Chapter VIII: Part 8

“In catholic countries there are few public buildings, either
for use or ornament, but are in some way connected with
religion, and most frequently with charity. There are several
charitable catholic institutions in Quebec: the principal of
these is the Hôtel-Dieu, founded in 1637 by the Duchess
d’Aiguillon, (sister to Cardinal Richelieu,) for the poor sick.
The establishment consists of a superior and thirty-six nuns.
The General Hospital is a similar institution, consisting of a
superior and forty-three nuns, founded by St. Vallier, bishop of
Quebec, in 1693, for “Poor Sick Mendicants.” It stands about a
mile from the town, in a pleasant meadow, watered by the
Charles. The style of building is simple, and well suited to the
purposes of the establishment, consisting only of “such plain
roofs as piety could raise.” The present superior is a lady of
Irish extraction, her age apparently bordering on thirty. In
this conventual seclusion, (devoted to what might well seem to
the mind of a delicate female the most disgusting duties of
humanity) she exhibits that easy elegance, and softened
cheerfulness of manner, so often affected and rarely attained by
the many votaries who dress their looks and carriage in “the
glass of fashion.” She conducted us, with the greatest
politeness, through every part of the building, which, as well
as the “Hôtel Dieu,” in point of order, neatness, and
arrangement, seems singularly adapted to the comfort and
recovery of the unfortunate beings to whose reception they are
consecrated. Their funds I understood to be small, and managed
with strict economy. They receive a small sum annually from
government, in addition to the revenue arising from their domain
lands. There is no distinction in the admission of catholic or
protestant; the hand of charity has spread a couch for each in
his infirmities. Both houses have a small pharmacopœia in charge
of a sister instructed in medicine. The several duties of
tending the sick by night, cooking, &c. are distributed by
rotation. Employment is thus equally secured to all, and the
first evil of cankering thought effectually prevented. Good
humour and contented cheerfulness seem to be no strangers to
these “veiled votaresses;” seem! nay, perhaps are; for, without
ascribing any miraculous effect to the devotion of a cloister,
it is no unreasonable supposition, that in an establishment of
this kind, the duties and occupations of which prevent seclusion
“from stagnating into apathy, or thought from fretting itself
into peevishness,” a greater degree of tranquillity, (and this
is happiness,) may possibly be obtained, than commonly falls to
the lot of those who drudge through the ordinary callings, or
weary themselves with the common enjoyments of society. Grave
men have doubted whether the purposes of these institutions
might not be better answered by our common hospital
establishments; and have even indulged themselves in a sneer at
the idea of young men being attended in sickness by nuns! On the
question, generally, it may be observed, that few (who have any
knowledge of the system of common hospitals) can be at a loss to
appreciate the difference betwixt the tender solicitude with
which charity smooths, for conscience’ sake, the bed of
suffering, and the heartless grudging attendance which hospital
nurses usually inflict upon their victims. If the action of the
mind produce a sensible effect on the frame, particularly in
sickness, this is no immaterial circumstance in a medical point
of view. Even when the hour of human aid is past, it is,
perhaps, still something that the last earthly object should be
a face of sympathy, and the last duties of humanity be paid with
a semblance of affection. For those who dedicate themselves to
this ministry, some apology may be urged to such as admit
motives as, at least, an extenuating circumstance in the
consideration of error. The moral critics, perhaps, who are
foremost to condemn their practice as superstitious, revolt less
from the superstition, than from the self-sacrifice it requires.
Let the lash of satire fall mercilessly on mere bigots, wherever
they are found: but against the spirit, which, abjuring the
pleasures, devotes itself to the most painful duties of life,
what argument can be directed which may not be left for its
refutation to the prayers and blessings of the poor? The most
objectionable part of the institution seems to be the committing
of insane persons, of both sexes, to the charge of females: the
answer is, that there is no other asylum for them; the blame
therefore attaches to the police of the country; for it is
evident, that women are very inadequate to the charge of such
patients as require coercive treatment, particularly men.”

The Ursuline Convent, founded by Madame de la Peltrie, in 1639, for the education of female children, stands within the city. It has, both in its interior decoration, and the dress of its inhabitants, a greater appearance of wealth than the “General Hospital,” and “Hôtel Dieu.” Among the ornaments of the chapel, we were particularly directed to the skull and bones of a missionary, who had been murdered by the savages for attempting their conversion; it is perhaps doubtful, considering the general indifference of the Indians on matters of religious controversy, whether this was the real and sole offence by which he won the crown of martyrdom. These nuns have generally about 200 little girls under their care; but I was sorry to observe their education bought with their health—not one of them but had a pallid, sickly appearance, arising probably from much confinement, during a long winter, in an atmosphere highly heated with stoves, joined to the salt unwholesome diet, generally used by the Canadians.

The Seminary is a collegiate institution, for the gratuitous instruction of the catholic youth of Canada. The number of scholars is commonly about 200. The expenses of professors, teaching, &c. are defrayed by the revenue arising from the seignorial domains belonging to the establishment. The course of studies here qualifies for ordination. There is a small museum, or “cabinet de physique,” which seems in a growing condition; it contains, besides natural curiosities, electrical apparatus, telescopes, and other instruments of science. The library is somewhat too theological; there is a small hall attached to it, in which I perceived our Common Prayer Books, Testaments, &c. in company with many divines, as well catholic as protestant, Bayle, and a few travellers and philosophers, but the greater part theologians. The old palace, besides the chambers for the Council, and House of Assembly, contains a good public library; the nature of the collection may be defined generally as the reverse of that of the seminary library. There is a good assortment of historical works, of a standard quality, and of travels; but no classics, probably because none of the inhabitants affect to read them. A library is also on the eve of being established by the officers of the staff and garrison; but the society of Quebec is generally on too limited a scale, and too exclusively military or commercial, to foster any considerable spirit of literature or science. An attempt was made, during Sir G. Prevost’s administration, to establish a society on the plan of the Royal Institution, but it fell to the ground for want of a sufficiency of efficient members, eleven being the supposed necessary quantum to begin with; nor is this seeming scarcity surprising, when we consider that the short Canadian summer is appropriated to business, and that during the tedious winter, the men are never tired of dinners, nor the ladies of dancing.

