Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present Part 26

"Amongst the French gentlemen of note who then owned lands at Sillery may be mentioned. Francois de Chavigny, _sieur de Berchereau qui_," adds Abbe Ferland, "_occupait un rang eleve dans le colonie. En quelques occasions, il fut charge de remplacer le Gouverneur, lors que celui-ci s'absentait de Quebec_." Now, dear reader, let it be known to you that you are to look with every species of respect on this worthy old denizen of Sillery, he being, as the Abbe has elsewhere established beyond the shadow of a doubt, not only the ancestor of several old families, such as the Lagorgendieres, the Rigaud de Vaudreuils and Tachereaus, but also one of the ancestors of your humble servant the writer of these lines.

"The Sillery settlement contained during the winter of 1646-7, of Indians only, about two hundred souls. Two roads led from Quebec to the settlement, one the Grande Allee or St. Louis Road, the other the Cove Road, skirting the beach. Two grist mills stood in the neighbourhood: one on the St. Denis streamlet which crosses the Grande Allee road (from Thornhill to Spencer Wood)--the dam seems to have been on the Spencer Wood property. 'This mill, and the _fief_ on which it was built, belonged to M. Juchereau,' one of the ancestors of the d.u.c.h.esnays. 'Another mill existed on the Bell Borne brook,' which crosses the main road, the boundary between Spencer Grange and Woodfield. Any one visiting these two streamlets during the August droughts will be struck with their diminutiveness, compared to the time when they turned the two grist mills two hundred years back: the clearing of the adjoining forests, whence they take their source, may account for the metamorphosis."

The perusal of the Rev. Mr. Ferland's work brings us to another occurrence, which, although foreign to the object of this sketch, deserves notice:--

"The first horse [179] seen in Canada was landed from a French vessel about the 20th June, 1647, and presented as a gift to His Excellency Governor Montmagny." Another incident deserving of mention occurs under date of 20th August, 1653. The Iroquois [180] surprised at Cap Rouge Rev.

Father J. Antoine Poncet and a peasant named Mathurin Tranchelot, and carried them off to their country. For three days the rev. missionary was subjected to every kind of indignity from the Indian children and every one else. A child cut off one of the captive's fingers. He was afterwards, with his companion, tied up during two nights, half suspended in the air; this made both suffer horribly; burning coals were applied to their flesh.

Finally, the missionary was handed over to an old squaw; he shortly after became free, and returned to Quebec on the 5th of November, 1653, to the joy of everybody.

His comrade, Tranchelot, after having had his fingers burnt, was finally consumed by fire on the 8th September, 1653. Such were some of the thrilling incidents of daily occurrence at Sillery two centuries ago.

What with breaches of military etiquette by M. de Maisonneuve's colonists, the ferocity of skulking Iroquois, and the sc.r.a.pes their own neophytes occasionally got into, the reverend fathers in charge of the Sillery mission must now and again have had lively times, and needed, we would imagine, the patience of Job, with the devotion of martyrs, to carry out their benevolent views.

We read in history [181] how, on one Sunday morning in 1652, the Sillery Indians being all at ma.s.s, a beaver skin was stolen from one of the wig- wams, on which a council of the chiefs being called, it was decided that the robbery had been committed by a Frenchman, [182] enough to justify the young men to rush out and seize two Frenchmen then accidentally pa.s.sing by, and in no wise connected--as the Indians even admitted--with the theft. The Indian youths were for instantly stripping the prisoners, in order to compel the Governor of the colony to repair the injury suffered by the loss of the peltry. One of them, more thoughtful than the rest, suggested to refer the matter to the missionary father, informing him at the same time that in cases of robbery it was the Indian custom to lay hold of the first individual they met belonging to the family or nation of the suspected robber, strip him of his property, and retain it until the family or nation repaired the wrong. The father succeeded, by appealing to them as Christians, to release the prisoners. Fortunately, the real thief, who was not a Frenchman, became alarmed, and had the beaver skin restored.

