am not one of those who refuse to recognize Canadian talent; on the contrary, I feel myself moved to rejoice in our wealth of intellect. I am reminded to be brief; around me there is a surging stream of eloquence ready to burst through its floodgates. I must give way. With your permission, I shall therefore merely ask a question. What propitious turn of fortune? which of the benign fairies who watched over his natal hour has Mr. Fréchette to thank for his present success? How came it to pass that, though he was born a poet, he should have to undergo an ordeal like another great poet (whom posterity may specially claim as an historian) the author of the "Lays of Ancient Rome," of emancipating himself from his earthy—at one time not burdensome—thraldom before soaring on the wings of poesy to that lofty region, where his classic diction and lyric power attracted the attention of those worthy but fastidious gentlemen, yclept "The Forty Immortals of the French Academy." I have mentioned a very illustrious name in the Republic of Letters,—a name as dear to Britain as that of our Laureate ought to be to Canada—that of Macaulay—historian, essayist, poet. You all know how his parliamentary defeat as candidate for Edinburgh in 1847, rescued him forever from the "dismal swamp" of politics, providing his wondrous mind, with leisure to expand and mature, in the green fields of literature. If New France has not yet produced such a gorgeous genius as he, of whom all those who speak Chatham's tongue are so justly proud, it has however out of its sparse population of one million, put forth a representative whom Old France with its thirty- eight millions has deemed a fit subject to honour in an unmistakable way. Shall I tell you how, figuratively, if you should prefer, ended for Fréchette the "day of tumult"?

That Ignis Fatuus, ambition, has allured, as you are aware, more than one youthful fowler to an uncertain swampy hunting ground, called "politics." Mr. Fréchette was one of the unfortunate. This game preserve, I pronounce "uncertain" because owing to several inexplicable eventualities sportsmen innumerable, therefrom return empty handed, whilst others, Mr. Chairman, make up, we know, pretty good bags. The Son of Apollo, whilst thus hunting one gruesome, windy morning, fortunately for us, sank in a boggy, yielding quicksand. Luckily he extricated himself in time, and on reaching the margin of the swamp, there stood an old pet of his tethered as if waiting for its loved rider, a vigorous Norman or Percheron steed. Our friend bestrode him, cantered off, and never drew rein until he stood, panting perhaps, but a winner in the race, on the top of a mount, distant and of access arduous, called Parnassus.

In conclusion, Mr. LeMoine quoted the memorable lines from Macaulay, written the night when his parliamentary defeat at Edinburgh, in 1847, restored him to letters:—

The day of tumult, strife, defeat, was o'er, Worn out with toil, and noise, and scorn, and spleen, I slumbered and in slumber saw once more A room in an old mansion, long unseen.

That room, methought, was curtained from the light; Yet through the curtains shone the moon's cold ray Full on a cradle, where, in linen white, Sleeping life's first sleep, an infant lay.

* * * * *

And lo! the fairy queens who rule our birth Drew nigh to speak the new-born baby's doom: With noiseless step, which left no trace on earth, From gloom they came, and vanished into gloom.

Not deigning on the boy a glance to cast Swept careless by the gorgeous Queen of Gain. More scornful still, the Queen of Fashion passed, With mincing gait and sneer of cold disdain.

The Queen of Power tossed high her jewelled head And o'er her shoulder threw a wrathful frown. The Queen of Pleasure on the pillow shed Scarce one stray rose-leaf from her fragrant crown.

Still fay in long procession followed fay; And still the little couch remained unblest: But, when those wayward sprites had passed away, Came One, the last, the mightiest, and the best.

Oh! glorious lady, with the eyes of light, And laurels clustering round thy lofty brow, Who by the cradle's side didst watch that night, Warbling a sweet strange music, who wast thou?

"Yes, darling; let them go," so ran the strain: "Yes; let them go, gain, fashion, pleasure, power, And all the busy elves to whose domain Belongs the nether sphere, the fleeting hour.

"Without one envious sigh, one anxious scheme, The nether sphere, the fleeting hour assign. Mine is the world of thought, the world of dream, Mine all the past, and all the future mine.

* * * * *

"Of the fair brotherhood who share my grace, I, from thy natal day, pronounce thee free; And, if for some I keep a nobler place, I keep for none a happier than for thee.

* * * * *

"No; when on restless night dawns cheerless morrow, When weary soul and wasting body pine, Thine am I still in danger, sickness, sorrow, In conflict, obloquy, want, exile, thine;

"Thine where on mountain waves the snowbirds scream, Where more than Thule's winter barbs the breeze, Where scarce, through lowering clouds, one sickly gleam Lights the drear May-day of Antarctic seas;

* * * * *

"Amidst the din of all things fell and vile, Hate's yell, and envy's hiss, and folly's bray, Remember me!"

FORT ST. LOUIS, CHÂTEAU ST. LOUIS, HALDIMAND CASTLE.

CHÂTEAU ST. LOUIS.

In Professor Kalm's saunter round Quebec, his description of the public edifices, in 1749, is worthy of note:

"The Palace (Château Saint Louis) says he, is situated on the west or steepest side of the mountain, just, above the lower city. It is not properly a palace, but a large building of stone, two stories high, extending north and south. On the west side of it is a court-yard, surrounded partly with a wall, and partly with houses. On the east side, or towards the river, is a gallery as long as the whole building, and about two fathoms broad, paved with smooth flags, and included on the outside by iron rails, from whence the city and the river exhibit a charming prospect. This gallery serves as a very agreeable walk after dinner, and those who come to speak with the Governor-General wait here till he is at leisure. The palace is the lodging of the Governor-General of Canada, and a number of soldiers mount the guard before it, both at the gate and in the court-yard; and when the Governor, or the Bishop comes in or goes out, they must all appear in arms and beat the drum. The Governor-General has his own chapel where he hears prayers; however, he often goes to Mass at the church of the Récollets, which is very near the palace."

Such it seemed, in 1749, to the learned Swedish naturalist and philosopher Peter Kalm. How many rainbow tints, poetry and romance can lend to the same object, we may learn from the brilliant Niagara novelist, William Kirby! In his splendid historical novel "Le Chien d'Or," whilst venturing on the boldest flights of imagination, he thus epitomises some striking historical features of the state residence of the French Viceroys of Canada.

"The great hall of the Castle of St. Louis was palatial in its dimensions and adornment. The panels of wainscoting upon the walls were hung with paintings of historic interest—portraits of the Kings, Governors, Intendants and Ministers of State, who had been instrumental in the colonization of New France.

"Over the Governor's seat hung a gorgeous escutcheon of the Royal arms, draped with a cluster of white flags, sprinkled with golden lilies—the emblems of French sovereignty in the colony; among the portraits on the walls, beside those of the late (Louis XIV.,) and present King (Louis XV)—which hung on each side of the throne—might be seen the features of Richelieu, who first organized the rude settlements on the St. Lawrence in a body politic—a reflex of feudal France; and of Colbert, who made available its natural wealth and resources, by peopling it with the best scions of the Mother Land—the noblesse and peasantry of Normandy, Brittany and Aquitaine. There, too, might be seen the keen, bold features of Cartier, the first discoverer, and of Champlain, the first explorer of the new land, and the founder of Quebec. The gallant, restless Louis Buade de Frontenac was pictured there, side by side with his fair countess, called, by reason of her surpassing loveliness, "The Divine." Vaudreuil, too, who spent a long life of devotion to his country, and Beauharnois, who nourished its young strength until it was able to resist, not only the powerful confederacy of the Five Nations, but the still more powerful league of New England and the other English Colonies. There, also, were seen the sharp intellectual face of Laval, its first bishop, who organized the church and education in the colony; and of Talon, wisest of Intendants, who devoted himself to the improvement of agriculture, the increase of trade, and the well being of all the King's subjects in New France. And one more portrait was there, worthy to rank among the statesmen and rulers of New France—the pale, calm, intellectual features of Mère Marie de l'Incarnation—the first superior of the Ursulines of Quebec, who in obedience to heavenly visions, as she believed, left France to found schools for the children of the new colonists, and who taught her own womanly graces to her own sex, who were destined to become the future mothers of New France." (Page 109.)

It were difficult to group on a smaller and brighter canvass, so many of the glorious figures of our storied past.

In the days of de Montmagny and later, the Jesuits' Journal retraces gay scenes at the Château in connection with the festivals of the patron saints, of St. Joseph, whose anniversary occurred on the 19th March, and of St. John the Baptist, whose fête happened on the 24th June.

For a long time the old Château, was the meeting place of the Superior Council.

"On any Monday morning one would have found the Superior Council in session in the antechamber of the Governor's apartment, at the Château St. Louis. The members sat at a round table, at the head was the Governor, with the Bishop on his right and the Intendant on his left. The councillors sat in the order of their appointment, and the attorney-general also had his place at the board. As La Hontan says, they were not in judicial robes, but in their ordinary dress and all but the Bishop wore swords. The want of the cap and the gown greatly disturbed the Intendant Meules, and he begs the Minister to consider how important it is that the councillors, in order to inspire respect, should appear in public in long black robes, which on occasions of ceremony they should exchange for robes of red. He thinks that the principal persons of the colony should thus be induced to train up their children to so enviable a dignity; "and" he concludes, "as none of the councillors can afford to buy red robes, I hope that the King will vouchsafe to send out nine such; as for the black robes, they can furnish those themselves."

"The King did not respond, and the nine robes never arrived. The official dignity of the Council was sometimes exposed to trials against which even red gowns might have proven an insufficient protection. The same Intendant urges that the tribunal ought to be provided immediately with a house of its own."

"It is not decent," he says, "that it should sit in the Governor's antechamber any longer. His guards and valets make such a noise, that we cannot hear each other speak. I have continually to tell them to keep quiet, which causes them to make a thousand jokes at the councillors as they pass in and out. As the Governor and the council were often on ill terms, the official head of the colony could not always be trusted to keep his attendants on their good behaviour." (Parkman's Old Regime, p. 273.)

