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Title: Montreal After 250 Years
Author: Lighthall, William Douw (1857-1954)
Date of first publication: 1892
Edition used as base for this ebook:
   Montreal: F. E. Grafton, 1892
   (first edition)
Date first posted: 5 May 2009
Date last updated: 5 May 2009
Project Gutenberg Canada ebook #312

This ebook was produced by: Marcia Brooks
& the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
at http://www.pgdpcanada.net

This file was produced from images generously made available
by the Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries




MONTREAL AFTER 250 YEARS.


_Numbered and Signed Edition._

_This copy is No._ 312

_Signed._ "W. D. Lighthall"

[Illustration: Paul de Chomdy de Maisonneuve]




MONTREAL AFTER

250 YEARS BY

W. D. LIGHTHALL, M.A.


[Illustration: Decoration]

MONTREAL: PUBLISHED BY
F. E. GRAFTON & SONS AT THEIR
BOOKSTORE, 230 ST. JAMES
STREET. 1892.


Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year eighteen
hundred and ninety-two, by F. E. GRAFTON & SONS, in the Office of the
Minister of Agriculture.

"WITNESS" PRINTING HOUSE.
MONTREAL.

[Transcriber's Note: A full list of errata can be found at the end of
the file.]




DEDICATED

TO THE

Numismatic and Antiquarian Society
of Montreal:

MY FRIENDS AND FELLOW-STROLLERS
IN PLEASANT FIELDS.




LIST OF CONTENTS.


  PART I.

  CHAPTER I.--History of the Site.

         II.--General Descriptive Outlines of the City.

        III.--Squares, Parks and Cemeteries.

         IV.--Public Buildings, Churches.

          V.--Charitable and Religious Institutions, Universities,
              Sports, Theatres, Clubs, etc.


  PART II.

              Historical and Legendary.

              Index.

              Principal Authorities, etc.




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.


                                                             PAGE.

  Portrait of Maisonneuve                           _Frontispiece._

  Plan of Town of Hochelaga                                      4

  Montreal from Tower of Notre Dame                   _Facing_   8

  Victoria Bridge                                        "      14

  C.P.R. Bridge                                          "      18

  Seminary of St. Sulpice                                       30

  Victoria Square                                     _Facing_  34

  Chteau de Ramezay                                            38

  Y.M.C.A. Building                                             40

  Windsor Hotel and Dominion Square                             43

  Lachine Rapids                                                47

  Montreal from Mount Royal                           _Facing_  50

  St. Gabriel Church                                            64

  Old Seminary Towers                                           90

  Montreal Fifty Years Ago (six illustrations)        _Facing_ 100

  Plan of Ville-Marie, 1680                              "     108

  Plan of Montreal, 1759                                 "     136




[Illustration]

Montreal after 250 Years.

HISTORY OF THE SITE.


Diedrich Knickerbocker approaches the subject of the Dutch history of
New York with such respectful awe, that he commences his narrative at
the beginning of the World! We, too, will go far back, and say that the
original site of Montreal, some hundred million years ago, was the muddy
bottom of a wide gulf or sea; of which mud, and of the fishes swimming
above it, the crisp grey stone of her public buildings, her warehouses
and her residences is the nineteenth-century form.

Her next shape was that of an immense and lofty volcano-peak,
energetically puffing out its thick smoke, its molten lava and its
showers of cinders--a busier spot than it has ever been since, yet an
excellent advance notice of the manufacturing metropolis it was its
intention to be, after getting duly pared down to a mere core by the
great ice-movements of glacial ages, and then covered over with grass,
trees, Indians, white men and real estate agents.

From time immemorial there was a town here. History opens with one in
full view.

When Jacques Cartier, the Columbus of Canada, sailed up to the Island in
1535, having heard reports of a great Town and Kingdom of Hochelaga, he
found a race of Indians living by a rude agriculture and fishing, who
dwelt in a walled village containing some 1,500 souls.

These facts, taken with their language, of which he gives a list of
words, and with their condition of peace, tend to show that they were of
a race which at some time split into those two bitterly hostile nations,
the Hurons and the Iroquois. The latter are better known outside of
Canada as the Five Nations of New York, or, with the Tuscaroras of
Florida afterwards added, the Six Nations.


Aboriginal Traditions.

There are two legends of the cause of the dissension. One goes that a
certain chief refused to permit his son to marry a particular maiden.
She was a beauty, and swore never to favor any brave but he who should
kill that chief. A warrior did so, and won her. But the race took sides
in the feud, and hence arose the long, relentless war between the two
peoples.

The other story is that the Algonquins, arrogant, nomadic hunters of a
different tongue, subdued that part of the quieter, corn-planting race
afterwards called Hurons, and induced them to join in oppressing the
Iroquois. The latter were forced to apply their talents to the art of
war, and did so with such success that, by means of their celebrated
confederacy (which they called "The Chain"), they were about to conquer
both the Hurons and Algonquins at the period of the arrival of
Champlain.

There appears to have been more than one Indian village on the Island.
Besides the cultivated space noticed around the Town of Hochelaga by
Jacques Cartier, Champlain found about sixty acres which had once been
tilled in the neighborhood of the present Custom House. It is recorded
also that in 1642 certain Indians, called by the writer Algonquins (but
who were probably not), exclaimed, with a kind of melancholy pride, to
the French of Ville Marie during a pilgrimage to the top of Mount Royal:
"We are of the nation of those who formerly inhabited this isle. Behold
the spots where there were once towns filled with many Indians. Our
enemies drove out our forefathers, and so this Island has become desert
and without inhabitant."

[Illustration: PLAN OF THE TOWN OF HOCHELAGA, 1535.]

An old man among them said that his grandfathers had lived there and
cultivated the ground. "See," he said, taking up a handful of earth:
"The soil is good, examine it!" Pre Lalemant, the Jesuit missionary,
writes, in 1656, that under the Algonquin name the French included a
diversity of small peoples, among whom was one named =Ononchataronons,
or the tribe of Iroquet,= "whose ancestors formerly inhabited the Island
of Montreal, and who seem to have some desire to repossess it as their
country." Again: "An old man, aged, say, 80 years, retired to Montreal.
'Here,' said he, 'is my country: my mother told me that in her youth,
the Hurons drove us from this Island: I wish to be buried near my
forefathers.'"

The original description by Jacques Cartier of what he saw is as
follows:

"_How the Captain and the gentlemen, with twenty-five men, well armed
and in good order, went to the Town of Hochelaga, and of the situation
of the said place._

"The next day at early dawn the Captain arrayed himself and put his men
in order, to go and see the town and dwelling of the said people, and a
mountain which is adjacent to the said town, whither went with the said
Captain the gentlemen and twenty mariners, and left the rest for the
guard of the barques, and took three men of the said town of _Hochelaga_
to take and conduct them to the said place. And we being on the road
found it as beaten as it was possible to see, in the most beautiful soil
and the finest plain: oaks as fair as there are any in forest of France,
under which all the ground was covered with acorns. And we, having gone
about a league and a half, found on the road one of the principal Lords
of the said Town of Hochelaga with several persons, who made sign to us
that we must rest there near a fire which they had made on the said
road. And then commenced the said Lord to make a sermon and preaching,
as hereinbefore has been told to be their way of making joy and
acquaintance in making that Lord dear to the said Captain and his
company, which Captain gave him a couple of axes and knives, with a
Cross and a reminder of the Crucifix, which he made him kiss and hung at
his neck: whereof he returned thanks to the Captain. That done, we
walked on further, and about a half league thence we commenced to find
the lands tilled and fair large fields full of corn of their lands,
which is like Brazil rice, as large, or more, than peas, whereof they
live as we do on wheat. And in the midst of those fields is situated and
fixed the said Town of Hochelaga, near and joining a mountain which is
in its neighborhood, well tilled and exceeding fertile; therefrom one
sees very far. We named that mountain _Mont Royal_. The said town is
quite round and palisaded with wood in three rows, in form of a pyramid,
interlaced above, having the middle row in perpendicular, then lined
with wood laid along, well joined and corded in their mode, and it is of
the height of about two lances. And there is in that town but one gate
and entrance, which shuts with bars, on which and in several places on
said palisade is a kind of galleries, with ladders to mount them, which
are furnished with rocks and stones for the guard and defence thereof.
There are in that town about fifty houses each at most about fifty paces
long and twelve or fifteen paces wide, all made of wood, covered and
furnished in great pieces of bark as large as tables, well sewed
artificially after their manner; and in them are several halls and
chambers; and in the middle of said houses is a great hall on the
ground, where they make their fire and live in common; then they retire
to their said chambers, the men with their wives and children. And
likewise, they have granaries above their houses where they put their
corn, whereof they make their bread they call _Caraconi_..... This
people devote themselves only to tillage and fishing, to live: for they
make no account of the goods of this life, because they have no
knowledge of them, and do not leave their country, and are not wandering
like those of _Canada_ and _Saguenay_, notwithstanding that the said
Canadians are subject to them, together with eight or nine other peoples
who are on the said River."

The Hochelagans made much of Cartier, and brought him into the middle of
their town to the public square, which was, he says, a good stone's
throw from side to side. All the women kissed him, weeping for joy. The
men then sat in order around, and the Agouhanna, or "lord and king of
the country," was brought in on men's shoulders, wearing a porcupine
head-dress. He was about fifty years old and palsied, and begged Cartier
to touch and cure him. All the other sick also did so. He recited the
first words of the Gospel of St. John, made the sign of the cross, and
opening a service-book, read to them the entire passion of Christ, to
which they attended gravely. He made a distribution of presents, and on
leaving was taken to the top of Mount Royal, "about a quarter of a
league from the town," where he was delighted with the view. After
getting some rude geographical information from the people, he returned
to his boats accompanied by a great multitude of them, who, when they
saw any of his men weary, would take them on their shoulders and carry
them on.

The Town of Hochelaga is one of the mysterious mirages of history, for,
large though it was, it thenceforth completely disappears from record,
with all its dusky warriors, its great square and its large maize
fields. The very spot on which it stood--nearly in front of McGill
Grounds on Sherbrooke Street, towards Metcalfe--was unknown until a few
years ago, when it was accidentally re-discovered. In the words of one
of those who took part:

"The memory of the place had remained forgotten for three hundred years,
until, Herculaneum-like, it was discovered by men excavating for
foundations. First a skeleton was brought to light in a sitting posture,
then other skeletons; then specimens of pottery. On a more careful
search being made by local antiquarians, the rubbish-heap of the town
was found. This consisted of broken pottery and pipes, with bones of the
animals used as food, besides the fragments of other items in their bill
of fare. Much of the habits of the old townspeople was gathered from
these researches. But the whole work was desultory, being left to the
caprice of individuals. So far only the western border was touched
upon--that by the brook, which, running through McGill College Grounds,
passed down by Metcalfe Street."[1]

A tablet on the latter street, near Sherbrooke, marks the place where
most of the relics were found, and reads as follows: "Site of a large
Indian village, claimed to be the Town of Hochelaga visited by Jacques
Cartier in 1535."


La Place Royale.

The next white man to visit the Island was Samuel de Champlain, founder
and first Governor of Canada, in 1611. He reached here, with an Indian
and a Frenchman, on the 28th of May, and, struck with the site,
selected it at once for a city.

[Illustration: MONTREAL FROM THE TOWER OF NOTRE DAME CHURCH.]

"After having moved about in one direction and another," he says, "as
well in the woods as along the shore, to find a place suitable for the
site of a dwelling whereon to prepare a spot for building, I walked
eight leagues, skirting the great rapids, through the woods, which are
open enough, and came as far as a lake to which our Savage led me, where
I considered the country very closely. But, in all that I saw, I found
no place more suitable than a little spot, which is as far as barques
and boats can easily come up, unless with a strong wind or by a circuit,
because of the great current; for higher than that place (which I named
La Place Royale), a league away from Mount Royal, there are quantities
of small rocks and ledges, which are very dangerous. And near the said
Place Royal there is a little river which goes some distance into the
interior, all along which there are more than sixty acres of deserted
land, which are like meadows, where grain can be sown and gardens made.
Formerly the savages tilled these, but they abandoned them on account of
the wars they had there.

"Having, therefore, made particular examination and found this place one
of the most beautiful on that river, I immediately had the wood cut and
cleared away from the said Place Royale to make it even and ready for
building, and anyone can pass water around it easily and make a little
isle of it, and settle down there as he desires.

"There is a little island twenty rods from the said Place Royale, which
is over 100 paces long, where one could make a good and strong
dwelling. There is also much meadow-land of very good rich pottery clay,
as well for brick as for building, which is a great convenience. I made
use of a part of it, and built a wall there four feet thick and three to
four high and ten rods long to test how it would keep during winter when
the waters descend, which, in my opinion, would not come up to said
wall, seeing that the bank is elevated twelve feet above said river,
which is high enough. In the middle of the river there is an island
about three-quarters of a league in circuit, fit for the building of a
good and strong town, and I named it the Isle of Saincte Heleine. The
rapids come down into a sort of lake, where there are two or three
islands and fine meadow-lands.

"While awaiting the Savages, I there made two gardens, one in the
meadows and the other in the woods, which I cleared, and the second day
of June I sowed some grains, which all came up in perfection and in a
short time, demonstrating the goodness of the ground."

When we approach the neighborhood where he landed, and remember that the
city was planned and even begun by so grand a man, the honor of his name
and his character throws for us its halo about the place.

The fascinating story of the ultimate foundation of the city will be
told in succeeding pages.




[Illustration]

CHAPTER II.

GENERAL DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINES OF THE CITY.


The =leading characteristics= of the Montreal of to-day are:

     Its magnificent situation,

     Its historic riches,

     Its commercial activity,

     The cosmopolitan charm of its division of languages and
     populations. It is, in this respect, the Alexandria of the West.

Few cities, if any, surpass it in =situation=. Past it, in front, sweeps
the stately River of Rivers, the St. Lawrence, two miles in breadth,
bearing down to the Gulf one-third of the fresh waters of the globe; in
rear rises Mount Royal, its sides clothed with foliage, its recesses
full of beautiful drives and views; and round about the city lies the
extensive and fertile Island of Montreal, thirty-two miles long by nine
wide, bordered with a succession of lovely bays, hamlets and
watering-places. =Commercially=, the town is, and has always been, the
metropolis of Canada. Seated at the head of ocean navigation, its sway
as such extends over by far the largest portion of North America. Its
connections have a notable influence on the western trade of the United
States. It is backed by the great lake and canal system, which connects
it with Chicago, Duluth and the cities of the interior of the continent,
to which some day, by a short and easy cut, will, no doubt, be added
those of the Mississippi. It is the headquarters of, among others, two
of the greatest of railways--the Canadian Pacific, which runs from the
Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans, and is the longest in the world, and its
rival, the Grand Trunk. Its population, with the adjuncts which properly
form part of it, amounts to a little under 300,000 souls, rapidly
increasing. Though 620 miles from the sea, Montreal is a great seaport.

Looking around from the top of the towers of Notre Dame, one might say
to himself: "This city is the Mother of the cities of the West. Yonder
was the birthplace of the founder of New Orleans, the home of La Salle,
of Duluth, of La Mothe Cadillac the founder of Detroit, Mackenzie,
Fraser, Alexander Henry, and of the famous Scotch fur-kings, who
governed the fate of the North-West. There is the greatest River in the
world. Crossing it is a bridge that was long the engineering wonder of
the world. There are the headquarters of the greatest railway in the
world. Here is the strongest Bank on the continent. Nearer still is the
wealthiest institution on the continent, the Seminary of St. Sulpice. In
this tower is the largest bell on the continent." And so on.

The city's most pleasing source of interest, however, is its =historical
spots= and associations, for in such there is scarcely a town in America
richer, though, as in most active places, the march of progress has
removed only too many of the old houses, churches and streets. To what
remain, we hope to conduct the reader. Among additional attractions of
Montreal is McGill University, while the churches and charitable
institutions and the athletic sports of the place are celebrated over
the world.

The population at the end of French rule in 1760 was some 3,000; in
1809, about 12,000. To-day it is, as already stated, verging on 300,000.
Its shipping trade, founded on the ancient annual barter between the
Indian tribes here, amounted in 1840 to 31,266 tons burden, in 1891 to
some 2,000,000 tons, nearly equally divided between ocean-going and
inland vessels; while the number of its transatlantic steamship lines
was 15, and the capital of its 11 banks $43,583,000.

=The Harbour.=--Prior to 1851 only vessels under 600 tons, and drawing
not more than 11 feet of water, could pass up to Montreal; but, by
degrees culminating lately, a channel 27 feet deep has been dredged all
the way up, so as to admit of the largest ships reaching the port from
the Atlantic Ocean. At the same time, the inland canals have been
deepened to 14 feet. Immense shipments of grain, lumber and cattle are
exported by these means, and general imports return in exchange. Steam
navigation was introduced early. In 1807 Fulton launched the first
steamboat in America on the Hudson. Two years later, after
correspondence with Fulton, an enterprising citizen launched here the
first steamboat on the St. Lawrence. A tablet records his act as
follows: "To the Honorable John Molson, the Father of Steam Navigation
on the St. Lawrence. He launched the steamer 'Accommodation,' for
Montreal and Quebec service, 1809."

At the upper end of the harbour enters the =Lachine Canal=, begun in
1821, after many delays and misgivings, yet at first but 5 feet deep and
48 wide at the waterline, and 28 at the bottom. Still, it was then wider
and deeper than any similar work in England, and was considered a
superior piece of masonry work.

[Illustration: VICTORIA BRIDGE, ON GRAND TRUNK RAILWAY.]

