[218] The Hon. Hugh Finlay was Deputy Postmaster General for Canada from
1774 to 1800, when he was succeeded by George Heriot, who wrote a folio of
travels on Canada. Hugh Finlay had served under Benjamin Franklin, the
first English Deputy Postmaster General for the then British American
Provinces, from 1750 to 1774, when he resigned. When he took the
appointment the postage on letters was insufficient to cover his salary,
L300 per annum.
[219] "Away," exclaimed the Prince to the excited voters, "with those
hated distinctions of English and Canadians; you are all my august
father's beloved subjects."
[220] The anecdote of the officer, who, on being ordered on foreign
service, cut off his queue and buried it with military honors, is
humorously related by Erskine Neale, in the Duke's biography, p. 325.
[221] Christie's History of Canada.
[222] This curious incident is mentioned in the Maple Leaves for
1865, in connection with a mess dinner, when a gentleman friend of one of
the young Hollands was proved to be a beautiful female in disguise, who
afterwards married the brother of an English nobleman.
[223] Since these lines were written in 1865, many changes have come over
Marchmont - our esteemed neighbor was suddenly called away, leaving his
beautiful house to his devoted wife; she, too, alas! has paid the debt of
nature in May, 1880.
[224] "Ce capitaine avait avec lui beaucoup d'habitants de Lorette, dont
le lieu etait a portee de ce poste; ils lui demanderent permission d'aller
travailler la nuit chez eux, il la leur accorda (on pretend que ce fut a
condition d'aller aussi travailler pour lui, sur une terre qu'il avait
dans cette paroisse)." - Memoire sur les affaires du Canada, 1749-60, p.
114.
[225] Captain Chandler was appointed, in 1800, commissioner to settle the
domain accruing from the Jesuits' estates; subsequently he became Seigneur
of Nicolet, where he died about 1863.
[226] We give here the poetical tribute paid by Adam Kidd to a spot where
he appears to have spent many happy hours, as a guest of the Percevals,
together with, his notes to the poem: -
SPENCER WOOD
Through thy green groves and deep receding bowers,
Loved Spencer Wood! how often have I strayed,
Or mused away the calm, unbroken hours,
Beneath some broad oak's cool, refreshing shade
There, not a sound disturbed the tranquil scene,
Save welcome hummings of the roving bee,
That quickly flitted o'er the tufted green,
Or where the squirrel played from tree to tree.
And I have paused beside that dimpling stream,
Which slowly winds thy beauteous groves among
Till from its breast retired the sun's last beam,
And every bird had ceased its vesper song.
The blushing arbors of those classic days,
Through which the breathings of the slender reed,
First softly echoed with Arcadia's praise,
Might well be pictured in this sheltered mead.
