Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present Part 74

[206] Local tradition relates that, on receiving, about 8 o'clock in the morning of the 13th September, the startling intelligence that the English were in possession of the Plains, MONTCALM (hitching up his breeches with both hands, as was his custom) briskly exclaimed, "_if that be the case it is time we were hastening thither; for we must drive them into the river before noon._"--R. S. B.

[207] "The English troops were exhorted to reserve their fire; and they bore that of the enemy's light troops in front (which was galling though irregular) with the utmost patience and good order, waiting for the main body of the enemy which fast advanced upon them. At forty yards distance our troops gave their fire, which took place in its full extent, and made a terrible havoc among the French."--_The Annual Register for_ 1759.

"General Wolfe ordered the men to load with an additional bullet which did great execution.

"As soon as the French came within musket-shot they began to fire, but the British reserved their fire until the enemy were within twenty yards."

--_Beatson's Naval and Military Memoirs of Great Britain from_ 1729 _to_ 1790.

[208] The Canadian militia (of which more than half of Montcalm's forces consisted) were without bayonets.--MONTCALM'S _Letter of 24th August_, 1759.

[209] The authenticity of this famous, prophetic letter has been attacked by subsequent writers: among others by Francis Parkman.

[210] For a description of the spot where MONTCALM expired, see _Alb.u.m du Touriste_.

[211] _Knox's Journal_, Vol. ii., pp. 14, 21, 24, 28, Aug. 21 "The project of erecting a fortress on the Island of Coudres, for a garrison of three thousand men, is laid aside for want of proper materials, and the season being too far advanced for such an undertaking. The enterprise of storming Quebec is also given up as too desperate to hope for success." P.

28.

[212] Denis de Vitre, then a prisoner of war in England, had been induced to come to Canada, partly by threats, partly by promises, to pilot the English fleet. According to the Diary of old James Thompson, both Cugnet and Davis had indicated the spot when Wolfe landed at Sillery. Stobo claimed the credit of it, and according to Panet's Diary, it was on his advice, that on the 21st July, 1759, was undertaken the expedition to Deschambeault and neighboring parishes, where 100 Quebec ladies of respectability secreted there--had been captured and brought back.

[213] "For sale, the elegant villa of the late Sir Frederic Haldimand, K.B., delightfully situated near the Falls of Montmorency, with the farm- house.--Quebec, 1st December, 1791."--_Supplement to the Quebec Gazette, 22nd Dec._, 1792.

[214] Our port must have presented quite a warlike aspect--over and above the _Ulysses_ and _Resistance_ frigates there had preceded the Prince's arrival, the following s.h.i.+ps of war, forming part of Commodore Sawyer's squadron: The flag s.h.i.+p _Leander_, 50 guns, Capt. J. Bevelay; the _Resource_, Commander Paul Minihin; the _Ariadne_, Commander Osburn; the _Thisbe_, Capt. Coffin, was also arrived from a cruise, and four transports, one named the _Lord Mulgrave_, with detachments of the 5th, 25th and 54th regiments, were anch.o.r.ed before the city.

[215] The list of the partners of Prince Edward's grandson H. R. H. the Prince of Wales, at the ball, etc., given in his honour in Quebec, by the Mayor and citizens, at the Music Hall, on the 21st August, 1860, comprises: 1. Mrs. Langevin (wife of Sir H. L. Langevin, M.P.P., and Mayor of Quebec); 2. Mrs. Cartier (wife of Sir George Etienne Cartier, Attorney General); 3. Miss Irvine (daughter of Colonel Irvine, then Provincial Aide-de-Camp); 4. Miss Price; 5. Miss LeMesurier (since married to Capt.

Carter); 6. Miss Derbys.h.i.+re (Mrs. J. Adamson); 7. Miss Clementina Sewell; 8. Miss Caron (daughter of Hon. Justice Caron, and now wife of Mr. Justice Taschereau); 9. Lady Milne; 10. Miss Napier, of Montreal (since married to Capt. Bell); 11. Mrs. Serocold (wife of Captain Serocold and daughter of the Hon. Chief Justice Duval); 12. Miss Duns...o...b..(daughter of the Collector of Customs at Quebec); 13. Miss Fischer (daughter of the Attorney General of New Brunswick); 14. Miss Mountain (daughter of the late Bishop of Quebec); 15. Miss Agnes Anderson; 16. Mrs. Ross; 17. Mrs.

Alex. Bell; 18. Miss Tilley (daughter of Sir Leonard Tilley); 19. Mrs. R.

H. Smith.

[216] He was created Field Marshal in 1827.

