Benmore is well
worthy of a call, were it only to procure a bouquet.
This is not merely
the Eden of roses; Col. Rhodes has combined the farm with the garden. His
underground rhubarb and mushroom cellars, his boundless asparagus beds and
strawberry plantations, are a credit to Quebec.
Next come Clermont, [154] Beauvoir, [155] Kilmarnock, [156] Cataraqui,
[157] Kilgraston, [158] Kirk-Ella, [159] Meadow Bank, [160] Ravenswood,
[161] Dornald, [162] until, after a nine miles' drive, Redclyffe closes
the rural landscape - Redclyffe, [163] on the top of Cap Rouge
Promontory. There, many indications yet mark the spot where Roberval's
ephemeral colony wintered as far back as 1542. You can now, if you like,
return to the city by the same route, or select the Ste. Foye Road,
skirting the classic heights where General Murray, six months after the
first battle of the Plains, lost the second, on the 28th April, 1760; the
St. Foye Church was then occupied by the British soldiers. Beausejour is a
beautiful demesne, where M. Ls. Bilodeau has several reservoirs, for the
propagation of trout. Your gaze next rests on Holland House, Montgomery's
headquarters in 1775, behind which is Holland tree, overshadowing, as of
yore, the grave of the Hollands. [164]
The view, from the St. Foye Road, of the gracefully meandering St. Charles
below, especially during the high tides, is something to be remembered.
The tourist shortly after detects the iron pillar, surmounted by a bronze
statue of Bellona, presented in 1855 by Prince Napoleon Bonaparte -
intended to commemorate the fierce struggle at this spot on the 28th
April, 1760. In close vicinity, appear the bright parterres or
umbrageous groves of Bellevue, [165] Hamwood, [166] Bijou, [167]
Westfield, [168] Sans-Bruit, and the narrow gothic arches of Finlay
Asylum; soon you re-enter by St. John's Suburbs, with the broad basin of
the St. Charles and the pretty Island of Orleans staring you in the face.
The principal objects to be noted in this street are: on the north side,
St. John's Church, built in 1848 - a large but not very elegant temple of
R. C. worship, capable of seating 2,000 persons; on the south side, St.
Mathew's Church, (Church of England,) a handsome structure, whose
beginnings, in 1828; were associated with the late Bishop G. J. Mountain's
ministrations and munificence. The exertions of the Rev. Chs. Hamilton and
the generous donations of his brother, Robert Hamilton, and other members
of the family, have been mainly instrumental in enlarging and decorating
this building. Close by, is the new French Protestant Church. We shall
close this short sketch with a mention of the "Quebec Protestant Burying
Ground," originally bought by the Government of the Province of Quebec,
from the heirs of St. Simon, partly on the 9th December, 1771, and partly
on the 22nd August, 1778. In the year 1823, Lord Dalhousie made a grant of
this ground to the "Trustees of the Protestant Burying Ground," in whose
hands it has remained until the 19th May,, 1860, when the cemetery was
declared closed by the 23rd Vict., chap.
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