The =Victoria Bridge=, crossing just above the harbour, was, when
erected, "the greatest work of engineering skill in the world." The idea
was the conception of a man foremost in advancing the trade of the town
and its public works, the late Honorable John Young; and the work itself
was designed by the celebrated English engineer, Robert Stephenson. It
is erected in strong tubular form, resting on heavy stone abutments,
calculated to stand the ice-crushes of spring, and was inaugurated
publicly by the Prince of Wales in 1860. It "consists," says the
inscription on a medal struck at the time, "of 23 spans 242 feet each,
and one in centre 330 feet, with a long abutment on each bank of the
River. The tubes are iron, 22 feet high, 16 feet wide, and weigh 6,000
tons, supported on 24 piers containing 250,000 tons of stone measuring
3,000,000 cubic feet. Extreme length, 2 miles; cost, $7,000,000." These
figures and its massive construction show it to be many times more
expensive and solid than present-day science would consider necessary
for the purpose, and may be contrasted with the light cantilever bridge
of the Canadian Pacific Railway at Lachine.[2] It was built for the
Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, of which it remains the property.
Victoria Bridge is, in many respects, a study in itself, the nice
allowance for expansion and contraction by temperature, the tons of
paint applied to it, the half-ton of annual rust scraped off, and many
other details, are food for curiosity and thought. All the iron came out
from England, each piece marked for its place, the stone mostly from
Pointe Claire. In an enclosure near the entrance to the bridge an
immense boulder attracts curiosity. It bears an inscription stating that
it was erected as a monument by the workmen engaged in building the
bridge to the memory of 6,000 immigrants who died in one year of ship
fever. The boulder was taken out of the bed of the River.

As the eye ranges about the harbour, it is caught by the long range of
solid stone buildings which form the front of the city, by the great
grain elevators grouped at each end of the view, by the domes, towers
and spires of the Bonsecours Market, Bonsecours Church, Notre Dame, the
Custom House, and the Harbor Commissioners' Building, and the serried
masts and the smokestacks of many iron steamships crowding the wharves.
The landscape is one also full of history and tragedy.

Many a prehistoric savage fight must have taken place in the
neighborhood: many a canoe of painted warriors have crept stealthily
along the shores. On the shores round about, many a party of the
settlers was murdered by the Iroquois in the earliest days of the
colony. Two lost their lives in the same manner on St. Helen's Island
just opposite; and on Moffatt's, or Isle--la-Pierre, Father Guillaume
Vignal was slain by an Iroquois ambush during a fierce battle on the
opening of a quarry in 1659. On the Longueuil bank opposite might,
during the 18th century, have been descried the towers, walls and chapel
spire of the finest feudal castle in New France. At St. Lambert there
was a palisaded fort. Laprairie, far over to the south, across the
water, was the scene, in 1691, of the celebrated and desperate battle of
Laprairie, the first land attack by British colonists upon Canada. To
the port came Indian traders for a generation before the founding of the
city. Thither in succeeding days came down the processions of huge
canoes of gaily-singing _voyageurs_, returning from a year's adventurous
trading in the pathless regions of the West to the annual two months'
fair at Montreal.

To speak of the Harbour is to speak of the River, which recalls a remark
made in an antiquated description of Montreal. "A striking feature in
this majestic stream," says _Hochelaga Depicta_, "independently of its
magnitude, has always been the theme of just admiration. The Ottawa
joins the St. Lawrence above, and thenceforward they unite their
streams. But though they flow in company, each preserves its
independence as low down as Three Rivers, ninety miles below
Montreal..... From any elevated part of the shore the spectator may
discern the beautiful green tinge of the St. Lawrence on the farther
side, and the purplish brown of the Ottawa on the half of the River
nearest to him."

The city proper occupies only about 7,000 acres in area, being densely
populated by reason of the climate. It is colloquially divided into
"Uptown" and "Downtown," separated by an indefinite line about
Dorchester Street. "East-end" and "West-end" are also terms frequently
used, and the line is about Bleury Street. A convenient landmark is the
intersection of the city by two principal business streets--St.
Catherine, running across it from east to west, and St. Lawrence, from
north to south.

The population is divided into three chief race divisions, coinciding
also with religious lines: "English," inhabiting mainly the West-end,
numbering about 60,000, and comprising a population much more decidedly
Scottish than English in extraction; French, in number about 150,000,
inhabiting principally the East-end, but also considerable portions of
the lower levels of the West-end, as well as the adjoining cities of
Ste. Cunegonde and St. Henri de Montreal; and "Irish," that is, Irish
Roman Catholic, inhabiting the region known as "Griffintown," west of
McGill Street, and numbering about 40,000.

The principal residential quarter is the "West-end," especially around
and above Sherbrooke Street, which is the finest residence thoroughfare,
though perhaps soon to be outdone by Pine and Cedar Avenues, on Mount
Royal.

Architecturally, the city presents a solid appearance resembling that of
the commercial British cities, the prevailing material being an
admirable grey limestone, obtained from quarries in the neighborhood,
relieved occasionally by stones of richer color, and for the cheaper
buildings by a plain red brick.

The value of real estate in the town is approximately $150,000,000. The
total annual revenue is $2,225,000, and is levied chiefly by an
assessment of 1 per cent. on realty for civic purposes, 1-5 of 1 per
cent. for schools, water rates, and business duty of 7 per cent. on the
rentals. Religious and benevolent institutions are exempt from taxation.
The civic debt is over $16,000,000, and is limited to 15 per cent. of
the assessed value of the real estate, a limit nearly reached. The debt
is very largely represented, however, by valuable assets, such as Parks,
City Hall, Fire Stations and Waterworks.

Having thus outlined the Montreal of to-day, a word remains about the
Montreal of the future. No one can doubt that Nature intends a great
city here. The head of ocean navigation on so matchless a waterway as
the St. Lawrence--a seaport six hundred miles inland--with behind it the
whole "north coast" of the United States, and such teeming cities as
Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Toledo and Duluth, as well as the commerce of
Canada, her growth must be great, steady and certain. History has always
said so in the constant importance and steady advance of this point. The
hopefulness, the pride of the Montrealer can only find full expression
in verse:

[Illustration: CANADA PACIFIC RAILWAY BRIDGE.]

    Reign on, majestic Ville-Marie!
      Spread wide thy ample robes of state;
      The heralds cry that thou art great,
    And proud are thy young sons of thee.
    Mistress of half a continent,
      Thou risest from thy girlhood's rest;
      We see thee conscious heave thy breast
    And feel thy rank and thy descent.
    Sprung of the saint and chevalier,
      And with the Scarlet Tunic wed!
      Mount Royal's crown upon thy head,
    And past thy footstool, broad and clear,
      St. Lawrence sweeping to the sea:
      Reign on, majestic Ville-Marie!

[Illustration]




[Illustration]

CHAPTER III.

SQUARES, PARKS AND CEMETERIES.


_I.--Squares._

=Custom House Square=, a little space on the river front, is interesting
on account of the early historical scenes associated with it, for it is
the oldest square in Montreal. Most of its original extent is occupied
by the Inland Revenue Building, or Old Custom House, a tablet upon which
reads: "The first Public Square of Montreal, 1657--'La Place du
March'--Granted by the Seigneurs, 1676." Here the French executions
took place, of which one, described further on under "The Legend of the
Croix Rouge," may be taken as an example. Facing the river one obtains,
from the harbour ramp, a fine view of the large ocean shipping and maze
of other craft which crowd the port, and look strange so far inland. To
the right is seen the broad Foundling Street, the former bed of one of
the two branches of the =Little River of Montreal=, which meandered
from Lachine, this branch running into the St. Lawrence here. It was
covered over some two generations ago, but still flows underneath the
street.

The =Custom House=, the handsome towered building of triangular form
which stands upon the little cape once made by this stream with the St.
Lawrence, is to the Montrealer something of what the Capitol was to
Rome; for here Samuel de Champlain, that undaunted and patient Governor
who founded Quebec and made French Canada, sojourned in 1611, when on
the lookout for the site for a town, planted two gardens, built walls of
clay, and, as we have previously narrated, called the spot =La Place
Royale=. Traders with the Indians thenceforward made this convenient
point their annual resort, until, in 1642, the town was founded.


The Foundation of Montreal.

The story in brief is as follows: Jean Jacques Olier, a dainty courtier
abb of Paris, having become religiously awakened, renounced his worldly
enjoyments and vanities, and threw himself with fervor into new
movements of Catholic piety originated by himself. He distinguished
himself, to the great disgust of his aristocratic friends, by an
unwonted care of the popular wants as _cur_ of the large Parish of St.
Sulpice in Paris. He then took up the work of organizing the education
of young priests, and established to that end, as the first of many
such, the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Paris. Accounts of the heathen
tribes about the Island of Montreal having reached him, his fervent
meditations conceived the project of founding a mission in that region;
and when travelling, about this time, he met one de la Dauversire, a
receiver of taxes in Brittany, who, it appeared, had been taken up with
much the same idea. Divine miracle, it was believed, lit the project
simultaneously in their breasts and brought the two together, for though
they were strangers, they seemed immediately to recognize each other,
and rushed into an embrace. "It was at Meudon," says a modern French
writer, "at the door of the Palace, whither the Sieur de la Dauversire
had come to request the aid of the Minister for his enterprise. The two
men, _who had never before seen each other, illumined suddenly by a
light within_, fall into each other's arms, call each other by name,
treat each other like brothers, relate their mutual plans, speak at
length of this colony of Montreal (which was still but an unknown
island), with topographical details so exact that one would have said
they had passed long years together there."

They obtained the aid of a number of wealthy and noble persons of the
court, including the Duchesse de Bullion, and these were formed into a
society known as the Company of Our Lady of Montreal (Compagnie de Notre
Dame de Montral).

About the same time a young nun of great devotion and much given to
ecstasies and visions, Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance by name, believed
herself called in a vision to go to the same place, and there to found a
convent and mission. To her, too, the miraculous is ascribed. "God
lifting for her the veils of space, showed to her, while yet in France,
_in a divine vision, the shores of our isle, and the site of Ville Marie
at the foot of its Mountain and on the shore of its great River_."
"Why," says a later writer, "should we refuse to believe this tale?"

Combining crusader and martyr spirits, they purposely chose the most
dangerous outpost, and to that end acquired the Island of Montreal, then
uninhabited, distant and exposed to the incursions of the powerful
Iroquois. Paul de Chomdy, Sieur de Maisonneuve, a gentleman of
Champagne, and a brave and ascetic knight of the medival school, was
entrusted with the command. He landed, with the Governor, De Montmagny,
Father Vimont a Jesuit, Mlle. Mance, another woman and fifty-five male
colonists, on the 18th of May, 1642, a momentous day for Montreal. Tents
were pitched, camp fires lighted, evening fell, and mass was held.
Fire-flies, caught and imprisoned in a phial upon the altar, served as
lights, and the little band were solemnly addressed by Vimont in words
which included these: "You are a grain of mustard seed that shall rise
and grow till its branches overshadow the earth. You are few, but your
work is the work of God. His smile is upon you, and your children shall
fill the land." Two tablets on the front of the Custom House record the
above facts as follows: "This Site was selected and named in 1611 La
Place Royale, by Samuel de Champlain, the Founder of Canada;" and, "Near
this spot, on the 18th day of May, 1642, landed the Founders of
Montreal, commanded by Paul de Chomdy, Sieur de Maisonneuve: Their
first proceeding was a religious service."

The new settlement was named Ville Marie, in honor of the patron saint
of the fraternity, "The Queen of Heaven." As they held that the Island
was peopled by demons, they sang the _Te Deum_ very loudly and defiantly
and fired cannon to drive them away, and had the good fortune to do so.

A picket fort was commenced and mounted with cannon, and this enclosure,
known sometimes as the =Fort de Ville-Marie=, stood on Commissioners'
Street, just behind the thoroughfare in rear of the Custom House, known
as Port Street, where another tablet records its site thus: "Here was
the Fort of Ville-Marie, first dwelling-place of the Founders of
Ville-Marie, built 1643, demolished 1648. Replaced by the House of
Monsieur de Callires, 1686."

For nearly a quarter of a century the inhabitants could not leave its
limits without danger of an attack from the Iroquois foes, with whom the
French were at war. The Legendary Dog of Ville-Marie, =Pilote= by name,
was accustomed to take her daily rounds among the woods in this
neighborhood, with her litter of pups, hunting about for lurking
Iroquois. Many a spot in the present city can be pointed out as the
scene of the death of some member of the little community, and every
acre in this neighborhood has been covered by hostile footsteps. The
spirit of chivalry which was dying out in Europe was transplanted
hither, and has made the early history of Montreal a tale of romance and
danger approached by that of no other new-world town.

Near by, on Foundling Street, is a tablet marking the site of the
=Residence of Governor de Callires=, which replaced the Fort de
Ville-Marie: "Site of the Chteau of Louis Hector de Callires, Governor
of Montreal 1684, of New France 1698-1703. He terminated the fourteen
years' war with the Iroquois by treaty at Montreal, 1701." Callires was
the staunchest Governor New France ever had except Frontenac. Charlevoix
declares him to have been even better as a general.

Behind the square, somewhat later, stood the first Manor House, for the
Island had its feudal lords. These were the =Gentlemen of the Seminary
of St. Sulpice=, as they are still called, who yet retain a faint
semblance of the position. The site of the first Manor House is in the
small court of Frothingham & Workman, reached by an open passage from
St. Paul Street. The tablet upon the present warehouse reads as follows:
"Upon this foundation stood the first Manor House of Montreal, built
1661, burnt 1852, re-built 1853. It was the Seminary of St. Sulpice from
1661 to 1712. Residence of de Maisonneuve, Governor of Montreal, and of
Pierre Raimbault, Civil and Criminal Lieutenant-General."

Under the rgime of the latter it was also the prison.

A block deeper within the city than Custom House Square is

=The Place d'Armes=--The centre of the city's life. At no other spot do
so many interests--English, French, business, historical,
religious--meet. In the centre stands[3] the statue of Maisonneuve. It
is of bronze, and represents him in the cuirass and French costume of
the 17th century, holding the fleur-de-lys banner. The pedestal, of
granite, shows the inscription: "Paul de Chomdy de Maisonneuve,
Foundateur de Montral, 1642." It rests upon a fountain, and displays
several bas-reliefs, representing respectively: (1), Maisonneuve killing
the Indian Chief; (2), the founding of Ville-Marie; (3), the death of
Lambert Closse, Town Major of the devoted band, who had hoped for a
death fighting the Heathen, and who, in fact, so died, defending his own
enclosure near St. Lambert Hill; (4), the still more heroic death of
Dollard, who fell with his companions at the Long Sault of the Ottawa,
and so saved the colony. At the four corners of the base are four
life-size bronze figures, representing respectively an Indian, a
colonist's wife, a colonist, with the legendary dog Pilote, and a
soldier.

Facing the square from Notre Dame Street stand the tall and stiff faade
and towers of the Parish Church, =Ntre Dame de Montral=, a building
not beautiful, but which all admit to be impressive. The style is a
composite Gothic, an adaptation of different varieties to one severe
design, of a French trend, though the architect was a Protestant named
O'Donnell. He afterwards became a Roman Catholic, and is buried in the
vaults beneath. The interior, from its breadth, its ampleness, its rich
decorations, and the powerful appearance of its two great tiers of
galleries, is still more impressive than the front. The wealth of the
adjoining Seminary, its proprietors, has been freely spent upon it, as
well as the revenues of a vast congregation, and, holding as it
sometimes does at great celebrations, not far from 15,000 people, it is
the chief temple of a whole race. Among the objects to be noticed are:
The Baptistery, to the right on entering, especially its exquisite
stained glass windows; the small altar-picture of the black Virgin, the
original of which is attributed by legend to the brush of St. Luke, and
is claimed to be miracle-working; the beautiful wood-carving under it of
the Entombment of Christ; a small marble statue, given by Pope Pius IX.,
on the pillar near the Grand Altar, and for praying before which the
inscription promises an indulgence of 100 days from purgatory; the
bronze St. Peter at the opposite pillar, whose foot is kissed by the
faithful in the same manner as the original statue in St. Peter's at
Rome; and others in great variety. The Grand Altar proper is a fine
piece of work from the artistic point of view, and the white carved
groups upon it, representing the Redeemer's sacrifice in various forms,
are notable. They are by a modern German master. Some Venetian figures
at the sides, above the choir, are, however, in very bad taste. Above
this altar one may catch a glimpse, through the opening, of the
richly-carved new Gothic Lady-Chapel in rear, which is reached by
passing through the doors near at hand, and though somewhat overgilt,
well merits inspection. The organ, a new one, built by the Brothers
Casavant, of St. Hyacinthe, is claimed to be the finest on the
continent, and the splendid orchestra and choir make it a rare musical
treat to attend one of the great festival services, Christmas, Epiphany,
Easter and others. The towers are 227 feet high. The ascent part-way is
made by means of an elevator in the west tower, as far up as the great
bell, "Le Gros Bourdon," which is only sounded on the most solemn
occasions, such as the death of a Pope, and is the largest bell in
America. Its weight is 24,780 pounds. Ten other large bells are found in
the opposite tower; 18 men are required to ring them. Ascending further,
to the top of the west tower, the finest obtainable view of the harbor
and lower town is had.

The earliest church of Montreal was one of bark, built in the original
Fort. This was replaced in 1656 by the first Parish Church, on the north
corner of the present St. Sulpice and St. Paul Streets, where a tablet
marks its site thus: "Here was the first Parish Church of Ville-Marie,
erected in 1656." In 1672 the latter was in its turn replaced by what is
now known as the Old Parish Church, which stood across Notre Dame
Street. Its picturesque belfry tower remained alone on the corner of the
square for some years after the removal of the old church, but was taken
down about 1840. The foundations yet exist under the south gate of the
square. The cut-stone front, designed by King's Engineer, De Lry, the
same who erected the stone fortification walls of the city, and who also
designed the Cathedral of Quebec, was, when taken down, used as a front
for the Rcollets Church, and after the demolition of the latter, was
incorporated in the back walls of the store upon its site, where some of
the pieces are still to be seen. The furniture and pictures were sent to
the Church of Bonsecours, and the pulpit chair of the Unitarian Church
is made out of timbers of the tower. A tablet on the adjoining wall of
the Seminary reads: "The second Parish Church of Ville-Marie, built in
1672, dedicated 1678, and demolished in 1829, occupied the middle of
Notre Dame Street."

A whimsical "legend" has long been told of the corner of the present
Church, on St. Sulpice Street, where there is always a little breeze,
even in the hottest weather.

The Devil and the Wind, runs the story, were walking down Notre Dame
Street, when this Church had just been built. "Why," said the Devil,
"what is this? I never saw this before." "I dare you to go in," replied
the Wind. "You dare me, do you? You wait here till I come out," cried
the Devil. "I'll be at the corner," said the Wind. His Majesty went in.
He has never yet come out, and the Wind has remained ever since waiting
for him at the corner.