Old writers of that day occasionally let us into quaint glimpses of a churchman's tribulations in those primitive times. The historian Faillon tells some strange things about Bishop Laval and Governor D'Argenson: their squabble about holy bread. (_Histoire de la Colonie Francaise en Canada_, vol. ii., p. 467.) At page 470, is an account of a country girl, ordered to be brought to town by Bishop Laval and shut up in the Hotel-Dieu, she being considered under a spell, cast on her by a miller whom she had rejected when he popped the question: the diabolical suitor was jailed as a punishment. Champlain relates how a pugnacious parson was dealt with by a pugnacious clergyman of a different persuasion respecting some knotty controversial points. The arguments, however irresistible they may have been, Champlain observes, were not edifying either to the savages or to the French: "J'ay veu le ministre et nostre cure s'entre battre e coup de poing sur le differend de la religion. Je ne scay pas qui estait le plus vaillant et qui donnait le meilleur coup; mais je scay tres bien que le ministre se plaignoit quelque fois au Sieur de Mons (Calviniste, directeur de la compagnie) d'avoir este battu et vuoidoient en ceste faccon les poincts de controverse. Je vois laisse a penser si cela estait beau a voir; les sauvages estoient tantot d'un cote, tantot de l'autre, et les Francois meslez selon leur diverse croyance, disaient pis que pendre de l'une et de l'autre religion." The fighting parson had evidently caught a tartar. However, this controversial sparring did _not_ take place at Sillery.

The winter of 1666 was marked by a novel incident in the annals of the settlement. On the 9th of January, [183] 1666, the Governor of the colony, M. de Courcelles, with M. du Gas as second in command, and M. de Salampar, a volunteer, together with two hundred colonists who had volunteered, and three hundred soldiers of the das.h.i.+ng regiment of Carignan, [184] which the viceroy, the proud Marquis de Tracy, had brought over from Europe, after their return from their campaign in Hungary, sallied forth from the capital on snow-shoes. A century and a half later one might have met, with his gaudy state carriage and outriders, on that same road, another viceroy--this time an English one, as proud, as fond of display, as the Marquis de Tracy--with the Queen's Household Troops, the British Grenadiers, and Coldstream Guards--the Earl of Durham, one of our ablest, if not one of the most popular of our administrators. Let us now follow the French Governor of 1666, heading his light-hearted soldiers along the St. Louis road, all on snow-shoes, each man, His Excellency included, carrying on his back from 25 to 30 lbs. of biscuit, &c. The little army is bound towards the frontiers of New Holland (the State of New York) on a 900 miles' tramp (no railroads in those days), in the severest season of the year, to chastise some hostile Indian tribes, after incorporating in its ranks, during its march, the Three Rivers and Montreal reinforcements.

History tells of the intense suffering [185] experienced during the expedition by these brave men, some of them more accustomed to Paris _salons_ than to Canadian forest warfare on snow-shoes, with spruce boughs and snow-drifts for beds. But let us not antic.i.p.ate. We must be content to accompany them on that day to the Sillery settlement, a march quite sufficient for us degenerate Canadians of the nineteenth century.

Picture to yourself, our worthy friend, the hurry and scurry at the Missionary residence on that day--with what zest the chilled warriors crowd round the fires of the Indian wigwams, the number of pipes of peace they smoked with the chiefs, the fierce love the gallant Frenchmen swore to the blackeyed Montagnais and Algonquin houris of Sillery, whilst probably His Excellency and staff were seated in the residency close by, resorting to cordials and all those creature comforts to be found in monasteries, not forgetting _Grande Chartreuse_, to restore circulation through their benumbed frames!--How the reverend fathers showered down the blessings of St. Michael, the patron saint of the parish, on the youth and chivalry of France!--How the Sillery duennas, the _Capitainesses_, closely watched the gallant sons of Mars lest some of them [186] should attempt to induce their guileless neophytes to seek again the forest wilds, and roam at large--the willing wives of white men!

We shall clip a page from Father Barthelemy Vimont's _Journal of the Sillery Mission_, (Relations des Jesuits, 1643, pp. 12, 13, 14) an authentic record, ill.u.s.trative of the mode of living there; it will, we are sure, gladden the heart even of an anchorite:--

"In 1643, the St. Joseph or Sillery settlement was composed of between thirty-five and forty Indian families, who lived there the whole year round except during the hunting season; other nomadic savages occasionally tarried at the settlement to procure food, or to receive religious instruction. That year there were yet but four houses built in the European fas.h.i.+on; the Algonquins were located in that part of the village close to the French residences; the Montagnais, on the opposite side; the houses accommodate chiefs only, their followers reside in bark huts until we can furnish proper dwellings for them all. In this manner was spent the winter season of 1642-3, the French s.h.i.+ps left the St Lawrence for France on the 7th October, 1642; a period of profound quiet followed. Our Indians continued to catch eels, (this catch begins in September)--a providential means of subsistence during winter. The French settlers salt their eels, the Indians smoke theirs to preserve them. The fis.h.i.+ng having ended about the beginning of November, they removed their provisions to their houses, when thirteen canoes of Atichamegues Indians arrived, the crews requesting permission to winter there and be instructed in the Christian religion.

