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.
Who will dare assert that among the sanguinary crew who in 1836, heavily
ironed, bid adieu to Quebec forever, leaving their country for their
country's good - in the British Brig Ceres, all bound as permanent
settlers to Van Dieman's Land - who will dare assert there was not some
Jack Sheppard, with a tender spot in his heart towards the youthful
Briseis who acknowledged Mrs. Montgomery's gentle sway.
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