The quaint, black-faced =Seminary of St. Sulpice=, erected in 1710,
adjoins the Parish Church. Its revenues are immense, but the amount is
never made public. The Seminary at Paris, of which this is a branch,
obtained the Island from De Maisonneuve's Association in 1663 under
charge of keeping up church services and providing for education. The
building contains the baptismal and other registers of the city from the
beginning, besides uncounted wealth of other historical treasures. The
old fleur-de-lys still caps its pinnacles, old French roof-curves cover
the walls, and as the priests nearly all come from France, there is a
complete old-world flavor about the institution. In the words of
Charlevoix, it was "a stately, great and pleasant House, built of
Free-stone, after the model of that of St. Sulpice at Paris; and the
Altar stands by itself, just like that at Paris."

The tablets here read: "The Seminary of St. Sulpice, founded at Paris,
by Monsieur Jean Jacques Olier, 1641; established at Ville-Marie, 1657,
Monsieur Gabriel de Queylus, Superior. Seigneurs of the Island of
Montreal, 1663." And: "Franois Dollier de Casson, First Historian of
Montreal, Captain under Marshal de Turenne, then Priest of St. Sulpice
during 35 years. He died, in 1701, cur of the Parish."

[Illustration: SEMINARY OF ST. SULPICE.]

The latter tablet refers to a most attractive, pleasant and somewhat
whimsical narrator--Dollier de Casson--on whose _Histoire du Montreal_
all the completer historians largely draw.

Opposite Notre Dame are the Bank of Montreal and the Imperial Insurance
Building. To the north, the tall red stone building is that of the New
York Life Insurance Company, from the tower of which a good view may be
obtained. On the south corner, the prominent edifice is that of the
Royal Insurance Company. On the east corner is one of the Antiquarian
Society's tablets, on the site of a dwelling of the famous Du Luth,
reading as follows: "Here lived, in 1675, Daniel de Grsolon, Sieur
Dulhut, one of the explorers of the Upper Mississippi; after whom the
City of Duluth was named."

The face of the =Imperial Building= shows two tablets, one of which
reads: "Near this Square, afterwards named La Place d'Armes, the
founders of Ville-Marie first encountered the Iroquois, whom they
defeated, Chomdy de Maisonneuve killing the Chief with his own hands,
30 March, 1644."

The story is that one winter, de Maisonneuve, being besieged in the fort
by his savage foes, kept his people shut up out of harm's way. Some of
them charged him with cowardice, and insisted on being led forth.
Finally he acceded. The woods hereabout suddenly swarmed with yelling
savages, and the French, to avoid a massacre, broke for the fort.
Maisonneuve was the last to withdraw, and, as he did so, he fought
hand-to-hand with a gigantic chief, who hurled himself upon the
commander, eager for distinction as the bravest "brave." Maisonneuve
withstood and slew him in single combat, and then retired slowly to the
fort. Thenceforward those who had maligned him were silenced. It is
disputed whether this neighborhood or Custom House Square was the
approximate scene of the conflict; but the distance between the two is
not great, in the direct line.

The other inscription records the interesting fact that the Imperial
Building stands upon the second lot granted on the Island of Montreal.
The first was another on the same square--the property adjoining the
Royal Insurance Company's--which still belongs to a male lineal
descendant of the original grantee, Father Toupin of St. Patrick's
Church.

On this square the French, American and British armies have successively
paraded as possessors of the town, and here the French army solemnly
surrendered its arms, in the presence of the troops of Amherst, in 1760.

=The Bank of Montreal=, with a capital and rest of $18,000,000, is said
to be the strongest financial institution in America. Its fine
Corinthian structure, noted for its classical purity of line, looks like
the spirit of ancient Greece among the modern edifices by which it is
surrounded. Originally it possessed a dome. The counting-room is fitted
and frescoed with scenes from Canadian history, such as to repay
examination. The Bank was organized in 1817, and is the oldest bank in
Canada. The sculpture on the pediment in front is the work of John
Steel, R.S.A., her Majesty's sculptor in Scotland. The arms of the Bank,
with the motto "Concordia Salus," forms the centre of the group. On each
side is an Indian, one barbaric, the other becoming civilized. The other
two figures are a settler and a sailor, the former with a pipe of peace
in his hand, reclining upon logs and surrounded by the implements of
industry and culture. The sailor is pulling at a rope, and is
appropriately surrounded with the emblems of commerce. Upon the building
a tablet reads: "The Stone Fortifications of Ville-Marie extended from
Dalhousie Square through this site to McGill Street, thence south to
Commissioners Street, and along the latter to the before-mentioned
Square. Begun 1721 by Chaussegros de Lry. Demolished 1817."

Next to the Bank of Montreal is the =Post Office=, a handsome building
in the Renaissance style, now too small for the volume of business.

Opposite it is some of the Seminary's real estate--a striking
illustration of the non-progressiveness of old tenures.

Passing westward along St. James Street, we come to =Victoria Square=,
situated at the foot of Beaver Hall Hill, and intersected by Craig
Street. Leading mercantile houses surround it. It receives its name from
the beautiful bronze statue of Queen Victoria, by the English sculptor,
Marshall Wood. Looking upwards from the foot of the square, one sees a
bit of Mount Royal in the distance, while nearer by are a range of
church spires, being respectively, counting from left to right, St.
Andrew's Presbyterian, the Reformed Episcopal, Christ Church Cathedral,
the Church of the Messiah (facing from Beaver Hall Hill), and St.
Patrick's. This square was the old-time Haymarket. It is a busy
neighborhood, on the edge of the heart of the town, and is crossed at
morning and evening by the principal business people who reach the
West-End by Beaver Hall Hill. On the Unitarian Church on the hill a
tablet runs: "Here stood Beaver Hall, built 1800, burnt 1848; Mansion of
Joseph Frobisher, one of the founders of The North-West Company, which
made Montreal for years the fur-trading centre of America." This
building, celebrated only as a landmark; was a long wooden cottage
facing down the slope, and was partly protected in front by tall poplar
trees. It was the nearest to town of the pleasant suburban seats of the
Old North-Westers which covered the slopes of Mount Royal.

=Fortification Lane= commences at this square, and marks the line of the
old French fortifications. They were of stone, in bastioned form,
running along the course of this lane, to its end, then across the Champ
de Mars, and eastward, to include Dalhousie Square, by the Quebec Gate
Station. Thence they returned along the water front to the present
McGill Street, which was their westerly limit. The exits were few, being
the Rcollet Gate at this end and the Quebec at the other, with the St.
Lawrence Gate on the land side and several openings on the river, called
the Small, the Market, the St. Mary's and the Water Gate. Craig Street
was then a suburban swamp, with a branch of the Little River running
through.

[Illustration: VICTORIA SQUARE.]

Near by, at the corner of Notre Dame Street, is a tablet thus marking
the site of the memorable Rcollet Gate: "Rcollets Gate: By this gate
Amherst took possession, 8th September, 1760. General Hull, U.S. Army,
25 officers, 350 men, entered prisoners of war, 20 September, 1812."
General Amherst, the British commander, after the capitulation by the
French Governor, de Vaudreuil, ordered Colonel Frederick Haldimand to
receive the keys of the city and occupy the western quarter of it. That
officer at once did so with his brigade, and was the first Englishman to
pass the walls of the new possession. Nothing now remains of the old
fortifications except their foundations buried in the soil. They were
built, in 1723, by the king's engineer, Chaussegros de Lry, and
replaced a smaller wall of palisades, erected about 1685 by command of
Governor de Callires, to protect against the Iroquois.

Proceeding eastward along Craig Street, past some nine cross-streets, we
come to

=Viger Square=, extending for several blocks on Craig Street East, at
the corner of St. Denis Street. It receives its name from Commander
Jacques Viger, the first Mayor of Montreal, a man of spirit, and the
father of local antiquarianism. With its well-grown trees, its ponds and
greenhouse, it is the pride of the principal French residence quarter.
Large crowds attend in the evenings to listen to the music of favorite
bands, which is of a high order, the French-Canadians making excellent
musicians.

In sight of Viger Square, westward, on the hillside, is the long

=Champ de Mars=, the military parade-ground of the British garrisons
when they existed here. It is a level piece of ground surrounded by
decayed poplar trees, and overlooked by the Court House, City Hall, St.
Gabriel Church (the first Protestant Church erected in the city) and the
Provincial Government Building, formerly the residence of the Hon. Peter
McGill, first English Mayor of Montreal, 1840. The Champ was
originally--that is to say, during French times, before 1760--very much
smaller, being only the space enclosed by the 3rd Bastion of the city
walls; but it was enlarged, in the early years of the century, by means
of the earth obtained from removing Citadel Hill. The foundation of the
walls runs underneath the surface along the middle of the square, and
has been exposed to view in excavations. This was a gay neighborhood
during the palmy days of the garrison, when some of the most famous
regiments of the British army, such as the Guards, were stationed here.

Adjoining the Champ de Mars, and passing between the Court House and
City Hall, towards the harbour, is =Jacques Cartier Square=, the upper
part of which was, in early times, the =Place des Jsuites=, for the
east end of the Court House borders the site of the French Jesuits'
Monastery, used afterwards as military quarters, and later replaced by
the Gaol and the former Court House, which in turn were replaced, about
1856, by the present "Palace of Justice." In the Monastery of the
Jesuits lodged the celebrated historian Charlevoix, to whom a tablet
erected there runs: "The Pre Charlevoix, historian of La Nouvelle
France, 1725." The foundations can be traced on the square.

Another tablet on the same building reflects a vivid picture of early
times: the torturing by fire, on the square, of four Iroquois prisoners,
who thus suffered death, by a stern order of Governor Count Frontenac in
1696, in reprisal for the torturing of French prisoners taken by their
tribes. The expedient was successful. The whole inscription is: "Here
stood the Church, Chapel and Residence of the Jesuit Fathers. Built
1692, occupied as military headquarters 1800. Burnt 1803. Charlevoix and
Lafitau, among others, sojourned here. On the square in front, four
Iroquois suffered death by fire, in reprisal, by order of Frontenac,
1696." The same spot was, in later days--even within the memory of men
now living--the place where stood the Town Pillory, an antiquated
institution which seems almost incredible to our present-day
imaginations.

A tablet on the City Hall, just opposite, connects the square with its
protonym thus: "To Jacques Cartier, celebrated navigator of St. Malo.
Discovered Canada, and named the St. Lawrence, 1534-1535."

The part of the square between Notre Dame Street and the harbour is in
the midst of the oldest neighbourhood of buildings in Montreal, some of
the little streets (such as St. Amable Street) being, in their entirety,
not less than a century old, and completely in the antique spirit. A
glance, around from Notre Dame Street will make this evident.

To the east, on the corner, is the old =Store of the Compagnie des
Indes=, which, in the French times, answered to the Hudson Bay Company.
It bears also a tablet that speaks for itself: "The Residence of the
Honourable James McGill, Founder of McGill University, 1744-1813." The
heavy stone vaulting of the cellars is worth a glance within.

Just beyond it, in a garden, is the =Chteau de Ramezay= (1705) the
residence of one of the French and some of the British Governors--a good
old family mansion of the time when this was the aristocratic end of the
city.

In front, at the end of the square, is =Nelson's Column=, surmounted by
a statue of the one-armed hero, Lord Nelson himself, strangely enough,
with his back to the water! It was erected, in 1809, by subscription
among both English and French residents. The inscriptions may be read
for completer information.

[Illustration: CHTEAU DE RAMEZAY.]

The rest of the square is a public open market, used every Tuesday and
Friday. On its lower part, near St. Paul Street, is the site of the old
Chteau de Vaudreuil, the residence of the last French Governor of
Canada, who retired to France, with the army of his country, after
surrendering the city and province to General Amherst in 1760. The
chteau was a miniature court of France. The present square, its garden,
saw the presence of Montcalm, Beaujeu, Lvis and many another brave
soldier of the old time, as well as those brilliant embezzlers and
voluptuaries, Bigot, Cadet, Varin and the rest. The same site was
previously that of the large residence of the famous Du Luth. A tablet
just above St. Paul Street reads: "The Chteau de Vaudreuil was built
opposite, in 1723, by the Marquis de Vaudreuil, Governor-General;
residence of the Marquis de Vaudreuil-Cavagnal, his son, the last
Governor of New France. Montcalm, Lvis, Bourlamaque, Bougainville,
sojourned here."

A short distance eastward is

=Dalhousie Square=, the site of the ancient French citadel, having been
a steep eminence until its levelling, in 1819, by permission of the
Governor, Earl Dalhousie. It formerly bore the name of Citadel Hill. The
"Citadel" was a wooden blockhouse, which commanded the principal streets
from end to end, and its situation, the summit of the rising, was
afterwards for a time occupied by the second rude waterworks of
Montreal. The town walls ended here with the =Quebec Gate=, a name which
still clings to the locality. The district beyond is popularly known as
"the Quebec Suburbs." Adjoining is the East-end, or Quebec Gate, Station
of the Canadian Pacific Railway, built upon the site of the old French
Arsenal, later used as Barracks by the British garrison. At its
demolition, a few years ago, to make way for the station, the last part
of the French fortification walls of the city was removed. The following
tablet is proposed for the Railway Station: "This Square occupies the
site of La Citadelle, built in 1685, replacing the mill erected by
Maisonneuve and D'Ailleboust in 1660. Royal Battery 1723. Levelled and
presented to the city by Earl Dalhousie, Governor-General, 1821. Near
the east corner of Ntre Dame Street stood the Porte St. Martin (Quebec
Gate). Ethan Allen entered it prisoner of war, 1775. This station
replaced the French Arsenal, removed 1881, with the last portion of the
fortification walls of 1721." The hill itself was a curious piece of
alluvial formation, the culmination of that long ridge formed by the
branching of the Little River of Montreal into two, on which the French
city of Montreal was built, the waters in a former age having apparently
washed the soil into this shape. A similar mound and ridge, exhibiting
perfectly the manner of its formation, exists at the mouth of the River
Chteauguay some fifteen miles distant.

[Illustration: Y.M.C.A. BUILDING, DOMINION SQUARE.]

Leaving "down-town," and striking westward much farther, we come to

=Dominion Square=, which represents the westward-moving growth and life
of Montreal. Situated in the best neighbourhood of the city, it is a
plain, open square with turf and beds of flowers, and is cut into two by
Dorchester Street West, at which part are placed two Russian cannon
taken in the Crimean war. Around, in order, are: the Windsor Hotel,
Dominion Square Methodist Church and parsonage, St. George's Anglican
Church, parsonage and school, the headquarters and West-end Station of
the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Roman Catholic Archbishop's Palace and
his Cathedral of St. Peter's, and the =Young Men's Christian
Association=. The latter is a large and beautiful seven-story building
of rich-colored pressed brick, with ample facings of grey cut stone. The
style is Queen Anne. The interior is handsome, having a first-class
hall, a completely-equipped gymnasium, a magnificent swimming-bath and
accessories, a bright reading-room, library and other departments. The
views from the windows are particularly fine.

=St. Peter's Cathedral=, designed to surpass all other temples in
America in size and magnificence, is a copy of the immense St. Peter's
of Rome, the Cathedral of all Catholicism, of which it is half the
dimensions. The idea was conceived by the late Archbishop Bourget, after
the burning, in 1854, of his Cathedral of St. Jacques, then on St. Denis
Street. The architect was Victor Bourgeau, who went to Rome to study the
original. The foundations were commenced in 1870. Even after it
commenced the enterprise seemed for a number of years to threaten
failure on account of the expense; but by assessing every head in the
large diocese, this was ultimately met. The Cathedral is built in the
form of a cross, 330 feet long and 222 wide. The masonry works of the
great dome are 138 feet in height above the floor. The chief respects,
besides size, in which the design differs from St. Peter's of Rome, are
that the roof is inclined, on account of our snowfall, and the sides are
both similar, whereas one side of the Roman Cathedral is elaborately
columned in cut stone. The differences may be examined on a model in
wood which is exhibited in the interior. The stone-work of the faade is
the handsomest portion of the Cathedral, the carving of the immense
blocks used for the capitals of columns being very fine. To obtain
perfect stones large enough for these pieces occasioned many months of
delay in the erection of the portico. The dome is by most people
considered the great feature, and dominates all parts of the city. It is
70 feet in diameter at its commencement, and its summit is 210 feet from
the spectators on floor of the Church. It is an exact copy of the famous
dome of St. Peter's, Rome, the work of Brunelleschi, and is 250 feet in
height to the top of the cross--46 feet higher than the towers of Notre
Dame. Above is a huge gilt ball, on which is placed a glittering cross,
18 feet high and 12 long. Four smaller domes surround the main one. The
interior of the Church is not completed, but is interesting from its
size and plan.

Close by is the Palace of the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Montreal, a
plain brick building with chapel. The present Archbishop is Monseigneur
Fabre.

=The Windsor Hotel= is the best in Canada, and one of the best-situated
anywhere. Its dining-room and grand corridor are scarcely to be excelled
in effect. It accommodates 700 guests.

=Windsor Hall=, adjoining it, is the largest hall in Canada, and is used
for concerts.

=St. George's Church= is the place of worship of the second largest
Anglican body. It is an example of the Decorated Gothic style, and
possesses a number of excellent stained glass windows and a good carved
front porch. The old flags of the Montreal Light Infantry (1837) are
hung within. The service is Low Church.

[Illustration: WINDSOR HOTEL AND DOMINION SQUARE.]

The square next worthy of notice is

=St. Louis Square=, the prettiest in Montreal, on Upper St. Denis
Street, above Sherbrooke. It is small, but is embellished by a large
rectangular pond, occupying its centre, the bright flat mass of which,
with a distant view of Mount Royal visible, good trees around, and
handsomely turreted houses of cut stone lining the surrounding streets,
give it much beauty. It is constructed out of the former public "Tank"
or water reservoir, discarded many years since. Numbers of the
principal French people live in the vicinity, upon Sherbrooke, St. Denis
and other streets.

=Phillips' Square=, above Beaver Hall Hill, on St. Catherine Street, is
a small space grown with large trees. Christ Church Cathedral, Morgan's
Store and the Art Gallery, all at the head of it on St. Catherine
Street, are principal landmarks of the city.