At other times, startling incidents threw a pall over the old pile. Thus in August 1666, we are told of the melancholy end of a famous Indian warrior: "Tracy invited the Flemish Bastard and a Mohawk chief named Agariata to his table, when allusion was made to the murder of Chasy. On this the Mohawk, stretching out his arm, exclaimed in a Braggart tone, "This is the hand that split the head of that young man." The indignation of the company may be imagined. Tracy told his insolent guest that he should never kill anybody else; and he was led out and hanged in presence of the Bastard. [33]

Varied in language and nationality were the guests of the Château in days of yore: thus in 1693, the proud old Governor Frontenac had at one and the same time Baron Saint Castin's Indian father-in-law, Madocawando, from Acadia, and "a gentleman of Boston, John Nelson, captured by Villebon, the nephew and heir of Sir Thomas Temple, in whose right he claimed the proprietorship of Acadia, under an old grant of Oliver Cromwell." (Parkman's Frontenac, p. 357.)

FORT ST. LOUIS

Ere one of the last vestiges of the ancien régime, Haldimand Castle, disappears, a few details culled from reliable sources may not be unacceptable, especially as by fire, repairs and the vicissitudes of time, the changes are so great, as to render difficult the delineation of what it originally formed part of in the past.

Grave misconceptions exist as to what constituted the stately residence of our former Governors. Many imagine that the famous Château St. Louis, was but one structure, whilst in reality, it was composed at one time of three, viz:—Fort St. Louis, Château St. Louis and Haldimand Castle, the present Normal School. The writer has succeeded in collecting together nine views of the Fort and Château St. Louis since the days of Champlain down to modern times. Champlain's "brass bell" is conspicuous in more than one of the designs.

According to Father DuCreux, the first fort erected by Champlain on the crest of the promontory, arx aedificata in promontarii cuspidine, was not placed on the site of Dufferin Terrace, but at the south-east point of the area, which is now occupied by the Grand Battery, north-east of the present Parliament building and looking down on Sault-au-Matelot street. Champlain subsequently removed it to a still more elevated site; its bastions, towers and ramparts surrounded the space on which the former Governor's residence, soldier's barracks, magazine, &c., were constructed.

"The fortress, says Bouchette, (Fort) of St. Louis covered about four acres of ground, and formed nearly a parallelogram; on the western side two strong bastions on each angle were connected by a curtain, in the centre of which was a sallyport: the other faces presented works of nearly a similar description, but of less dimensions." [34]

We may add that Fort St. Louis, shown on the plan of Quebec of 1660, published by Abbé Faillon, and more plainly exhibited on Jeffery's map of Quebec, published in London in 1760, disappears after the conquest. No mention is made of it in 1775, and still less in 1784, as a fortress.

Champlain, in his deposition, [35] sworn to, on the 9th Nov. 1629, in London, before the Right Worshipful Sir Henry Martin, Knight, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty, describes minutely, the armament and belongings of Fort St. Louis, on the 9th August 1629, when he surrendered it to the Kirkes: cannon such as they were, and ammunition he seems to have had in abundance, without forgetting what he styles "the murderers with their double boxes or charges," a not excessively deadly kind of mitrailleuse or Gatling gun, we should imagine; the Fort also contained a smith's forge, carpenter's tools, machinery for a windmill, and a handmill to grind corn, a brass bell—probably to sound the tocsin, or alarm, at the approach of the marauding savages of Stadacona, the array of muskets—(thirteen complete)—is not formidable. Who was the maker of his pistol-proof coats-of-mail?

NEW CHÂTEAU ST. LOUIS.

"Such dusky grandeur clothed the height Where the huge castle holds its state, And all the steep slope down Whose ridgy back heaves to the sky, Piled deep and massy, close and high Mine own romantic town." (Scott's Marmion.)

"Few circumstances of discussion and enquiry, says Hawkins, are more interesting than the history and fate of ancient buildings, especially if we direct our attention to the fortunes and vicissitudes of those who were connected with them. The temper, genius and pursuits of an historical era are frequently delineated in the features of remarkable edifices, nor can any one contemplate them without expressing curiosity, concerning those who first formed the plan, and afterwards created and tenanted the structure. These observations apply particularly to the subject of this chapter.

The history of the ancient Castle of St. Louis, or Fort of Quebec, for above two centuries the seat of Government in the Province (of Quebec), affords subjects of great and stirring interest during its several periods. The hall of the old Fort during the weakness of the colony was often a scene of terror and despair at the inroads of the persevering and ferocious Iroquois, who, having passed or overthrown all the French outposts, more than once threatened the fort itself and massacred some friendly Indians within sight of its walls. Here, too, in intervals of peace, were laid those benevolent plans for the religious instruction and conversion of the savages which at one time distinguished the policy of the ancient governors. At a later era, when, under the protection of the French kings, the province had acquired the rudiments of military strength and power, the Castle of St. Louis was remarkable as having been the site whence the French governors exercised an immense sovereignty, extending from the Gulf of St. Lawrence, along the shores of that noble river, its magnificent lakes, and down the course of the Mississippi to its outlet below New Orleans. The banner which first streamed from the battlements of Quebec was displayed from a chain of forts which protected the settlements throughout this vast extent of country, keeping the English colonies in constant alarm, and securing the fidelity of the Indian nations. During this period the council-chamber of the castle was the scene of many a midnight vigil [36]—many a long deliberation and deep-laid project to free the continent from the intrusion of the ancient rival of France and assert the supremacy of the Gallic lily. At another era, subsequent to the surrender of Quebec to the British armies, and until the recognition of the independence of the United States, the extent of empire of the government of which the Castle of Quebec was the principal seat, comprehended the whole American continent north of Mexico. It is astonishing to reflect for a moment, to how small, and, as to size, comparatively insignificant an island in the Atlantic ocean this gigantic territory was once subject. Here also was rendered to the representative of the French king, with all its ancient forms, the fealty and homage of the noblesse and military retainers, who held possessions in the province under the crown. A feudal ceremony, suited to early times, which imposed a real and substantial obligation on those who performed it, not to be violated without forfeiture and dishonour. The king of Great Britain having succeeded to the rights of the French crown, this ceremony is still retained.

"Fealty and homage is rendered at this day (1834) by the seigniors to the Governor, as the representative of the sovereign, in the following form: His Excellency being in full dress and seated in a state chair, surrounded by his staff, and attended by the Attorney-General, the seignior, in an evening dress and wearing a sword, is introduced into his presence by the Inspector General of the Royal Domain and Clerk of the Land Roll, and having delivered up his sword, and kneeling upon one knee before the Governor, places his right hand between his and repeats the ancient oath of fidelity; after which a solemn act is drawn up in a register kept for that purpose, which is signed by the Governor and the seignior, and countersigned by the proper officers." —(Hawkin's Picture of Quebec.)

The historian, Ferland, Notes sur les Registres de Notre Dame de Quebec, relates one of the earliest instances (1634) of the manner the foi et hommage was rendered. It is that of Jean Guion (Dion?) vassal of Robert Giffard, seignior of Beauport: "Guion presents himself in the presence of a notary, at the principal door of the manor-house of Beauport; having knocked, one Boulle, farmer of Giffard, opened the door and in reply to Guion's question, if the seignior was at home, replied that he was not, but that he, Boulle, was empowered to receive acknowledgments and homage for the vassals in his name. After the which reply, the said Guion, being at the principal door, placed himself on his knees, on the ground, with bare head and without sword or spurs, and said three times these words: 'Monsieur de Beauport, Monsieur de Beauport, Monsieur de Beauport, I bring you the faith and homage which I am bound to bring you on account of my fief Du Buisson, which I hold as a man of faith of your seigniory of Beauport, declaring that I offer to pay my seigniorial and feudal dues in their season, and demanding of you to accept me in faith and homage as aforesaid.'" (Parkman's Old Regime, p 246.)

"Of these buildings (says Bouchette), the Castle of St. Louis being the most prominent object on the summit of the rock—will obtain the first notice.

"It is a handsome stone building seated near the edge of a precipice, * * and supported towards the steep by a solid work of masonry, rising nearly half the height of the edifice, and surmounted by a spacious gallery, * * * The whole pile is 162 feet long by 45 feet broad, and three stories high * * * Each extremity is terminated by a small wing, giving to the whole an easy and regular character.

"It was built shortly after the city was fortified with solid works, * * *—for a long series of years it was neglected, so much as to be suffered to go to decay, and ceasing to be the residence of the Commander-in-Chief, was used only for the offices of Government until the year 1808, when a resolution passed the Provincial Parliament for repairing and beautifying it; the sum of £1,000 was at the same time voted, and the work forthwith commenced.

"The money applied was inadequate to defray the expenses—upon the grand scale the improvements were commenced, but an additional grant was made to cover the whole charge, * * *

"Sir James Craig took possession of it, etc.

"The part properly called the Château occupies one side of the square or court-yard; on the opposite side stands an extensive building (Haldimand Castle) divided among the offices of Government, both civil and military, that are under the immediate control of the Governor, it contains also a handsome suite of apartments where the balls and other public entertainments of the court are always given. During the dilapidated state of the Château, this building was occupied by the family of the Governors. Both the exterior and the interior are in a very plain style, it forms part of the curtain that ran between the two exterior bastions of the old fortress of St. Louis, adjoining it are several other buildings of smaller size, appropriated to similar uses, a guard house, stables, and extensive riding house, of these works only a few vestiges remain, except the eastern wall, which is kept in solid repair. The new guard house and stables, both fronting the parade, have a very neat exterior, the first forms the arc of a circle and has a colonnade before it, the stables are attached to the riding house, which is spacious, and in every way well adapted to its intended purpose, it is also used for drilling the city militia"— (Bouchette's Topography of Lower Canada, 1815, p. 431-4.)

The brilliant biographer of "Frontenac" and author of the, "Old Regime," thus sums up from the official correspondence of the French Governors and Intendants the foundation, reconstructions and alterations in the Fort and Château.

