The Leaden
Coffins, Which, It Appears, Had Been Placed On Iron Bars In The
Recollets Church, Had Been Partially Melted By The Fire.
In Count de
Frontenac's coffin was found a small leaden box, which contained the
heart of that Governor.
According to a tradition, handed down by Frere
Louis, the heart of Count de Frontenac was, after his death, sent to
his widow in France. But the haughty Countess refused to receive it,
saying that 'she did not want a dead heart, which when beating did not
belong to her.' The casket containing the heart was sent back to
Canada and replaced in the Count's coffin, where it was found after
the fire." (Abbe H. R. Casgrain.)
The Church faced the Ring and the old Chateau; it formed part of the
Recollet Convent, "a vast quadrangular building, with a court and well
stocked orchard" on Garden Street; it was occasionally used as a state
prison. The Huguenot and agitator, Pierre DuCalvet, [62] spent some dreary
days in its cells in 1781-84; and during the summer of 1776, a young
volunteer under Benedict Arnold, John Joseph Henry, (who lived to become a
distinguished Pennsylvania Judge), was immured in this monastery, after
his capture by the British, at the unsuccessful attack in Sault-au-Matelot
Street, on the 31st December, 1775, as he graphically relates in his
Memoirs. It was a monastery of the Order of Saint Francis. The
Provincial, in 1793, a well-known, witty, jovial and eccentric personage,
Father Felix DeBerey, had more than once dined and wined His Royal
Highness Prince Edward, the father of our gracious Sovereign, when
stationed in our garrison in 1791-4, with his regiment, the 7th Fusiliers.
The Recollet Church was also a sacred and last resting place for the
illustrious dead. Of the six French Governors who expired at Quebec, four
slept within its silent vaults, until the translation, in 1796, of their
ashes to the vaults of the Basilica, viz: (1) Frontenac, (2) de Callieres,
(3) Vaudreuil, (4) de la Jonquiere. [63] Governor de Mesy had been buried
in the Hotel-Dieu Cemetery, and the first Governor, de Champlain, it is
generally believed, was interred near the Chateau Saint Louis, in a
"sepulchre particulier," near the spot now surmounted by his bust, on
which, in 1871, was erected the new Post Office.
On the south-west side of the Chateau, on the site where stands M. A.
Berthelot's old dwelling on St. Louis Street, now owned by James Dunbar,
Esq., Q.C., could be seen a building devoted to the administration of
Justice, La Senechaussee (Seneschal's Jurisdiction), and which bore
the name of "The Palace." It was doubtless there that, in 1664, the
Supreme Council held its sessions. In 1665 it was assigned to the Marquis
de Tracy, for a residence whilst in the colony. From the Place d'Armes,
the higher road (Grande Allee) took its departure and led to Cap Rouge.
On the right and left of this road, were several small lots of land given
to certain persons for the purpose of being built upon. The Indian Fort
was that entrenchment of which we have spoken, which served as a last
hiding place to the sad remains of the once powerful Huron nation, forming
in all eighty four souls, in the year 1665. It had continued to be
occupied by them up to the peace with the Iroquois. After the arrival of
the troops, they took their departure in order to devote themselves to the
cultivation of the lands.
Besides the buildings of the Reverend Jesuit Fathers, those of the
Ursulines (nuns), and those of the Hospital (Hotel Dieu), in the Upper
Town, could be seen in a house situated behind the altar part of the
Parish Church, where dwelt Monseigneur de Laval. It was, probably, what he
called his Seminary, and where he caused some young men to be educated,
destined afterwards for the priesthood.
It was at the Seminary the worthy prelate resided with his priests, to the
number of eight, which, at that period, comprised all the secular clergy
of Quebec. There, also, was the Church of Notre Dame, in the form of a
Latin cross. [64]
Couillard Street calls up one of the most important personages of the era
of Champlain, Guillaume Couillard, the ancestor of Madame Alexandre de
Lery nee Couillard. It would fill a volume to retrace the historical
incidents which attach themselves to "La Grande Place du Fort," which in
the early part of the century was known as the "Grand Parade" before the
Castle, and is now called the Ring. We have pointed out a goodly number
in the first pages (10-16) of the "Album du Touriste." To what we have
already said we shall add the following details:
THE UNION HOTEL.
It would appear that the site upon which the Union Hotel was built [65]
(1805), and where previously stood the dwelling of Dr. Longmore, Staff
Medical Officer, now occupied by the offices of the Journal de Quebec,
&c., was owned by Governor D'Ailleboust, about the year 1650. He had
reserved to himself, on the 10th January, 1649, the strip of ground
comprised between Fort and Treasury Streets on the one side, and the
streets Buade and Ste. Anne on the other side. At the corner of Treasury
and Buade Streets, on the west, Jean Cote possessed a piece of ground
(emplacement) which he presented as a dowry in 1649, to his daughter
Simonne, who married Pierre Soumandre.
The grounds of the Archbishop's Palace formed part of the field possessed
by Couillard, whose house stood in the now existing garden of the
Seminary, opposite the gate which faces the principal alley, the
foundations of which were discovered and brought to light by the Abbe
Laverdiere in 1866. The Union Hotel was for years the meeting place of our
festive ancestors, when the assembly balls brought together the Saxon and
the Gaul; it also recalls warlike memories of 1812.
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