A number of less notable squares might be enumerated if that were
useful; but we pass on to the


_II.--Parks._

Montreal has three.

=Logan Park= is not yet finished, and may be left out of count. Of the
other two--=Mount Royal= and =St. Helen's Island=--it may be doubted if
any city in the world can produce a pair their equal in natural beauty.

=Mount Royal= is an ideal crown for a city. Not too lofty to be
inaccessible, nor so low as to be insignificant, it presents, here bold
rock-faces, there gentle green slopes, vistaed dales, clothed with great
plenty of trees, ferns and wild flowers; meditative nooks, drives, wide
prospects and look-outs. The long curve of its crest rises above the
city in a perpetual invitation of sylvan charm and rest. The skirts of
its slope, below the limits appropriated to the public park, are covered
with _palazzi_ and villas peeping out of the foliage. The park is
approached usually from the south-east and north-east sides, in each
case by a series of winding drives intersected by more direct footpaths.
On the latter side (by Fletcher's Field), the "Mountain Elevator"
carries passengers in four specially-constructed cars some distance up
towards the foot of the chief ascent, and then climbs a precipitous
steep to the crest. The charms of the mountain, however, are most
thoroughly seen by following the course of the drives which encircle it,
which were designed, together with the general plan of development of
the Park, by the celebrated Frederick Law Olmsted, who laid out Central
Park, New York. He has published a little book on Mount Royal, conveying
his ideas for the future development of its beauties on natural
principles. Among the landmarks most to be noticed are: the High Level
Reservoir, the General City Reservoir (seen some distance below), the
residence and grounds of the late Sir Hugh Allan, founder of the Allan
Steamship Line, which, surrounded by a stone wall, is situated just
adjoining the High Level Reservoir; the monumental pillar in the same
place, over the grave of Simon McTavish, who, at the beginning of the
century, was the chief partner in the North-West Company, which founded
the modern commercial greatness of Montreal. Tradition has it
(erroneously) that he committed suicide, and that his mansion, which
long stood deserted a short distance below on the hillside, was haunted
by spirits. A walk along the drive northward, skirting the precipitous
face of the mountain, gives one of the most picturesque parts. At the
western end of the drive, in this direction, one can push on by footpath
through the forest and pass into the beautiful vale devoted to Mount
Royal Cemetery. Returning to the High Level Reservoir, he has the choice
of climbing by graduated flights of steps up the face of the cliff, and
thus reaching the summit. Fine landscape views are obtained from all
these points, especially from the top.

    Changing its hue with the changing skies,
      The River flows in its beauty rare;
    While across the plain eternal, rise
      Boucherville, Rougemont and St. Hilaire.
    Far to the Westward lies Lachine,
      Gate of the Orient long ago,
    When the virgin forest swept between
      The Royal Mount and the River below.

The best points of view are Prospect Point, near the steps, the Look-out
farther south (at which carriages stop), and the Observatory farther
inwards. From these the city is seen in a rich panorama below. Past it
flows the River, with its Island of St. Helen's, St. Paul's or Nun's
Island, half in forest, half meadow, the French parish spires glittering
here and there along its banks, and the Lachine Rapids gleaming in the
distance. Beyond the River, the great plain of the Saint Lawrence
Valley, broken by solitary, abrupt, single mountains here and there, and
faintly hemmed in the distance by the cloudlike outlines of the Green
and Adirondack ranges. The solitary mountains referred to are of
volcanic origin and are respectively, from east to west, Montarville,
St. Bruno, Beloeil (which stands out strong and abrupt), Rougemont,
Yamaska and Mount Johnson. This volcanic sisterhood has a member in
Mount Royal herself, for the latter is also an extinct volcano, and, in
misty ages past, belched out lava over the prehistoric plain. The crater
may still be seen on the principal crest, and the cone on the south
side, not far off, while the rocks of the summit are of black lava
crystals, as may be seen by examining them. The mountain was at that
time a high one, with its base extending beyond St. Helen's Isle. There
is a prophecy that some day the volcano will again open, and the city
and island sink beneath the St. Lawrence. From the Observatory the view
is enlarged by the half of the landscape looking across the back and
upper and lower ends of the island. The quiet of the trim farms forms a
striking contrast to the life of the city. The Rivire des Prairies, or
Back River--a part of the Ottawa--is seen behind the island, at the head
of which lies the bright surface of the Lake of Two Mountains. Far away,
hemming in the horizon on that side, runs the hoary Laurentian range,
the oldest hills known to geology. They are the boundaries of the
unknown wilds of the North.

[Illustration: LACHINE RAPIDS.]

The mountain is about 900 feet above the level of the sea, and about 740
above the river-level. The park consists of 462 acres. It was acquired,
in 1860, from various private proprietors, as a result of popular
outcry over one of their number stripping his share of it of the
timber, and thereby conspicuously disfiguring the side.

A tablet on the summit records the visit of Jacques Cartier to it in
1535.

The early records say that de Maisonneuve made a pilgrimage to the top,
bearing a large cross on his shoulders, in the January of 1643, in
fulfillment of a vow made in the winter on the occasion of a great
flooding of the river, which swept up to the foot of the town palisades,
and was, he believed, stayed by prayers. "The Jesuit Du Peron led the
way, followed in procession by Madame de la Peltrie, the artisans and
soldiers, to the destined spot. The commandant, who, with all the
ceremonies of the Church, had been declared First Soldier of the Cross,
walked behind the rest, bearing on his shoulders a cross so heavy that
it needed his utmost strength to climb the steep and rugged path. They
planted it on the highest crest, and all knelt in adoration before
it..... Sundry relics of saints had been set in the wood of the cross,
which remained an object of pilgrimage to the pious colonists of
Ville-Marie."[4]

A hundred years ago, all along the slopes below, towards the city, were
perched the country seats of the old North-Westers, McTavish,
McGillivray, Sir Alexander MacKenzie, the Frobishers, Clarke and others,
most pleasant rural villas, abundant in all the hospitalities of olden
time.

The mountain has been the occasional theme of numerous versifiers, but
it has its poet in Mr. Walter Norton Evans, to whom it was his delight
and comfort during a period of recovery from loss of sight. In his
volume, "Mount Royal," he says, with deep feeling:

    "O, Royal Mountain! Holy Mount to me,
    I come to thee, as in bright days of yore:
    That by thy pure and calming ministry,
    In reverence and deep humility,
    I may be brought nearer the heart of God,
    And hear His voice in Nature's voice around."

Further on he describes the usual winter revels in certain localities:

    "Here, as I lie beneath the maple shade,
    How glorious a view is spread for me.
    There are "The Pines," where many a wild halloo
    On moonlight nights in winter, has aroused
    The sleeping echoes; when the snowshoers,
    In blanket suit, with brightly-colored sash,
    And tuque of red or blue; their moccasins
    Of moose-skin, smoothly drawn on well-socked foot,
    And snowshoe firmly bound with deer-skin thong--
    Wound up the hill in long extended files,
    Singing and shouting with impetuous glee.

           *       *       *       *       *

    While yonder lie the hill and meadow-land,
    Now emerald green, but on bright winter nights,
    Upon whose snowy bosom happy crowds
    Fly on the swift toboggan down the hill,
    And o'er the broad expanse."

At the close he again reverently apostrophises:

    "Mounts of Transfiguration still there are,
    That lift us far above the influence
    Of time and sense, and bring us nearer heaven:
    And such thou art to me.--When in the valley
    We feel our limitations, grieve and fret;
    And then, in wild despair, look to the hills,
    For there are wisdom, strength and boundless love:
    Thou blessed mountain-teacher, Fare-thee-well!"

=St. Helen's Island=, named affectionately by Champlain after his young
wife, Hlne Boull, lies like a gem in the wide St. Lawrence. The
shades of its deep groves, standing opposite the city, seem to
constantly beckon the heated citizen in summer. A considerable portion
of it is reserved for military purposes, and a fort exists within the
enclosure. In the days of British garrisons this was a gay place. It is
now the resort, on hot days, of the crowded masses, to whom its shades
and breezes are an inestimable boon. For their use it is provided with
merry-go-rounds, refreshment-houses, games, an open swimming-bath at the
lower end, and pleasant paths. The island was remarked upon by
Champlain, on his 1611 visit, as a site for a strong town. He so greatly
fancied it, that he purchased it, a little later, with money out of his
wife's dowry. The registers of Notre Dame record that, on the 19th of
August, 1664, two young men, Pierre Magnan and Jacques Dufresne, were
slain here by Iroquois.

It seems to have been sometimes used by the French as a military
station, for in June, 1687, the Chevalier de Vaudreuil posted both the
regular troops and the militia there in readiness to march against the
Iroquois. Thither the Marquis de Lvis, commanding the last French army,
withdrew, and here burnt his flags in the presence of his army the night
previous to surrendering the colony to the English. Louis Honor
Frechette, the national French-Canadian poet, bases upon this his poem,
entitled "All Lost but Honour."

[Illustration: MONTREAL FROM MOUNT ROYAL PARK.]

In 1688 the island was acquired by Charles Le Moyne, Sieur de Longueuil,
who gave the name of Ste. Hlne to one of his most distinguished
sons. During the eighteenth century (from before 1723), his descendants,
the Barons of Longueuil, whose territory lay just opposite, had a
residence here, the ruins of which, once surrounded with gardens, are to
be seen upon it on the east side, near the present restaurant. The
Government acquired it from them by arrangement during the war of 1812,
and later by purchase in 1818, for military purposes. It ceded the park
portion to the city in 1874.

Almost adjoining it, at the lower extremity, is Isle Ronde, a small, low
island.

_III.--Cemeteries._

Out of regard for beauty of situation, the two great cemeteries,
Protestant and Roman Catholic, lie behind the mountain.

=Mount Royal Cemetery=, the former, is one of the most lovely of
Montreal's surroundings, occupying a secluded vale, landscape-gardened
in perfect taste. It is approached either from the Mountain Park by a
carriage road and by various paths over and around, or else by the
highway called Mount Royal Avenue, on the north side, which leads
through groves up to the principal Gate, a Gothic structure of stone. On
entering, the Chapel is seen to the left, the Superintendent's Lodge to
the right, in front lawns, flower beds and roads leading up the hill. To
the right are the winter vaults. Finely situated to the left, far up on
the hillside, is the range of family vaults, of which the Molson is the
most conspicuous and the Tiffin the most tasteful. The former contains
the remains of the Honourable John Molson. This cemetery is not old
enough to contain many celebrities. There is, however, the quiet grave
of the poet Heavysege, author of "Saul" and other dramas, and of a
number of weird and musical sonnets.

Adjoining Mount Royal Cemetery to the south, and situated on a separate
face of the mountain, is the =Roman Catholic Cemetery=, less well-kept,
but still containing things worth seeing. One of these sights is the
Stations of the Cross; another the monument to the "patriots" (according
to the side taken) of 1837, when a rebellion of a certain section of the
French-Canadians against bureaucratic government took place; a third is
the monument to Frs. Guibord, who was long refused burial in consecrated
ground on account of membership in a Liberal Institute. The approach is
by Cte des Neiges Road from Sherbrooke Street, over the mountain. On
this road, at the height of the hill, is to be seen a ruin known as
=Capitulation Cottage=, which is asserted, by tradition, to have been
the headquarters of General Amherst when he occupied the heights on
approaching to the siege of Montreal, then a small walled town miles
away.

=The Hebrew Cemetery= is near the gate of the Protestant one. The
Chaldaic letters and antique shapes of the tombstones attract the
passing attention.

=The Old Military Cemetery= (on Papineau Street) is a relic of several
generations ago, and contains the tombs of many well-known officers of
the garrison.


II.--PUBLIC BUILDINGS.

=The City Hall= is, externally, a large and exceedingly handsome example
of modern French architecture, built of grey cut-stone, surmounted by a
bold Mansard clock tower and heavy square corner turrets. The interior
has a tolerably elegant appearance, produced by ranges of substantial
Corinthian columns and galleries of natural wood. The Council Chamber is
small and ineffective, however, and none of the offices remarkable. The
debates are conducted in a mixture of French and English speeches, and
the officials are nearly all French. The ground floor is given up to the
police headquarters and the Recorder's Court. The tower affords one of
the best views of the harbour and surroundings obtainable. In ascending
it, one passes the Fire Alarm Signal Department, where the electric
appliances are quite interesting.

Opposite is a long, low, cottage-built building of somewhat shabby mien,
situated behind an old-fashioned stone fence. It is the =Chteau de
Ramezay=, temporarily used for some of the lesser courts, but better
known as a repertory of much provincial history. Two tablets upon it set
forth a portion of its history. The one relates to its erection, about
1705, by Claude de Ramezay, Governor of Montreal, father of the de
Ramezay who is somewhat maligned for surrendering Quebec,
notwithstanding the impossibility of continuing its defence. The
building later fell into the hands of the Compagnie des Indes
Occidentales, and after the British conquest, was used for a
considerable period as a residence for the English Governors when here.
The other tablet relates to 1775, when the Americans held Montreal for
a winter, and sent as commissioners to win over the Canadians, Benjamin
Franklin, Samuel Chase and Charles Carroll. The former inscription is as
follows: "Chteau de Ramezay. Built about 1705 by Claude de Ramezay,
Governor of Montreal 1703. Headquarters of La Compagnie des Indes, 1745.
Official residence of the British Governors after the Conquest.
Headquarters of the American Army, 1775; of the Special Council, 1837."
The latter tablet reads: "In 1775 this Chteau was the headquarters of
the American Brigadier-General Wooster, and here in 1776, under General
Benedict Arnold, the Commissioners of Congress, Benjamin Franklin,
Samuel Chase, and Charles Carroll of Carrolton, held council." The
vaults beneath are strong and substantial. The council-room is in the
front, near the east-end entrance. It is oval at one end. There Franklin
and his friends, and Benedict Arnold, retreating from Quebec, held their
consultations, and Franklin's weapon, the printing-press, which was set
up in the Chteau, must have been one of the chief subjects of
discussion. The first printer of Montreal, Fleury Mesplet, was brought
by him from Philadelphia, and was, in 1778, to found the earliest
newspaper, the _Gazette_, a small sheet printed partly in French, partly
English. His _Gazette_ still flourishes as a morning paper--the third
oldest journal in America.

From the same council-room Lord Elgin, having, after the rebellion of
1837, signed the unpopular Rebellion Losses Bill, went out to his
carriage to be received by an angry populace with showers of rotten eggs
and stones.

=The Court House=, or Palais de Justice, opposite the west side of the
City Hall, is large, but uninteresting architecturally. In it are held
the principal courts for the District of Montreal, and Americans usually
experience some curiosity on seeing the robes and cocked hats of the
Judges, the antique court costume and side sword of the Sheriff, the
gowned bar and the Royal Arms, and in hearing the French cases. Events
connected with the historical tablets on the edifice are mentioned in
describing Jacques Cartier Square.

In the vaults underneath old and valuable historical records are kept,
with the general mass of judicial documents. The Chief Justice of the
Queen's Bench for the Province of Quebec is Sir Alex. Lacoste; the Chief
Justice of the Superior Court is Sir Francis Johnson; the Sheriff is J.
R. Thibaudeau. As in the City Hall, nearly all the clerks are French.

The system of law in the Province of Quebec, it may be remarked, is,
with little doubt, the best in the world. It is substantially the
highly-developed and scientific jurisprudence of the Roman Empire,
improved by grafting the best parts of modern French and English law.

=The Post Office= on St. James Street, near the Place d'Armes, is a
handsome building in French Renaissance style, but now much too small
for the growing volume of business. A couple of bas-reliefs, after
designs from Flaxman, are inserted in the portico as mementoes of the
old Bank of Montreal, which stood on the same site. The office is open
from 7.30 a.m. to 7 p.m. for general delivery. There is a Savings' Bank
attached, and nine branch offices are dispersed about town. In cases of
doubt or difficulty, the Enquiry Department makes every reasonable
effort to set matters right. The city letter rate is 2 cents; for beyond
the city limits the general rate is 3 cents.

=The Board of Trade= is a large and fine building, occupying the whole
space between St. Peter and St. Nicholas on St. Sacrament Street. It is
constructed of stone, with iron stairways throughout, is six stories in
height, and has about 3,000 square feet of safety deposit vaults
underneath. It contains the Board's exchange hall (about 4,000 feet in
area), reading-room, council-room, stock exchange room, etc., the rest
of the building being given up to offices.

=The Corn Exchange= stands opposite.

=The Custom House= has been referred to under Custom House Square. It
might be added that the duties collected are about $10,000,000 a year,
in round numbers.

=The Fraser Institute=, at the corner of Dorchester and University
Streets, established by the will of the late Hugh Fraser, is the only
free public library. It is an illustration of the difficulties of a
radically-divided community in establishing general educational
institutions. It possesses many valuable French works, the former
property of the French Public Library Association, L'Institut Canadien,
which it absorbed.

=The Mechanics' Institute=, on the corner of St. James and St. Peter
Streets, also carries on a library and reading-room, not, however, free.

=The Natural History Museum= is a centre of a large amount of valuable
scientific work, and of several allied associations, such as the
Microscopic Club. The _Canadian Record of Science_ is published by the
Society, and it has close relations with McGill University. A rare
scientific library and many valuable Specimens are stored in the
building.

=The Art Gallery= is a small one, but its building is elegant
externally, and the collection within is well chosen, without containing
anything great or costly. It belongs to the Art Association, which was
founded in 1860, but was able to do little until the bequest, some years
later, by Benaiah Gibb, an art lover, of the site, with a small
collection of paintings, several thousands of dollars and a lot of land.
The Gallery was then erected. It has lately received a bequest of the
estimated value of about $4,000 a year from the late J. W. Tempest, to
be devoted to buying foreign pictures other than American or modern
British. In the entrance hall a mural brass to the memory of Benaiah
Gibb is placed. A reading-room is at the rear, study-room on the left,
and the picture gallery overhead. The occasional loan exhibitions are
the great feature, for at such times collections in Europe and the
United States, and the private galleries of local men of taste, which,
in Montreal, are exceeding rich, bring out treasures of the greatest
interest and value. Such works as Millet's "Angelus," Breton's "Les
Communiantes," Constant's "Herodiade," Watt's "Love and Death," and
Turner's "Mercury and Argus" have been exhibited.

