Thus, As Stated In Hawkins' Celebrated Historical Picture
Of Quebec, [197] The Northern Portion Of The Parish Skirting The St.
Foye
road "was the favorite drive of the Canadian belle." In these few words,
of Hawkins is involved an intricate
Question for the salons, a problem to
solve, more abstruse than the one which agitated the Grecian cities
respecting the birth of Homer. Who then was the Canadian Belle of former
days? The Nestors of the present generation still speak with admiration of
a fascinating stranger who, close to the end of the last century, used to
drive on the St. Foye road, when a royal duke lived in the city, in what
is now styled "The Kent House," on St. Louis street. The name of this
distinguished traveller, a lady of European birth, was Madame St. Laurent;
but, kind reader, have patience. The Canadian belle who thus enjoyed her
drives in the environs of Quebec was not Madame St. Laurent, as it is
distinctly stated at page 170 of Hawkins that this occurred before the
conquest, viz., 1759. Might it have been that vision of female loveliness,
that spotless and beautiful Mrs. De Lery, whose presentation at court,
with her handsome husband, shortly after the conquest, elicited from His
Majesty George III. the expression which history has preserved, "If such
are all my new Canadian subjects, I have indeed made a conquest;" or must
we picture to ourselves as the Canadian belle that peerless beauty, that
witty and aspiring Madame Hughes Pean, Intendant Bigot's fair charmer,
mysteriously hinted at, in all the old Quebec guide books, as "Mrs.
P - - ." Madame Hughes Pean, [198] whose husband was Town Major of Quebec,
owned a seigniory in the vicinity of the city - some say at St. Vallier,
where Mons Pean used to load with corn the vessels he dispatched
elsewhere; she also was one of the gay revellers at the romantic
Hermitage, Bigot's shooting lodge at Charlesbourg. Old memoirs seem to
favour this version. Be this as it may the St. Foy road was a favorite
drive even a century before the present day; so says Hawkins' historical
work on Quebec - no mean authority, considering that the materials thereof
were furnished by that accomplished scholar and eminent barrister, the
late Andrew Stuart, father of the present Judge Stuart, and compiled by
the late Dr. John Charlton Fisher, one of the able joint editors of the
New York Albion, and father of Mrs. Ed. Burstall, late of Sillery. Who
was the reigning belle in 1759, we confess that all our antiquarian lore
has failed to satisfactorily unravel. The battles of 1759 and 1760 have
rendered Sillery, St. Foye, and the Plains of Abraham classic ground. The
details of these events, having appeared elsewhere, [199] the reader is
referred to them.
Those of the present day desirous to ascertain the exact spot in the
environs of Quebec where past events have taken place, ought to be careful
not to be misled by subsequent territorial divisions for municipal or
canonical purposes.
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