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
"Over the Governor's seat hung a gorgeous escutcheon of the Royal
arms, draped with a cluster of white flags, sprinkled with golden
lilies--the emblems of French sovereignty in the colony; among the
portraits on the walls, beside those of the late (Louis XIV.,) and
present King (Louis XV)--which hung on each side of the throne--might
be seen the features of Richelieu, who first organized the rude
settlements on the St. Lawrence in a body politic--a reflex of feudal
France; and of Colbert, who made available its natural wealth and
resources, by peopling it with the best scions of the Mother Land--the
noblesse and peasantry of Normandy, Brittany and Aquitaine. There,
too, might be seen the keen, bold features of Cartier, the first
discoverer, and of Champlain, the first explorer of the new land, and
the founder of Quebec. The gallant, restless Louis Buade de Frontenac
was pictured there, side by side with his fair countess, called, by
reason of her surpassing loveliness, "The Divine." Vaudreuil, too, who
spent a long life of devotion to his country, and Beauharnois, who
nourished its young strength until it was able to resist, not only the
powerful confederacy of the Five Nations, but the still more powerful
league of New England and the other English Colonies. There, also,
were seen the sharp intellectual face of Laval, its first bishop, who
organized the church and education in the colony; and of Talon, wisest
of Intendants, who devoted himself to the improvement of agriculture,
the increase of trade, and the well being of all the King's subjects
in New France. And one more portrait was there, worthy to rank among
the statesmen and rulers of New France--the pale, calm, intellectual
features of Mère Marie de l'Incarnation--the first superior of the
Ursulines of Quebec, who in obedience to heavenly visions, as she
believed, left France to found schools for the children of the new
colonists, and who taught her own womanly graces to her own sex, who
were destined to become the future mothers of New France." (Page 109.)
It were difficult to group on a smaller and brighter canvass, so many of
the glorious figures of our storied past.
In the days of de Montmagny and later, the _Jesuits' Journal_ retraces gay
scenes at the Château in connection with the festivals of the patron
saints, of St. Joseph, whose anniversary occurred on the 19th March, and
of St. John the Baptist, whose _fête_ happened on the 24th June.
For a long time the old Château, was the meeting place of the Superior
Council.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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