Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and presentLe Moine, J. M. (James MacPherson), Sir
History
Picturesque Quebec : a sequel to Quebec past and present
Le Moine, J. M. (James MacPherson), Sir
Québec (Québec) -- Description and travel; Québec (Québec) -- Suburbs
We have just seen described the incomparable panorama which a winter
sunset disclosed from the lofty promenade, to which the Earl of Dufferin
has bequeathed his name. Let us now accompany one of our genial summer
butterflies, fluttering through the mazes of old Stadacona escorting a
bride; let us listen to W. D. Howells in the WEDDING JOURNEY. "Nothing, I
think, more enforces the illusion of Southern Europe in Quebec than the
Sunday-night promenading on the Durham (now Dufferin) Terrace. This is the
ample span on the brow of the cliff to the left of the Citadel, the
noblest and most commanding position in the whole city, which was formerly
occupied by the old Castle of St. Louis, where dwelt the brave Count
Frontenac and his splendid successors of the French _régime_. The
castle went the way of Quebec by fire some forty years ago (23rd January,
1834), and Lord Durham levelled the site and made it a public promenade. A
stately arcade of solid masonry supports it on the brink of the rock, and
an iron parapet incloses it; there are a few seats to lounge upon, and
some idle old guns for the children to clamber over and play with. A soft
twilight had followed the day, and there was just enough obscurity to hide
from a willing eye the Northern and New World facts of the scene, and to
leave in more romantic relief the citadel dark against the mellow evening,
and the people gossiping from window to window across the narrow streets
of the Lower Town. The Terrace itself was densely thronged, and there was
a constant coming and going of the promenaders, and each formally paced
back and forth upon the planking for a certain time, and then went quietly
home, giving place to new arrivals. They were nearly all French, and they
were not generally, it seemed, of the first fashion, but rather of
middling condition in life; the English being represented only by a few
young fellows, and now and then a red-faced old gentleman with an Indian
scarf trailing from his hat. There were some fair American costumes and
faces in the crowd, but it was essentially Quebecian. The young girls,
walking in pairs, or with their lovers, had the true touch of provincial
unstylishness, the young men had the ineffectual excess of the second-rate
Latin dandy, the elder the rude inelegance of a _bourgeoisie_ in them; but
a few better-figured _avocats_ or _notaires_ (their profession was as
unmistakable as if they carried their well-polished door-plates upon their
breasts), walked and gravely talked with each other. The non-American
character of the scene was not less vividly marked in the fact, that each
person dressed according to his own taste, and frankly indulged private
shapes and colours. One of the promenaders was in white, even to his
canvas shoes; another, with yet bolder individuality, appeared in perfect
purple. It had a strange, almost portentous effect when these two
startling figures met as friends and joined with each other in the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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