C. T. A. Langelier.
Professor Of Physical Science, - Rev.
Mr. Laflamme.
Professor of French Literature, - Rev.
Ed. Methot.
Professor of Greek Literature, - Rev. L. Baudet.
Professor of Mineralogy, - Rev. J. C. Laflamme.
Professor of Natural Law, - Mgr. Beng. Paquet.
Professor of Dogmatic Theology, - Rev. L. H. Paquet.
Professor of Ecclesiastical History, Rev. L. N. Begin.
On the conspicuous site where stands the unpretending brick structure
known as our present House of Parliament, (which succeeded to the handsome
cut stone edifice destroyed by fire in 1864) one might, in 1660, have seen
the dwelling of a man of note, Ruette d'Auteuil. D'Auteuil became
subsequently Attorney General and had lively times with that sturdy old
ruler, Count de Frontenac. Ruette d'Auteuil had sold the lot for $600
(3,000 livres de 20 sols) to Major Provost, who resold it, with the two
story stone house thereon erected, for $3,000, to Bishop de St. Vallier.
The latter having bequeathed it to his ecclesiastical successor, Bishop
Panet ceded it in the year 1830 to the Provincial Government for an annual
ground rent of L1,000 - this rent is continued to the Archbishop by the
Provincial Government of Quebec. No one now cares to enquire how Bishop
Panet made such an excellent bargain, though a cause is assigned.
Palace Street was thus denominated from its leading direct from the Upper
Town to the Intendant's Palace - latterly the King's woodyard. In earlier
days it went by the name of Rue des Pauvres, [49] (Street of the
Poor,) from its intersecting the domain of the Hotel Dieu, whose
revenues were devoted to the maintenance of the poor sheltered behind its
massive old walls. Close by, on Fabrique street, Bishop de St. Vallier had
founded le Bureau des Pauvres, where the beggars of Quebec (a thriving
class to this day) received alms, in order to deter them from begging in
the country round the city. The success which crowned this humble retreat
of the mendicant led the philanthropic Bishop to found the General
Hospital in the Seigneurie de Notre Dame des Anges, beyond St. Roch. He
received there nuns of the Convents of the Ursulines and of the Hotel Dieu
and gave them the administration of the newly founded establishment,
where, moreover, he at a more recent date resided as almoner of the poor.
At the western corner of Palace and St. John streets, has stood since
1771, a well known landmark erected to replace the statue of Saint John
the Baptist, which had, under the French regime, adorned the corner
house. After the surrender of Quebec to the British forces, the owners of
the house, fearing the outer barbarians might be wanting in respect to the
saint's effigy, sent it to the General Hospital, where it stood over the
principal entrance until a few years back. They replaced it by a wooden
statue of General Wolfe, sculptured by the Brothers Cholette, at the
request of George Hipps, a loyal butcher. The peregrinations of this
historic relic, in 1838, from Quebec to Halifax - from Halifax to Bermuda,
thence to Portsmouth, and finally to its old niche at Wolfe's corner, St.
John Street, whilst they afforded much sport to the middies of H. M. Ship
Inconstant, who visited our port that summer and carried away the
General, were the subject of several newspaper paragraphs in prose and
verse.
Finally, the safe return of the "General" with a brand new coat of paint
and varnish in a deal box, consigned to His Worship, the Mayor of Quebec
sent by unknown hands, was made an occasion of rejoicing to every friend
of the British hero whom Quebec contained, and they were not few.
Some of the actors of this practical joke, staunch upholders of
Britannia's sovereignty of the sea, now pace the quarter deck, t'is said,
proud and stern admirals.
The street and hill leading down from the parochial Church, (whose title
was Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin
Mary,) to the outlet, where Hope Gate was built in 1786, was called
Ste. Famille street from its vicinity to the Cathedral, which, as the
parish church of the citizens of Quebec, was formerly called the Ste.
Famille Church. On the east side, half way up the hill still exist the
ruins of the old homestead of the Seigneurs de Lery - in 1854, occupied by
Sir E. P. Tache, since, sold to the Quebec Seminary. A lofty fence on the
street hides from view the hoary old poplar trees which of yore decked the
front of the old manor. On the opposite side, a little higher up, also
survives the old house of Mr. Jean Langevin, father of the Bishop of
Rimouski, and of Sir H. L. Langevin. Here in the closing days of French
Dominion lived the first Acadian, who brought to Quebec the news of the
dispersion of his compatriots, so eloquently sung by Longfellow, Dr.
Lajus, of French extraction, who settled at Quebec and married a sister of
Bishop Hubert. On the northern angle of this old tenement you now read
"Ste. Famille street."
St. Stanislas street, the western boundary of the ancient estate of the
Jesuits - on the eastern portion of which their college was built in 1637 -
owes its saintly nomenclature to the learned order - no doubt desirous of
handing down to posterity an enduring souvenir of a valiant ascetic,
though youthful member of the fraternity. Its northern end reaches at
right angles to Ste. Helene street in a line with the old tenement
recently occupied by the late Narcisse Constantin Faucher, Esq.,
Barrister - recently leased by the late Lieut.-Col. John Sewell, one of Sir
Isaac Brock's officers at Queenstown Heights in 1812 In 1835 it was the
home of a Mrs. Montgomery. That year it was burglarized in a somewhat
romantic - shall we say - humane manner by Chambers' murderous gang; the
aged and demure mistress of the house and her young maid servant being
rolled up in the velvety pleats of the parlor carpet and deposited gently,
tenderly and unharmed in the subterranean and discreet region of the
cellar, so that the feelings of either should not be lacerated by the
sight of the robbery going on above stairs.
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