=The Drill Hall= is situated on Craig Street, opposite the Champ de
Mars. It is a handsome limestone building, fitted with quarters for the
various volunteer regiments. The main hall is the largest in the place,
holding about 15,000 people.

=The Waterworks= are situated in the southern corner of the city. The
large water-wheels and other machinery are of interest to engineers and
those who like such things. The aim is to pump good water from the river
above the city up to the two reservoirs on the mountain side, from which
distribution takes place.

=The Bonsecours Market=, situated on the waterfront near Jacques Cartier
Square, is one of the town sights on a market-day, for its scenes of
French-Canadian provincial life. Thither on Tuesday and Friday the
country _habitants_ flock, with their little carts and their homespun
clothing. Amid the jabber of Norman _patois_, and a preposterous
haggling, worthy of Italy, over the "trente sous," the "neuf francs," or
the "un ecu," one catches glimpses, through the jostling crowds, of
piles of wooden shoes, brilliant strips of native rag-carpet, French
home-made chairs or olive-wood rosaries and metal charms exposed for
sale; and at Easter-tide the display of enormous beeves, decorated with
paper roses, green, yellow and red, delight the hearts of the children,
the peasants, and those who can still be both. The lover of human nature
will observe a thousand studies of character in an early morning's push
through these crowds. The building is a massive one of somewhat imposing
aspect. It is surmounted by a large dome. The upper part was formerly
the City Hall. It stands partly on the site of a house of Sir John
Johnson, commander of the Indians during the American Revolution, and
son of Sir William Johnson, "the Indian baronet;" and the site is also
that of the Palace of the French Intendants. Many houses of the French
period exist in this neighbourhood.

Next to it, at the north-east end, is the old church of =Notre Dame de
Bonsecours=, which gave the market its name.

=St. Ann's Market=, on Foundling Street, is on the site of the
Parliament Buildings, which stood here when Montreal was for a few years
the capital of Canada. They were burnt in 1847, amid great uproar, by
the same angry mob who rotten-egged Lord Elgin for his assent to the
Rebellion Losses Bill. The oil portrait of the Queen was loyally cut out
and saved during the fire by a young man named Snaith, and is now in the
Parliament Buildings at Ottawa.

The name of Foundling Street adjoining was given on account of the
finding there, in 1755, of an infant stabbed and floating in the ice of
the little river which ran here. This it was which excited the
compassion of Madame d'Youville, foundress of the Grey Nunnery, and led
her to add to the work of that institution the care of abandoned
infants, which has now become its principal work.

The other principal markets of the city are: St. Lawrence, St. Antoine
and St. Jean Baptiste.




[Illustration]

CHAPTER IV.

CHURCHES.


Ville-Marie having been founded as a community of missionaries and
crusaders against the heathen, and the lords of the island having been a
seminary of priests, one cannot be surprised to find the great majority
of her streets and neighborhoods named after saints, from St. Gabriel
and Ste. Cunegonde to St. Louis du Mile End, and to learn that religious
devotion is strong to-day. It was the hope of the first settlers to
create here a sort of ideal Catholic community--in an early writer's
phrase, an "abode of angels." The ecclesiastical censorship, like the
Connecticut Blue Law rgime, had some good points, such as an earnest
opposition to the evils of the brandy trade with Indians; but its
weaknesses are amusingly pointed out by Baron La Hontan in his letters,
about 1690, when, on entering his chamber in his lodgings at Montreal,
he found that the Fathers had gone in without permission and torn up the
classical romance with which he had been amusing his leisure. New
France was early established as an exclusively Catholic colony. Hence,
in very great part arose its weakness and downfall. Had a liberal policy
been carried out to Huguenot emigration, the leading French-Canadian
historian has shown it probable that about 600,000 progressive citizens
would have been added to its strength, instead of to the prosperity of
England, Holland and Germany. As things actually went, New France was to
the last feeble, struggling and backward, never able to conquer its
Indian enemy, and reaching only the figure of about 70,000 inhabitants
at the end of its existence in 1760.

An ecclesiastical aspect consequently survives. In the east-end of the
city, along the Sherbrooke Street ridge, the whole town is dominated by
a long range of convents and institutions. The priest, the friar, and
even the cowled and bare-footed monk pass along the streets seen in
their full costumes. Processions of nuns, too, in black, or grey, or
buff, and of seminary students in cap, uniform and blue or green sash.
Miracle pilgrimages leave the wharves for the shrines of St. Anne at
Varennes or Beaupr. And at Christmas, Holy Week, Palm Sunday and All
Saints' the churches are sights for large crowds of devotees and
visitors.

Though a Huguenot company once owned the territory, and though a number
of persons of Huguenot origin had taken part in its founding as officers
and soldiers who were settled upon its lands, and though a number of
child-captives taken during raids into New England were, from time to
time, added to the population, Protestantism only became established
with the British conquest. For two generations more there was a
constant movement, on the part of the British bureaucracy, to found some
form of State Church, while the Anglican and Scotch Presbyterian
Churches were privileged by law, and Crown Lands, called "Clergy
Reserves," were set apart for their maintenance. The spirit of progress
finally brought about the abolition of the system.

The marked contrast of the two religions, Protestant and Catholic, has
had the effect of intensifying, while also liberalizing, the religious
life of both, and also of making Montreal emphatically and strikingly a
city of churches. The numerous spires and church edifices to be seen in
every direction are remarked by every visitor.


I.--PROTESTANT CHURCHES.

_Anglican._

=Christ Church Cathedral=, the most perfect church in Canada
architecturally, and, it is claimed with considerable reason, even in
the whole of North America, is an exquisite example of the style known
as Fourteenth-Century or Decorated Gothic. It was erected in 1859, under
the guidance of the late Bishop Fulford, whose enthusiasm in matters of
taste made him also the founder of the Art Association. A marble bust of
him in the left transept perpetuates his connection with the church, and
a beautiful spired monument, modelled after the celebrated Martyrs'
Memorial at Oxford, keeps his memory green in the churchyard. From every
point this edifice is a delight, so charming is each part and so
perfectly harmonious the whole. It is built of rough grey limestone,
embellished with facings of yellow Caen sandstone imported for the
purpose, and carved in medival gurgoyles, corbels, pinnacles and other
ornamental forms. It may be viewed from all sides with equal pleasure
and artistic profit. The principal feature is the elegant stone spire,
211 feet high, with clock. The front, with carved porch, is also, though
low, exceedingly attractive, and the octagonal Chapterhouse is in good
taste. Internally, the massive carved pillars, well-pitched nave, deep
choir, and a number of excellent stained-glass memorial windows, are
worthy of notice. Likewise the exquisite stone front. Much of the wood
and stone-carving about the building is said to be modelled from plants
indigenous to Mount Royal. The music, both organ and choir, is generally
good. The service is Low Church, and it may be remarked that the
edifice, as a silent protest on that point, is placed with its chancel
facing west instead of eastward.

=The Rectory= and Bishop's "Palace," known as "=Bishop's Court=," are at
the back of the grounds, and the Synod Hall adjoins on land next the
Rectory. The latter is a neat Gothic structure of red pressed brick.

The original Christ Church, the immediate predecessor of this one, stood
in Notre Dame Street, near St. Lambert Hill, where a tablet thus marks
the site: "Site of Christ Church Cathedral, the first Anglican Church,
1814, burnt 1856." It, too, was a building of decided architectural
taste.

The other Anglican Churches are: =St. George's=, which has been
described under Dominion Square; =St. John the Evangelist= (Extreme
Ritualist), on Ontario Street, corner of St. Urbain Street; =St. James
the Apostle= (High Church, with good choral litany Sundays at 4 p.m.),
on St. Catherine, corner of Bishop Street; =St. Martin's= (Low), corner
St. Urbain and Prince Arthur Streets; St. Stephen's, Trinity, St.
Luke's, St. Jude's, St. Mary's, St. Thomas, etc., and L'glise du
Redempteur (French).

_Presbyterian._

[Illustration: ST. GABRIEL STREET CHURCH.]

=Old St. Gabriel Church=, the quaint little building on St. Gabriel
Street, adjoining the Champ de Mars and the Court House, has the honour
of being the first Protestant Church erected in Montreal. A stone,
recently removed, bore the date of erection, 1792. In its first years
the Anglicans also worshipped here, the Protestant community of the
small town being few and feeble. The congregations were largely
military, from the garrison close by. Previous to its erection, the
Presbyterians for several years worshipped in the Church of the Rcollet
Fathers, whom they, in grateful recognition on leaving, presented with a
present of candles and a tun of communion wine. The congregation has its
home, since 1886, on St. Catherine Street, near Phillips Square. But it
should be said that the congregation of =Knox Church= is more nearly
representative of the old St. Gabriel.

=St. Andrew's Church= (on Beaver Hall Hill) is, externally, a fine
specimen of Early English or Scottish Gothic, with a well-proportioned
spire, 180 feet high. It is a curiosity as being the only Canadian
Presbyterian Church which has never left the Kirk of Scotland, and is
sometimes styled "the Scotch Cathedral." The original St. Andrew's was
built of stone, in 1814, on St. Helen Street.

=St. Paul's= (Dorchester Street West) possesses a beautiful pair of
pinnacled towers, resembling those of Magdalen College at Oxford.

=Crescent=, further westward along Dorchester Street, is large and in
early French Gothic, with fine spire.

The =American Presbyterian=, near the Windsor, on the same street, is a
modern building, having the best organ among the Protestants of the
city, and a large congregation.

The Presbyterians have three French Churches: St. John's or Russell
Hall, on St. Catherine Street, east of St. Lawrence Street; L'glise du
Sauveur and L'glise de la Croix.

_Methodist._

=St. James Church=, on St. Catherine Street, a little east of Phillips
Square, is one of the finest sacred edifices in Montreal in external
appearance, and the largest Protestant temple except Christ Church
Cathedral.

=The Dominion Square Methodist Church= has been referred to already.

Other large Methodist congregations are the Point St. Charles, the
Second Methodist, the East End, the West End and the Douglas. There are
two French ones, the First French and the glise Evanglique Mthodiste.

_Baptists._

The principal congregations are: The First Baptist (St. Catherine
Street), Olivet (Mountain Street) and L'Oratoire (French), on St.
George's Street. The position of the earliest place of worship of the
denomination, on St. Helen Street, is marked by a inscription as
follows: "Here stood the First Baptist Chapel of Montreal, 1831. The
Rev. Jno. Gilmour, Pastor. Abandoned 1860."

_Congregationalist._

The principal churches are: Emmanuel (St. Catherine Street, corner of
Stanley Street), Calvary (Guy Street) and Zion (Mance Street).

Some of the other churches are: The New Jerusalem Church, 25 Hanover
Street; St. John's, German Lutheran, 129 St. Dominique; the "Catholic
Apostolic" or Irvingite, 35 Cathcart; St. Bartholomew's, Reformed
Episcopal, 18 Beaver Hall Hill; the Plymouth Brethren, 32 University;
Advent Christians, 2272 St. Catherine; and Salvation Army Barracks,
Alexander Street. The Unitarians have a Lombard edifice, with fine
spire, styled the Church of the Messiah, on Beaver Hall Hill. The pulpit
chair is made of wood taken from the tower of old Notre Dame Church.


II.--ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCHES.

The Parish Church or =Ntre Dame de Montral= and =St. Peter's
Cathedral= have been described under Place d'Armes and Dominion Square
respectively.

=Ntre Dame de Bonsecours=, opposite the east end of Bonsecours Market,
is, historically, the most attractive of the local churches, except
Notre Dame. In 1657, a wooden chapel, 30 by 40 feet, was erected here on
a stone foundation, part of which remains to the present day. The land
was given by Chomdy de Maisonneuve, founder of Ville-Marie. He also cut
down the first trees and pulled them out of the wood. The church was
built by order of the Sister Marie Bourgeoys, the earliest
schoolmistress of the colony. The spot was then 400 yards outside the
limits of the town. In 1675, the chapel being too small, another was
built on the same site and of the same dimensions as the present one.
The name Bonsecours was given on account of the escapes of the colony
from the Iroquois. In 1754, a fire destroyed the second chapel, and in
1771 the present church was constructed upon its foundations. The stone
foundations, therefore, of the present building go back to 1675. Till a
few years ago it was a fine specimen of an old French provincial church,
especially the elegant open tin-covered spire and gracefully-curved
roof. The restoration-fiend, however, has played sad havoc with its
outlines, putting on a new front, roof and spire, and improving away
most of its beauty and uniqueness. There are still left a few
suggestions of what it was--the inward-sloping walls, the statue of the
Virgin on the rear peak of the roof, looking towards the water, a couple
of the old paintings and altars, etc. The image of the Virgin is very
old, and is supposed to have miraculous powers for the aid of sailors,
many of whom yet pray to it. It was acquired by Sister Marie Bourgeoys
from the Baron de Fancamp, a noble of Brittany, where it had been
reputed for miracles. She, in consequence, brought it over, had the
chapel built for it, and set it up where it stands, and where it has
remained the patron of the French sailors for nearly two centuries and a
half.

Another old little church, and one which bears its aspect of age
quaintly, is reached by the gateway leading from Notre Dame Street to
the Convent of the Congregation at St. Lambert Hill. It is a small,
plain building of dark rough limestone, with round-arched doorway. The
tablet upon it reads: "Ntre Dame de Victoire, built in memory of the
destruction of the fleet of Sir Hovenden Walker on the Isle aux Oeufs,
1711." This fleet sailed up the Gulf to attack Quebec at the one end of
the colony, while the land forces of the British colonies were to
advance from Albany against Montreal, under General Nicholson and
Colonel Pieter Schuyler. A great storm in the Gulf shipwrecked the
fleet, and frustrated the entire invasion. The French ascribed the
catastrophe to the Virgin, and vowed her this chapel, which was erected
seven years later, in 1718. The interior, now used as an engine-room,
retains its original wood-panelling. The roof has been raised a story.

=The Gsu=, or =Jesuits' Church=, situated on Bleury Street, below St.
Catherine, is one very much frequented by visitors on account of its
frescoes and magnificent music. The former were the work of artists from
Rome. The latter is chiefly heard on Sunday evenings, at which time,
after the preaching, numbers crowd into the church to listen. The
edifice is in that Italian modification known as Florentine Renaissance,
or "the Jesuits' style." The design is that of the Church of the Gsu in
Rome. The present towers are intended to be continued into spires.
Internally, the delicate monochrome frescoes which adorn the walls and
ceiling, reproduce the masterpieces of the modern German school: the
Crucifixion, the Trinity, the Queen of Angels, the Holy Name of Jesus at
the intersection of the transepts and nave, the Lamb of God, Jesus in
the midst of the Doctors, Jesus with Mary and Joseph at Nazareth, Jesus
blessing little children, the raising of Lazarus, Jesus as the Good
Shepherd, Jesus appearing to St. Thomas after the Resurrection, scenes
drawn from the history of the Jesuits. The fine oil paintings, by the
Gagliardi brothers of Rome, are also worthy of inspection. In the
basement there is a stage, and performances by the pupils of St. Mary's
College adjoining are given, with lectures and other entertainments,
from time to time, before the Cercle Catholique and similar
organizations.

=St. Mary's College= is a large boys' school, presided over by the
Jesuits. It possesses, among other things, a very rare collection of
early historical documents and relics, collected largely by the learned
Father Jones. In Canada the Order had a leading chapter of its history.
From 1611, when Fathers Biard and Mass accompanied to Acadia some of
the first settlers of New France, the members for a long time signalized
themselves by extraordinary devotion and self-sacrifice, and were among
the foremost in exploration of this continent. Eager for martyrdom, they
pressed forward among the most savage tribes, overjoyed at being able to
baptise the multitude of dying infants, and thus, as they believed, save
the little ones' souls for heaven.

The passing by the Legislative Assembly of Quebec, with a handsome
majority, among which were some Protestant votes, of the bill
incorporating the Society of Jesus, makes a short sketch of their
history in this province instructive and interesting.

From 1611, when the Rev. Fathers Biard and Mass accompanied to Acadia
the first settlers of New France down to their expulsion in 1800, the
members of the Society of Jesus have been active here. From the Atlantic
shores of Acadia to the prairies of the far West, and from the frozen
shores of Hudson Bay to the sunny plains of Louisiana, the Fathers
laboured, and Canadian history is full of their doings. The blood of
Fathers Breboef and Lalemant, burnt by the Iroquois in 1649; of Daniel,
shot by arrows and musket balls in 1648; of Jogues, struck down by a
hatchet in 1646; of Garnier, butchered in 1649; of Chabanel, drowned by
an apostate Huron in 1649; of Garreau, Pierron and a host of others
attest the hardships and dangers of their work.

In 1772 the Pope suppressed the order, and when the decree was received
in Quebec, the then Governor, Lord Dorchester, acting upon instructions
from the minister, prevented the Bishop from publishing it, and it was
privately communicated to the Jesuits by the Bishop. The Order became
extinct in 1800 by the death of the last Jesuit, Father Cazot, who was
allowed by the British Government to peacefully enjoy his estates till
his death.

The suppression of the order was lifted in 1814, and in 1839, after an
absence of nearly forty years, they returned to Canada.

Though it was a Jesuit, Father Vimont, who celebrated the first mass in
Ville-Marie, their influence was much more felt at Quebec than Montreal.
There they became zealously autocratic, driving away the Order of
Rcollets (who, having been the first on the ground, had called in their
aid), and carried on, through Montmorency de Laval, the first Bishop in
Canada, a long and heated feud with the Sulpicians of Montreal.

Here, their early church and residence was on Jacques Cartier Square,
adjoining what is now the Champ de Mars, and forming together three
sides of a quadrangle, opening towards Notre Dame Street. The reader
may turn for fuller information to Parkman's "Jesuits in New France."

On St. Helen Street, just adjoining the corner of Notre Dame Street,
there stood, till a few years ago, a church and monastery, which gave
its name to a gate and whole quarter of the French town--the quarter and
gate of the Rcollets. A tablet erected there bears the words: "Here
stood, until 1866, the =Church and Monastery of the Rcollet Fathers=,
1692, in which the Anglicans from 1764 to 1789, and the Presbyterians
from 1791 to 1792, worshipped." It was also the first Parish Church for
the Irish Catholics of Montreal, from 1830 to 1847.