They camped in the neighborhood of the Montagnais, near to Jean Baptiste, the chief or captain of these savages, and placed themselves under the charge of Father Buteux, who undertook to christianize both, whilst Father Dequen superintended the religious welfare of the Algonquins. Each day all the Indians attended regularly to ma.s.s, prayers, and religious instruction. Catechism is taught to the children, and the smartest amongst them receive slight presents to encourage them, such as knives, bread, beads, hats, sometimes a hatchet for the biggest boys. Every evening Father Dequen calls at every hut and summons the inmates to evening prayers at the chapel. The _Hospitalieres_ nuns also perform their part in the pious work; Father Buteux discharged similar duties amongst the Montagnais and Atichamegues neophytes. The Atichamegues have located themselves on a small height back of Sillery. 'When the Reverend Father visits them each evening, during the prevalence of snow storms, he picks his way in the forest, lantern in hand, but sometimes losing his footing, he rolls down the hill.' Thus pa.s.sed for the Sillery Indians, the early portion of the winter. In the middle of January they all came and located themselves about a quarter of a league from Quebec, to make tobogins and began the first hunt, which lasted about three weeks. Each day they travelled a quarter of a league to Quebec to attend ma.s.s, generally at the chapel of the Ursuline Convent, where Father Buteux and also the nuns instructed them. In February they sought the deep woods to hunt the moose." "On my return to Sillery," adds Father Vimont, "twelve or thirteen infirm old Indians, women and children, who had been left behind, followed me to the Hospital, where we had to provide for them until the return, at Easter, of the hunting party."

Whilst the savage hordes were being thus reclaimed from barbarism at Sillery, a civilized community a few hundred miles to the east of it were descending to the level of savages. We read in Hutchinson's _History of Ma.s.sachusetts Bay_, of our Puritan brethren of Boston, occasionally roasting defenceless women for witchcraft; thus perished, in 1645, Margaret Jones; and a few years after, in 1656, Mrs. Ann Hibbens, the lady of a respectable Boston merchant. Christians cutting one another's throats for the love of G.o.d. O, civilization, where is thy boast!

During the winter of 1656-7, Sillery contained, of Indians alone, about two hundred souls.

Let us now sum up the characteristics of the Sillery of ancient days in a few happy words, borrowed from the _Notes_ [187] published in 1855 on that locality, by the learned Abbe Ferland.

"A map of Quebec by Champlain exhibits, about a league above the youthful city, a point jutting out into the St. Lawrence, and which is covered with Indian wigwams. Later on this point received the name of Puiseaux, from the first owner of the Fief St. Michael, bounded by it to the southwest.

[188] On this very point at present stands the handsome St. Columba church, surrounded by a village." [189]

"Opposite to it is the Lauzon sh.o.r.e, with its river _Bruyante_ [190]

(the 'Etchemin'), its s.h.i.+pyards, its numerous s.h.i.+pping, the terminus of the Grand Trunk Railway; the villages and churches of Notre Dame de Levis, St. Jean Chrysostome and Saint Romuald. To your right and to your left the St. Lawrence is visible for some twelve or fifteen miles, covered with inward and outward bound s.h.i.+ps. Towards the east the landscape is closed by Cap Tourment, twelve leagues distant, and by the cultivated heights of the _Pet.i.te Montagne_ of St. Fereol, exhibiting in succession the _Cote de Beaupre_, (Beauport), (L'Ange Gardien, &c.) the green slopes of the Island of Orleans, Cape Diamond, crowned with its citadel, and having at its feet a forest of masts, Abraham's Plains, the Coves and their humming, busy noises, St. Michael's Coves forming a graceful curve from Wolfe's cove to Pointe a Puiseaux. Within this area thrilling events once took place, and round these diverse objects historical souvenirs cl.u.s.ter, recalling some of the most important occurrences in North America; the contest of two powerful nations for the sovereignty of the New World; an important episode of the revolution which gave birth to the adjoining Republic. Such were some of the events of which these localities were the theatre. Each square inch of land, in fact, was measured by the footsteps of some of the most remarkable men in the history of America: Jacques Cartier, Champlain, Frontenac, Laval, Phipps, d'Iberville, Wolfe, Montcalm, Arnold, Montgomery, have each of them, at some time or other, trod over this expanse.