"This structure," says Francis Parkman, "destined to be famous in Canadian history, was originally built by Samuel de Champlain. The cellar still remains under the wooden platform of the present Durham (now Dufferin) Terrace. Behind the château was the area of the fort, now an open square. In the most famous epoch of its history, the time of Frontenac, the château was old and dilapidated, and the fort was in sad condition." "The walls are all down," writes Frontenac in 1681, "there are neither gates nor guard-houses, the whole place is open." On this the new Intendant Meules was ordered to report what repairs were needed. Meanwhile la Barre had come to replace Frontenac, whose complaints he repeats. He says that the wall is in ruins for a distance of a hundred and eighty toises. "The workmen ask 6,000 francs to repair it. I could get it done in France for 2,000. The cost frightens me. I have done nothing."—(La Barre au Ministre, 1682). Meules, however, received orders to do what was necessary, and, two years later, he reports that he had rebuilt the wall, repaired the fort, and erected a building, intended at first for the council, within the area. This building stood near the entrance of the present St. Louis street, and was enclosed by an extension of the fort wall.

Denonville next appears on the scene, with his usual disposition to fault-finding. "The so-called château," he says (1685), "is built of wood, and is dry as a match. There is a place where with a bundle of straw it could be set on fire at any time,… some of the gates will not close, there is no watchtower, and no place to shoot from."— (Denonville au Ministre, 20 Août, 1685).

When Frontenac resumed the Government, he was much disturbed at the condition of the château, and begged for slate to cover the roof, as the rain was coming in everywhere. At the same time the Intendant Champigny reports it to be rotten and ruinous. This was in the year made famous by the English attack, and the dramatic scene in the hall of the old building when Frontenac defied the envoy of Admiral Phipps, whose fleet lay in the river below. In the next summer, 1691, Frontenac again asks for slate to cover the roof, and for 15,000 or 20,000 francs to repair his mansion.

In the next year the king promised to send him 12,000 francs, in instalments. Frontenac acknowledges the favour, and says that he will erect a new building, and try in the meantime not to be buried under the old one, as he expects to be every time the wind blows hard.— (Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Septembre, 1692). A misunderstanding with the Intendant, who had control of the money, interrupted the work. Frontenac writes the next year that he had been "obliged to send for carpenters during the night, to prop up the château, lest he should be crushed under the ruins." The wall of the fort was, however, strengthened, and partly rebuilt to the height of sixteen feet, at a cost of 13,629 francs. It was a time of war, and a fresh attack was expected from the English.—(Frontenac et Champigny au Ministre, 4 Nov, 1693). In the year 1854, the workmen employed in demolishing a part of this wall, adjoining the garden of the château, found a copper plate bearing an inscription in Latin as follows—

D. O. M. Anno reparatae salutis Millesimo sexcentesimo nonagesimo tertio Regnante Augustissimo Invictissimo ac Christianissimo Galliae Rege Rege Ludovico Magno XIIII Excellentissimus ac Illustrissimus Dnûs Dnux Ludovicus de Buade Comes de Frontenac, totius Novae Franciae Semel et iterum Provex, Ab ipsomet, triennio ante rebellibus Novae Angliae incolis, hanc civitatem Quebecensem, Obsidentibus, pulsis, fusis ac penitus Devictis, Et iterum hocce supradicto anno obsidionem Minitantibus Hanc arcem cum adjectis munimentis In totius patriae tutelam populi salutem Nec non in perfidae, tum Deo, tum suo Regi Legitimo, gentis iterandum confusionem Sumptibus regies oedificari Curavit, Ac primarium hunc lapidem Posuit,

JOANNES SOULLARD, Sculpsit

(Translation)

"In the year of Redemption, 1693, under the reign of the Most August, Most Invincible, and Most Christian King of France, Louis the Great, fourteenth of that name, the Most Excellent Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, Governor for the second time of all New France, seeing that the rebellious inhabitants of New England, who three years ago were repulsed, routed, and completely vanquished by him, when they besieged this town of Quebec, are threatening to renew the siege this very year, has caused to be built, at the expense of the King, this Citadel, with the fortifications adjoining thereto, for the defence of the country, for the security of the people, and for confounding again that nation perfidious alike towards its God and its lawful King, and he (Frontenac) has placed here this first stone."

A year later, the rebuilding of the château was begun in earnest. Frontenac says that nothing but a miracle has saved him from being buried under its ruins, that he has pulled everything down, and begun again from the foundation, but that the money has given out.— (Frontenac au Ministre, 4 Nov., 1694) Accordingly, he and the Intendant sold six licenses for the fur trade, but at a rate unusually low, for they brought only 4,400 francs.

The King hearing of this sent 6,000 more. Frontenac is profuse in thanks, and at the same time begs for another 6,000 francs, "to complete a work which is the ornament and beauty of the city" (1696). The Minister sent 8,000 more, which was soon gone; and Frontenac drew on the royal treasurer for 5,047 in addition. The Intendant complains of his extravagance, and says that he will have nothing but perfection; and that besides the château, he has insisted on building two guard-houses, with mansard roofs, at the two sides of the gate. "I must do as he says," adds the Intendant, "or there will be a quarrel." (Champigny au Ministre, 13 Oct., 1697). In a letter written two days after, Frontenac speaks with great complacency of his château, and asks for another 6,000 francs to finish it. As the case was urgent he sold six more licenses at 1,000 francs each, but he died too soon to see the completion of his favorite work (1698). The new château was not finished before 1700, and even then it had no cistern. In a pen sketch of Quebec, on a manuscript map of 1699, preserved in the Dépôt de Cartes de la Marine, the new château is distinctly represented. In front is a gallery or balcony resting on a wall and buttresses at the edge of the cliff. Above the gallery is a range of high windows, along the face of the building, and over these a range of small windows and a mansard roof. In the middle is a porch opening on the gallery, and on the left extends a battery, on the ground now occupied by a garden along the brink of the cliff. A water-colour sketch of the château taken in 1804, from the land side, by William Morrison, Jr., is in my possession. [37] The building appears to have been completely remodelled in the interval. It is two stories in height, the mansard roof is gone, and a row of attic windows surmount the second story. In 1809 it was again remodelled at a cost of ten thousand pounds sterling, a third story was added, and the building, resting on the buttresses which still remain under the balustrade of Durham (Dufferin) Terrace, had an imposing effect when seen from the river. It was destroyed by fire in 1834.—(Parkman's Old Regime.)

HALDIMAND CASTLE

After sketching Fort St. Louis, begun in 1624,—a refuge against the Iroquois, and whose bastions rendered useless disappeared shortly after the conquest, as well as giving the history of the Château St. Louis proper, destroyed by fire 23rd January, 1834, it behoves us to close the narrative with a short account of the origin of the wing or new building still extant, and used since 1871 as the Normal School. This structure generally, though improperly styled the Old Château, dates back to the last century. On the 5th May, 1784, the corner stone was laid with suitable ceremonies, by the Governor-General, Sir Frederick Haldimand; the Château St. Louis had been found inadequate in size for the various purposes required, viz.: a Vice-regal residence, a Council room for the Legislative, the Executive and Judiciary Councils, &c.

The Province was rapidly expanding, as well as the Viceroy's levees, official balls, public receptions, &c.; suites of rooms and stately chambers, became indispensible.

The following incident occurred during its construction:—On the 17th September, 1784, the workmen at the Château in levelling the yard, dug up a large stone with a Maltese cross engraved on it, bearing the date "1647." One of Wolfe's veterans, Mr. James Thompson, Overseer of Public Works, got the masons to lay the stone in the cheek of the gate of the new building. A wood-cut of the stone, gilt at the expense of Mr. Ernest Gagnon, City Councillor in 1872, appeared in the Morning Chronicle of the 24th June, 1880. Let us hope when the site shall be transferred, that the Hon. Premier will have a niche reserved for this historic relic as was so appropriately done by Sir H L Langevin, for the "Chien d'Or" tablet when the new city Post Office was built in 1871-3.

Haldimand Castle soon became a building of note. On the 19th January, 1787, the anniversary of the Queen's Birthday—Charlotte of Mecklenburg, consort of George III., the first grand reception was held there. In the following summer, the future monarch of Great Britain, William IV., the sailor prince, aged 22 years, visited his father's loyal Canadian lieges. Prince William Henry had then landed, on 14th August, in the Lower Town from H. M. frigate "Pegasus." Traditions repeat that the young Duke of Clarence enjoyed himself amazingly among the beau monde of Quebec, having eyes for more than the scenic beauties of the "Ancient Capital," not unlike other worthy Princes who came after him.

"He took an early opportunity of visiting the Ursulines, and by his polite and affable manner quite won the hearts of those worthy ladies."—(Histoire des Ursulines, vol. III, p. 183.)

Sorel, in honour of his visit, changed its name into Fort William Henry. Among other festivities at Quebec, Lord Dorchester, Governor-General, the successor to Sir Frederick Haldimand, on the 21st August, 1787, treated H. R. Highness to a grand pyrotechnic display. "Prince William Henry and his company, being seated on an exalted platform, erected by the Overseer of Public Works, James Thompson, over a powder magazine joining the end of the new building (Haldimand Castle), while the fireworks were displayed on an eminence fronting it below the old Citadel."—(Thompson's Diary.)

THE QUEBEC AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

In the stately reception room of the Castle was founded, in 1789, the Quebec Agricultural Society.

"On the 6th April, the rank and fashion, nobility and clergy of all denominations, as well as commoners, crowded at the Château St. Louis, to enter their names as subscribers to the Quebec Agricultural Society, warmly patronized by his Excellency Lord Dorchester, Hon. Hugh Finlay, Deputy Postmaster-General, was chosen Secretary.

The Quebec Gazette of the 23rd April, 1789, will supply the names, the list is suggestive on more points than one.

