Taschereau, Curé de St. Croix, " ........ 5 0 0 Thos. Taschereau, ....... " " ........ 5 0 0 Monro & Bell, ........... " " ........ 100 0 0 J. Stewart, ............. " " ........ 11 13 4 Louis Dumon, ............ " " ........ 23 6 8 Rev. Frs. de Montmollin, " " ........ 10 0 0 Xavier de Lanaudière, ... " " ........ 23 6 8 Peter Stewart, .......... " " ........ 11 2 2 Messire Raimbault, Ange-Gardien, " ........ 4 13 5 Messire Villase, Ste. Marie, " ........ 4 13 4 Messire Bernard Panet, Rivière Ouelle, ..... 5 0 0 Messire Jacques Panet, Islet, " ....... 25 0 0 See _Quebec Gazette_, 4th July, 1799. See _Quebec Gazette_, 29th August, 1799. _AN ANTIQUE STONE._ "Praetorian here, Praetorian there, I mind the bigging o't"-- (_The Antiquary_) [Illustration: THE OLD CHÂTEAU STONE] Some years back a spicy little controversy was waged among our Quebec antiquarians as to the origin and real date of the stone in the wall adjoining the _Old Château_, the two last figures of the inscription being indistinct. Was it 1646, 1647 or 1694? After deep research, profound cogitation and much ink used in the public prints, 1647, the present date, prevailed, and Mr. Ernest Gagnon, then a City Councillor, had this precious relic restored and gilt at his cost. The date 1647 also agrees with the Jesuits _Relation_, which states that, in 1647, under Governor de Montmagny, one of the bastions was lined with stone; additional light was thrown on this controversy, by the inspection of a deed of agreement, bearing date at Fort St. Louis, 19th October, 1646, exhumed from the Court House vaults, and signed by the stonemasons who undertook to _revetir de murailles un bastion qui est au bas de l'allee du Mont Caluaire, descendant au Fort St. Louis_, for which work they were to receive from _Monsieur Bourdon_, engineer and surveyor, 2,000 _livres_ and a puncheon of wine. This musty, dry-as-dust, old document gives rise to several enquiries. One not the least curious, is the luxurious mode of life, which the puncheon of wine supposes among stonemasons at such a remote period of Quebec history as 1646. Finally, it was decided that this stone and cross were intended to commemorate the year in which the Fort St. Louis Bastion, begun in 1646, was finished, viz., 1647. This historic stone, which has nothing in common with the "Stone of Blarney On the banks of Killarney,"