=Ntre Dame de Lourdes= is another visitors' church. It stands near the
corner of St. Denis and St. Catherine Streets, and its faade is of
marble. Concerning this church, I cannot do better than condense the
description given by a very competent critic, Mr. A. E. Dawson,
heretofore Chairman of the Board of Arts: "This church has been built
and adorned with one idea--that of expressing in visible form the dogma
of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The architecture of the
church is Byzantine and Renaissance, such as may be seen at Venice. It
consists of a nave with narrow aisles, a transept and a choir. The choir
and the transept are terminated by a circular and domed apses, and a
large central dome rises at the intersection of the transept. The large
dome is 90 feet high, the total length of the church 102 feet..... The
first picture on the roof of the nave represents the promise of the
Redemption made to Adam and Eve. They are prostrated before the Lord,
who addresses the Serpent--'She shall bruise thy head.' The next panel
is the sacrifice of Abraham. The third represents the arrival of Rebecca
before Isaac. The fourth, which is over the choir, is Jacob blessing his
children. On the right of the nave are the prophets who have prophesied
of the Virgin--Isaiah, Jeremiah, David, Micah. On the left are types of
the Virgin--Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Ruth. The artist then proceeds to
show the Roman view of the realization of these promises--the Salutation
of Elizabeth and the Nativity--in the transepts, with the Greek and
Latin Fathers respectively who have magnified Mary. The choir contains
the exposition of the Dogma proper. The statue over the altar, and which
strikes the eye immediately on entering the church, is symbolic of the
doctrine. It represents the Virgin in the attitude usually attributed to
this subject by the Spanish painters--the hands crossed on the breast.
She is standing on the clouds, and the text illustrated is Rev. xii. I:
'A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet.' The light
thrown down from an unseen lamp is to represent the clothing with the
sun."

"The artist, M. Bourassa, must have the credit," says Mr. Dawson, "of
working out his exposition with force and unity. Some of the painting is
exceedingly good. The decoration of the church in gold and colours,
arabesque and fifteenth-century ornament, is very beautiful and
harmonious..... We have dwelt at length upon this building, because it
is the only one of its kind in America."

Mr. Dawson is himself, we believe, the originator of the project of a
French-Canadian school of church decorators, whose field should be the
Roman Catholic Churches of the North American continent, and of which
the Board of Arts and Manufactures has, under his guidance, established
a respectable beginning at Montreal.

Beneath the church is a chapel representing the alleged apparition of
the Virgin to the young girl Bernadette Soubirons in a grotto near
Lourdes, France, in 1858, at which time a miracle-working fountain is
said to have commenced to gush out of the rock, and still continues
making miraculous cures.

=L'glise St. Jacques= near by, stands on the site of the former Roman
Cathedral, and is a highly fashionable French place of worship. Its
spire is the highest in the city, slightly exceeding the towers of Notre
Dame. The new transept is a handsome piece of Gothic.

=St. Patrick's=, "the Irish Cathedral," on St. Alexander Street, is a
grand specimen of early French Gothic, both in and out. The quaint stone
faade, with rose window, and the massive but still open spire, are
truly notable for their combination of grace and power.

Other notable Roman Catholic Churches are: The Church of the Sacred
Heart, the Chapel of the Congregation Nuns, St. Henri Parish Church,
Ste. Cunegonde Parish Church.


III.--JEWISH SYNAGOGUES.

At this point we ought not to overlook the earliest synagogue. Jews
appear in Montreal very soon after the Conquest (at least, as early as
1765, and probably with the British entry). Their first synagogue
building was on Notre Dame Street, west of the Court House Square, where
the tablet reads: "Here stood the first Synagogue of Canada, erected in
1777, A.M. 5557, by the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Congregation
'Shearith Israel;' founded 1768."

There are now five synagogues in the place. That of the Spanish rite on
Stanley Street is remarkable as a specimen, especially within, of
gypto-Judean architecture. Four magnificent stone Egyptian columns
support the portico.

[Illustration]




[Illustration]

CHAPTER V.

CHARITABLE AND RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS.


Here, again, the sharp division of Roman Catholic and Protestant comes
in, though the charity of some of the institutions is broader than their
denominational limits. There is nothing of which Montreal can be prouder
than the large-heartedness of many of her wealthy citizens. There are
only two kinds of men worth considering--the generous and the mean.
Montreal has had, like other places, some conspicuously mean
millionaires; but no town has had a greater proportion of generous ones,
and these she delights to keep remembered.


I.--PROTESTANT.

=The Victoria Hospital=, though new, stands at the head of all. The gift
of two citizens, Sir Donald Smith and Lord Mount-Stephen, it dominates
the city from the top of University Street, on a shoulder of Mount
Royal, at the eastern edge of the park. It is a huge and most
picturesque building of uncut limestone, resembling some castellated
Scotch palace. The style, in fact, is Scottish Baronial. The cost was
over $1,000,000, apart from the land, which was contributed by the city.
The Hospital occupies one of the most commanding situations possible. On
approach, it is found to consist of a magnificent main building situated
across a court-yard, the sides of which are formed by long, tall, narrow
wings boldly standing forward, their appearance of height enhanced by a
pair of tall turrets at the front corners of each, and also by the slope
of the hillside. The interior is constructed and managed on the most
modern hospital plans and principles.

=The General Hospital=, on Dorchester Street, at the corner of St.
Dominique, is the most widely-venerated establishment. Its tradition,
though supported almost entirely by Protestant contributions, is that of
an open door, and kind relief to all sufferers, without regard to race
or creed. It was established in 1821. The daily average of in-door
patients is about 170; of out-door, about 700.

=The Protestant House of Industry and Refuge= is the head centre for
distribution of relief to the Protestant poor, and is carried on by a
committee of citizens. It has a country home for the aged and infirm at
Longue Pointe. It is situated on Dorchester Street, east of Bleury.

=The Western Hospital=, 1269 Dorchester Street West, is the leading
establishment for diseases of women.

=The Mackay Institute for Protestant Deaf Mutes= (also for the blind),
on Cte St. Luc Road, Cte St. Antoine; incorporated 1869. One of the
most beneficent and interesting of institutions. Six teachers, forty
deaf and five blind children inmates.

=The Hervey Institute=, Mountain Street, below Dorchester, is a
children's home. So are the =Protestant Infants' Home=, 508 Guy Street,
and the =Protestant Orphan Asylum= (established 1822), 2409 St.
Catherine Street.

=The Boys' Home=, 117 Mountain Street, below St. Antoine, does an
excellent work of rescue and training.

The other Protestant Institutions are: The W.C.T.U., St. Catherine
Street, foot of Victoria Street; Y.W.C.A., 75 Drummond Street; St.
Andrew's Home (Scotch), 403 Aqueduct Street; St. George's Home
(English), 139 St. Antoine Street; the Montreal Maternity Hospital, 93
St. Urbain Street; the Women's Protective Immigration Society, Osborne
Street, near Mountain; the Ladies' Benevolent Society, 31 Berthelet
Street; the Canadian Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 198
St. James Street; the Society for Protection of Women and Children,
Temple Building; the Irish Protestant Benevolent Society, 691 Dorchester
Street; the Protestant Hospital for the Insane, Verdun; St. Margaret's
Home, 660 Sherbrooke Street; Montreal Sailors' Institute, 320
Commissioners Street; the Baron de Hirsch Institute (Jewish); the Hebrew
Benevolent.

=The Y.M.C.A.= has been described under Dominion Square.


II.--ROMAN CATHOLIC.

=The Hotel Dieu= (Hotel Dieu St. Joseph de Ville-Marie), the oldest and
vastest of the Roman Catholic Hospitals, is, of course, a great nunnery
as well. Its long front, large stone garden-walls and tin-covered roofs
and dome, infallibly catch the eye near the head of Park Avenue, and
bordering on the east corner of Mount Royal Park. The nunnery is on one
side of the central chapel, the hospital on the other. It was founded,
about 250 years ago, in 1644, by the Duchesse de Bullion, "the unknown
benefactress," one of the aristocratic circle of the Association of
Montreal, who gave to found it a sum of 42,000 livres, which, though she
was entirely ignorant of the real needs of the place, she insisted
should not be used for any other purpose. Mlle. Mance and the other
practical people on the spot could see no earthly use in diverting such
a sum from the Huron mission and other needs of the colony to a building
without prospect of occupation. The idea had been that of Monsieur de la
Dauversire, the collector of taxes who, with M. Olier of the Seminary,
had planned out this extraordinary colony on a visionary foundation. In
a year or so, however, the Iroquois began to attack the place, and then
the hospital turned out of use. It has ever since continued to bless
immense multitudes of sick. The original building was erected on St.
Paul Street, not far from Custom House Square. It was "60 feet long by
24 feet wide, with a kitchen, a chamber for Mlle. Mance, others for
servants, and 2 large apartments for the patients. It was amply provided
with furniture, linen, medicines and all necessaries; and possessed 2
oxen, 3 cows, and 20 sheep. A small oratory of stone was built
adjoining. The enclosure was 4 arpents (acres) in length." It was
fortified by palisades. The Antiquarian Society's tablet on the front
wall of the present institution relates the story of its establishment
in its present place: "Hotel Dieu de Ville-Marie, founded in 1644 by
Jeanne Mance. Transferred in 1861 to this land, given by Benoit and
Gabriel Basset. Removal of the remains of Jeanne Mance and 178 nuns,
1861." The _religieuses_ of the Hotel Dieu are known as "the Black
Nuns." Such of them as have taken the vows of "the cloistered" never
leave the premises.

Mlle. Mance, the foundress, was an enthusiast of the extremest type. Her
childhood itself is said to have been taken up with extraordinary vows,
and miraculous visions and portents were with her to the end of her
life. Her arm was cured of palsy at the grave of Olier; visions pointed
out to her her mission at Ville-Marie. Hither she came, with three
female servants, the only women in the company. She died in 1673, and
was buried in the Hotel Dieu; but her heart was to have been placed as a
relic in the sanctuary lamp of Notre Dame. A flood, however, 22 years
later, which destroyed the old Hotel Dieu, carried it off.

=The Grey Nuns' Hospital= takes its current name from the grey costume
of its community. More even than the Hotel Dieu, this institution
strikes one by its monastic vastness and severity of outline, extending
over great part of a large four-square street-block. It was founded, in
1747, by Madame d'Youville (Marie Marguerite du Frost de la Jemmerais),
the widow of an officer. Many curious objects, made by, or belonging to,
her, and illustrating the state of her times, belong to the
institution, such as delicate embroidery and her enamelled clasp-knife.

The nuns are said to have received their name at first in hatred, for
malice was rife against them and the foundress, on the part of the
Governor of the town and the leading inhabitants, from their foundation,
and they were accused, among the common people, of the use of alcohol
and other atrocious qualities. This arose from the old Hospital General,
founded in 1694, and until then conducted inefficiently by monks, having
been placed under her direction by the Bishop. The people took the part
of the monks. Her kind treatment of the English prisoners shows her to
have been an estimable woman, and won afterwards the esteem of the
conquerors.

The nuns are always glad to receive visitors, of whom a great many
attend. Every New Year's there is a formal reception, when the sisters
stand in two rows and receive all-comers, after an old custom. Great
numbers of infants are left by unknown parties at the institution, the
immense majority of which, unfortunately, die in a short time. It is
also an asylum for the sick, maimed, infirm, aged, insane and desolate
of all sects. In 1870 they built the present vast stone building. It
contains more than 320 rooms. There are over 100 sisters and about 100
novices. Support is principally derived from the rents of houses and
lands belonging to the Order and the united industries of the
Sisterhood.

The daughter of the celebrated Ethan Allen, the founder of Vermont
State, and leader of "The Green Mountain Boys," died a member of this
order. A tradition is related that during her girlhood, long before her
conversion to Catholicism, she was pursued by a terrible monster, who
attacked her as she was walking by a river. She was saved by an old man,
whose features and appearance were thenceforth vividly stamped upon her
memory. She was afterwards sent to a convent in Montreal for her
education, and became a Romanist. Returning, she visited this convent
among some others. She was struck by a picture of St. Joseph, and stood
in front of it gazing. "There," exclaimed she, pointing to it, "is he,
my preserver!" and went on to explain; and thereupon she decided to take
the vows of the Grey Nuns! So runs the tale. The picture remains there
still.

In the corner of the grounds at Dorchester Street a tall cross of
red-stained wood is to be seen, to which a history attaches, called =The
Story of the Red Cross=. The popular narrative is that it marks the
grave of a notorious highwayman, who robbed and murdered _habitants_
returning from Montreal to St. Laurent and the back country by way of
Dorchester Street, which was, in French times, the only highway west of
St. Lawrence Street through the forest. This story is somewhat
incorrect.[5] Belisle, the man in question, was not a highway robber;
his crime was housebreaking and a double murder. He lived on Le Grand
Chemin du Roi, now called Dorchester Street, near this spot. On the
other side of the road, and a little higher up, Jean Favre and his wife
Marie Anne lived, who were reputed to have money in their house and to
be well off. Belisle formed the envious project of robbing his neighbour,
and accordingly, one dark night, broke into the house and fired his pistol
at Favre, which, however, only wounding, he stabbed him to death with a
large hunting knife. Favre's wife rushed in to help her husband. Belisle
plunged the knife into her breast, and then despatched her by a blow of
a spade. He was suspected, and soon after arrested, tried and convicted.
The terrible punishment of _breaking alive_ was then in force under
French law. Belisle was condemned to "torture ordinary and
extraordinary," and then "to have his arms, legs, thighs and reins
broken alive on a scaffold to be erected in the market-place of this
city" (the present Custom House Square); "then put on a rack, his face
towards the sky, to be left to die." The awful sentence was carried out
to the letter, his body buried in Guy Street, and a Red Cross erected to
mark the spot. The present cross has been moved back a few feet because
of a widening of the street.

The _old_ Grey Nunnery is situated in its stone-walled yard, now used
for coal, near the foot of McGill Street. The original edifice has been
lately removed, but the larger erections remain still. The walls and
remains of the chapel can be seen from behind, incorporated in
warehouses and stores.

=Notre Dame Hospital=, on Notre Dame Street, near Dalhousie Square, is a
much smaller institution than the foregoing, but has, like the General
Hospital, an open door for all creeds, though managed by Roman
Catholics.

Other large establishments are:

=The Asile de la Providence= (St. Catherine Street), under the care of
an order of nuns, who, besides caring for the sick, aged and orphans,
have the largest Insane Asylum of the Province in their house at Longue
Pointe, below the city.

=The Institution for Deaf Mutes=, St. Denis Street.

=The Deaf and Dumb Institution.=

=The Bon Pasteur Convent=, Sherbrooke Street.

=The Roman Catholic Orphan Asylum=, St. Catherine Street.

=St. Patrick's Orphan Asylum=, Dorchester Street, near Beaver Hall Hill.
About 150 inmates.

St. Bridget's Home, Lagauchetiere Street, near Beaver Hall; St. Joseph's
Asylum, 60 Cathedral Street; Nazareth Asylum and Institute for the
Blind, 2023 St. Catherine Street; Home for the Aged of the Little
Sisters of the Poor, 109 Forfar Street.


UNIVERSITIES.

The celebrated =McGill University= is one of the finest in America. The
grounds are extensive, tree-grown and enclosed with a light, black, iron
fence, and the main building, to which an avenue leads from the lodge
gates, stands well back on a rise in the distance. To the right and
left, partly concealed by trees, are the other buildings of the
University. The large and beautiful Greek building to the left is the
Redpath Museum; on its left is the affiliated Presbyterian College;
below it the new Library; further, across McTavish Street, the
Congregational College; above the Museum, the small round tower is the
Observatory. In front of the main building, with its Doric portico, is
the grave of James McGill; on the right, the Medical College, towards
the rear; Ferrier Hall (the Methodist affiliated College), hidden by the
other buildings; then the great McDonald Technical School; nearer still,
the handsome Workman Laboratory of Physics; and on the extreme left,
forming the corner of University Street, the Donalda Ladies' Department.
The foreground is occupied by college campus and walks. Behind the
whole, Mount Royal rises prominently as a refreshing green back-ground.

The institution is entirely the result of the private munificence of a
succession of large-hearted merchants. The first and most honoured was
the founder, James McGill, one of the old Scotch fur traders, who, in
1813, bequeathed 10,000 and his lands of sixty-four acres here, known
as the Manor of Burnside, to the Royal Institution for the Advancement
of Learning. His town residence and warehouse was in a building opposite
the City Hall, which bears a tablet of the Antiquarian Society. His
country house of Burnside stood a short distance down McGill College
Avenue, where the synagogue is built. His portrait in the college
represents him as a stout, pleasant-tempered man, of superior
intelligence, in a powdered queue.

The blue-stone monument over his remains in McGill College Grounds reads
as below. Part of the letters seem to have been re-cut on removal from
the old Dorchester Street Cemetery, and in doing this a mistake has
occurred in saying the "4th" instead of the "1st" Battalion. "To the
memory of the Honourable James McGill, a native of Glasgow, North
Britain, and being several years a representative of the City of
Montreal in the Legislative Assembly, and Colonel of the 4th Battalion
of Montreal Militia, who departed this life on the 19th day of December,
1813, in his 69th year. In his loyalty to his sovereign, and in ability,
integrity, industry and zeal as a magistrate, and in the other relations
of public and private life, he was conspicuous; his loss is accordingly
sincerely and greatly regretted." Lower down, near the base, we read:
"This monument, and the remains which it covers, were removed from the
old Protestant Cemetery, Dorchester Street, and placed here in grateful
remembrance of the founder of this University; 25 June, 1875."

