The Parliament Of Great Britain Voted L2,000 To This
Benefactor Of The Human Race.
Macadamized roads, like several other useful
inventions, met with many obstacles in Quebec.
Some of the loudest to
denounce this innovation were the carriage builders, who augured that good
roads, by decreasing the bills for repairs to carriages, would ruin their
industry, that their "usefulness would be gone."
[11] Jesuit's Journal, page 89. Vide Appendix - Verbo, Horses.
[12] The Journal des Jesuites, published by Geo. Desbarats in 1874,
under the supervision of the learned Abbes Laverdiere and Casgrain, from
the copy in the Archives of the Quebec Seminary, though fragmentary,
throws valuable light on many points in Canadian History. We clip the
entry for 1st January, 1646, as summarized in the Glimpses of the
(Ursuline) Monastery, respecting the custom of New Year's visits and
presents; this entry will further introduce us to some of the denizens of
note in Quebec in 1646: - We meet with the first seigneur of Beauport,
Surgeon Robert Giffard, who had settled there in 1634; the Royal Engineer
and Surveyor, Jean Bourdon; J. Bpte. Couillard, the ancestor of the Quebec
Couillards, of late years connected by marriage with the Quebec DeLerys;
Mdlle. de Repentigny, a high-born French lady; the founder of the
Ursuline Monastery, the benevolent Madame de la Peltrie; the devoted
Sillery missionary, Father de Quen; without forgetting our old Scotch
friend, Pilot Abraham Martin, who, from the nature of the gift bestowed,
it seems, could relish his glass, and evidently was not then what we now
call a "Neal Dow man."
January, 1st, 1646. - The soldiers went to salute the Governor with their
guns; the inhabitants presented their compliments in a body. He was
beforehand with us, and came here at seven o'clock to wish us a 'Happy New
Year,' addressing each of the Fathers one after another. I returned his
visit after Mass. (Another time we must be beforehand with him.) M.
Giffard also came to see us. The hospital nuns sent us a letter of
compliment early in the morning; the Ursulines also, with beautiful
presents, wax candles, rosaries, a crucifix, and, at dinner, two excellent
pigeon-pies. I sent them two images, in enamel, of St. Ignatius and St
Francois Xavier. We gave to M. Giffard the 'Life of Our Lord,' by F.
Bonnet; to M. des Chatelets, a little volume of Drexellius on Eternity; to
M. Bourdon, a telescope and compass, and to others, reliquaries, rosaries,
medals, images, etc. We gave a crucifix to the woman who washes the Church
linen, a bottle of rum to Abraham, and four handkerchiefs to his wife;
some books of devotion to others, and two handkerchiefs to Robert Hache;
he asked for more and we gave them to him. I went to see M. Giffard, M.
Couillard and Mademoiselle de Repentigny. The Ursulines sent to beg I
would come and see them before the end of the day. I went; and paid my
compliments also to Madame de la Peltrie, who had sent us presents. I was
near leaving this out, which would have been a great oversight. At home, I
gave to our Fathers and Brothers what I thought they would like best. I
had given beforehand to F. De Quen, for Sillery, all he chose to take from
my room, and a choice present for Father Masse." - Journal, p. 24.
[13] Histoire de la Colonie Francaise en Canada, Vol. III., p. 384.
[14] History of Emily Montague, 4 Vols., 1767 - London.
[15] The "dear man," in a concluding paragraph, dated 1st July, 1766, to
John Temple, Esq., Pall-Mall, London, says: "Adieu! I am going to attend a
very handsome French lady, who allows me the honour to drive her en
calashe to our Canadian Hyde Park, the road to St. Foix, where you
will see forty or fifty calashes, with pretty women in them, parading
every evening." - (History of Emily Montague, Vol. I., p. 25.) The
handsome Colonel Rivers, who so fancied his drives on the Foye road in
1766, the writer was told by Hon. W. Sheppard, was no other than the
gallant Colonel Henry Caldwell, Wolfe's Assistant Quartermaster-General at
the battle of the Plains, in 1759 - the "Laird of Belmont" - who died at
Quebec in 1810, a friend, no doubt, of the clever Mrs. Brookes who wrote
this novel.
[16] Histoire de l'Hotel-Dieu de Quebec (Mere Juchereau, 511.)
[17] Histoire de l'Hotel-Dieu, Casgrain, p. 81.
[18] To Let. - That elegant house, No. 6 Port Louis Street, lately occupied
by H.R.H. Prince Edward, and at present by the Lord Bishop of Quebec. For
particulars, apply to Miss Mabane, or to Munro & Bell, Quebec. - 4th March,
1794 (Quebec Gazette, 1794.)
[19] Montgomery's House is now a much frequented stand for the sale of
cigars, candies, newspapers, &c., to tourists.
[20] William Brown, uncle to the Neilsons, was a Scotchman from
Philadelphia, who had been induced to print a journal in Quebec from the
representations and information he had collected from William Laing, a
Quebec merchant tailor, whom he had met in Scotland.
[21] Twenty-four years in advance of the London Times, founded in 1778,
but twelve years after the Halifax Gazette, published in Halifax, N.S.,
in March, 1762, by one John Bushnell.
[22] The first books printed in Quebec were: -
"Catechisme Montagnais," 1767.
"Lettre sur la Ville de Quebec," 1774.
"Cantique de Marseilles," 1776.
In Montreal: -
"Reglement de la Confrerie de l'Adoration Perpetuelle du Saint Sacrement
et de la Bonne Mort," Mesplet & Berger, 1776.
"Jonathan and David, a tragedy, a book of 40 pages," Mesplet & Berger,
1776.
"Officium Sacerdotum," Mesplet & Berger, 1777.
- (Montreal Prize Questions in Canadian History.)
[23] The mode of consulting a Roman lawyer was this: the lawyer was placed
on an elevated seat, the client, coming up to him said Licet consulere?
The lawyer answered, consule. The matter was then proposed, and an
answer returned very shortly, thus: Quaero an existimes, vel, id jus
est, nec ne?
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