"Close by, in St. Michael's Cove, M. de Maisonneuve and Mademoiselle Mance pa.s.sed their first Canadian winter, with the colonists intended to found Montreal. Turn your eyes towards the west, and although the panorama is less extensive, still it awakens some glorious memories. At Cap Rouge, Jacques Cartier established his quarters, close to the river's edge, the second winter he spent in Canada, and was succeeded in that spot by Roberval, at the head of his ephemeral colony. Near the entrance of the Chaudiere river stood the tents of the Abnoquiois, the Etchemins and the Souriquois Indians, when they came from the sh.o.r.es of New England to smoke the calumet of peace with their brethren the French; the river Chaudiere in those days was the highway which connected their country with Canada.

Closer to Pointe a Puiseaux is Sillery Cove where the Jesuit Fathers were wont to a.s.semble and instruct the Algonquin and Montagnais Indians, who were desirous of becoming Christians. It was from that spot that the neophytes used to carry the faith to the depths of the forest; it was here that those early apostles of Christianity congregated before starting with the joyous message for the country of the Hurons, for the sh.o.r.es of the Mississippi, or for the frozen regions of Hudson's Bay. From thence went Father P. Druilletes, the bearer of words of peace on behalf of the Christians of Sillery, to the Abnoquiois of Kennebeki, and to the puritans of Boston. Near this same mission of Sillery, Friar Liegeois was ma.s.sacred by the Iroquois, whilst Father Poncet was carried away a captive by these barbarous tribes.

"Monsieur de Sillery devoted large sums to erect the necessary edifices for the mission, such as a chapel, a missionary residence, an hospital, a fort, houses for the new converts, together with the habitations for the French. The D'Auteuil family had their country seat on the hill back of Pointe a Puiseaux; and the venerable Madame de Monceau, the mother-in-law of the Attorney-General Ruette D'Auteuil, was in the habit of residing there from time to time, in a house she had constructed near the chapel."

In 1643, Father Bressani having been taken prisoner by the Iroquois, and having heard them discuss a plan to seize on the white maidens of Sillery (such were the names the Nuns went by); wrote it on some bark, which a Huron Indian having found, took it to Governor Montmagny. The Governor then organized a guard of six soldiers, who each day relieved one another at Sillery, to watch over the village--the incursions of the savages increasing, the soldiers refused to remain any longer, and Governor Montmagny gave the Hospitalieres the use of a small house on the beach of the river in the lower town. (Hist. de l'Hotel-Dieu, p. 50.)

Francis Parkman furnishes interesting details of the arrival of Piesharit, a famous Indian chief, at Sillery in 1645, and of a grand council held by deMontmagny, in the Jesuits House, which exists to this day, probably the oldest structure of the kind in Canada, dating from 1637.

"As the successful warriors approached the little mission settlement of Sillery, immediately above Quebec, they raised their song of triumph and beat time with their paddles on the edges of their canoes; while, from eleven poles raised aloft, eleven fresh scalps fluttered in the wind. The Father Jesuit and all his flock were gathered on the strand to welcome them. The Indians fired three guns, and screeched in jubilation; one Jean Baptiste, a Christian chief of Sillery, made a speech from the sh.o.r.e; Pisharet repeated, standing upright in his canoe, and to crown the occasion, a squad of soldiers, marching in haste from Quebec, fired a salute of musketry, to the boundless delight of the Indians. Much to the surprise of the two captives, there was no running of the gauntlet, no gnawing off of finger-nails or cutting off of fingers; but the scalps were hung, like little flags, over the entrance of the lodges, and all Sillery betook itself to feasting and rejoicing. One old woman, indeed, came to the Jesuit with a pathetic appeal. "Oh, my father! let me caress these prisoners a little: they have killed, burned, and eaten my father, my husband and my children." But the missionary answered with a lecture on the duty of forgiveness.