One Desrivires, his step-son, whom he had generously made his heir, did
his best to thwart the bequest by refusing possession of either the land
or the money, and even had the singular ill-faith to plead at law that
the trustees had not built the college within the time--ten
years--stated in the will. The judge severely commented on his conduct,
compelled him to render up both money and land, and the institution was
begun. Its early fortunes were so varied, that it was forced to
sacrifice the most of its land, which extended down to Dorchester
Street, and at one time it is said that only the tenacity of a man of
superior temperament and intelligence, Professor William Turnbull Leach,
later Archdeacon of Montreal, kept it in existence. It has now
possessions valued at several millions. Morrin College, Quebec, and St.
Francis College, Richmond, are colleges of the University. The
University is undenominational Protestant. Its faculties are: Arts,
Medicine, Applied Science, Law and Comparative Anatomy. Of these, the
Medical is most widely celebrated. The entire number of students is
about 1,000, sending out annually a stream of educated men who achieve
the highest positions. The Principal is Sir William Dawson.

=The Redpath Museum=, especially the great hall, is finished and
arranged very beautifully in Greek spirit. Among other things, it
contains on exhibition a magnificent geological collection, the work, in
large part, of Sir William Dawson; the model of a gigantic megatherium,
a weird collection of wood-carvings by the Thlinkit Indians of the
Pacific Coast, the exquisite shell collection of the late Dr. P. P.
Carpenter, aboriginal skulls and remains from the site of Montreal and
other localities, and the skeleton of a whale caught in the St. Lawrence
opposite the city.

=The Redpath Library= is a recent gift capable of holding 150,000
volumes. It contains about 35,000, and has spacious reading-rooms for
men and women, and study-rooms of the best construction, with other
appliances. Though small in number of books, it is especially rich in
works relating to Canada, in historical pamphlets, and in scientific
works. The fac-simile of Domesday Book and its iron chest is a
curiosity. Besides this general library, others of considerable value
are found in the Medical College, the Faculty of Applied Science, and
the various Theological Colleges, that of Morrice Hall (Presbyterian)
being most notable.

=The McDonald Technical Building= should be gone over. It is one of the
best-equipped buildings for technical training in America.

=The Workman Physics Building= is also very interesting.

The amusements of the students are mainly football, tennis, cricket and
general athletics. The campus and tennis-grounds are good for these
purposes.

=Bishops' University= (Episcopal) and =Victoria University= are
represented in Montreal by Medical Colleges only.

=Laval University=, of Quebec (French Roman Catholic), is in process of
establishing itself here, and will probably do so on a large scale. It
has a flourishing law school, and is taking over the Victoria Medical
College, but has not yet erected buildings.


OTHER EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS.

The duality of Protestant and Catholic is even more sharply defined in
educational institutions than in benevolent. The Provincial Council of
Public Instruction is divided into two--a Protestant and a Catholic
branch, and taxation is separate. Local management is in the hands of
separate Boards of Protestant and Catholic Commissioners. The chief
schools under the former in Montreal are the High School for Boys and
High School for Girls, which occupy different portions of the High
School Building on Peel Street, and the Normal School, for training of
teachers, on Belmont Street. The number of pupils in the first is about
250; in the second, about 300; and in the last, about 100. The Boys'
High School was originally the Royal Grammar School, and afterwards a
department of McGill University. There are in the city sixteen common
schools under the Protestant Commissioners, besides Trafalgar Institute
for Women and many good private schools, such as the College of Commerce
(Drummond Street) and the Business College (Victoria Square).

The principal schools of the Roman Catholic Commissioners are the
=Plateau Street Academy= and the Ecole Normale on Sherbrooke Street,
both excellent French schools, occupying noble buildings. They are for
boys alone, Roman Catholic girls being sent to convents.

The Catholic Commissioners have, besides, a number of other schools
under their care. Altogether, the city contains 4 Catholic "colleges,"
36 "academies," 31 "schools."

Some of the French establishments are interesting from their historical
associations or foreign air. Those named _collges_ are of the nature of
high schools.

=The Sminaire de St. Sulpice=, or =Grand Seminary=, for the training of
priests, has been already described under Place d'Armes.

[Illustration: THE OLD SEMINARY TOWERS.]

Its junior branch, the =Collge de Montreal=, or =Petit Sminaire=, is
situated on Sherbrooke Street West, on "the Priests' Farm," an ancient
property of the Order. Its large buildings are built upon the site of
one of the earliest edifices of Montreal, the country house of the Grand
Seminary, known as the Maison des Messieurs, or Fort de la Montagne,
around which the village of the Indian converts was placed. The Maison
des Messieurs, now represented by two historic towers, standing as
relics of a medival past, was a large rough old edifice of plastered
stone, three stories high in the centre and two elsewhere, surmounted by
roofs resembling those of the present Grand Seminary, pinnacled and
curved in the inimitable old French roof-curves. An extensive stone wall
enclosed it for purposes of fortifications, while the pair of towers
formed part of the wall in front, and between them was the entrance. In
a walled enclosure adjoining, to the eastward, was the Indian village;
in another, to westward, large gardens. One of the old towers, in very
early times, was used as a chapel of the Indian mission established
here, the other being used as a school. A tablet in the former reads in
French: "Here rest the mortal remains of Franois Thoronhiongo, Huron;
baptized by the Reverend Pre Breboeuf. He was by his piety and by his
probity the example of the Christians and the admiration of the
unbelievers: he died, aged about 100 years, the 21st April, 1690."

What untold histories, traditions and reminiscences doubtless died with
this centenarian savage! And baptized by Pre Breboeuf! The latter was a
hero of one of the most dreadful martyrdoms recorded. In 1649, he and
Father Lalemant, both Jesuits, were tortured to death by Iroquois with
every cruelty devisable.

In the other, "the Schoolmistress of the Mountain," an Indian sister of
great repute for sainthood, taught, and to her a memorial reads as
follows: "Here rest the mortal remains of Marie Therse Gannensagouas,
of the Congregation of Notre Dame. After having exercised during 13
years the office of schoolmistress at the Mountain, she died in
reputation of great virtue, aged 28 years, the 25th November, 1695."

Over the door of the western wing one reads: "=Hic evangelibantur
Indi="--"Here the Indians were evangelized."

A tablet on the wall in front, on Sherbrooke Street, records the
founding of the Indian mission in 1677, and the facts concerning the
Towers.

Some distance along the wall eastwards is still another tablet, marking
the position of General Amherst's army at the time of the surrender of
the town to the English power.

Within the grounds may often be seen crowds of boys uniformed in black
frock coats, blue sashes and peaked caps, playing ball or tennis in
their high stationary tennis-court, or discoursing music as a
well-equipped band. Within the college the theatre would be found an
important amusement. The curriculum is divided into two parts: theology
and philosophy. Boys are taken from early years upwards. In the last
years they choose either to study for the priesthood or for other
occupations, and thus separate. The course is based largely on the
classical languages, declamation and the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas.
The number of pupils and students of all parts of the institution is
about 450.

Further up on the hill, for the Seminary here owns an immensely valuable
and large tract, stand two other buildings, one an old country house of
the order, with grove of trees and ornamental pond, the other, higher
up, a handsome new institution for the headquarters of the Order.

=St. Mary's College=, the school of the Jesuit Fathers, has been
referred to in connection with the Church of the Gsu, which it adjoins,
on Bleury Street.

=The Board of Arts Schools=, on St. Gabriel Street, opposite the Champ
de Mars, should be added as meriting inspection.

=The Christian Brothers' Schools= are on Cot Street.

For girls, the great convents are those of the Nuns of the Congregation,
Mount St. Mary and the Hochelaga Convent. Their curriculum consists
chiefly of the accomplishments: music, sewing, religious instruction,
deportment, etc.

=The Nuns of the Congregation=, or Sisters of the Congregation de Notre
Dame, are the great teaching order, having convents in most of the large
villages of the Province and many others throughout Canada and the
United States. They have here their two most interesting establishments
of the kind, being the older and newer mother houses of the community.
Both buildings are of historic interest. The older is in the lower town,
and reached by a gateway from Notre Dame Street, opposite St. Lambert
Hill; the newer is a vast and magnificent structure, whose group of
spires appears prominently on the extreme south-westerly slope of Mount
Royal.

One of the most famous pioneers of French Canada, Marguerite Bourgeoys,
the earliest school teacher of the colony, a devoted and sensible
person, founded the order. She is greatly revered in the history of her
people. Her first school was established at Boucherville, on the
opposite side of the St. Lawrence, at a point now marked by a memorial
inscribed cross. On entering the quaint gateway from Notre Dame Street,
one sees to the right the gable of the curious little building of stone,
described previously as Notre Dame de Victoire, one of the most antique
relics of Montreal's past.

Passing on, one sees ahead a cut-stone church, of no great size, but
bearing an inscription stating that it is erected on the site of one
built in 1693 by Marguerite Bourgeoys herself. A view to the left from
this point shows the convent surrounding its court-yard in the shape of
ranges of buildings of an ancient appearance. Within are many quaint
relics, among others a curious contemporary painting in black and white
of Mdlle. Le Ber. A tablet reads: "Congregation of Notre Dame, founded
by Marguerite Bourgeoys. Convent built 1686. Jeanne Le Ber lived here
solitary from 1695 to 1714."

The newer mother-house, called =Villa Maria=, is, as has been stated, on
the Mountain-side at Cte St. Antoine, where it is especially prominent
at the hour when its spires cross the sunset. A magnificent chapel is
the chief attraction. There are large grounds, which originally belonged
to an old family named Monk, whence the name Monklands, and afterwards
were the place of residence of several of the Governor-Generals. Their
dwelling is incorporated among the new buildings. The number of sisters
here is about 270; but the order has 105 establishments, with some 1,200
sisters and about 25,000 pupils.

=The Hochelaga Convent= and =Mount St. Mary= are convents of a similar
nature, but much less splendor or interest. A number of American pupils
are boarders.


RELIGIOUS ORDERS.

Several communities of old-world monks and cloistered nuns are
represented in Montreal.

=The Trappists=, though only occasionally seen as single members on the
streets, are a most interesting Order, exhibiting a perfect picture of a
medival community of monks. They wear a long coarse brown woollen robe
and cowl, shave the head and observe perpetual silence, except when
spoken to by their Superior. Their specialty is agriculture, and their
headquarters their monastery and beautiful farm of 1,000 acres at Oka,
some 30 miles above the city. There every person is hospitably received
and kept as long as he desires to stay, on the understanding that he
does so for religious meditation. The curious medival meals of bread
and vegetables twice a day, the wondrous old psalters used by each monk
in the chapel, the strange silence, the flagellation scourges, cells,
rude beds, and the intense absorption of some of the devotees make up a
fascinating sight.

=The Carmelites= are nuns of a still severer rgime, and have their
convent at Hochelaga. Its walls are very high, and the sisters (who are
few in number) have, by the vows of this order, renounced the sight of
the outside world for the remainder of their lives. The lives of
cloistered nuns, even when of teaching or hospital orders, are always
sad: what, then, must those of these sisters be?


SOCIETIES.

_Literature, Science, Art, History, Antiquarianism._

=The Natural History Society= was mentioned in connection with its
=Museum=.

=The Numismatic and Antiquarian Society= is the most active of the
historical associations. It was founded December 15, 1862, under the
title of "The Numismatic Society of Montreal," with a membership of
French and English gentlemen--a dual racial character which has happily
characterized it ever since, and makes it one of the not least effective
influences of harmony and goodwill in the community. In 1866 the name
was changed to its present title, and in 1869 an act of incorporation
was obtained. In the Natural History Museum the society preserves and
adds to its considerable collection of coins, medals, maps, books and
manuscripts. In the Caxton celebration year it held a memorable
exhibition of rare books; in 1887, a unique exhibition of historical
portraits, the catalogue of which remains a list of value to historians;
the Maisonneuve Monument is its proposal; and the Historical Tablets,
suggested by one of its members, have been erected by this society. It
publishes the valuable _Antiquarian Journal_.

=The Socit Historique=, another old society, has also done valuable
work, re-published a number of most rare manuscripts, including Dollier
de Casson's "Histoire du Montral," and has in hand a proposed monument
for the landing-place of Maisonneuve, to consist of a granite obelisk,
with inscription. The society contains, among other possessions, the
=Sabretache= portfolio of Commander Jacques Viger, which furnished
material to the historians Parkman and Kingsford.

=The Society for Historical Studies= published _Canadiana_ for some
years, and assisted in disseminating the love of history.

=The Society of Canadian Literature= opened up the field of Canadian
letters, and still exists for occasional work of the same nature.

The Folk-Lore Club, the Shakespeare Club, the Microscopical Society, the
=Horticultural Society=, =Mendelssohn Choir=, =Philharmonic Society=,
are some names of the better-known associations.


SPORTS, PASTIMES, THEATRES, CLUBS, ETC.

_Athletics._

Athletics are the delight of Montreal. Here alone are the Winter
Carnival and Ice Palace possible--at least, at their best. Here, too,
the Indian pleasures of the lacrosse, the toboggan and the snowshoe,
associated with the bright old _voyageur_ blanket costume, are in their
native air; here the Scotch curling-rinks took root generations ago as
solidly-established institutions; while cricket, football, tennis,
fox-hunting, fishing, shooting, rowing, yachting, golf and all the
Anglo-Saxon games are devotedly pursued. The use of the blanket costume
for purposes of sport is attributed by some to the enthusiasm of the
British army colony; but there is no doubt but that it is a legacy from
the Old North-Westers.

=The Montreal Amateur Athletic Association= is the largest organization
of the athletic interest. It has some 2,000 members, a well-equipped
club-house and headquarters, and a large stretch of superb grounds on
the west edge of the city. The association had its beginning, in 1840,
in the shape of the Montreal Snowshoe Club, now familiarly known as "the
Old Tuque Blue," from the blue woollen _habitant's_ liberty cap, worn as
a part of the costume. The club, in consequence of its long standing,
preserves a rich display of trophies in its rooms. It has always thrown
its influence on the side of temperance, public progress and national
spirit. It has at times organized vigorous movements against attempts to
establish saloons within its district; has given large numbers of its
members to the militia, especially in times of danger; and was the
originator and mainstay of the winter carnivals and of the snowshoe
concert. In winter its snowshoers tramp over the Mountain or to Lachine,
and sometimes farther, ending up by a jolly dance and supper; in summer,
the games of lacrosse on its suburban grounds absorb the same interest.
Lacrosse, as played on these grounds, is the most spectacular game
existing. Its simplicity, the rapidity and grace of flight of the ball,
and the lightning changes of fortune or strokes of skill, immediately
enchain the attention and excite the blood.

The clubs now included in the Association are: The Montreal Snowshoe
Club, the Montreal Lacrosse Club, the Montreal Bicycle Club, the Tuque
Bleue Toboggan Club, the Montreal Football Club, the Montreal Gymnasium,
the M.A.A.A. Dramatic Club, the Cinderella Club, the Montreal Fencing
Club, the Montreal Hockey Club, the Tuque Bleue Skating Rink, the
Montreal Baseball Club, the Montreal Chess Club.

The club-house is on the corner of Mansfield and Berthelet Streets. It
contains, besides the gymnasium, reading, bowling, shooting and
billiard-rooms, offices and a number of committee and other apartments.

=The St. George's Snowshoe Club= is also a large affair. Its house is on
the hillside at Cte St. Antoine. The membership originally consisted
principally of Englishmen, whence the name St. George's. This club, like
the M.A.A.A., has tramps and dances in winter, and is very popular.

=Le Trappeur= is the principal French Snowshoe Club. Its costume is
blue and white. The club rooms are on St. Lawrence Street, at the corner
of Craig.

=The Victoria Skating Rink=, on Drummond Street, is an old institution,
with history and prestige, a very large skating hall, and fame for fancy
dress carnivals.

A number of other athletic clubs exist, but are more subject to change
than the foregoing.

=The Montreal Hunt Club's= elegant "Kennels," on the Papineau Road, are
the _locale_ of very favourite balls. The pack is an old one, which has
been improved upon from the foundation of the club in 1826. The
fox-hunting of the club is done in the country districts of the island
immediately surrounding the city, and their "breakfasts" at the table of
some friend or member are "_rcherch_ affairs." They also hold
steeplechases and other races every year.

Canoeing, boating and yachting are much in vogue, though usually carried
on in the watering-places which surround the island, such as Lachine,
Dorval, Valois, Pte. Claire, Ste. Anne, Longueuil, Laprairie and Ste.
Rose. The Lachine, Valois and Ste. Anne Boat Clubs' club-houses are the
chief centres of such amusements. Regattas are held at these places and
others during the season.


_Theatres._

The principal Theatres are: The Academy of Music, Victoria Street; the
Queen's Theatre, St. Catherine Street, near English Cathedral; the
Theatre Royal, Cot Street. Sohmer Park, on Notre Dame Street East, is a
"garden" where musical and French variety performances are given.


_Clubs._

=St. James' Club=, Dorchester Street West, established in 1857, is the
leading social club. It has 460 members and a finely-appointed
club-house.

=The Metropolitan Club=, on Beaver Hall Hill, is a flourishing resort of
younger men.

=The City Club= is the down-town dining-place of many business men.

=The St. Denis Club=, St. Denis Street, is the leading French Club.

The M.A.A.A. and Y.M.C.A. club-houses serve most of the purposes of
social clubs to their members.

[Illustration]




MONTREAL FIFTY YEARS AGO.


Imprinted from a rare collection of original woodblocks now in the
possession of Mr. H. T. Martin.

[Illustration: MONTREAL FROM COTE DES NEIGES HILL.]

[Illustration: MONKLANDS.]

[Illustration: PLACE D'ARMES.]

[Illustration: BANK OF MONTREAL. (With the Dome.)]

[Illustration: THE (IMPERIAL) CUSTOM HOUSE TILL 1830. (South cor. Notre
Dame and St. Gabriel Streets.)]

[Illustration: OLD ST. GEORGE'S CHURCH. (St. Joseph Street.)]




[Illustration]

HISTORICAL AND LEGENDARY.

ABORIGINAL NAME OF THE ISLAND.


The Savages name it, wrote Pre Vimont in the Jesuit _Rlation_ for
1642, =Minitik Outen Entagougiban=--"Isle where there was a town."


THE DEMONS.

What a delightful sample of medival fancy--that these asphalted,
crowded, too-civilized streets were once the veritable haunts of imps
and Lucifers! On the 15th of August, 1642, the colonists solemnized "the
first Festival of this Holy Isle."

"The thunder of the cannon," wrote Pre Vimont, "echoed through the
entire Island, and the Demons, though accustomed to thunder, were
terrified at a sound which spoke of the love we bear to the Great
Mistress; I doubt not also that the tutelary Angels of the Savages and
of these countries have marked this day in the holidays of Paradise."