There are some peculiar and interesting features in the neighbourhood of Quebec. The lofty banks of the St. Lawrence, from Cape Diamond to Cape Rouge, are composed of clay-slate, generally of a dark colour, sometimes of a dull red, whence the name of “Cape Rouge.” The bed of the river is of the same crumbling stone; and being triturated by time and the elements, gives its sands a close resemblance, both in colour and consistency, to smith’s filings. Bare, however, as they are of soil, these perpendicular cliffs are everywhere clothed with a luxuriant verdure of shrubs and trees, whose roots, wreathing themselves round barren rocks, seem to woo from the charity of the heavens the nutriment denied them by a niggard parent.

About two miles above Quebec, a break in the magnificent line of cliffs forms the little recess, called Wolfe’s Cove; a steep pathway leads up the heights to the Plains of Abraham; traces of field-works are still visible on the turf, and the stone is pointed out on which the hero expired. The cove is at present appropriated to the reception of lumber, which comes down the river from the States and Upper Province, in rafts, which frequently cover the surface of half an acre; when the wind is favourable they spread ten or twelve square sails, at other times they are polled down; the men who navigate them build small wooden houses on them, and thus, transported with their families, poultry, and frequently cattle, form a complete floating village. A great proportion of the timber is brought from Lake Champlain, and the trade is almost wholly in the hands of the Americans.

A second crescent-like recess, about a mile from Wolfe’s Cove, conceals the little village of Sillori. Nothing can be more romantic than the seclusion of this charming spot. The river road to it turns round the foot of gigantic cliffs, which seem interposed betwixt it and the world’s turmoil. The heights which encircle it are deeply wooded to their summits, and retire sufficiently from the river to leave a pleasant meadow and hop-ground round the village, consisting of about half-a-dozen neat white houses, one of which is an inn. On the river’s edge stands the ruin of an old religious house, built by French missionaries, for the purpose of preaching to the Huron tribes, who then inhabited this neighbourhood. There is now no trace of these missionaries, or of their labours, except in the little village of Loretto, which contains the only surviving relics of the once powerful Huron nation; so efficaciously have disease and gunpowder seconded the converting zeal of Europeans. Besides the road which winds under the cliffs, Sillori has two leading to Quebec through the woods. These woods cover the greater part of the country betwixt the St. Foi road and the river, offering all the luxury of shade and sylvan loveliness to the few disposed to accept it. I say the few, for the fashionables of Quebec commonly prefer making a kind of Rotten-row of the Plains of Abraham, round which they parade with the periodical uniformity of blind horses in a mill.

Lake Charles is generally talked of as one of the pleasantest spots round Quebec, and instances have been known of parties of pleasure reaching it. It is about three miles in length, and perhaps one at its greatest breadth. Towards the middle of it, two rocky points shoot out so as to form, properly speaking, two lakes, connected by a narrow channel. A scattered hamlet, taking its name from the lake, is seen with its meadows and tufted orchards, along the right bank of the outward basin. Wooded heights rise on the opposite shore, and surround the whole of the interior lake, descending everywhere to the water’s edge; the whole forming a scene of lovely loneliness, scarcely intruded on by the canoe of the silent angler. There is more in the whole landscape to feel than to talk about, so that it is little wonderful that an excursion to Lake Charles should be more frequently talked about than made.

The Huron village of Loretto stands on the left bank of the Charles, about four miles below the lake, (eight from Quebec). The river, immediately on passing the bridge, below the village, rushes down its broken bed of granite, with a descent of about seventy feet, and buries itself in the windings of the deeply-shadowed glen below. A part of the fall is diverted to turn a mill, which seems fearfully suspended above the foaming torrent. The village covers a plot of ground very much in the manner of an English barrack, and altogether the reverse of the straggling Canadian method; it is, in fact, the method of their ancestors. I found the children amusing themselves with little bows and arrows. The houses had generally an air of poverty and slovenliness; that, however, of their principal chief, whom I visited, was neat and comfortable. One of their old men gave me a long account of the manner in which the Jesuits had contrived to trick them out of their seignorial rights, and possession of the grant of land made them by the king of France, which consisted originally of four leagues by one in breadth, from Sillori north. Two leagues of this, which were taken from them by the French government, upon promise of an equivalent, they give up, he said, as lost; but as the property of the Jesuits is at present in the hands of commissioners appointed by our government, they were in hopes of recovering the remainder, which it never could be proved that their ancestor either gave, sold, lent, or in any way alienated.

END OF VOL. I.

TRANSCRIBER NOTES

Spelling maintained as written except where obvious errors or omissions. Multiple spellings of words and names were adopted consistent with Volume II as follows: General Wolf to Wolfe; General Van Ranssellaer or Van Renssellaer to Van Rensselaer; Montmorenci to Montmorency; St. Laurence (river) to St. Lawrence (river); St. John for river and town in New Brunswick; St. John's for Newfoundland and Quebec early settlement on the Richelieu River; Abram to Abraham; and moccassins or mocassins to moccasins.

Punctuation maintained except where obvious omissions or printer errors occurred.

Engravings have been enhanced and some engravings have been relocated to coincide with the text.

[The end of "Canadian Scenery Vol. I of II", by N. P. Willis (Nathaniel Parker).]