"Constant Reference Is Made To The Walls And Gates Of Montreal As Well
As Quebec, And There Is Reason To Believe The Smaller Towns Were
Similarly Fortified.
Beyond the walls, however, there was a
considerable population, and many of the military officers, Government
officials and merchants had villas without the city.
The area in
Montreal which lies between Craig, St. Antoine and Sherbrooke streets
was studded with country-houses with large gardens and orchards
attached. The seigneurs and other gentry had also fine, capacious
stone-built residences, which much enhanced the charm of the rural
scenery. Some of the estates of those days were of almost immense
extent. The Kings of France thought nothing of granting a whole
province, and, even in British times, there were gentlemen whose acres
would have superimposed an English county. The extraordinary donation
of James I. of a large portion of North America to Sir William
Alexander was not long since brought before the public by the claims
of his descendants. Large tracts of land were given away by Louis
XIII., Louis XIV. and other French kings, by Oliver Cromwell and the
Stuarts, and the same extravagant system of entailing unmanageable
wealth on companies and individuals was continued after the conquest.
"It would be interesting to know what was the kind of literary fare on
which the intellect of Canada subsisted in those days. It cannot be
supposed that the people spent all their time in business and social
pleasure. There must have been readers as well as cariolers and
dancers, and the literature of England and France was by no means
scanty. Great writers on every subject have flourished since that
time, but some of the greatest that ever lived, some of those whose
productions are still read with the highest pleasure, were the
offspring of the two centuries which preceded the conquest. No one
will be surprised to find, then, that in the year 1783, a circulating
library in Quebec numbered nearly 2,000 volumes. Nor is the enquirer
left in the dark as to its probable contents. In the Quebec
Gazette of the 4th of December, a list of books is given which
'remained unsold at M. Jacques Perrault's, very elegantly bound' - and
books were bound substantially as well as elegantly in those days. In
this list are found 'Johnson's Dictionary,' then regarded as one of
the wonders of the literary world, 'Chesterfield's Letters,' long the
vade-mecum of every young gentleman beginning life, and which,
even in our own days (and perhaps still), were frequently bound along
with spelling and reading books, the 'Pilgrim's Progress', which it is
not necessary to characterize, Young's 'Night Thoughts,' the
'Spectator and 'Guardian,' Rapin's 'English History,' 'Cook's
Voyages,' Rousseau's 'Eloise,' 'Telemaque,' 'Histoire Chinoise,'
'Esprit des Croissades,' 'Lettres de Fernand Cortes,' 'Histoire
Ancienne' par Rollin, 'Grammaire Anglaise et Francaise,'
'Dictionnaire par l'Academie,' 'Dictionnaire de Commerce,' 'Dictionary
of the Arts and Sciences,' 'Smith's Housewife,' 'The Devil on Sticks,'
'Voltaire's Essay on Universal History,' 'Dictionnaire de Cuisine' and
several others on various subjects, 'Oeuvres de Rabelais,' 'American
Gazetteer,' etc. These, it will be remembered, had remained unsold,
but among the sold there must have been copies of the same.
"It is, according to our notions of to-day, a meagre collection, but,
no doubt, many families possessed good libraries, brought with them
from over the sea, and the bookseller may not have kept a large stock
at one time. It was the custom for merchants to sell off all their
overlying goods before they went or sent to Europe for a
reinforcement.
"The following books were advertised as 'missing:' - Langhorn's
Plutarch, 1st vol., Thomson's Works, 4th vol., Gordon's 'Universal
Accountant,' 1st vol.; and Gray's Hudibras, 2nd vol. For each one of
them there is offered a reward of two dollars! Reading was expensive
recreation in those times.
"The reader, perhaps, has seen, or, it may be, possesses one of those
old libraries, of which the general public occasionally have a glimpse
at auction rooms, composed of standard authors, and beautifully and
solidly bound, which had adorned the studies of the fathers of our
country. They contain all that was best in the French and English
literature of the last century - history, poetry, divinity, belles
lettres, science and art. From these may be gathered what were the
tastes, the culture and the thought of the Canadians of the last
century.
"Music and painting were cultivated - the former being, as now, a
necessary part of female education. Of a festival given by the young
ladies of a place called La Cote, near Quebec, in 1764, it is
promised in the programme that "the orchestra and symphony will be
composed of instruments of all kinds." It may interest some ladies to
know that among the dances at the same entertainment are mentioned
'l'Harlequinade,' 'La Chinoise,' and 'La Matelote Hollandaise' - some
relation, perhaps, to the 'Sailor's Hornpipe.'
"The settlement in Canada of the United Empire Loyalists, after the
peace of September, 1783, by which the independence of the revolted
colonies was recognized, must have had a considerable influence on
Canadian society, and more than atoned for sufferings inflicted on the
colony during the progress of the war. Repeated efforts had been made
by the Americans to engage the affections of the Canadians. Among
those whom Congress had appointed commissioners to treat with the
Canadian people on this subject was the renowned Dr. Benjamin
Franklin, whose visit to this country was not the most successful
portion of his career. Although in some instances there was a
manifestation of disaffection to the British Government, the great
bulk of the population remained unmistakably loyal. In the Quebec
Gazette of October 23rd, 1783, is found the Act of Parliament
passed in favour of the Loyalists, in which the 25th day of March,
1784, is fixed as the limit of the period during which claims for
relief or compensation for the loss of property should be received.
How many availed themselves of the provisions of this act it is not
easy to say, but the whole number of persons dispossessed of their
estates and forced to seek another home in consequence of their
continued allegiance, is set down at from 25,000 to 30,000.
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