On the next day, Montmagny came to Sillery and there was a grand council in the house of the Jesuits. Pisharet, in a solemn harangue, delivered his captives to the Governor, who replied with a speech of compliment and an ample gift. The two Iroquois, were present, seated with a seeming imperturbability, but great anxiety of heart; and when at length they comprehended that their lives were safe, one of them, a man of great size and symmetry, rose and addressed Montmagny." [191]

It would be indeed a pleasant and easy task to recall all the remarkable events which occurred in this neighborhood. One thing is certain, the cool retreats studding the sh.o.r.es of the St. Lawrence were equally sought for by the wealthy in those days as they have been since by all those who wish to breathe pure air and enjoy the scenery.

The Sillery settlement commenced to be deserted about the beginning of the last century. After the cession of Canada the care of the buildings was neglected, and they soon fell to ruins; but the residence of the missionary fathers was preserved, and the ruins of the other structures remained standing long enough to be susceptible of identification with certainty. Several of the old inhabitants recollect having seen the church walls demolished, and they were of great solidity. Abbe Ferland himself, twenty years ago, saw a portion of those walls standing above ground. The ruins of the hospital and the convent were razed about fifty years ago, and in demolis.h.i.+ng them several objects were discovered, some of which must have belonged to the good ladies, the _Hospitalieres_ nuns.

For the benefit of those who might feel inclined to explore the remaining vestiges of M. Sillery's foundation, I shall furnish some details on the locality. About the centre of Sillery Cove can be seen a cape, not very high, but with its sides perpendicular. The position of surrounding objects point it out as the spot on which stood the fort intended to protect the village; there also, in a dry soil, stood the cemetery, from which several bodies were exhumed in the course of last summer (1854) At the foot of the cape, on your left, is the missionaries' house now converted into a residence for the clerks of Messrs. E. R. Dobell & Co.

This building has been kept in repair, and is still in a good state of preservation. In a line with it, and nearest the St. Lawrence, can be discovered the foundation of the church. This edifice stood north-east and south-west.

Near the wall closest to the river ran a spring of water, perfectly clear, and, no doubt, used for the wants of the church and of the presbytery.

Several other streams of excellent water run down the hill and intersect the grounds in all directions. No misconception can exist as to where the chapel stood, as there are still (in 1855) living several persons who saw the walls standing, and can point out the foundations which have since been identified and enclosed by stone pillars and chains. To the right of the small cape, and on a line with the chapel, stood the hospital, now deserted for more than two centuries. Over its foundation an elm has grown,--'tis now a handsome and large tree; six feet from the ground its circ.u.mference measures two fathoms (12 feet), which makes its diameter about three and a half. Heriot thus describes the locality in 1806:--

"From hence to Cap Rouge the scenery, on account of its beauty and variety, attracts the attention of the pa.s.senger. At Sillery, a league from Quebec, on the north sh.o.r.e, are the ruins of an establishment which was begun in 1637, intended as a religious inst.i.tution for the conversion and instruction of natives of the country; it was at one time inhabited by twelve French families. The buildings are placed upon level ground, sheltered by steep banks, and close by the borders of the river; they now only consist of two old stone houses, fallen to decay, and of the remains of a small chapel (the chapel has of late been repaired and fitted up for a malt house, and some of the other buildings have been converted into a brewery). [192] In this vicinity the Algonquins once had a village; several of their tumuli, or burying places, are still discoverable in the woods, and hieroglyphics cut on the trees remain, in some situations, yet unaffected." [193]

