And Blest Were Those Who Found A Happy Home
In Thy Loved Shades, Without One Throb Of Care -
No Murmurs Heard, Save From The Distant Foam
That Rolled In Column's O'er The Great Chaudiere.
And I have watched the moon in grandeur rise
Above the tinted maple's leafy breast,
And take her brillant pathway through the skies,
Till half the world seemed lulled in peaceful rest.
Oh! these were hours whose soft enchanting spell
Came o'er the heart in thy grove's deep recess,
Where e'en poor Shenstone might have loved to dwell,
Enjoying the pure balm of happiness!
But soon, how soon, a different scene I trace,
Where I have wandered, or oft musing stood,
And those whose cheering looks enhanced the place,
No more shall smile on thee, lone Spencer Wood!
"This is one of the most beautiful spots in Lower Canada, and the property
(1830) of the late Hon. Michael Henry Perceval, who resided there with his
accomplished family, whose highly cultivated minds rendered my visits to
Spencer Wood doubly interesting. The grounds and grand walks are
tastefully laid out, interspersed with great variety of trees, planted by
the hand of nature. This scenery is altogether magnificent, and
particularly towards the east, where the great precipices overhang Wolfe's
Cove. This latter place has derived its name from the hero, who, with his
British troops, nobly ascended its frowning cliffs on the 13th September,
1759, and took possession of the Plains of Abraham." - ADAM KIDD, 1830.
- (The HURON CHIEF and other poems - Adam Kidd.)
[227] The illustrious Chancellor of the Exchequer, Spencer Perceval,
assassinated by Bellingham on the 11th May, 1812, probably took the name
of Spencer from the Earls of Egmont and Northampton, connected with the
Percevals.
[228] Mrs. P. Sheppard died 28th August, 1877.
[229] Died July the 7th, 1878.
[230] Mr. P. Lowe, during many years in charge of the conservatory,
furnished us with the following note: - "The hot-houses belonging to Henry
Atkinson, while in my charge, consisted of pinery, stove and orchid house.
In the pinery were grown specimens of the Providence, Enville, Montserrat
and Queen pines - a plant of the latter variety, in fruit, being exhibited
at the Horticultural Exhibition, Montreal, in September, 1852, the fruit
of which weighed between five and six pounds, tang the first pine-apple
exhibited of Canadian growth, but not the first grown at Spencer Wood, it
was noticed in the Illustrated London News. The following are the names
of a few of the plants grown in the stove-house: - Ardisia; Alamanda;
Amaryllis, Achimenes; Aschynanthus, Asclepias, Begonias, Crinums,
Centradinias; Calumnmas, Drymonias; Euphorbias, Franciscia; Goidfussia;
Gesneras, in twelve varieties; Gloxinias, in twenty-four varieties;
Gloriosa; Gardenias; Hibiscus; Inga; Ipomaea; Justicia; Lamandra;
Legastrema; Musa-Cavendishii, which we fruited - the only one fruited in
the province to this day, to my knowledge - the bunch of fruit weighed
ninety pounds; Maranta; Melastomas, Mennetties; Nymphas; Osbeekias,
Penteas, Passiflora; Peideum; Stephenotis, Streluzias; Russellea; Ruellea;
Rondilitia, Tabernaemonana; Tradescantia; Vinca; Clerodendrons, &c., &c.
In the orchid house, the following are a portion of the names of plants
grown be me:
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