[217] Monsieur Jean Laforme was, indeed, a high authority on hair dressing. Our youthful grandmothers of 1791 would have no other than Monsieur Laforme to dress their hair for the _Chateau_ b.a.l.l.s. A memorable instance has been handed down to posterity of the awful dilemma in which, either a press of engagements or an oversight, placed the Court _peruquier_, from which his genius alone extricated him. The beautiful Mrs. P----t, the consort of the Speaker of the Legislative a.s.sembly in 179-, had to attend at a ball at the Castle St. Louis.

Unfortunately she had omitted engaging in time Laforme to arrange her hair for the evening in question; and every hour of the day on which the ball was to take place, being bespoken, the hair-dresser at his wit's ends said that he would guarantee that she would yet go to the ball, but she must place herself entirely in his hands. "Well," said the _Grande Dame_, "what, then, am I to do?" "Bah!" said the _peruquier_, "'tis easily settled; I shall _do_ your hair the day _previous_."--"But then how am I to sleep with my hair done up?" "Oh! that is again easily arranged--you will sleep in _fauteuil_. I will have your hair and head padded and strapped down." And thus was it done and she went to the ball.

[218] The Hon. Hugh Finlay was Deputy Postmaster General for Canada from 1774 to 1800, when he was succeeded by George Heriot, who wrote a folio of travels on Canada. Hugh Finlay had served under Benjamin Franklin, the first English Deputy Postmaster General for the _then_ British American Provinces, from 1750 to 1774, when he resigned. When he took the appointment the postage on letters was insufficient to cover his salary, 300 per annum.

[219] "Away," exclaimed the Prince to the excited voters, "with those hated distinctions of English and Canadians; you are all my august father's beloved subjects."

[220] The anecdote of the officer, who, on being ordered on foreign service, cut off his queue and buried it with military honors, is humorously related by Erskine Neale, in the Duke's biography, p. 325.

[221] Christie's History of Canada.

[222] This curious incident is mentioned in the _Maple Leaves_ for 1865, in connection with a mess dinner, when a gentleman friend of one of the young Hollands was proved to be a beautiful female in disguise, who afterwards married the brother of an English n.o.bleman.

[223] Since these lines were written in 1865, many changes have come over Marchmont--our esteemed neighbor was suddenly called away, leaving his beautiful house to his devoted wife; she, too, alas! has paid the debt of nature in May, 1880.

[224] "Ce capitaine avait avec lui beaucoup d'habitants de Lorette, dont le lieu etait a portee de ce poste; ils lui demanderent permission d'aller travailler la nuit chez eux, il la leur accorda (on pretend que ce fut a condition d'aller aussi travailler pour lui, sur une terre qu'il avait dans cette paroisse)."--_Memoire sur les affaires du Canada_, 1749-60, p.

114.

[225] Captain Chandler was appointed, in 1800, commissioner to settle the domain accruing from the Jesuits' estates; subsequently he became Seigneur of Nicolet, where he died about 1863.

[226] We give here the poetical tribute paid by Adam Kidd to a spot where he appears to have spent many happy hours, as a guest of the Percevals, together with, his notes to the poem:--

SPENCER WOOD

Through thy green groves and deep receding bowers, Loved Spencer Wood! how often have I strayed, Or mused away the calm, unbroken hours, Beneath some broad oak's cool, refres.h.i.+ng shade

There, not a sound disturbed the tranquil scene, Save welcome hummings of the roving bee, That quickly flitted o'er the tufted green, Or where the squirrel played from tree to tree.

And I have paused beside that dimpling stream, Which slowly winds thy beauteous groves among Till from its breast retired the sun's last beam, And every bird had ceased its vesper song.

The blus.h.i.+ng arbors of those cla.s.sic days, Through which the breathings of the slender reed, First softly echoed with Arcadia's praise, Might well be pictured in this sheltered mead.

And blest were those who found a happy home In thy loved shades, without one throb of care?

No murmurs heard, save from the distant foam That rolled in column's o'er the great Chaudiere.

And I have watched the moon in grandeur rise Above the tinted maple's leafy breast, And take her brillant pathway through the skies, Till half the world seemed lulled in peaceful rest.

Oh! these were hours whose soft enchanting spell Came o'er the heart in thy grove's deep recess, Where e'en poor Shenstone might have loved to dwell, Enjoying the pure balm of happiness!

But soon, how soon, a different scene I trace, Where I have wandered, or oft musing stood, And those whose cheering looks enhanced the place, No more shall smile on thee, lone Spencer Wood!

"This is one of the most beautiful spots in Lower Canada, and the property (1830) of the late Hon. Michael Henry Perceval, who resided there with his accomplished family, whose highly cultivated minds rendered my visits to Spencer Wood doubly interesting. The grounds and grand walks are tastefully laid out, interspersed with great variety of trees, planted by the hand of nature. This scenery is altogether magnificent, and particularly towards the east, where the great precipices overhang Wolfe's Cove. This latter place has derived its name from the hero, who, with his British troops, n.o.bly ascended its frowning cliffs on the 13th September, 1759, and took possession of the Plains of Abraham."--ADAM KIDD, 1830.

