Canadian Scenery, Volume 1 (of 2)Willis, Nathaniel Parker
History
Canadian Scenery, Volume 1 (of 2)
Willis, Nathaniel Parker
Canada -- Description and travel; Canada -- History
“Among the principal buildings, the government-house, or Castle
of St. Louis, may take precedence, being a thin blue building,
which seems quivering, like a theatrical side-scene, on the
verge of the precipice, towards the St. Lawrence; its front
resembles that of a respectable gentleman’s house in England;
the interior contains comfortable family apartments. For
occasions of public festivity there is another building, on the
opposite side of the court-yard, much resembling a decayed gaol.
The furniture is inherited and paid for by each successive
governor. The grand entrance to the chateau is flanked on one
side by this grim mouldering pile, and on the other by the
stables, with their appropriate dunghills. There is a small
garden on the bank of the river, commanding, as does the chateau
itself, an interesting view of the opposite shores of the St.
Lawrence. These rise boldly precipitous, clothed with pine and
cedar groves, and studded with white villages and detached
farms; beyond which the eye reposes on successive chains of
wooded mountains, fading blue in the distant horizon; meanwhile,
the river below is spreading broadly towards the north, until it
meets and divides round the Isle of Orleans.
“In front of the chateau is an open space of ground, with great
capabilities of being converted into a handsome square; but at
this season, a formidable barrier of bog-land is all that it
presents to the bewildered pedestrian, who endeavours vainly to
steer for the castle gate. On one side of it stands the
protestant cathedral church, an unfinished building, much more
than large enough for the congregation usually assembled in it.
In style and arrangement it resembles a London parochial church,
and has nothing about it reproachable with earthly beauty. There
is a good organ, but mute for want of an organist; and as there
is no choir, the heavy flatness of the service amply secures the
English church from all danger of being crowded with the
overflowings of its neighbour, the catholic cathedral, in which
are still displayed, with no inconsiderable degree of splendour,
the enticing ceremonies of the Roman worship. I was present at
the service on Easter Sunday; a train of not less than fifty
stoled priests and choristers surrounded the tapered altar; the
bishop officiated in _plenis pontificalibus_, nor lacked the
mitre, ‘precious and aurophrygiate;’ while the pealing organ,
incense rolling from silver censers, and kneeling crowds
thronging the triple aisles, presented a spectacle on which few
are rigid enough, either in belief or unbelief, to look with
absolute indifference. A lofty pile of gingerbread cakes,
ornamented with tinsel, was carried to the bishop to receive his
blessing, and a sprinkling of holy water, after which they were
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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