Rev. Philip Tosey, Military M. Pierre Florence, Rivière Chaplain. Ouelle T. Monk, Atty-Genl. T. Arthur Coffin G. B. Taschereau, Esq. Capt. Chas. St. Ours. Peter Stewart, Esq. Aug. Glapion, Sup. Jésuites. Malcolm Fraser, Esq. A. Hubert, Curé de Québec. William Lindsay, Esq. Juchereau Duchesnay, Esq. J. B. Deschêneaux, Esq. L. de Salaberry, Esq. John Lees, Esq. P. Panet, P.C. John Renaud, Esq. M. Grave, Supérieur, Séminaire John Young, Esq. John Craigie, Esq. Mathew Lymburner, Esq. Berthelot D'Artigny, Esq. John Blackwood, Esq. Perrault l'Aine, Esq. M. L. Germain, fils. George Allsopp, Esq. A. Panet, Esq. Robert Lester, Esq. P. L. Panet, Esq. Alex. Davidson, Esq. A. Gaspé, Esq., St. Jean Port The Chief Justice (W. Smith). Joly. Hon. Hugh Finlay. M. Ob. Aylwin. Hon. Thos. Dunn. The Canadian Bishop. Hon. Edw. Harrison. M. Bailly, Coadjutor. Hon. John Collins. T. Mervin Nooth, Dr. Hon. Adam Mabane. Henry Motz, Dr. Hon. J. G. C. DeLéry. Jenkins Williams. Hon. Geo. Pownall. Isaac Ogden, Judge of Admiralty. Hon. Henry Caldwell. Messire Panet, Curé of Rivière Hon. William Grant. Ouelle. Hon. Francois Baby. Sir Thomas Mills. Hon. Saml. Holland. François Dambourges, Esq. Hon. Geo. Davidson. Capt. Fraser, 34th Regt. Hon. Chas. De Lanaudière. Kenelm Chandler, Esq. Hon. LeCompte Dupré. J. T. Cugnet, Esq. Major Mathews. J. F. Cugnet, Esq. Capt. Rotson.

THE LOYAL LEAGUE.

Could that patriotic feeling which, ten years later, in 1799, enlisted Quebecers of all creeds to support Great Britain, then at war with regicide France, have been inspired by the sturdy old chieftain, who hailed from the Castle,—General Robert Prescott? It was indeed a novel idea, that loyal league, which exhibited both R. C and Anglican Bishops, each putting their hands in their pockets to help Protestant England to rout the armies of the "eldest son of the Church," represented by the First Consul; so general and so intense was the horror inspired by revolutionary and regicide France.

Though in the past, as at present, attempts were occasionally made to stir up discord amongst our citizens, there appears more than once, traces of enlarged patriotism and loyalty to the mother country, animating all classes. This seems conspicuous in the public invitation by men of both nationalities, inserted in a public journal, for 1799, to form a national fund in order to help England with the war waged against France; this invitation not only bears the signatures of leading English citizens, but also those of several Quebecers of French extraction, rejoicing in old and historic names such as the following."—(Quebec, Past and Present, page 244.)

Hon. William Osgood, C. Justice. John Young. Hon. Francois Baby. Louis Dunière. Hon. Hugh Finlay. J. Sewell. Hon. J. A. Panet. John Craigie. Hon. Thos. Dunn. Wm. Grant. Hon. Ant. Juchereau Duchesnay Rob. Lester. Hon. George Pownall. Jas. Sheppard, Sheriff.

Mr. Panet, one of the signers, was Speaker of our Commons for twenty- two years later on. The city journals contain the names and amounts subscribed, as follows:—

J. Quebec ……………………………. £300 0 0 Wm. Osgood …………………………… 300 0 0 George Pownall ……………………….. 100 guineas Henry Caldwell ……………………….. £300 0 0 George W. Taylor, .. per annum during war… 5 0 0 A. J. Baby, …………. " " …….. 5 0 0 Geo. Heriot, ………… " " …….. 50 0 0 Chs. De Léry, ……….. " " …….. 12 0 0 John Blackwood, ……… " " …….. 10 0 0 Wm. Burns, ………….. " " …….. 20 0 0 Le Séminaire de Quebec, . " " …….. 50 0 0 J. A. Panet, ………… " " …….. 30 0 0 John Wurtele, ……….. " " …….. 4 0 0 Wm. Grant, ………….. " " …….. 32 4 5 Wm. Bouthillier, …….. " " …….. 3 10 0 Juchereau Duchesnay, …. " " …….. 20 0 0 James Grossman, ……… " " …….. 10 0 0 Henry Brown, ………… " " …….. 0 10 0 Thos. Dunn, …………. " " …….. 66 0 0 Peter Boatson, ………. " " …….. 23 6 8 Antoine Nadeau, ……… " " …….. 0 6 0 Robert Lester, ………. " " …….. 30 0 0 Le Coadjutor de Quebec, . " " …….. 25 0 0 Thos. Scott, ………… " " …….. 20 0 0 Chs. Stewart, ……….. " " …….. 11 2 2 Samuel Holland, ……… " " …….. 20 0 0 Jenkin Williams, …….. " " …….. 55 11 1 Francois Baby, ………. " " …….. 40 0 0 G. Elz. Taschereau, ….. " " …….. 10 0 0 M. Taschereau, Curé de St. Croix, " …….. 5 0 0 Thos. Taschereau, ……. " " …….. 5 0 0 Monro & Bell, ……….. " " …….. 100 0 0 J. Stewart, …………. " " …….. 11 13 4 Louis Dumon, ………… " " …….. 23 6 8 Rev. Frs. de Montmollin, " " …….. 10 0 0 Xavier de Lanaudière, … " " …….. 23 6 8 Peter Stewart, ………. " " …….. 11 2 2 Messire Raimbault, Ange-Gardien, " …….. 4 13 5 Messire Villase, Ste. Marie, " …….. 4 13 4 Messire Bernard Panet, Rivière Ouelle, ….. 5 0 0 Messire Jacques Panet, Islet, " ……. 25 0 0

See Quebec Gazette, 4th July, 1799. See Quebec Gazette, 29th August, 1799.

AN ANTIQUE STONE.

"Praetorian here, Praetorian there, I mind the bigging o't"— (The Antiquary)

[Illustration: THE OLD CHÂTEAU STONE]

Some years back a spicy little controversy was waged among our Quebec antiquarians as to the origin and real date of the stone in the wall adjoining the Old Château, the two last figures of the inscription being indistinct.

Was it 1646, 1647 or 1694? After deep research, profound cogitation and much ink used in the public prints, 1647, the present date, prevailed, and Mr. Ernest Gagnon, then a City Councillor, had this precious relic restored and gilt at his cost.

The date 1647 also agrees with the Jesuits Relation, which states that, in 1647, under Governor de Montmagny, one of the bastions was lined with stone; additional light was thrown on this controversy, by the inspection of a deed of agreement, bearing date at Fort St. Louis, 19th October, 1646, exhumed from the Court House vaults, and signed by the stonemasons who undertook to revetir de murailles un bastion qui est au bas de l'allee du Mont Caluaire, descendant au Fort St. Louis, for which work they were to receive from Monsieur Bourdon, engineer and surveyor, 2,000 livres and a puncheon of wine.

This musty, dry-as-dust, old document gives rise to several enquiries. One not the least curious, is the luxurious mode of life, which the puncheon of wine supposes among stonemasons at such a remote period of Quebec history as 1646. Finally, it was decided that this stone and cross were intended to commemorate the year in which the Fort St. Louis Bastion, begun in 1646, was finished, viz., 1647.

This historic stone, which has nothing in common with the

"Stone of Blarney On the banks of Killarney,"

cropped up again more than a century later, in the days when Sergeant Jas. Thompson, one of Wolfe's veterans, was overseer of public works at Quebec—(he died in 1830, aged 98.) We read in his unpublished diary. "The cross in the wall, September 17th, 1784. The miners at the Château, in levelling the yard, dug up a large stone, from which I have described the annexed figure (identical with the present), I could wish it was discovered soon enough to lay conspicuously in the wall of the new building, (Haldimand Castle), in order to convey to posterity the antiquity of the Château St. Louis. However, I got the masons to lay the stone in the cheek of the gate of new building." Extract from James Thompson's Diary, 1759-1830.

Col. J. Hale, grandfather to our esteemed fellow townsman, E. J. Hale, Esq., and one of Wolfe's companions-at-arms, used to tell how he had succeeded in having this stone saved from the débris of the Château walls, and restored a short time before the Duke of Clarence, the sailor prince (William IV), visited Quebec in 1787.

Occasionally, the Castle opened its portals to rather unexpected but, nor the less welcome, visitors. On the 13th March, 1789, His Excellency Lord Dorchester had the satisfaction of entertaining a stalwart woodsman and expert hunter, Major Fitzgerald of the 54th Regiment, then stationed at St. John, New Brunswick, the son of a dear old friend, Lady Emilia Mary, daughter of the Duke of Richmond. This chivalrous Irishman was no less than the dauntless Lord Edward Fitzgerald, fifth son of the Duke of Leinster, the true but misguided patriot, who closed his promising career in such a melancholy manner in prison, during the Irish rebellion in 1798. Lord Edward had walked up on snowshoes through the trackless forest, from New Brunswick to Quebec, a distance of 175 miles, in twenty-six days, accompanied by a brother officer, Mr. Brisbane, a servant and two "woodsmen." This feat of endurance is pleasantly described by himself.

Tom Moore, in his biography of this generous, warmhearted son of Erin, among other dutiful epistles addressed by Lord Edward to his mother, has preserved the following, of which we shall give a few extracts:—

QUEBEC, March 14, 1789.

DEAREST MOTHER,—I got here yesterday after a very long and, what some people would think, a very tedious and fatiguing journey; but to me it was, at most, only a little fatiguing, and to make up for that, it was delightful and quite new. We were thirty days on our march, twenty-six of which we were in the woods, and never saw a soul but our own party.

