It was impossible to contemplate unmoved this rustic chivalry, this banding of men of every European tongue for a common purpose, so pregnant with good for themselves and for their posterity.
Let the healthful tide roll on, here is boundless space for all comers; and ages must pass before willing toil shall fail to find present employment, cheered by the prospect of ultimate independence.
About five P.M. we were landed. In company with Captain W——s, U. S. A. I ascended the mountain; and, as our time was limited, we had no sooner secured good quarters at the hotel than we sallied forth to survey the works, which are, I understand, of the strongest and most perfect description, sufficiently guaranteeing Quebec against all surprisal for the time to come.
The finest view is that offered from the Signal-tower.
The city, Point Levi, the winding river, with the Isle of Orleans, lay clearly spread beneath our feet as in a well-designed panorama, with such light and shadow as the artist is seldom favoured with, except in imagination.
Coming down from the fort, I was happy enough to encounter Captain Doyle, driving a right London-appointed tilbury. He had been to the hotel in search of me, and now, dismissing his boy, installed me in the vacancy, and set off at once for the field of battle on the Plains of Abraham.
Our first pull-up was by a little potato-field, memorable as the spot where the gallant Wolfe fell. A broken column of black marble had just been erected here by Lord Aylmer: a tribute honourable to the taste of the gallant soldier living, and which will henceforward worthily mark the spot where the young victor died.
After viewing over the battle-ground, with the ascent from Wolfe's Cove, we turned back to the city and drove to the Chateau, or rather to its ruins. We walked through the blackened hall out upon the still firm floor of the gallery, or balcony, overlooking at a giddy height the lower town. From this we strolled through the hanging-garden of the Chateau, which is laid out on terraces cut from the face of the precipice, and hedged in by a range of cannon of the largest calibre.
Took coffee with Doyle in a chamber, which, although placed at a somewhat unfashionable altitude, commanded a prospect worth all the labour of a threefold flight. Finding it a hopeless task waiting for night, that is, for darkness, went home and to bed, a little wearied, but more delighted, leaving directions to be called at five A.M. having arranged with Captain W——s to ride at that hour to the Falls of Montmorency.
Monday, 8th.—In saddle by half past five A.M. with a morning that made these narrow, dusty streets look both cool and clear. The market-folk were already in motion from the country, having light carts filled with the articles they supply to the bourgeoisie.