On the 6th June, 1865, we determined to afford ourselves a long-promised treat, and go and survey, with Abbe Ferland's _Notes on Sillery_ open before us, and also the help of that eminently respected authority in every parish, the "oldest inhabitant," the traces of the Sillery settlement of 1637. Nor had we long to wait before obtaining ocular demonstration of the minute exact.i.tude with which our old friend, the Abbe, had investigated and measured every stone, every crumbling remain of brick and mortar. The first and most noticeable relic pointed out was the veritable house of the missionaries, facing the St. Lawrence, on the north side of the road, on Sillery Cove; it was the property of the late Henry Le Mesurier, Esquire, of Beauvoir. Were it in the range of possible events that the good fathers could revisit the scene of their past apostolical labours and view their former earthly tenement, hard would be the task to identify it. The heavy three-feet-thick wall is there yet, as perfect, as ma.s.sive, as defiant as ever; the pointed gable and steep roof, in spite of alterations, still stands--the true index of an old French structure in Canada. Our forefathers seemed as if they never could make the roof of a dwelling steep enough, doubtless to prevent the acc.u.mulation of snow. But here ends all a.n.a.logy with the past; so jaunty, so cosy, so modern does the front and interior of Sillery "Manor House" look--thus styled for many years past. Paint, paper and furniture have made it quite a snug abode.

Nor was it without a certain peculiar feeling of reverence we, for the first time, crossed that threshold, and entered beneath those fortress- like walls, where for years had resounded the orisons of the Jesuit Fathers, the men from whose ranks were largely recruited our heroic band of early martyrs--some of whose dust, unburied, but not unhonoured, has mingled for two centuries with its parent earth on the green banks of Lake Simcoe, on the borders of the Ohio, in the environs of Kingston, Montreal, Three Rivers, Quebec--a fruitful seed of christianity scattered bountifully through the length and breadth of our land; others, whose lifeless clay still rests in yon sunny hillock in the rear, to the west of the "Manor House"--the little cemetery described by Abbe Ferland. Between the "Manor House" and the river, about forty feet from the house, inclining towards the south, are the remains of the foundation walls of the Jesuit's church or chapel, dating back to 1640. On the 13th June, 1657, fire made dreadful havoc in the residence of the Jesuits (_Relations_, for 1657, p. 26); they stand north-east and south-west, and are at present flush with the greensward; a large portion of them were still visible about thirty-five years ago, as, attested by many living witnesses; they were converted into ballast for s.h.i.+ps built at this spot, and into materials for repairing the main road by some Vandal who will remain nameless. From the Manor House you notice the little cape to the south-west mentioned in Abbe Ferland's _Notes_, though growing smaller and smaller every year from the quant.i.ties of soil and stone taken from it, also to repair the road. The large elm pointed out by the Abbe as having grown over the spot where the hospital stood is there yet, a majestic tree. The selection of a site for the little cemetery is most judicious, several little streams from the heights in the rear filter through the ground, producing a moisture calculated to prevent decomposition and explanatory of the singular appearance of the bodies disinterred there in 1855. Every visitor will be struck with the beauty, healthiness and shelter which this sequestered nook at Sillery presents for a settlement, and with its adaptability for the purposes for which it was chosen, being quite protected against our two prevailing winds, the north-east and south-west, with a warm southern exposure.

Many years after the opening of the Algonquin and Montagnais school at Sillery, the Huron Indians, after being relentlessly tracked by their inveterate foes, the Five Nations, divided into five detachments; one of these hid on the Great Manitoulin Island, others elsewhere; a portion came down to Quebec on the 26th July, 1650, [194] under the direction of Father Ragueneau, and, on the 28th July, 1650, settled first on the Jesuits land at Beauport; in March, 1651, they went to _Ance du Fort_, on the lands of Mademoiselle de Grandmaison, on the Island of Orleans. But the Iroquois having scented their prey in their new abode, made a raid on the island, butchered seventy-one of them, and carried away some prisoners. The unfortunate redskins soon left the Island in dismay, and for protection, encamped in the city of Quebec itself, under the cannon of the fort, constructed by Governor d'Aillebout to receive them, near the Jesuits College (at Cote de St. Michel); in 1667, they settled on the northerly frontier of Sillery, [195] in Notre Dame de Foy [now St. Foye]; restless and scared, they again s.h.i.+fted they quarters on the 29th December, 1693, and pitched their erratic tents at Ancienne Lorette, which place they also abandoned many years afterwards to go and settle at _Jeune_ or Indian Lorette, where the remnants of this once warlike race [196] (the _n.o.bles_ amongst Indian tribes) exist, now crossed with their Caucasian brethren, and vegetate in obscurity--exotic trees transplanted far from their native wilds.

