Mr. Burstall Having Withdrawn From Business, Removed To England And Died
There A Few Years Back.
Kirk Ella has now become the property of Charles
Ernest Levey, Esq., only son of the late Charles E. Levey, Esq., formerly
of Cataracoui.
The dwelling having been destroyed by fire in 1879, the new
owner decided on erecting a handsome roomy mansion on the same site. The
visitor at Kirk Ella, after paying his devoirs to the youthful Chatelain
and Chatelaine, can admire at leisure Mr. Levey's numerous and expensive
stud: "Lollypop", "Bismark," "Joker," "Jovial," "Tichborne," "Burgundy,"
"Catch-him-alivo," a crowd of fleet steeds, racing and trotting stock,
surrounded by a yelping and frisky pack of "Peppers," "Mustards,"
"Carlos," "Guys," "Josephines," "Fidlers;" Mastiffs, French Poodles, Fox
Terriers, Bulldogs, - Kirk Ella is a perfect Elysium for that faithful
though noisy friend of man, the dog.
CATARACOUI.
The conflagration of Spencer Wood, on the 12th March, 1860, made it
incumbent on the Provincial Government to provide for His Excellency Sir
Edmund Head a suitable residence. After examining several places,
Cataracoui, the residence of Henry Burstall, Esquire, opposite to Kirk
Ella was selected, and additions made, and still greater decorations and
improvements ordered when it became known that the First Gentleman in
England, our Sovereign's eldest son, was soon to pay a flying visit to Her
Majesty's Canadian lieges. Cataracoui can boast of having harbored two
princes of the blood royal, the prince of Wales, and his brother Alfred; a
circumstance which no doubt much enhanced its prestige in the eyes of its
owner. It was laid out about 1836 by Jas. B. Forsyth, Esq., the first
proprietor, and reflects credit on his taste.
This seat, without possessing the extensive grounds, vast river frontage,
and long shady walks of Spencer Wood, or Woodfield, is an eminently
picturesque residence. A new grapery with a lean-to roof, about ninety
feet in length, has just been completed: the choicest [248] varieties of
the grape vine are here cultivated. Several tasty additions have, also,
recently been made to the conservatory, under the superintendence of a
Scotch landscape gardener, Mr. P. Lowe, formerly in charge of the Spencer
Wood conservatories, &c. We had the pleasure on one occasion to view, on a
piercing winter day, from the drawing room of Cataracoui, through the
glass door which opens on the conservatory, the rare collections of
exotics it contains, - a perfect grove of verdure and blossoms, - the whole
lit up by the mellow light of the setting sun, whose rays scintillated in
every fantastic form amongst this gorgeous tropical vegetation, whilst the
snow-wreathed evergreens, surrounding the conservatory waved their palms
to the orb of day in our clear, bracing Canadian atmosphere - summer and
winter combined in one landscape; the tropics and their luxuriant
magnolias, divided by an inch of glass from the realms of old king frost
and his hardy familiars, the pine and the maple. Charming was the
contrast, furnishing a fresh proof of the comfort and luxury with which
the European merchant, once settled in Canada, surrounds his home. What,
indeed, can be more gratifying, during the arctic, though healthy,
temperature of our winter, than to step from a cosy drawing-room, with its
cheerful grate-fire, into a green, floral bower, and inhale the aroma of
the orange and the rose, whilst the eye is charmed by the blossoming
camellia of virgin whiteness; the wisteria, spirea, azalea, rhododendron,
and odorous daphne, all blending their perfume or exquisite tints.
Cataracoui has been recently decorated, we may say, with regal
magnificence, and Sillery is justly proud of this fairy abode, for years
the country seat of the late Charles B. Levey, Esq., and still occupied by
Mrs. Levey and family.
ROSEWOOD.
"Along their blushing borders, bright with dew,
And in yon mingled wilderness of flowers,
Fair-handed Spring unbosoms every grace;
Throws out the snow-drop and the crocus first;
The daisy, primrose, violet darkly blue,
And polyanthus of unnumber'd dyes;
The yellow wall-flower, stain'd with iron-brown;
And lavish stock that scents the garden round;
From the soft wing of vernal breezes shed,
Anemones; auriculas, enrich'd
With shining meal o'er all their velvet leaves;
And full ranunculas, of glowing red.
Then comes the tulip race, where beauty plays
Her idle freaks; from family diffus'd
To family, as flies the father dust,
The varied colors run; and while they break
On the charm'd eye th' exulting florist marks,
With sweet pride, the wonders of his hand.
No gradual bloom is wanting; from the bud,
First-born of spring, to summer's musky tribes
Nor hyacinths, of purest virgin white,
Low bent, and blushing inward; nor jonquils
Of potent fragrance; nor narcissus fair,
As o'er the fabled fountain hanging still;
Nor broad carnations, nor gay spotted pink;
Nor, shower'd from every bush, the damask rose."
A tiny and unostentatious cottage buried among the trees. All around it,
first, flowers; secondly, flowers; thirdly, flowers. The garden, a network
of walks, and spruce hedges of rare beauty; occasionally you stumble
unexpectedly on a rustic bower, tenanted by an Apollo or Greek slave in
marble, or else you find yourself on turning an angle on the shady bank of
a sequestered pond, in which lively trout disport themselves as merrily as
those goldfish you just noticed in the aquarium in the hall hung round
with Krieghoff's exquisite "Canadian scenery." You can also, as you pass
along, catch the loud notes issuing from the house aviary and blending
with the soft, wild melody of the wood warblers and robin; but the
prominent feature of the place are flowers, sweet flowers, to charm the
eye and perfume the air. Do not wonder at that; this was the summer abode
of a gentleman whose name usually stood high on the Montreal and Quebec
exhibition prize list, and who was as successful in his commercial
ventures as he had been in the culture of carnations, zenias, gladiolus,
roses and dahlias. We remember seeing six hundred dahlias in bloom at
Rosewood at the same time, the coup d'oeil and contrasts between
the varieties were striking in the extreme.
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