You must know we came through a part of the country that had always been reckoned impassable. In short, instead of going a long way about, we determined to try and get straight through the woods, and see what kind of country it was. I believe I mentioned my party in a letter to Ogilvie (his step-father) before I left St. Anne's or Fredericton: it was an officer of the regiment, Tonny, and two woodsmen. The officer and I used to draw part of our baggage day about, and the other day steer (by compass), which we did so well, that we made the point we intended within ten miles. We were only wrong in computing our distances and making them a little too great, which obliged us to follow a new course, and make a river, which led us round to Quebec, instead of going straight to it. * * * I expect my leave by the first despatches. * * * I shall not be able to leave this part of the world till May, as I cannot get my leave before that. How I do long to see you. Your old love, Lord Dorchester, is very civil to me. I must, though, tell you a little more of the journey. After making the river, we fell in with some savages, and travelled with them to Quebec; they were very kind to us, and said we were "all one brother," "all one indian." They fed us the whole time we were with them. You would have laughed to have seen me carrying an old squaw's pack, which was so heavy I could hardly waddle under it. However, I was well paid whenever we stopped, for she always gave me the best bits and most soup, and took as much care of me as if I had been her own son; in short, I was quite l'enfant chéri. We were quite sorry to part: the old lady and gentleman both kissed me very heartily. I gave the old lady one of Sophia's silver spoons, which pleased her very much. When we got here, you may guess what figures we were. We had not shaved nor washed during the journey; our blanket-coats and trousers all worn out and pieced, in short, we went to two or three houses and they would not let us in. There was one old lady, exactly the hôtesse in Gil Blas, elle me prit la mesure du pied jusqu'à la tête, and told me there was one room, without a stove or bed, next a billiard room, which I might have if I pleased, and when I her told we were gentlemen, she very quietly said, "I dare say you are," and off she went. However, at last we got lodgings in an ale house, and you may guess ate well and slept well, and went next day well dressed, with one of Lord Dorchester's aide-de-camps to triumph over the old lady; in short, exactly the story in Gil Blas.

We are quite curiosities here after our journey, some think we were mad to undertake it, some think we were lost; some will have it we were starved; there were a thousand lies, but we are safe and well, enjoying rest and good eating, most completely. One ought really to take these fillips now and then, they make one enjoy life a great deal more.

The hours here are a little inconvenient to us as yet; whenever we wake at night we want to eat, the same as in the woods, and as soon as we eat we want to sleep. In our journey we were always up two hours before day, to load and get ready to march, we used to stop between three and four, and it generally took us from that till night to shovel out the snow, cut wood, cook and get ready for night, so that immediately after our suppers we were asleep, and whenever any one awakes in the night, he puts some wood on the fire, and eats a bit before he lies down again; but for my part, I was not much troubled with waking in the night.

"I really do think there is no luxury equal to that of lying before a good fire on a good spruce bed, after a good supper, and a hard moose chase in a fine clear frosty moonlit starry night. But to enter into the spirit of this, you must understand what a moose chase is: the man himself runs the moose down by pursuing the track. Your success in killing depends on the number of people you have to pursue and relieve one another in going first (which is the fatiguing part of snow- shoeing), and on the depth and hardness of the snow, for when the snow is hard and has a crust, the moose cannot get on, as it cuts his legs, and then he stops to make battle. But when the snow is soft, though it be above his belly, he will go on three, four or five days, for then the man cannot get on so fast, as the snow is heavy and he only gets his game by perseverance—an Indian never gives him up." Then follows a most graphic description of a hunt—closing with the death of the noble quarry.

"Pray," continues Lord Edward, "write to uncle Richmond, I would write if there was time, but I have only time to fill up this."

Tom Moore adds, that the plan of Lord Edward's route through the woods was forwarded from Quebec to the Duke of Richmond, by Mr. Hamilton Moore, in a letter dated Quebec, May 22nd, 1789, this letter closes with the following:—"Lord Edward has met with the esteem and admiration of all here."

In a subsequent epistle to Mr. Ogilvie, his step-father, dated "Quebec, 12th April, 1789," Lord Edward mentions the death of the Lieut.-Governor of Quebec (Major Patrick Bellew). "It is a place of £1,600 a year, and I think would do well for Charles. The day before he died I was in treaty for his Lieut.-Colonelcy in the 44th Regiment."

Later, on 4th May, 1789, he writes from Montreal, and speaks gratefully of the open-handed hospitality extended to him, and of the kind lady friends he met at Quebec. (Page 67.)

Alas! generous youth, what foul fiend, three year later, inspired you, with Tom Paine as your adviser, to herd at Paris with the regicide crew, and howl the "Carmagnole" and "Çà Ira," with the hideous monsters who revelled in blood under the holy name of liberty?

Again, one follows the patriotic Irish nobleman, in 1793, plighting his faith to a lovely and noble bride, Pamela Sims, the youthful daughter of the Duke of Orleans, by Madame de Genlis.

A few short years and the ghastly phantom of death, in a dismal prison, in the dearly loved land of his birth, spreads a pall over what might have been to his unfortunate country, a career full of honour. Alas! brave, noble Edward! Poor, pretty little Pamela, alas!

The Castle had its sunshine and its shadows. Many still survive to tell of an impressive, and gloomy pageant. On the 4th September, 1819, previous to their transfer to the chancel of the Anglican Cathedral, were exposed in state in the Château, the mortal remains of the late Governor-General, His Grace Charles Gordon Lennox, Duke of Richmond, Lennox and Aubigny, who, on the 28th August, 1819, had died of hydrophobia.

The revolving wheel of time ushers in, with his successor, other actors, and other scenes. One likes to recall the presence there of a graceful and noble Chatelaine, his daughter, Lady Sarah Lennox, the devoted wife of the administrator of the Government of Lower Canada, Sir Peregrine Maitland, "a tall, grave officer, says Dr. Scadding, always in military undress, his countenance ever wearing a mingled expression of sadness and benevolence, like that which one may observe on the face of the predecessor of Louis Philippe, Charles the Tenth," whose current portraits recall, not badly, the whole head and figure of this early Governor of Upper Canada.

"In an outline representation which we (Dr. Scadding) accidentally possessed, of a panorama of the battle of Waterloo, on exhibition in London, the 1st Foot Guards were conspicuously to be seen, led on by 'Major General Sir Peregrine Maitland.'" [38]

With persons of wider knowledge, Sir Peregrine was invested With further associations. Besides being the royal representative in these parts, he was the son-in-law of Charles Gordon Lennox, fourth Duke of Richmond, a name that stirred chivalrous feelings in early Canadians of both Provinces; for the Duke had come to Canada as Governor-in- Chief, with a grand reputation acquired as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, and great benefits were expected, and probably would have been realized, from his administration, had it been of long continuance. But he had been suddenly removed by an excruciating death. Whilst on a tour of inspection in the Upper Province, he had been fatally attacked by hydrophobia, occasioned by the bite of a pet fox. The injury had been received at Sorel; its terrible effects were fatally experienced at a place near the Ottawa river called Richmond.

Some of the prestige of the deceased Duke continued to adhere to Sir Peregrine Maitland, for he had married the Duke's daughter, a graceful and elegant woman, who was always at his side here (York, now Toronto), and at Stanford Cottage across the lake. She bore a name not unfamiliar in the domestic annals of George III., who once, it is said, was enamored of a beautiful Lady Sarah Lennox, grandmother, as we suppose, or some other near relative of the Lady Sarah Lennox here before us. However, conversationists whispered about (in confidence) something supposed to be unknown to the general public, that the match between Sir Peregrine and Lady Sarah had been effected in spite of the Duke. The report was that there had been an elopement, and it was naturally supposed that the party of the sterner sex bad been the most active agent in the affair. To say the truth, however, in this instance it was the lady who precipitated matters. The affair occurred at Paris, soon after the Waterloo campaign. The Duke's final determination against Sir Peregrine's proposals having been announced, the daughter suddenly withdrew from the father's roof, and fled to the lodgings of Sir Peregrine, who instantly retired to other quarters. The upshot of the whole thing, at once romantic and unromantic, included a marriage and a reconciliation, and eventually a Lieutenant- Governorship for the son-in-law, under the Governorship-in-Chief of the father, both despatched together to undertake the discharge of vice-regal functions in a distant colony. At the time of his marriage with Lady Sarah Lennox, Sir Peregrine had been for some ten years a widower. [39] After the death of the Duke of Richmond, Sir Peregrine became administrator, for a time of the general government of British North America.

One of the Duke of Richmond's sons was lost in the ill-fated steamer President in 1840. In December, 1824, Sir Peregrine revisited Quebec with Sir Francis Burton, Lieutenant-Governor, in the Swiftsure, steamer escorting some very distinguished tourists. A periodical notices the arrivals at the old Château as follows:—

"Sir Peregrine is accompanied by Lord Arthur Lennox, Mr. Maitland, Colonels Foster, Lightfoot, Coffin and Talbot, with the Hon. E. G. Stanley (from 1851 to 1869 Earl of Derby), grandson of Earl Derby, M. P. for Stockbridge; John E. Denison, Esq., (subsequently Speaker of the House of Commons), M. P. for Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and James S. Wortley, Esq. (afterwards Lord Wharncliffe), M. P. for Bossiney in Cornwall. The three latter gentlemen are upon a tour in this country from England, and we are happy to learn, that they have expressed themselves as being highly gratified with all they have hitherto seen in Canada."—(Canadian Review, 1824.)

Quebecers will be pleased to learn that the name of Sir Peregrine Maitland is pleasantly preserved by means of Maitland Scholarships in a grammar school for natives at Madras, and by a Maitland Prize in the University of Cambridge. Sir Peregrine, as patron of education, opened an era of progress which his successors Lords Elgin, Dufferin and Lorne have continued in a most munificent manner.

A curious glimpse of high life at Quebec, in the good old days of Lord Dalhousie, is furnished in a letter addressed to Delta, of Blackwood's Magazine, by John Galt, the novelist, the respected father of our gifted statesman, Sir Alexander Tilloch Galt. [40]

The talented author of the "Annals of the Parish," after expatiating on the dangers he had that day incurred in crossing over from Levis to Quebec in a canoe, among the ice-floes, thus alludes to the winter amusements:—

QUEBEC, 22nd February, 1827.

MY DEAR SIR,—I am under very great obligations to you. A copy of the "Laird" having come to the castle from the New York publishers, Lady Dalhousie lent it to me. * * * I am much pleased with Quebec. It is at present filled with Highland regiments, in which I have many acquaintances and the hospitality of the other inhabitants is also unbounded, for the winter suspends all business, and pleasure is conducted as if it were business. The amateurs have a theatre, and I wrote a piece for them, in which a Londoner, a Glasgow merchant, an Irish girl, a Yankee family and a Highlander were introduced. It was adapted entirely to the place, and in quiz of a very agreeable custom —of everybody calling on strangers. Dr. Dunlop performed the Highlander beyond anything I ever saw on the regular stage. The whole went off with more laughter than anything I have ever seen, for the jokes being local and personal (supplied by upwards of thirty contributors), every one told with the utmost effect."

