Men Of A Courtly Nurture, Heirs To The Polish Of A
Far-Reaching Ancestry, Here, With Their Dauntless Hardihood, Put To
Shame The Boldest Sons Of Toil."
Of all this mighty empire of the past, Quebec was the undisputed capital,
the fortress, the keystone.
It would be a curious study to place in juxtaposition the impressions
produced on Tourists by the view of Quebec and its environs - from the era
of Jacques Cartier, the discoverer of Canada, down to that of the Earl of
Dufferin, one of its truest friends.
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:
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 8 of 864
Words from 1997 to 2296
of 236821
