Champlain, La Potherie, La Houtan, Le Beau, Du Creux (Creuxius), Peter
Kalm, Knox, Silliman, Ampere, Mrs. Moodie, Dickens, Lever, Anthony
Trollope, Sala, Thoreau, Warburton, Marmier, Capt.
Butler, Sir Charles
Dilke, Henry Ward Beecher, have all left their impressions of the rocky
citadel:
Let us gaze on a few of their vivid pictures.
"The scenic beauty of Quebec has been the theme of general eulogy. The
majestic appearance of Cape Diamond and the fortifications, the
cupolas and minarets, like those of an eastern city, blazing and
sparkling in the sun, the loveliness of the panorama, the noble basin,
like a sheet of purest silver, in which might ride with safety a
hundred sail of the line, the graceful meandering of the river St.
Charles, the numerous village spires on either side of the St.
Lawrence, the fertile fields dotted with innumerable cottages, the
abode of a rich and moral peasantry, - the distant falls of
Montmorency, - the park like scenery of Point Levis, - the beauteous
Isle of Orleans, - and more distant still, the frowning Cape Tourmente,
and the lofty range of purple mountains of the most picturesque form,
which, without exaggeration, is scarcely to be surpassed in any part
of the world." (Hawkins' Picture of Quebec.)
"Quebec recalls Angouleme to my mind: in the upper city, stairways,
narrow streets, ancient houses on the verge of the cliff; in the lower
city, the new fortunes, commerce, workmen; - in both, many shops and
much activity." (M. Sand.)
"Take mountain and plain, sinuous river, and broad, tranquil waters,
stately ship and tiny boat, gentle hill and shady valley, bold
headland and rich, fruitful fields, frowning battlement and cheerful
villa, glittering dome and rural spire, flowery garden and sombre
forest, - group them all into the choicest picture of ideal beauty your
fancy can create; arch it over with a cloudless sky, light it up with
a radiant sun, and lest the sheen should be too dazzling, hang a veil
of lighted haze over all, to soften the lines and perfect the repose,
- you will then have seen Quebec on this September morning." (Eliot
Warburton.)
"I rubbed my eyes to be sure I was in the nineteenth century, and not
entering one of those portals which sometimes adorn the frontispiece
of old black-letter volumes. I though it would be a good place to read
Froissart's Chronicles. It was such a reminiscence of the Middle Ages
as Scott's Novels.
"Too much has not been said about the scenery of Quebec. The
fortifications of Cape Diamond are omnipresent. You travel ten,
twenty, thirty miles up or down the river's banks, you ramble fifteen
miles among the hills on either side, and then, when you have long
since forgotten them, perchance slept on them by the way, at a turn of
the road or of your body, there they are still with their geometry
against the sky....
"No wonder if Jacques Cartier's pilot exclaimed in Norman-French
Que bec! ("What a peak!") when he saw this cape, as some suppose.
Every modern traveller uses a similar expression....
"The view from Cape Diamond has been compared by European travellers
with the most remarkable views of a similar kind in Europe, such as
those from Edinburgh Castle, Gibraltar, Cintra, and others, and
preferred by many.
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