"This farce, says Delta, composed at Quebec by J. Galt, and performed there before the Earl of Dalhousie (then Governor-General), was named "The Visitors, or a Trip to Quebec," and was meant as a good humoured satire on some of the particular usages of the place. An American family figured as the visitors, and the piece opened with a scene in an hôtel, when a waiter brings in a tea-tray loaded with cards of callers, and the explanation of the initials having had reference to people, many of whom were present at the performance, tended much to make the thing pass off with great éclat. It seems that a custom prevails there to a punctilious extent, of all the inhabitants of a certain grade calling upon strangers and leaving their cards.

"This flash of harmless lightning, however, assumed somewhat of a malignant glare when seen from the United States. The drift of the performance was, it seems, hideously misrepresented by some of the newspapers, and it was said that Mr. Galt had ungratefully ridiculed the Americans, notwithstanding the distinction and hospitality with which they had received him. It thus came to pass that he promised, when next in New York, to write another farce, in which liberty as great should be taken with his own countrymen. "An Aunt in Virginia" was the product of this promise, and with the alterations mentioned and a change of scene from New York to London, it was published under the name of "Scotch and Yankees.""

A volume would not suffice to detail the brilliant receptions, gay routs, levees, state balls given at the Castle during Lord Dorchester's administration—the lively discussions—the formal protests originating out of points of precedence, burning questions de jupons between the touchy magnates of the old and those of the new regime. Whether la Baronne de St. Laurent would be admitted there or not? Whether a de Longueuil's or a de Lanaudière's place was on the right of Lady Maria, the charming consort of His Excellency Lord Dorchester—a daughter of the great English Earl of Effingham? Whether dancing ought to cease when their Lordships the Bishops entered, and made their bow to the representative of royalty? Unfortunately Quebec had then no Court Journal, so that following generations will have but faint ideas of all the witchery, the stunning head-dresses, the décolletées, high-waisted robes of their stately grandmothers, whirled round in the giddy waltz by whiskered, épauletted cavaliers, or else courtesying in the demure menuet de la cour.

In August, 1796, when Isaac Weld, Jr., visited Quebec, he describes the old part of the château as chiefly taken up with the public offices, all the apartments in it, says he, "are small and ill-contrived; but in the new part (Haldimand Castle) which stands in front of the other, facing the square (the ring), they are spacious and tolerably well furnished, but none of them can be called elegant. This part is inhabited by the Governor's family. * * * * Every evening during summer, when the weather is fine, one of the regiments of the garrison parades in the open place before the château, and the band plays for an hour or two, at which time the place becomes the resort of numbers of the most genteel people of the town, and has a very gay appearance." (Weld's Travels through the States of North America in 1795-6-7, vol. 1, p. 351)

In 1807, when the deadly duel between England and Imperial France was at its height, Great Britain sent New France as her Viceroy, a military Governor, equally remarkable for the sternness of his rule and for his love of display, hence the name of "Little King Craig," awarded to Sir James Craig. To meet his requirements the House of Assembly voted in 1808, a sum of £7,000 to repair the Château St. Louis. Sir James took up his quarters in the interim, in Castle Haldimand. The Château St. Louis received an additional story and was much enlarged. In 1812 an additional sum of £7,980 19s 4d was voted to cover the deficit in the repairs. Little King Craig inhabited Château St. Louis during the winters of 1809-10-11, occupying Spencer Wood during the summer months. The Château stables were subsequently converted into a riding school, afterwards into a theatre, where the exhibition of Harrison's Diorama caused the awful tragedy of 12th June, 1846. [41] The Earl of Durham, in 1838, struck with the commanding position of this site, had the charred ruins of the old Château removed and erected a lofty platform which soon was called after him "Durham Terrace."

In 1851-2-3-4, Haldimand Castle was repaired at a cost of $13,718.42. In 1854, Hon. Jean Chabot, member for Quebec and Commissioner of Public Works, had Durham Terrace much enlarged; the adjoining walls were repaired at an expense of $4,209.92. More expenditure was incurred in 1857. When the Laval Normal School was installed there, Bishop Langevin, then Principal, had the wing erected where the chapel stands. The vaulted room used as a kitchen for the Laval Normal School, was an old powder magazine; it is the most ancient portion of the building. The present Castle was, by Order in Council of 14th February, 1871, transferred by the Dominion authorities to the Government of the Province of Quebec, together with Durham Terrace, the Sewell Mansion, facing the Esplanade (Lieutenant- Governor's office), also, the site and buildings of the Parliament House, on Mountain Hill.

The extension of this lofty and beautiful Terrace, suggested to the City Council by the City Engineer in his report of 1872, necessarily formed a leading feature in the splendid scheme of city improvements, originated by the Earl of Dufferin, with the assistance of Mr. Lynn, an eminent Irish engineer, and of our City Engineer, le Chevalier Baillairge. An appeal was made by a true and powerful friend to Quebec (Lord Dufferin) to our gracious Sovereign, who contributed munificently from her private purse, for the erection of the new gate, called after her late father, the Duke of Kent—Kent Gate, in remembrance of his long sojourn (1791-4) in this city. Large sums were also granted by the Dominion, it is thought, chiefly through the powerful influence of Lord Dufferin, seconded by Sir H. L. Langevin; an appeal was also made for help to the City Council and not in vain; it responded by a vote of $7,500.

The front wall was built at the expense of the Dominion Government, and occupies part of the site of the old battery, erected on that portion of the château garden granted to Major Samuel Holland in 1766.

The length of Dufferin Terrace is 1420 feet, and it is 182 feet above the level of the St. Lawrence. It forms part of the city fortifications. The site can be resumed by the Commander of the Forces (the Governor-General) whenever he may deem it expedient for objects within the scope of his military authority.

Durham Terrace, increased to four times its size, now forms a link in the Dufferin plans of city embellishment, of which the corner stone was laid by the Earl of Dufferin on the 18th October, 1878, and was authentically recognized as "Dufferin Terrace" in April and May, 1879, in the official records of the City Council; several iron plates were inserted in the flooring with the inscription, "Dufferin Terrace, H. Hatch, contractor, C. Baillairge, engineer." But a famous name of the past, which many loved to connect with this spot—that of Louis de Buade, Count de Frontenac, was not forgotten. The Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, on the 18th April, 1879, presented to the City Council a petition, asking among other things, that one of the handsome kiosks on the Terrace should bear the name of Frontenac; their prayer was granted, and by a resolution moved on 9th May, 1879, by Mr. P. Johnson, C.C., and seconded by Alderman Rhéaume, the five kiosks of Dufferin Terrace were named Victoria, Louise, Lorne, Frontenac, Plessis.

It is the site of the present Normal School, adjacent to this historic spot, which has been selected for the palatial hotel in contemplation.

LAYING OF CORNER STONE OF DUFFERIN TERRACE

"The laying of the corner stone of Dufferin Terrace took place the same day (18th Oct., 1878) as that of the two city gates, the St. Louis and the Kent Gate. The ceremony was performed in the presence of thousands. His Worship the Mayor (R. Chambers) received His Excellency the Earl of Dufferin, and with him were present many of the Aldermen and Councillors, with the City Engineer and contractors, the members of the Judiciary, Consul-General of Spain, Consuls of France, Belgium and the United States, Dean Stanley, of London, England; Mrs. Stevenson, sister to the Countess of Dufferin, Messrs. Russell Stevenson, R. R. Dobell, Simon Peters, Dr. Marsden, Jas. Motz, many ex-Aldermen and ex-Councillors, Alexander Woods, Chairman of the Harbour Commission, W. S. Desbarats, W. G. Sheppard, Wm. White, Very Revd. H. Hamel, His Lordship Judge Taschereau, late of the Supreme Court, Hon. Judge H. Taschereau, Judge of the Superior Court, &c.

"A handsome trowel and mallet were handed to His Excellency the manufacture of Mr. Cyrille Duquet. On the face of the trowel a splendid likeness of the Governor-General was embossed, and an appropriate inscription was engraved thereon. On the plate of the foundation stone the inscription reads as follows:—"Dufferin Terrace, laid by His Excellency the Earl of Dufferin, Governor-General of the Dominion of Canada, on the 18th day of October, 1878, in presence of the Dominion and city authorities and dignitaries, and an immense concourse of people from all parts of Canada, also His Honor Luc Letellier de St. Just, Lieut.-Governor of the Province of Quebec, R. Chambers, Esq., Mayor of the city of Quebec. City Aldermen—Hon. John Hearn, Patrick Henchey, Louis Bourget, R. F. Rinfret, Francois Gingras, J. P. Rhéaume, Germain Guay, F. O. Vallerand, Esqs. City Councillors—Onésime Beaubien, Andrew Hatch, Guillaume Bouchard, F. X. Langevin, Jean Docile Brosseau, Francis McLaughlin, John C. Burns, William McWilliam, William Convey, J. F. Peachy, John Delaney, F. W. Roy, Peter Johnston, Willis Russell, Charles Brochu, Richard Turner, Esqs. City Clerk—L. A. Cannon, Esq. City Treasurer—C. J. L. Lafrance, Esq. City Accountant—M. F. Walsh, Esq. City Legal Adviser— L. G. Baillairge, Esq. City Notary—A. G. Tourangeau, Esq. Owen Murphy, Esq., ex-Mayor; Chas. Baillairge, Chevalier, City Engineer." In the leaden box, placed within the stone, were laid mementoes of the occasion, similar to those placed in the proper receptacle in the stone laid in the morning at St. Louis Gate, with the addition of beautifully executed portraits of Lord and Lady Dufferin, from the studio of Messrs. Ellison & Co.

"His Excellency having given the coup de grâce to the foundation stone with the silver mallet, the proceedings were closed."— (Morning Chronicle, 19th Oct., 1878.)

