[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 nobleman.
[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 était à portée de ce poste; ils lui demandèrent permission d'aller travailler la nuit chez eux, il la leur accorda (on prétend que ce fut à condition d'aller aussi travailler pour lui, sur une terre qu'il avait dans cette paroisse)."—Mémoire 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, refreshing 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 blushing arbors of those classic days,
Through which the breathings of the slender reed,
First softly echoed with Arcadia's praise,
Might well be pictured in this sheltered mead.