"The Barons Club," says W. Henderson, "was a sort of Pitt
Club, - all Tories to the back-bone. It was a very select affair - and
of no long duration. Among the members, if my memory serves me right, were
John Coltman, George Hamilton, Sir John Caldwell, Sir George Pownall,
Herman Wistius Byland, George Heriott, (Postmaster and author) Hon.
Matthew Bell, Gilbert Ainslie, Angus Shaw." (Notes of W. Henderson.)
The other club went under the appropriate name of "Sober Club," - lucus
a non lucendo perhaps: it flourished about 1811; we believe one of the
By-laws enacted that the members were expected to get elevated at least
once a year. It seems to be more than likely that it was the Club of
Barons, and not the Sober Club, who caroused under the romantic walls of
the Hermitage. The third Club flourished at Montreal in 1785 and later, it
took the name of the Beaver Club) and was, I believe, composed of old
Northwesters.
[325] It is painful to watch the successive inroads perpetrated by
sportsmen and idlers on the old Chateau. In 1819, an old Quebecer, Mr.
Frederick Wyse, visited it; doors, verandah, windows and everything else
was complete. He, too, lost his way in the woods, but found it again
without the help of an Indian beauty. It was then known as the haunted
house, supposed to contain a deal of French treasure, and called La
Maison du Bourg Royal.
[326] Error - he was a bachelor. These unions were not uncommon. We find
the Baron de St. Castin marrying Matilda, the daughter of Madocawando - an
Indian beauty; he became a famous Indian Chief, helping D'Iberville, in
Acadia, and left a numerous progeny of olive colored princesses with eyes
like a gazelle's.
[327] Melospiza melodia.
[328] Zonotrichia leuchophry.
[329] The Hon. Mr. Dunn, Administrator of the Province in 1807, was the
senior baron; Hons. Matthew Bell, John Stewart, Messrs. Muir, Irvine,
Lester, McNaught, Grey Stewart, Munro, Finlay, Lymburner, Paynter; these
names were doubtless also to be found amongst the Canadian barons; the
Hon. Chas. de Lanaudiere, once a general in the Hungarian service, was the
only French Canadian member.
[330] Book of Carthon.
[331] From Travellers' Guide Book, 1829.
APPENDIX
[332] See Quebec Past and Present, page 34.
[333] Relation de 1665, p. 25, Journal des Jesuites, 10 juillet 1665.
[334] Lettres de Marie de l'Incarnation, lettre 76e, p. 621.
[335] Archives de la Marine, vol. Canada, T. II, de 1670 a 1676, 20 aout
1670.
[336] Ibid., lettres de Colbert a M. Talon, 11 fevrier 1671.
[337] Relation de 1668, p. 3.
[338] Relation de 1667, p. 3.
[339] Archives de la Marine. Registre des depeches de Colbert pour les
Indes, 1671, fol. 18.
[340] Relation de 1672, p. 2.
[341] Archives de la Marine. Registre des depeches, ann. 1674 et 1675.
Lettre du 16 mai 1674 a M. de Frontenac.
