As, In Certain Passes Of The Alps,
A Watchman No Doubt Stood At Either Extremity Of This Lane, Provided With
A Speaking Trumpet To Give Notice Of Any Obstruction And Thus Prevent
Collisions.
This odoriferous locality, especially during the dog-days, is
rather densely populated.
The babes of Green Erin, with a sprinkling of
young Jean Baptistes, here flourish like rabbits in a warren. Miss Kitty
Ellison and her friend. Mr. Arbuton, in their romantic wanderings, were
struck with the mise en scene of Dog Lane: -
"Now that Prescott Gate, by which so many thousands of Americans have
entered Quebec since Arnold's excursionists failed to do so, is
demolished, there is nothing left so picturesque and characteristic as
Hope Gate (alas! since razed), and I doubt if anywhere in Europe there
is a more mediaeval-looking bit of military architecture. The heavy
stone gateway is black with age, and the gate, which has probably
never been closed in our century, is of massive frame, set thick with
mighty bolts and spikes. The wall here sweeps along the brow of the
crag on which the city is built, and a steep street drops down, by
stone-parapeted curves and angles, from the Upper to the Lower Town,
when, in 1775, nothing but a narrow lane bordered the St. Lawrence. A
considerable breadth of land has since been won from the river, and
several streets and many piers now stretch between this alley and the
water, but the old Sault-au-Matelot still crouches and creeps along
under the shelter of the city wall and the overhanging rock, which is
thickly bearded with weeds and grass, and trickles with abundant
moisture.
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