-
"The Number Of Inhabitants Being Considerably Increased, They Pass Their
Time Very Agreeably.
The Governor General, with his household; several of
the noblesse of exceeding good families; the officers of the army,
Who in France are all gentlemen; the Intendant, with a Supreme Council,
and the inferior magistrates; the Commissary of the Marine; the Grand
Provost; the Grand Hunter; the Grand Master of the Woods and Forests, who
has the most extensive jurisdiction in the world; rich merchants, or such
as live as if they were so; the bishops and a numerous Seminary; two
colleges of Recollets, as many of Jesuits; with three Nunneries; amongst
all those yon are at no loss to find agreeable company and the most
entertaining conversation. Add to this the diversions of the place, such
as the assemblies at the Lady Governess's and Lady Intendant's; parties at
cards, or of pleasure, such as in the winter on the ice, in sledges, or in
skating; and in the summer in chaises or canoes; also hunting, which it is
impossible not to be fond of in a country abounding with plenty of game of
all kinds.
"It is remarked of the Canadians that their conversation is enlivened by
an air of freedom which is natural and peculiar to them, and that they
speak the French in the greatest purity and without the least false
accent. There are few rich people in that Colony, though they all live
well, are extremely generous and hospitable, keep very good tables, and
love to dress very finely.... The Canadians have carried the love of arms,
and glory, so natural to their mother country, along with them.... War is
not only welcome to them but coveted with extreme ardor." [265]
During the fall of 1775, the old mansion sheltered Brigadier Richard
Montgomery, [266] the leader of the American forlorn hope, who fell on the
31st December of that year, at Pres-de-Ville, Champlain street, fighting
against those same British whom it had previously been his pride to lead
to victory. About the year 1780, we find this residence tenanted by a
worthy British officer, who had been a great favourite with the hero of
the Plains of Abraham. Major Samuel Holland had fought bravely that day
under General Wolfe, and stood, it is said, after the battle, close by the
expiring warrior. His dwelling took the name of Holland House: he added to
it, a cupola, which served in lieu of a prospect tower, wherefrom
could be had a most extensive view of the surrounding country. [267] The
important appointment of Surveyor General of the Province, which was
bestowed on Major Holland, together with his social qualities, abilities
and education, soon gathered round him the elite of the English
Society in Quebec at that time. Amongst the distinguished guests who
frequented Holland House in 1791, we find Edward, afterwards Duke of Kent.
The numerous letters still extant addressed by His Royal Highness from
Kensington Palace, as late as 1814, to the many warm friends he had left
on the banks of the St. Lawrence, contain pleasant reminiscences of his
sojourn amongst his royal father's Canadian lieges. Amongst other
frequenters of Holland House, may also be noted a handsome stranger, who
after attending - the gayest of the gay - the Quebec Chateau balls,
Regimental mess dinners, Barons' Club, tandem drives, as the male friend
of one of the young Hollands was, to the amazement of all, convicted at a
mess dinner of being a lady [268] in disguise. A fracas of course
ensued. The lady-like guest soon vamosed to England, where he became the
lawful spouse of the Hon. Mr. C - - , the brother to Lord F - - d. One
remnant of the Hollands long endured; the old fir tree on that portion of
the property purchased by James Creighton, farmer. Holland tree was still
sacred to the memory of the five slumberers, who have reposed for more
than a century beneath its hoary branches. Nor has the recollection of the
"fatal duel" faded away. Holland farm, for many years, belonged to Mr.
Wilson of the Customs Department, Quebec, in 1843 it passed by purchase to
Judge George Okill Stuart, of Quebec; Mr. Stuart improved the place,
removed the old house and built a handsome new one on a rising ground in
rear, which he occupied for several summers. It again became renowned for
gaiety and festivity when subsequently owned by Robert Cassels, Esquire,
for many years Manager of the Bank of British North America at Quebec.
Genl. Danl. Lysons had leased it in 1862, for his residence, when the
unexpected vote of the House of Assembly on the Militia Bill broke through
his arrangements. Holland House is still the property of Mr. Cassels.
THE HOLLAND TREE.
(BY THE AUTHOR OF "MAPLE LEAVES")
"Woodman spare that tree."
It has often been noticed that one of the chief glories of Quebec
consisted in being surrounded on all sides by smiling country seats,
which in the summer season, as it were, encircle the brow of the old
city like a chaplet of flowers; those who, on a sunny June morning,
have wandered through the shady groves of Spencer Wood, Woodfield,
Marchmont, Benmore, Kilmarnock, Kirk Ella, Hamwood, Beauvoir,
Clermont, and fifty other old places, rendered vocal by the voices of
birds, and with the sparkling waters of the great river or the winding
St. Charles at their feet, are not likely to gainsay this statement.
Amongst these beautiful rural retreats few are better known than
Holland Farm, in 1780 the family mansion of Surveyor-General Holland,
one of Wolfe's favourite engineer officers. During the fall of 1775 it
had been the headquarters of Brig. General Montgomery, who chose it as
his residence during the siege of Quebec, whilst his colleague, Col.
Benedict Arnold, was stationed with his New Englanders at the house
southeast of Scott's Bridge, on the Little River road, for many years
the homestead of Mr. Langlois. This fine property, running back as far
as Mount Hermon Cemetery, and extending from the St. Louis or Grand
Allee road, opposite Spencer Wood, down to the St. Foye road, which it
crosses, is bounded to the north by the cime du cap, or St. Foye
heights.
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