--(The HURON CHIEF and other poems--Adam Kidd.)

[227] The ill.u.s.trious Chancellor of the Exchequer, Spencer Perceval, a.s.sa.s.sinated by Bellingham on the 11th May, 1812, probably took the name of Spencer from the Earls of Egmont and Northampton, connected with the Percevals.

[228] Mrs. P. Sheppard died 28th August, 1877.

[229] Died July the 7th, 1878.

[230] Mr. P. Lowe, during many years in charge of the conservatory, furnished us with the following note:--"The hot-houses belonging to Henry Atkinson, while in my charge, consisted of pinery, stove and orchid house.

In the pinery were grown specimens of the Providence, Enville, Montserrat and Queen pines--a plant of the latter variety, in fruit, being exhibited at the Horticultural Exhibition, Montreal, in September, 1852, the fruit of which weighed between five and six pounds, tang the first pine-apple exhibited of Canadian growth, but not the first grown at Spencer Wood, it was noticed in the _Ill.u.s.trated London News_. The following are the names of a few of the plants grown in the stove-house:--_Ardisia; Alamanda; Amaryllis, Achimenes; Aschynanthus, Asclepias, Begonias, Crinums, Centradinias; Calumnmas, Drymonias; Euphorbias, Franciscia; Goidfussia; Gesneras_, in twelve varieties; _Gloxinias_, in twenty-four varieties; _Gloriosa; Gardenias; Hibiscus; Inga; Ipomaea; Justicia; Lamandra; Legastrema; Musa-Cavendis.h.i.+_, which we fruited--the only one fruited in the province to this day, to my knowledge--the bunch of fruit weighed ninety pounds; _Maranta; Melastomas, Mennetties; Nymphas; Osbeekias, Penteas, Pa.s.siflora; Peideum; Stephenotis, Streluzias; Russellea; Ruellea; Rondilitia, Tabernaemonana; Tradescantia; Vinca; Clerodendrons,_ &c., &c.

In the orchid house, the following are a portion of the names of plants grown be me:--_Bletia; Bolbophyllum; Cyppripedium; Cymbedium; Catazetum; Cattleya; Bra.s.savoleas, Dendrobiums, Epidendrons, Aerides; Gongora; Gomezia; Maxallaria; Oncidium, Plurathalis; Pholidota; Physosiphon; Plurathalles; Peristerias, Ripsalis, Stanhopeas; Zygopetalum_, &c., &c.

The houses containing the above were heated by hot-water pipes for atmospheric heat and open tanks for bottom heat; they were the most complete of the kind I have seen either in Canada or Great Britain--so much so, that, during my stay with Mr. Atkinson, we used to produce for Christmas and New Year's Day pine-apples, cuc.u.mbers, rhubarb, asparagus and mushrooms, all in the same house."

[231] Mr. DeGaspe married, 1811, Susanna, daughter of Thos. Allison, Esq., a captain of the 6th Regiment, infantry, and of Theresse Baby, the latter's two brother officers, Captains Ross Lewin and Bellingham, afterwards Lord Bellingham, married at Detroit then forming part of Upper Canada, two sisters, daughters of the Hon. Jacques Duperon Baby.

[232] The copy of Audubon's works here alluded to, was the same, we opine, as that generously presented by the ill.u.s.trious _savant_ to Mr. Martyn, chronometer-maker, St Peter street,--an ardent ornithologist, whose roof sheltered the great naturalist, in Quebec in 1842.

Audubon made several excursions round Quebec to study our birds, was the honoured guest of the late Henry Atkinson, at Spencer Wood, and visited the collection of Canadian birds of Hon. William Sheppard, at Woodfield.

[233] His last work in the cause of natural history is the publication of his "_Tableau Synoptique des Oiseaux du Canada_," got the use of schools, which must have entailed no small amount of labour, a sequel to "_Les Oiseaux du Canada_," 2 vols., 1860.

[234] These stones and inscriptions were donated to the author of "_Quebec Past and Present_"--by the city authorities on taking down the City Gates.

[235] Pierre Herman Dosquet, born at Lille in Flanders in 1691, arrived in Canada in 1721, was shortly afterwards sent a missionary to the Lake of Two Mountains, was made a bishop in 1725, purchased Samos from Nicholas de la Nouiller, in 1731, where he built a country house in 1732. Sold it some years afterwards to the Quebec Seminary, visited France in 1733 and resigned his see and left the country in 1739 and died in Paris in 1777.

[236] Judge Adam Mabane died in 1792.