Shall we venture to a.s.sert that Sillery equals in size some of the German princ.i.p.alities, and that, important though it be, like European dynasties, it has had its periods of splendor succeeded by eras of medieval obscurity. From 1700 down to the time of the conquest, we appeal in vain to the records of the past for any historical event connected with it; everywhere reigns supreme a Cimmerian darkness. But if the page of history is silent, the chronicles of the _ton_ furnish some t.i.t-bits of drawing- room chit-chat. Thus, as stated in Hawkins' celebrated _Historical Picture of Quebec_, [197] the northern portion of the parish skirting the St. Foye road "was the favorite drive of the Canadian belle." In these few words, of Hawkins is involved an intricate question for the salons, a problem to solve, more abstruse than the one which agitated the Grecian cities respecting the birth of Homer. Who then was the Canadian Belle of former days? The Nestors of the present generation still speak with admiration of a fascinating stranger who, close to the end of the last century, used to drive on the St. Foye road, when a royal duke lived in the city, in what is now styled "The Kent House," on St. Louis street. The name of this distinguished traveller, a lady of European birth, was Madame St. Laurent; but, kind reader, have patience. The Canadian belle who thus enjoyed her drives in the environs of Quebec was not Madame St. Laurent, as it is distinctly stated at page 170 of Hawkins that this occurred before the conquest, viz., 1759. Might it have been that vision of female loveliness, that spotless and beautiful Mrs. De Lery, whose presentation at court, with her handsome husband, shortly after the conquest, elicited from His Majesty George III. the expression which history has preserved, "If such are all my new Canadian subjects, I have indeed made a conquest;" or must we picture to ourselves as the Canadian belle that peerless beauty, that witty and aspiring Madame Hughes Pean, Intendant Bigot's fair charmer, mysteriously hinted at, in all the old Quebec guide books, as "Mrs.

P----." Madame Hughes Pean, [198] whose husband was Town Major of Quebec, owned a seigniory in the vicinity of the city--some say at St. Vallier, where Mons Pean used to load with corn the vessels he dispatched elsewhere; she also was one of the gay revellers at the romantic Hermitage, Bigot's shooting lodge at Charlesbourg. Old memoirs seem to favour this version. Be this as it may the St. Foy road was a favorite drive even a century before the present day; so says Hawkins' historical work on Quebec--no mean authority, considering that the materials thereof were furnished by that accomplished scholar and eminent barrister, the late Andrew Stuart, father of the present Judge Stuart, and compiled by the late Dr. John Charlton Fisher, one of the able joint editors of the New York _Albion_, and father of Mrs. Ed. Burstall, late of Sillery. Who was the reigning belle in 1759, we confess that all our antiquarian lore has failed to satisfactorily unravel. The battles of 1759 and 1760 have rendered Sillery, St. Foye, and the Plains of Abraham cla.s.sic ground. The details of these events, having appeared elsewhere, [199] the reader is referred to them.

Those of the present day desirous to ascertain the exact spot in the environs of Quebec where past events have taken place, ought to be careful not to be misled by subsequent territorial divisions for munic.i.p.al or canonical purposes. Many may not be aware that our forefathers included under the denomination of Abraham's Heights that plateau of comparatively level ground extending in a south-easterly direction from the _Coteau Ste. Genevieve_ towards the lofty banks which line the River St.

Lawrence, covering the greatest part of the land on which subsequently have been built the St. Lewis and St. John's suburbs, the hilly portion towards the city and river, where stands the Asile Champetre; thence south-east, being then called b.u.t.tes a Nepveu; the land close by, between the Plains and Pointe a Puiseaux, as Cote St. Michael; the ascent from the valley of the St. Charles towards this plateau was through the hill known as Cote d'Abraham. The locality afterwards known as Woodfield and Spencer Wood, in the fief of St. Michael, was designated as the wood of Sames, thus called after a celebrated French ecclesiastic of Quebec, Bishop Dosquet, who owned there a country seat in 1753--then known as Sames-- later on, as Woodfield. To the west lay the Gomin Wood--which had taken its name from a French botanist, Dr. Gomin, who had located himself on land on which it is said, Coulonge Cottage was subsequently built in order to study the Flora of Sillery, which is very varied and rich.

The old Sillery settlement, which lay within the limits of the parish of Ste. Foye, was, in 1855, placed under the distinguished tutelage of a Saint, dear to those who hail from the Emerald Isle, and called St.

