I Have Infinite Consolation, In Having Dissuaded The Parties From The
Steps, That Led To All The Calamities They Have Felt And Still Dread
And More Cheerfully Will Grasp At The Means To Lessen These
Afflictions, As The Surest Path To The Greatest Glory.
I am solicited
from Cambridge for a gift for pious uses, and find that you have been
applied to, and probably will again.
My promise shall most certainly
be fulfilled. It was to give a lot for a church. But as I told them it
was to be a gift to Christianity and not to Sectarianism.
Religion and party are two different things. Tell them so that my gift
will be to all Protestants, that is to say to the majority of the town
being protestants, be the denomination what it may, and that I may not
be imposed upon, I shall put my seal to no deed, before they bring me
Dr. Rodger's certificate upon the subject. My best respects to him
with compliments to Mrs. T., Mr. Ainslie, Mr. and Mrs. Foxcraft and
all your friends.
The snapping of my wood fires makes me think of yours. Don't forget
them yourself. Your three hundred acres of shingles, chills the
blood in my veins.... Adieu. The broad hand of Heaven protect you!
I am, my dearest,
Most faithfully yours,
W. S.
MEADOWBANK.
"THE COUNTRY SEAT OF LIEUT.-COL. ANDREW CHARLES STUART.
Happy, is he who in a country life
Shuns more perplexing toil and jarring strife,
Who lives upon the natal soil he loves
And sits beneath his old ancestral groves."
- Downing.
Facing Ravenswood, on the road to Cape Rouge, on the breezy banks of the
noble river, there lies a magnificent expanse of verdure, with here and
there a luxuriant copse of evergreens and sugar maple. It crowns a
graceful slope of undulating meadows and cornfields. The dwelling, a
plain, straggling white cottage, lies perdu among the green firs
and solemn pines. Over the verdant groves, glimpses of the white cottages
of Levi and New Liverpool occasionally catch the eye. This rustic
landscape, pleasant at all times, becomes strikingly picturesque, at the
"fall of the leaf" - when the rainbow-tinted foliage is, lit up by a
mellow, autumnal sun. Under this favored aspect it was our happiness to
view it in September, 1880.
"Bright yellow, red and orange
The leaves came down in hosts;
The trees are Indian princes -
But soon they'll turn to ghosts."
In 1762, this broad, wild domain was owned by Lt.-Gov. Hector Theophilus
Cramahe of Quebec, and according to an entry in the Diary of Judge Henry,
he apparently was still the proprietor in 1775, at the time of the
blockade of Quebec. In 1785, the land passed by purchase to one of
Fraser's Highlanders, Capt. Cameron. It was from 1841 to 1875, the
cherished abode of a cultured English gentleman, the late John Porter, the
able secretary and treasurer of the Quebec Turnpike Trust. It did one good
to see the courteous old bachelor, cosily seated in his ample, well
selected library, surrounded by a few congenial friends, the toils of the
day over - the dust of St. Peter Street shaken off. Mr. Porter was a fair
type of the well-informed English country gentleman, well read in Debrett,
with a pedigree reaching as far back as William the Norman. At his demise,
he bequeathed this splendid farm to the son of a valued old friend. Andrew
Chs. Stuart, Esq., of the law firm of Ross, Stuart & Stuart, Quebec, now
Lt.-Col. Andrew Charles Stuart, of the 8th Batt. "Royal Rifles," Quebec.
Col. Stuart, the possessor of ample means, having a taste for agricultural
pursuits, has lately become an active member of the Quebec Turf Club, as
well as a successful breeder of prize cattle. His stud is renowned all
over Canada. Col. Stuart lately took up his residence at Meadowbank, since
which time a transformation seems to have come over the land; sprightly
parterres of flowers, dainty pavilions, trim hedges, rustic seats, hanging
baskets of ferns, are conspicuous, where formerly hay alone flourished. A
neighboring rill has been skilfully enlisted to do duty, dammed up,
bridged over, gently coaxed to meander, whimple and bubble, like
Tennyson's brook, here and there rippling over and rushing into cool trout
ponds, under the shade of moss and trees, until it leaps down to the St.
Lawrence.
A small race-course has been laid out, south of the house, in a declivity
towards the St. Lawrence to exercise the thoroughbreds and keep healthy
the pet charger for parade days, as well as ladies' palfreys, which are
not forgotten at Meadowbank.
In an enclosure protected by stone pillars and chains, under the shade of
a handsome tree, may be read on a board, the following name, recently
inscribed,
"ASTREA"
This marks the spot where a favourite saddle-horse, who died prematurely,
now rests. All now wanting to perfect this scene of rustic beauty is a
cottage orne or a Chalet Suisse.
A RAID ON MEADOWBANK IN 1775, AND HOW KING GEORGE'S FRIENDS, THE
"QUEBEC TORIES" WERE THEN PLUNDERED.
The following extract from Judge Henry's Diary seems to refer to the
country seat, now known as Meadowbank:
Arnold's little army had retreated to Pointe aux Trembles on the 15th
Nov. On the 2nd December, 1775, they retraced their steps to Quebec
and in the evening arrived at St. Foy. On the 12th of December, Henry
[253] says "The officers and men still wore nothing else than the
remains of the summer clothing, which being on their back, had escaped
destruction in the disaster of the wilderness." At this time the snow
lay three feet deep over the whole country. One fine morning a fellow
addressed Simpson who was the only officer in quarters and said "that
about two miles up the St. Lawrence lay a country seat of Governor
Cromie's (Cramahe?) stocked with many things they wanted and he would
be our guide.
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