The new city gate erected on the site of the old St. Louis Gate, instead of being called Dufferin Grate, as it had been contemplated, was allowed to retain its time-honored name, St. Louis Gate; the public of Quebec, however, were resolved that some conspicuous monument should recall to Quebecers the fragrant memory of its benefactor, Lord Dufferin; on the visit in June, 1879, of His Excellency Lord Lorne and H.R.H. the Princess Louise, a request was made on them by the citizens, through their chief executive officer, the Mayor of Quebec (R. Chambers), to name and open to the public our world-famous Terrace. On the 9th June, 1879, our distinguished visitors performed this auspicious ceremony in presence of thousands, and in the following words confirmed the name previously entered in the Corporation records:—

INAUGURATION OF DUFFERIN TERRACE, 9th JUNE, 1879.

"According to notice previously given, the inauguration of Dufferin Terrace occurred at half-past two o'clock in the afternoon. When that hour arrived a mass of people variously estimated at from eight to fifteen thousand, but probably containing about ten thousand, occupied the Terrace. The appearance from an elevated place of this sea of humanity was indeed wonderful. The band pavilion in the centre of the garden had been reserved for the Viceregal party, and was covered in carpet and scarlet cloth, with two chairs of state. The entrance to the pavilion was kept by the City Police, while "B" Battery furnished the band and guard of honour, and played the National Anthem as the distinguished party arrived on the field.

The Mayor and members of the City Council had previously walked in a body to the pavilion from the City Hall, and now His Worship conducted His Excellency and Her Royal Highness to the dais, and addressing himself to the Governor-General, said:—

"MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY.—On behalf of the Corporation and citizens of Quebec, permit me to thank Your Excellency for acceding to our request that you would be pleased to open in person this public promenade, and also Her Royal Highness for graciously honouring us by her presence.

"The corner stone of this structure was laid by Your Excellency's predecessor, the Earl of Dufferin (18th Oct., 1878).

"It will be gratifying to the noble Lord to learn that the work in which he took so lively an interest has been inaugurated by Your Excellency, and that the ceremony was graced by the presence of Her Royal Highness the Princess Louise.

"I have, therefore, respectfully to request that Your Excellency may be pleased to give the name which the Terrace is henceforth to bear, and to signify if it is the pleasure of Your Excellency that it be opened to the public."

His Excellency replied:—"I am happy to accede to your request to signify that this Terrace shall be called after your late Governor- General, Dufferin, and that it is now open to the public."

Rounds of applause followed His Excellency's remarks, and loud cheers were given for the Earl of Dufferin, Her Royal Highness and His Excellency." (Morning Chronicle, 10th June, 1879.)

Parallel with Ste. Anne street, and terminated by Dauphin street, a tortuous, rugged little lane, now known as St. Andrew's street, leads past St Andrew's schoolhouse, to the chief entrance of the Presbyterian house of worship; a church opened at the beginning of the century, repaired and rendered quite handsome a few years ago, but much damaged by fire on the 30th April, 1881. In connection with the erection of this structure, a document was recently exhumed from the archives of the Literary and Historical Society, which throws much light on an important section of the former population of the city. It is a memorial to His Majesty George III., signed at Quebec on the 5th October, 1802, by the Rev. Dr Sparks' congregation and by himself. The first incumbent of St. Andrew's Church— commenced in 1809, and opened for worship on the 30th November, 1810—was the Reverend Doctor Alexander Sparks, who had landed at Quebec in 1780, became tutor in the family of Colonel Henry Caldwell at Belmont, St. Foye road, and who died suddenly in Quebec, on the 7th March, 1819. Dr. Sparks had succeeded to the Rev. George Henry, a military chaplain at the time of the conquest; the first Presbyterian minister, we are told, who officiated in the Province, and who died on the 6th July, 1795, aged 86 years.

One hundred and forty-eight signatures are affixed to this dusty document of 1802.

A carefully prepared petition—it seems—to the King, asking for a site in Quebec whereon to build a church—and suggesting that the lot occupied by the Jesuits' Church, and where until 1878, stood the Upper Town, market shambles, be granted to the petitioners, they being without a church, and having to trust to the good will of the government for the use, on Sundays, of a room in the Jesuits Barracks, as a place of worship. [42]

Signatures to Memorial addressed to George III., asking for land in Quebec to build a Presbyterian Church:—

Alex. Sparks, Minister, A. Ferguson, Jas. Thompson, Jr., Robert Eglison, Fred. Grant, Robt. Cairns, Jno. Greenshields, William A. Thompson, Chas. G. Stewart, Wm. McWhirter, James Sinclair, John McDonald, John Urquhart, John Auld, William Morrin, Bridget Young, Jno. Eifland, Jno. Shaw, John Barlie, Charles Hunter, Geo. McGregor, Geo. Black, Wm. Holmes, W. G. Hall, James Ward, J. Gray, Jno. Purss, F. Leslie, Ann Watt, Robt. Wood, J. Brydon, Lewis Harper, Jno. Frazer, Mary Boyle, James Somerville, A. Anderson, J. A. Thompson, John Anderson, Wm. Hall, Robt. Ross, Wm. Thompson, Sr., Wm. Fraser, D. Monroe, Wm. Hay, J. Blackwood, Wm. McKay, M. Lymburner, Robt. Harrower, Francis Hunter, James Tulloch, W. Rouburgh, Samuel Brown, John McCord, Isaac Johnstone, J. G. Hanna, Peter Leitch, J. McNider, Henry Baldwin, Adam Lymburner, Daniel Forbes, Jno. Lynd, William Jaffray, Peter Stuart, J. Hendry, William Grant, John Thompson, J. A. Todd, George Smith, John Mure, Wm. Reed, John Patterson, Alexander Harper, John Crawford, Robert Marshall, John Hewison, William White, David Douglas, Thomas White, George Wilde, John Taylor, Fred. Petry, Adam Reid, James Ross, James Irvine, David Stewart, John Munro, John Yule, Alexander Munn, Angus McIntyre, Alexander Rea, John Mackie, James Elmslie, John Purss. Johnston, Charles Smith, Wm. Thompson, Jr., Ebenezer Baird, Con. Adamson, Lawrence Kidd, Geo. Morrison, James McCallum, Jno. Goudie, John Burn, G. Sinclair, Joanna George, Walter Carruthers, Maya Darling, Wm. Petrie, William Lindsay, John Ross, Janet Smith, Wm. McKenzie, William Smith, Thos. Saul, Henrietta Sewell, J. Ross, Jr., Jane Sewell, Ann Rose, C. W. Grant, James Mitchell, Robert Ritchie, Geo. King, George Pyke, Alex. Thompson, Joseph Stilson, James Orkney, Henry Hunt, J. Neilson, George Thompson, Daniel Fraser, Quebec, 5th October, 1802.

Some of these signatures are suggestive. The most notable is probably that of old Adam Lymburner, the cleverest of the three Lymburners, all merchants at Quebec in 1775. [43] Adam, according to the historian Garneau, was more distinguished for his forensic abilities and knowledge of constitutional law, than for his robust allegiance to the Hanoverian succession at Quebec, when Colonel Benedict Arnold and his New Englanders so rudely knocked at our gates for admission in 1775.

According to Garneau and other historians, in the autumn of that memorable year, when the fate of British Canada hung as if by a thread, Adam Lymburner, more prudent than loyal, retired from the sorely beset fortress to Charlesbourg, possibly to Château Bigot, a shooting box then known as the "Hermitage," to meditate on the mutability of human affairs. Later on, however, in the exciting times of 1791, Adam Lymburner was deputed by the colony to England to suggest amendment's to the project of the constitution to be promulgated by the home authorities. His able speech may be met with in the pages of the Canadian Review, published at Montreal in 1826. This St Peter street magnate attained four score and ten years, and died at Russell Square, London, on the 10th January, 1836.

Another signature recalls days of strife and alarm: that of sturdy old Hugh McQuarters, the brave artillery sergeant who, at Près-de-Ville on that momentous 31st December, 1775, applied the match to the cannon which consigned to a snowy shroud Brigadier-General Richard Montgomery, his two aides, McPherson and Cheeseman, and his brave, but doomed followers, some eleven in all; the rest having sought safety in flight. By this record, it appears Sergeant McQuarters had also a son, in 1802, one of Dr Sparks' congregation. Old Hugh McQuarters lived in Champlain street, and closed his career there in 1812.

Another autograph, that of James Thompson, one of Wolfe's comrades—"a big giant," as our old friend, the late Judge Henry Black, who knew him well, used to style him, awakens many memories of the past. Sergeant James Thompson, of Fraser's Highlanders, at Louisbourg in 1758, and at Quebec in 1759, came from Tain, Scotland, to Canada, as a volunteer to accompany a friend-Capt. David Baillie, of the 78th. His athletic frame, courage, integrity and intelligence, during the seventy-two years of his Canadian career, brought him employment, honour, trust and attention from every Governor of the colony from 1759 to 1830, the period of his death, he was then aged 98 years. At the battle of the Plains of Abraham, James Thompson, as hospital sergeant, was intrusted with the landing, at Point Levi, of the wounded, who were crossed over in boats; he tells us of his carrying some of the wounded from the crossing at Levi, up the hill, all the way to the church at St. Joseph, converted into an hospital, and distant three miles from the present ferry, a "big giant" alone could have been equal to such a task. In 1775, Sergeant Thompson, as overseer of Government works, was charged with erecting the palisades, fascines and other primitive contrivances to keep out Brother Jonathan, who had not yet learned the use of Parrot or Gatling guns and torpedoes. Later on, we find the sturdy Highlander an object of curiosity to strangers visiting Quebec —full of siege anecdotes and reminiscences—a welcome guest at the Château in the days of the Earl of Dalhousie. In 1827, as senior Mason, he was called on by His Excellency to give the three mystic taps with the mallet, when the corner stone of the Wolfe and Montcalm monument was laid, in the presence of Captain Young of the 79th Highlanders, and a great concourse of citizens. About New Year's day, 1776, Mr. Thompson became possessed of Gen. Montgomery's sword; it has since passed to his grandson, James Thompson Harrower. Mr. James Thompson left several sons, some of whose signatures are affixed to the document before us. John Gawler was Judge for the District of Gaspé from 1828 to 1865; George received a commission in the Royal Artillery; a third was Deputy Commissary General James Thompson, who died in this city in 1869.

Old James Thompson expired in 1830, at the family mansion, St. Ursule street, now occupied by his grandson, Mr. James Thompson Harrower.