Columba of Sillery. Thus the realms heretofore sacred to the Archangel, St. Michael and to St. Joseph, have peaceably pa.s.sed under the gentle sway of St. Columba, despite the law of prescription. The British residents of Sillery--and this ought to console sticklers for English precedents and the sacredness of vested rights--did not permit the glory of the Archangel to depart, and soon after the erection of St. Columbia into a parish, the handsome temple of wors.h.i.+p called St. Michael's church, came into existence. [200]

_OUR COUNTRY SEATS._

In the preceding paper a general sketch has been attempted of that portion of the St. Lawrence highlands adjoining Quebec to the west--a locality remarkable for the numerous residences it contains of "the n.o.bility of commerce," as a contemporary facetiously styles our merchants. We shall, in the following go over a great portion of the same ground, delineating, first the land area west of Quebec proper, where was fought the battle of the 13th Sept., 1759, _the Plains or Abraham_, and next detail, specifically, the most attractive of these country residences, enlarging our canva.s.s, however, so as to comprise also descriptions of rural homes beyond the limits of Sillery. Many other abodes we would also desire to take in these pages, but s.p.a.ce precludes it. It is hoped we won't be misunderstood in our literary project: far is it from our intention to write a panegyric of individuals or a paean to success, although sketches of men or domestic recollections may frequently find their place in the description of their abodes. No other desire prompted us but that of attempting to place prominently before the public the spots with which history or nature has more specially enriched Quebec. Quebecers ought to be proud of their scenery and of the historical ivy which clings to the old walls of Stadacona. Neighbouring cities may grow vast with brick and mortar; their commerce may advance with the stride of a young giant; their citizens may sit in high places among the sons of men, but can they ever compare with our own fortress for historical memories or beautiful scenery? We shall a.s.sign the first place to the mansion which still crowns the Montmorenci Falls, once the abode of the father of our Sovereign; we shall then view the residences on the St. Lewis road in succession, then those along the St. Foy road, and finally close this paper with the description of other remarkable spots in the neighborhood of Quebec.-- Lorette, Chateau Bigot, Montmorency Falls, Chaudiere Falls.

_THE PLAINS OF ABRAHAM._

"Aux plaines d'Abraham, rendez-vous des batailles, revenez voir ces lieux, oh! revenez encore, officiers du _Grand Roi_, revenez tous aussi, La Barre, Frontenac, Denonville, Tracy! alignez vous, soldats, Carignan et Guienne, appuyez, Languedoc et Bearn et la Reine."-- _Alp. de Puibusque_.

"Among modern Battle-fields," says Col. (now Lt. General) Beatson, "none surpa.s.s in romantic interest the Plains or Heights of Abraham."

No Quebecer would have the hardihood to challenge the a.s.sertion of this able engineer officer, stationed here from 1849 to 1854, and who spared neither time nor pains, with the a.s.sistance of our historians and antiquarians, Ferland, Faribault and McGuire, to collect authentic information on this subject. Col. Beatson compiled a volume of historical notes, which he published in 1858, when stationed at Gibraltar. [201]

The Plains of Abraham will ever be famous, as having witnessed, more than one century back, the deadly encounter of the then two leading nations of Europe--England and France--to decide the fate of Canada--one might say (by the series of events it led to) the destinies of North America.

Of this mighty duel, which crimsoned with human gore these fields one murky September morning, in 1759--Smollett, Carlyle, Bancroft, Hawkins, Smith, Garneau, Ferland, Miles and other historians have vied with one another to furnish a graphic account. Of the origin of the name, none until lately could tell.

"Notwithstanding," adds Col. Beatson, "the world-like celebrity of these Plains, it was not until very recently that the derivation of their name was discovered; and as it is comparatively unknown, even in Canada, the following explanation of its origin will doubtless possess attractions for such as are fond of tracing to their sources the names of celebrated localities, and who may be surprised to learn that upwards of a century previous to the final conquest of Canada by the British arms, the scene of the decisive struggle for national supremacy in the northern division of the New World had derived its name from one who, if not a Scotchman by birth, would seem to have been of Scottish lineage. This apparently improbable fact will, however, appear less extraordinary when it is known that he was a sea- faring man; and when it is considered how close was the alliance and how frequent the intercourse which, for centuries before that period, had subsisted between France and Scotland.