Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present

by Sir J. M. Le Moine

"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.)