When we name John Greenshields, D. Munro (the partner of the Hon. Matthew Bell), J. Blackwood, Matthew Lymburner, Peter Stuart, William Grant, John Mure, John McNider, J. G. Hanna, John Crawford, David Stewart (the David Stewart of "Astoria" described by Washington Irving?) James Orkney, Robert Wood, Alexander Munn, James McCallum, Thomas White, Fred. Petrie, Robert Ritchie, we recall many leading merchants in St. Peter street, Notre Dame street and the old Cul-de-Sac.

"Ebenezer Baird," we take to have been the progenitor of a well-remembered Quebec Barrister, James E. Baird, Esq., the patron of our city member, Jacques Malouin, Esquire.

George Pyke, a Halifax barrister, had settled here. He rose to occupy a seat on the judicial bench.

Robert Harrower, was doubtless the father of Messrs. Robert, David and Charles Harrower, of Trois Saumons, County of L'Islet. Honorable James Irvine, in 1818, a member of the Legislative Council, was the grandfather of the Hon. G. Irvine, of this city. The Hon. John Jones Ross, the present Speaker of the Legislative Council, Quebec, traces back to the "James Ross" of 1802, and the Hon. David Alex. Ross claims for his sire that sturdy Volunteer of 1759, under Wolfe, "John Ross," who made a little fortune; he resided at the house he purchased in 1765, near Palace Gate within. He held a commission as a Captain in the British Militia in 1775, under Colonel Le Maitre; we can recollect his scarlet uniform which he wore in 1775, also worn in 1875, by his grandson, our worthy friend, Hon. D. A. Ross, at the ball of the Centenary of the repulse of Brigadier- General Richard Montgomery, 31st December, 1775. He had three sons, David was Solicitor-General at Quebec; John was a lawyer also, and Prothonotary at Quebec (the signer of the memorial of 1802); the third died young; of three daughters, one was married to the Rev. Doctor Sparks, already mentioned; a second was married to Mr. James Mitchell, A.C.G., and the third to an army surgeon. John Ross, Sr., died at an advanced age. Charles Grey Stewart, our Comptroller of Customs died in 1854; he was the father of Messrs. McLean, Charles, Alexander, Robert and John Stewart, of Mrs. William Price, of Mrs. William Phillips, of the Misses Ann and Eleanor Stewart.

"Joanna George" the mother of an aged contemporary, Miss Elizabeth George, and of [44] Miss Agnes George, the widow of the late Arch. Campbell, Esq., N.P., and grandmother of the present President of the St. Andrew's Society, W. Darling Campbell, died about 1830.

"Maya Darling" was another daughter, and wife of Capt. Darling. "John Burn," also one of the signers of the Memorial, and who afterwards settled in Upper Canada, was the son of "Joanna George" by another marriage; the eccentric and clever Quebec merchant, Mr. James George, was another son. He was the first who suggested in 1822, a plan of the St. Charles River Docks—the first who took up the subject of rendering the St. Lawrence Rapids navigable higher than Montreal. The idea seemed so impracticable, and what was still worse, so new, that the far-seeing Mr. George, was at the time branded as non compos! and still for years the "Spartan," "Passport," "Champion" and other steamers have safely ran these rapids daily every season!

James George had also suggested the practicability of Wooden Railways or Tramways, with horses as locomotive power, forty years before the Civil Engineer Hulburt built the Gosford Wooden Railway, with steam as locomotive power.

"William Grant, of St. Roch's, after whom Grant street was called, was member for the Upper Town of Quebec, during our two first Parliaments, from 17th December, 1792, to 29th May, 1800, and from 9th January, 1805, to period of his death at St. Roch in 1805. An enterprising and important personage was the Hon. Wm. Grant, the Receiver General of the Province in 1770. He had married the widow of the third Baron de Longueuil.

"John Mure" represented the County of York (Vaudreuil) in three Parliaments, from 9th January, 1805, to 26th February, 1810, and was member for the Upper Town of Quebec, from 1810 to 1814. A man of intelligence, he also, though a Presbyterian, became a benefactor to the R. C. Church, having, in 1812, given to the R. C. parishioners of St. Roch's, a site whereon to erect their church in that thriving suburb.

"John Blackwood" also represented the Upper Town in two Parliaments, from 9th April, 1809, to 20th February, 1810.

"Jane Sewell" was the wife of Stephen Sewell, Solicitor-General of Lower Canada, brother to Chief Justice Sewell.

"Henrietta Sewell," one of the signers, survived ten years her husband, the late Jonathan Sewell, Chief Justice for Lower Canada, who died in Quebec in 1839. Chief Justice Sewell left a numerous progeny. [45]

"William Lindsay" was the father of the late William Burns Lindsay, for years Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, and of our venerable fellow-citizen, Errol Boyd Lindsay, Esq., Notary Public, now more than four score years of age; he seems to have taken his surname from Capt. Errol Boyd, in 1798, commander of the well remembered Quebec and Montreal trader, the "Dunlop."

"William Smith," one of the last among the signers of the memorial, the brother of Henrietta Smith, wife of Chief Justice Sewell, was the Hon. William Smith, Clerk of the Legislative Council, and who, in 1815, published his History of Canada, in two volumes, a standard work; he was a descendant of the Hon. William Smith, a noted U. E. Loyalist, who wrote the history of the State of New York, and landed at Quebec, 23rd October, 1786. As a reward for his loyalty he had been made Chief Justice of Lower Canada, 1st September, 1785; he died at Quebec, 6th December, 1793.

The names of six signers of the Memorial to the King, appear on the list of the jury empanelled to try, in 1797, before Chief Justice Osgood, David McLane for high treason, viz.: John Blackwood, John Crawford, David Munro, John Mure, James Irvine, James Orkney. George Pyke was the Counsel named ex officio, together with M. Franklin, to defend the misguided Yankee.

The Jury stood thus;—

John Blackwood, James Irvine, John Crawford, James Orkney, John Painter, James Watson Goddard, David Monro, Henry Cull, John Mure, Robert Morrogh, John Jones, George Symes.

Parloir street, well leavened with lawyers, leads to the parloir of the Ursulines. Here resided the late Judge de Bonne, at the dawn of the present century. The locality is alive with memories of this venerable seat of education, and with saintly and heroic traditions of Madame de la Peltrie, Mère de l'Incarnation—Montcalm. "There exists," says the Abbé Casgrain, "in the Ursuline Nunnery, a small picture, which portrays a touching tradition of the early days of Canada: a painting executed by a Canadian artist, from old etchings, preserved in the monastery. * * The canvas represents the forest primeval, which mantled the promontory of Quebec, at the birth of the Colony. In the centre of the picture may be seen, amidst the maples and tall pines, the first monastery, founded in 1641 by Madame de la Peltrie. On its front stands forth in perspective the dwelling which the founder had erected for her own use, three years later on. The area comprised between these two edifices, is occupied by a clearing, surrounded by a palisade, whereon are seen grazing a flock of sheep. On the left side of the picture a broad avenue leads through the forest:—the Grand Allée—later on St. Louis street, which leads to the village of Sillery. Two horsemen, habited à la Louis XIV, meet on this avenue, the one Monsieur d'Ailleboust, the Governor of the Colony, the other is Monsieur DuPlessis Bochard, the Governor of Three Rivers. In the midst of their interview, they are interrupted by an Indian Chief, who offers them a beaver skin. A few steps from her residence, Madame de la Peltrie is standing close to another Indian Chief, who, with head inclined, seems in the attitude of listening to her in the most respectful manner, whilst she, dignified and composed, is expounding to him the sacred truths of faith. This scene presents an admirable contrast, with another taking place close by; an Indian warrior is seen giving, imperiously, his orders to a squaw,—his wife mayhap—but who, from her downcast and humble look, seems more like his slave. A short distance from this group, a missionary, (Father Jérôme Lalemant) after visiting some wigwams, erected around the house of Madame de la Peltrie, is threading a narrow path leading to the depths of the forest. The most attractive feature about the painting is a group of young children, listening attentively to the teachings of a nun, seated on the right, under the shade of an ash tree. The impression created by this antique painting, is the more delightful and vivid, because on turning one's gaze, at present, from the picture, to the interior of the cloister, may still be seen the hoary head of an old ash tree, under which tradition shows us the venerable Mother de l'Incarnation, catechising the Indian children and teaching the young girls of the colony." [46] After more than two centuries of existence, the old ash tree succumbed lately to a storm.

Laval, Attorney-General Ruette D'Auteuil, Louis de Buade, Ste. Hélène () seem to come back to life in the ancient streets of the same name, whilst Frontenac, Iberville, Piedmont, are brought to one's recollection, in the modern thoroughfares. The old Scotch pilot, Abraham Martin, (who according to the Jesuits' Journal, might have been a bit of a scamp, although a church chorister, but who does not appear to have been tried for his peccadiloes,) owned a domain of thirty-two acres of land in St. John's suburbs, which were bounded towards the north, by the hill which now bears his name (La Côte d'Abraham.)

Mythology has exacted a tribute on a strip of ground in the St. Louis suburbs. The chief of the pagan Olympus boasts of his lane, "Jupiter street," so called after a celebrated inn, Jupiter's Inn, on account of a full sized statue of the master of Olympus which stood formerly over the main entrance. In the beginning of the century, a mineral spring, of wondrous virtue, attracted to this neighbourhood, those of our bon vivants whose livers were out of order. Its efficacy is now a thing of the past!

That dear old street,—St. George street formerly,—now called after the first settler of the Upper Town in 1617, Louis Hébert, by the erection of the lofty Medical College and Laval University, for us has been shorn of its name—its sunshine—its glory, since the home [47] of our youth, at the east end, has passed into strange hands. It is now Hébert street, by order of the City council.

Opposite to the antique and still stately dwelling, lately owned by Jos. Shehyn, M.P.P., is a house formerly tenanted by Mr. J. Dyke. In the beginning of this century it was occupied by an old countryman, remarkable, if not for deep scientific attainments, at least for shrewd common sense and great success in life—Mr. P. Paterson, the proprietor of the extensive mills at Montmorency—now owned by the estate of the late George Benson Hall, his son-in-law.