Picturesque Quebec, By James Macpherson Le Moine










































































































































 -  It seems that a custom
    prevails there to a punctilious extent, of all the inhabitants of a
    certain grade calling - Page 70
Picturesque Quebec, By James Macpherson Le Moine - Page 70 of 451 - First - Home

Enter page number    Previous Next

Number of Words to Display Per Page: 250 500 1000

It Seems That A Custom Prevails There To A Punctilious Extent, Of All The Inhabitants Of A Certain Grade Calling Upon Strangers And Leaving Their Cards.

"This flash of harmless lightning, however, assumed somewhat of a malignant glare when seen from the United States.

The drift of the performance was, it seems, hideously misrepresented by some of the newspapers, and it was said that Mr. Galt had ungratefully ridiculed the Americans, notwithstanding the distinction and hospitality with which they had received him. It thus came to pass that he promised, when next in New York, to write another farce, in which liberty as great should be taken with his own countrymen. "An Aunt in Virginia" was the product of this promise, and with the alterations mentioned and a change of scene from New York to London, it was published under the name of "Scotch and Yankees.""

A volume would not suffice to detail the brilliant receptions, gay routs, levees, state balls given at the Castle during Lord Dorchester's administration - the lively discussions - the formal protests originating out of points of precedence, burning questions de jupons between the touchy magnates of the old and those of the new regime. Whether la Baronne de St. Laurent would be admitted there or not? Whether a de Longueuil's or a de Lanaudiere's place was on the right of Lady Maria, the charming consort of His Excellency Lord Dorchester - a daughter of the great English Earl of Effingham? Whether dancing ought to cease when their Lordships the Bishops entered, and made their bow to the representative of royalty? Unfortunately Quebec had then no Court Journal, so that following generations will have but faint ideas of all the witchery, the stunning head-dresses, the decolletees, high-waisted robes of their stately grandmothers, whirled round in the giddy waltz by whiskered, epauletted cavaliers, or else courtesying in the demure menuet de la cour.

In August, 1796, when Isaac Weld, Jr., visited Quebec, he describes the old part of the chateau as chiefly taken up with the public offices, all the apartments in it, says he, "are small and ill-contrived; but in the new part (Haldimand Castle) which stands in front of the other, facing the square (the ring), they are spacious and tolerably well furnished, but none of them can be called elegant. This part is inhabited by the Governor's family. * * * * Every evening during summer, when the weather is fine, one of the regiments of the garrison parades in the open place before the chateau, and the band plays for an hour or two, at which time the place becomes the resort of numbers of the most genteel people of the town, and has a very gay appearance." (Weld's Travels through the States of North America in 1795-6-7, vol. 1, p. 351)

In 1807, when the deadly duel between England and Imperial France was at its height, Great Britain sent New France as her Viceroy, a military Governor, equally remarkable for the sternness of his rule and for his love of display, hence the name of "Little King Craig," awarded to Sir James Craig.

Enter page number   Previous Next
Page 70 of 451
Words from 36509 to 37028 of 236821


Previous 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 Next

More links: First 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
 110 120 130 140 150 160 170 180 190 200
 210 220 230 240 250 260 270 280 290 300
 310 320 330 340 350 360 370 380 390 400
 410 420 430 440 450 Last

Display Words Per Page: 250 500 1000

 
Africa (29)
Asia (27)
Europe (59)
North America (58)
Oceania (24)
South America (8)
 

List of Travel Books RSS Feeds

Africa Travel Books RSS Feed

Asia Travel Books RSS Feed

Europe Travel Books RSS Feed

North America Travel Books RSS Feed

Oceania Travel Books RSS Feed

South America Travel Books RSS Feed

Copyright © 2005 - 2022 Travel Books Online