The Rev.
Erskine Neale, who wrote his life, is less a biographer than a
panegyrist, and his book, if, instead of much fulsome praise, it
contained a fuller account - especially of the early career of his
hero - of the Duke's sayings and doings in Gibraltar, Quebec and
Halifax, it would certainly prove more valuable, much more complete.
Singularly enough, Neale, disposes in about three lines, of the years
the Duke spent in Quebec, though, as proved by his correspondence,
those years were anything but barren. Quebec, we contend, as exhibited
in the Duke's letters, ever retained a green spot in his souvenirs, in
after life.
The Old Chateau balls, the Kent House in St. Lewis street, had for him
their joyful sunshine, when, as a stalwart, dashing Colonel of
Fusileers, aged 25, he had his entrees in the fashionable drawing-
rooms of 1791-4 Holland House, Powell Place (Spencer Wood, as it is
now called), old Hale's receptions, Lymburner's soirees in his old
mansion on Sault au Matelot street, then the fashionable quarter for
wealthy merchants. The Duke's cottage orne at the Montmorenci Falls
had also its joyous memories, but these were possibly too tender to be
expatiated on in detail.
The Prince, it appears, was also present on an occasion of no ordinary
moment to the colony that is when the King, his father, "granted a
Lower Chamber to the two provinces in 1791."
The only original source now available for inditing that portion of
the Duke's life spent in Quebec, is Neilson's old Quebec Gazette,
supplemented with divers old traditions, not always reliable.
Dr. Anderson's compilation will certainly go far to dispel the
atmosphere of misrepresentation floating around the character of
Prince Edward, as he was familiarly styled when here during the past
century. The character of the most humble individual, when casually
mentioned in history, ought to be free from misrepresentation. Why
this rule should not apply to the manly soldier who, in the streets of
old Quebec in 1791, headed his gallant men wherever a riot, a fire, or
a public calamity required their presence, is difficult to understand.
No man was more popular in the city from the services he rendered when
called on. One class, however, found in him an unrelenting
disciplinarian - the refractory soldier attempting mutiny or desertion
from the corps.
We are invited to these reflections from the fact that new light is
now promised to us on this traduced commander, in the shape of what
will no doubt be an attractive biography of Duke Edward from the pen
of a London litterateur of note, whose name we are not justified in
giving at present. The following extract from a London letter,
received this last mail by a gentleman of this city, who has succeeded
in gathering together valuable materials for Canadian history, will
prove what we now assert.
