Medea, Dee and Andromache
visited that summer our shores, a suitable escort to the able, proud,
humane, [85] but unlucky Viceroy and High Commissioner, with his clever
advisers - the Turtons, Bullers, Wakefields, Hansomes, Derbyshires,
Dunkins, cum multis aliis. The Dictator was determined to "make a
country or mar a career." He has left us a country.
That warlike, though festive summer of 1838, with our port studded with
three-deckers and spanking frigates, was long remembered in the annals of
the bon ton. Some men-of-war were in especial favour. A poetical
lament by the Quebec ladies was wafted to the departing officers of H. M.
frigate Inconstant, the words by the Laureate of the period, George
W. Wicksteed, of Ottawa. This effusion includes the names of every vessel
in the fleet in italics, and of several of the officers.
THE LADIES' ADDRESS TO THE INCONSTANTS.
Written by G. W. Wicksteed.
We saw the Hastings hasting off,
And never made a fuss.
The Malabar's departure waked
No malady in us.
We were not piqued to lose the Pique;
Each lady's heart at ease is,
Altho' the Dees are on the seas,
And gone the Hercules - es.
Our parting with the Andromache
Like Hector's not at all is;
Nor are we Washingtons to seek
To capture a Cornwallis.
And no Charybdis ever caught
Our hearts in passion's whirls;
There's not a girl among us all
Has ever fished for Pearls.
The Vestals with their sacred flame
Were not the sparks we wanted;
We've looked Medeas in the face,
And yet were not enchanted.
But when our dear Inconstants go,
Our grief shall know no bounds,
The dance shall have no joy for us,
The song no merry sounds.
All dismal then shall be the waltz,
The dull quadrille as bad,
And wearily we'll hurry through
The joyless galopade.
We'll gaze upon each changeful cloud
As through the air it skims,
We'll think of fickle fortune's wheel,
And fashion's turns and whims -
Sweet emblems of Inconstancy
In each of these we'll find,
And our Inconstants constantly
We'll fondly bear in mind.
And spite of Durham's fetes and balls,
We'll pine and mourn and mope
Our long, long winter season through,
As girls without a Hope.
And when the spring shall come again,
Our hearts, to pleasure dead,
Shall sigh for spring without an S,
And wish for Pring instead.
Unless, indeed, sweet spring with Hope
Those hearts again should bless,
And bring our dear Inconstants back,
And spring without an S.
Quebec, 6th July, 1838.
(From Waifs in Verse, by G. W. Wicksteed, Q.C., Law Clerk, House of
Commons of Canada, 1878.)
To which melting address the "Inconstants," on their way to Britain,
feelingly replied. Our space allows us to insert but a few stanzas of this
poetical lament.
All language fails to tell how much
We value your address,
Or say how deeply we partake
The feelings you express.
Those Hastings are a hasty set,
And left you in a hurry;
Those Malabars are malapert,
And hot as Indian curry.
Be true, and then the breath of May
Shall fill our sails and bring
Our willing steps and eager hearts,
And Spring - and Pring - and Ring.
And each of you for one of ours
Shall change her maiden name,
And as we are all Inconstants, you
Of course will be the same.
Kamouraska, August, 1838.
Here we stand on the principal artery of the commerce of the city, St.
Peter street, having a width of only twenty-four feet. St. Peter street is
probably not so ancient as its sister, Sault-au-Matelot street. St. Peter
street was so named in memory of Messire Pierre le Voyer d'Argenson, who,
in 1658, came to Quebec as successor to M. de Lauzon. M. d'Argenson was,
in 1661, succeeded by the Baron d'Avaugour.
On the site on which the Quebec Bank [86] was erected in 1863, there stood
the offices, the vaults, and the wharf of the well-known merchant, John
Lymburner. There were three Lymburners: John, lost at sea in the fall of
1775, Mathew, and Adam, the most able of the three; they were, no doubt
related to each other. The loyalty of Adam, towards the British Crown, in
1775, was more than suspected; his oratorical powers, however, and his
knowledge of constitutional law, made him a fit delegate to England in
1791, to plead the cause of the colony before the Metropolitan
authorities. His speech on the occasion is reported in the Canadian
Review, published at Montreal in 1826.
Colonel Henry Caldwell states that, in 1775, Governor Guy Carleton had
ordered a cannon to be pointed from the wharf on which stood Lymburner's
house, with the intention to open fire upon the Bostonais, should
they attempt a surprise on the Sault-au-Matelot quarter. Massive and
strongly built stone vaults (probably of French origin), are still extant
beneath the house adjoining, to the south of this last, belonging to the
heirs Atkinson.
On the site of the offices of Mr. McGie stood, in 1759, the warehouse of
M. Perrault, l'aine, from a great number of letters and invoice-bills
found in the garret, and which a friend [87] has placed at our disposal,
it would seem that M. Perrault had extensive commercial relations both in
Canada and in France. A curious letter to M. Perrault, from Bigot's
notorious councillor, Estebe, then in Bordeaux, was found in this
tenement. It discloses a sad state of things in Old France. This old
document dates of 24th February, 1760, a few months subsequent to the
Battle of the Plains and a few weeks prior to that of Ste. Foye, in April,
1760.
"BORDEAUX, 24th February, 1760.
"To Monsieur Perrault,
Quebec:
"SIR, - It was with heartfelt pleasure I received your favour of the
7th November last, since, in spite of your misfortunes, it apprized me
of the fact that both you and your lady were well.