THE ORIGINATORS OF VILLE-MARIE.

The first and calmest originator of the idea of a town here was
Champlain. Of a different nature was the visionary Jerme Le Royer de La
Dauversire, who conceived the idea anew a generation later, owing,
doubtless, to the fascinating _Rlations_ sent home and published
throughout France by the Jesuit missionaries. Pre Olier, whom some (but
not the early historian De Belmont, himself of Olier's own Order) claim
to have also separately originated the plan, met him at Meudon at the
office of the Keeper of the Seal. "On issuing from the audience with the
minister, he met, under the gallery, a man of miserable appearance, who
arrived from La Flche, and waited his turn at the audience. It was a
poor collector of taxes, without wealth, without influence, without
charm of speech nor of exterior, and whom Providence charged with one of
the strangest and most difficult missions for his station: the
establishment of a community of hospital nuns to serve a hospital which
was non-existent, in a town to be founded, and in a country scarcely
even discovered!" "He was accustomed to discipline himself every day,
and wore a belt and gloves full of very sharp spikes." Abb de Belmont
relates that before this he had consulted Pre La Chaise, who approved
the design, and had won to himself the Baron de Faucamp, a rich devotee.
Olier joined him at once, gave him 100 louis d'or, and negociated for
him a grant of the island from its then proprietor, de Lauzon, a man
noted chiefly in the history of Canada for his unblushing and stupendous
land-grabs.

=The Company of Ntre Dame de Montral=, which they formed, consisted of
forty-five persons of quality, including "Madame la Princesse." All the
court are said to have contributed. In 1640 they sent over twenty casks
of provisions; in 1641, the little colony with their leader Maisonneuve.

There is one thing to be explained away by the friends of de la
Dauversire, and which serves to show the weakness of his character. He
was the treasurer of the associates; as such, he received, among other
sums, one of 12,000 livres of Madame de Bullion's moneys intended for
the hospital, which, though he was hopelessly insolvent, he took to pay
a private debt of his own, and could never repay.


THE LANDING-PLACE OF JACQUES CARTIER IN 1535.

The exact locality is disputed. Mr. Gerald Hart, no mean authority,
contends that it was at the foot of the Lachine Rapids. It is generally,
however, held to be at the foot of St. Mary's current, where a tablet
is being erected concerning it, at the end of Dezry Street.

As a point in determining the spot, I suggest that it is not likely the
Indians would have crossed a stream (the Little River) to get from their
town to the St. Lawrence, as they would have had to do had the "broad
road" by which Cartier passed to it led from the Rapids.


SECOND VISIT OF JACQUES CARTIER, 1540.

The object of this visit was to learn about the country beyond the
Rapids. Cartier left his fort near Quebec on the 7th of September. On
the 11th he arrived at "the first Rapid, which is two leagues from the
Town of _Tutonaguy_." Was this another term for Hochelaga? My conjecture
is that Tutonaguy was the name of its _Agouhanna_, or "Lord and King of
the Country;" and that "the first Rapid" was the St. Mary's current. In
any case, the passage throws light on Indian life on the island:

"And after we arrived at that locality, we took counsel to go as far as
possible with one of the boats, and that the other should remain there
till our return; so we doubled the men in the boat so as to beat against
the current of the said rapid. And after we had got far from our other
boat, we found bad bottom and large rocks, and so great a current of
water that it was not possible to pass beyond with our boat. Whereupon
the captain concluded to go by land to see the nature and force of the
said Rapid. And after landing, we found near the shore _a road and
beaten path_ leading to the _said Rapids_. And proceeding, we shortly
after found _the dwelling of a tribe_ who welcomed us and received us
with much friendship. And after we told them we went to the Rapids, and
wished to go to Saguenay, four young people come with us to show us the
way, and led us so far that we came to another village or dwelling of
good people, who live opposite the second Rapid." Then follows some lame
geographical palaver. Returning to their boats, they found about 400
people, who seemed very joyous at their arrival. Cartier, however, was
then in bad odor with the Indians, and while distributing presents to
these people, kept his guard, and at once went back down the river.


THE FOUNDING OF THE CITY.

The colonists left la Rochelle in two little vessels in the spring of
1641. On the first was de Maisonneuve and 25 men; Mlle. Mance, Pre
Laplace and 12 men on the other. The latter reached Quebec first.
Furious storms drove Maisonneuve's vessel three times back. At last, on
the 24th of August, he arrived. The Governor, de Montmagny, and the old
colonists desired greatly to keep them at Quebec for the mutual
protection, there being only some 200 French in all in the country, and
de Montmagny proposed to them the Isle of Orleans near by. "What you
propose," replied de Maisonneuve, "would be well had I been sent to
consider and choose a post: but the company who send me having fixed
that I shall go to Montreal, my honour is concerned, and I shall go up
to begin a colony, though all the trees in that island should change
into so many Iroquois!" Hence, de Montmagny, with Vimont, Superior of
the Jesuits, and some others, went up, and on the 15th of October
"fulfilled on the spot the ceremonies prescribed for such things, and
took possession of the island in the name of the Company of Montreal."

On the 8th of May, 1642, a little fleet of two barks, a pinnace and a
gabare left their resting-places near Quebec, and nine days later, on
the 18th of May, the ultimate landing at Montreal took place.

On the 19th of May the woodwork of the Fort was raised. The cannon were
placed upon it. Twelve men had been brought, among whom were Minime, the
carpenter. The Iroquois, the first year, were quite ignorant of the
existence of the Fort. In 1643, ten Algonquins, having killed an
Iroquois in their country, were pursued by the river up to the Fort. The
Iroquois then reconnoitred it. This was the precursor of those fierce
and incessant attacks which made Montreal the Siege Perilous of early
America. The narratives of these encounters had frequently some marvel
added by popular story, such as:


THE LEGEND OF THE MIRACULOUS HANDKERCHIEF OF PRE LE MAISTRE.

Pre Le Maistre, a devout priest under Olier, came out to the Seminary
at Montreal. On the 29th of August, 1661, he accompanied the harvesters
into the fields of Fort St. Gabriel, a little fortified farm enclosure
now within the edge of the city, where he constituted himself the guard,
reciting meanwhile his breviary. He passed so near some Iroquois lying
concealed in the brushwood that they, believing themselves discovered,
sprang upon him with fierce war cries. Careless of peril to himself, he
called out to his men to run. The savages, seeing their prey escaping,
took revenge upon him, cut off his head, and carried it off in a
handkerchief. But his features, say the accounts of the time, remained
imprinted thereon. "What is peculiar," they write, "is that there was no
blood on the handkerchief, and that it was very white. It appeared on
the upper side like a very fine white wax, which bore the face of the
servant of God." They say even that it spoke to them at times and
reproached them for their cruelty, and that, in order to free themselves
of this oracle which terrified them, they sold the handkerchief to the
English. Hoondoroen, the murderer, became converted, and died at the
mission of St. Sulpice.

[Illustration: PLAN OF VILLE-MARIE IN 1680.]


THE HEAD OF JEAN SAINT PRE.

"In the autumn of 1657 there was a truce with the Iroquois, under cover
of which three or four of them came to the settlement. Nicolas God and
Jean St. Pre (notary royal) were on the roof of their house, laying
thatch, when one of the visitors aimed his arquebuse at St. Pre and
brought him to the ground. Now ensued a prodigy, for the assassins,
having cut off his head and carried it home to their village, were
amazed to hear it speak to them in good Iroquois, scold them for their
perfidy and threaten them with the vengeance of Heaven; and they
continued to hear its voice of admonition even after scalping it and
throwing away the skull."--_Parkman's Old Rgime._


THE DEATH OF LAMBERT CLOSSE.

Closse, the brave town major, found, with disappointment, that his
various companions were one by one falling from time to time in the
Iroquois fighting. "And yet," complained he, "I came to Ville-Marie only
to die for God, in serving Him in the profession of arms. Had I known I
would not perish so, I should quit this land and serve against the
Turks, that I might not lose this glory." God satisfied him on the 6th
of February, 1662. Some colonists, working in his fields, being attacked
by a band of Iroquois, he ran at once to their defence, according to his
custom, and would have saved them except for the cowardice of a
Fleming, who deserted him. Closse fell in the encounter, and thus
achieved the glory he so often desired.

The place of the combat was somewhere near the corner of Craig Street
and St. Lambert Hill (which receives its name from his own). The
Antiquarian Society's tablet, erected on the south corner of St.
Lambert Hill and St. James Street, near the site of his house, reads:
"Near to this place Raphael Lambert Closse, first Town Major of
Ville-Marie, fell bravely defending some colonists attacked by Iroquois,
6th February, 1662. In his honour St. Lambert Hill received its name."
The name was given ten years afterwards, showing that his heroism was
not easily forgotten.


ANOTHER IROQUOIS FIGHT.

Another of the many stirring deeds of those days is related on a tablet
on the corner of Campeau and Lagauchetiere Streets: "Here Trudeau,
Roulier and Langevin-Lacroix resisted 50 Iroquois."

The incident took place in 1662. "The sixth of May," writes Dollier de
Casson, the blood of the soldier stirring under his cassock, "a fine
fight was made at Ste. Marie. The Seminary had established the post of
that name at the lower end of the settlement, in the same way as St.
Gabriel above. It was opposite the little rapid down the harbour, still
known as St. Mary's Current, and was placed among some fifty acres which
had been cleared and cultivated, in prehistoric days, by the Indians.
The three men were returning to the habitation after their day's work in
the fields, when one of them suddenly cried: "To arms, the enemy are
upon us!" At the same moment a large party of Iroquois, who had been
lurking near by all day, rose and fired. Each Frenchman seized his
musket and fled to a hole near by, called "the Redoubt." This they held
stoutly till rescued by DeBelestre, commandant at Ste. Marie, and after
a brisk fight, the enemy finally retired to the woods."


DOLLARD DES ORMEAUX.

But the grand legend of Ville-Marie is the Story of Dollard. A little
old French street, now used as a lane, off St. James Street, bears his
name to-day, and the tablet on it, near the latter street, runs: "To
Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, who, with 16 colonists, 4 Algonquins and 1
Huron, sacrificed their lives at the Long Sault of the Ottawa, 21st May,
1660, and saved the Colony."

The narrative in the "Jesuit Rlations" is somewhat as follows: Forty of
the sad remnant of the once-great Hurons--destroyed by the merciless
warfare of the Iroquois, "who only breathe the air of war"--led by a
chief of renown named Anahotaha, left Quebec in the spring of 1660 on
the warpath. At Three Rivers, six Algonquins joined them, under the
chief Mitioemeg. At Montreal they found that seventeen French had
already united with the same design, generously sacrificing themselves
for the public good and the defence of religion. They had chosen for
their chief the Sieur Dollard, who, though only lately arrived from
France, was found the right man for this kind of war, and eager to take
part in it. He is said to have been an army officer in France, and to
have committed an offence, which he was anxious to wash away by some
heroic sacrifice. They all shrived themselves solemnly in the Parish
Church, and set out together with courage.

They marched by night, and dragged their canoes through the icy waters
and remnants of snow till they came to the foot of "the Long Leap" of
the Ottawa River, and posted themselves to await the coming of the
Iroquois hunters, who, according to their custom, would pass along in
single file returning from their winter hunt. They were no sooner posted
than perceived by the Iroquois. A skirmish took place with five of the
enemy, and soon afterwards about 200 Onondagas appeared in war-dress
descending the rapid in their canoes. The French party, surprised and
seeing themselves so feeble in numbers, rushed and took possession of a
wretched ruin of a fort erected there by some Algonquins in the autumn.
There they entrenched themselves as best they could. The Onondagas crept
up and finally attacked with fury. They were repulsed with loss.
Despairing of success by force, they had resort to their Indian methods,
requesting a parley, but at the same time secretly sending off for the
Mohawks. And while on one side of the fort apparently peaceable, they
suddenly attacked it on the other; but the French were on their guard.
They were for a short time disheartened; but soon after, the Mohawks,
estimated at 500, came up with whoops so horrible and loud, that all the
region around seemed full of Iroquois. Firing kept up day and night,
attacks were sharp and frequent, and the French employed the intervals
kneeling in constant prayer. So passed ten days.

Thirst now became pressing, for the river was 200 paces away, and this
want caused the Indian allies to send and treat for peace with the
enemy. On assurances of life, thirty leaped the palisades and deserted,
thus fatally weakening the besieged. Messengers were then sent forward
to propose surrender to the latter; but the French for answer fired upon
them. This so enraged the Iroquois, that they all rose up, ferociously
rushed at the palisade with heads down, and began to sap it with their
axes in the face of the heavy fire. The French called up all their
courage and industry in this extremity. Among other efforts they took up
a keg of powder, lit a fuse to it, and threw it out among the
assailants. It unfortunately struck a branch, sprang back into the fort,
and exploded, burning most of the defenders and blinding them with its
fumes. The Iroquois were so elated, that they sprang furiously over the
palisade on all sides, hatchet in hand, and filled it with blood and
carnage, killing all but five of the French and four Hurons, among the
slain being the brave Anahotaha, who, dying, begged his comrades to
thrust his head in the fire, so that no Iroquois should have the glory
of taking his scalp. At this moment a Frenchman arose. Seeing that all
was lost, and that several of his companions, while fatally wounded,
still survived, he finished them with great strokes of an axe, to
deliver them from the Iroquois fires. The foe took their revenge by
terrible tortures of the living, and by eating their flesh. But the
design, before formed in their councils, of overrunning and finally
exterminating the French settlement was thenceforward abandoned. If
seventeen French, with but five allies, could fight so well, what might
the rest do if pushed to an extremity? The whole colony was thus saved
from peril and destruction by the deed of the heroes of the Long Sault.

    What though beside the foaming flood untombed their ashes lie,
    All earth becomes the monument of men who nobly die.

"The spirit of the enterprise," says Parkman, "was purely medival. The
enthusiasm of honour, the enthusiasm of adventure and the enthusiasm of
faith were its motive forces. Daulac (Dollard) was a knight of the early
Crusades among the forests and savages of the New World. Yet the
incidents of this exotic heroism are definite and clear as a tale of
yesterday. The names, ages and occupations of the seventeen young men
may still be read on the ancient register of the Parish of Montreal."


THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE.

The signs and wonders attributed to the Great Earthquake of 1662, which
endured for some six months, and was considered a miraculous time of
visitation for the sins of the colony, were such as these:

"For forty days," says a narrator, "we saw from all points of this town
men on horseback who rushed through the air richly robed and armed with
lances, like troops of cavalry; steeds ranged in squadrons which dashed
forth against each other; combatants, who joined battle hand to hand;
shields shaken; a multitude armed in helmets and naked swords; wherefore
they prayed God to turn these prodigies to their advantage."

Another relates: "Earth and heaven spoke to us many times this year.....
Last autumn we saw (in the sky) serpents which entwined themselves into
one another and flew through the air bearing wings of fire."


NAMING OF THE STREETS.

It was the able and genial Dollier de Casson, the first historian of
Montreal, who, as Superior of the Seminary, laid out the streets in
1672. Notre Dame Street, drawn through the centre, he named after the
patron saint of the community; St. Paul Street, in honour of Paul de
Chomdy de Maisonneuve; St. James Street (Rue St. Jacques), of Jacques
Olier; St. Peter, of the Baron de Fancamp; St. Franois, of himself; St.
Lambert, of brave Lambert Closse; St. Gabriel, of Abb Gabriel de
Queylus and Abb Gabriel Souart; and St. Jean Baptiste, of the great
French Minister Colbert, whose extensive reforms extended to Canada.


THE BURNING OF THE FOUR IROQUOIS, 1696.

An eye-witness of the burning of the four Iroquois on what is now
Jacques Cartier Square thus describes it: "When I came to Montreal for
the first time, it was by the St. Francis Gate. I there saw a man of my
province, who came up to embrace me, which he did and after some
compliments, informed me that he was of our company. As we were speaking
together, he perceived that I was much distracted because of a large
crowd that I saw on the Place des Jsuites. Thereupon my new comrade
exclaimed: 'Upon my word! you've just come in time to see four Iroquois
burnt alive. Come on as far as the Jsuites; we'll see better.' It was
immediately in front of their door that this bloody tragedy was to take
place. I thought at first they would throw the poor wretches into a
fire; but on looking around on all sides, I saw no faggots for the
sacrifice of the victims, and I questioned my new friend about several
small fires which I saw at certain distances apart from each other. He
answered me: 'Patience; we are going to have some good laughing.' For
some, however, it was no laughing matter. They led out these four wild
men, who were brothers, and the finest looking men I have ever seen in
my life. Then the Jesuits baptised them and made them some scanty
exhortations; for, to speak freely, to do more would have been 'to wash
the head of a corpse.' The holy ceremony finished, they were taken hold
of and submitted to punishments of which they were the inventors. They
bound them naked to stakes stuck three or four feet in the ground, and
then each of our Indian allies, as well as several Frenchmen, armed
themselves with bits of red-hot iron, wherewith they broiled all parts
of their bodies. Those small fires which I had seen served as forges to
heat the abominable instruments with which they roasted them. Their
torture lasted six hours, during which they never ceased to chant of
their deeds of war, while drinking brandy, which passed down their
throats as quickly as if it had been thrown into a hole in the ground.
Thus died these unfortunates with an inexpressible constancy and
courage. I was told that what I saw was but a feeble sample of what they
make us suffer when they take us prisoners."


DWELLING-PLACES OF CELEBRITIES, ETC.

_La Salle._

On a building at the corner of St. Peter and St. Paul Streets is seen
the inscription: "Here lived Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, 1668."

La Salle, one of the most attractive and chivalrous characters of those
days, was born in 1643, of a rich and ancient merchant family of Rouen;
was with the Jesuits in his youth; in 1666, came out to Montreal, where
he had a brother, Abb Jean Cavelier, a priest of St. Sulpice.
Ville-Marie, the Castle Dangerous of the time, no doubt attracted his
adventurous nature. The Seminary soon offered to him the grant of a
seigniory of wild lands at Lachine, where he began to found a
settlement, laying out a palisaded village. Hearing, however, of the
Mississippi, his imagination took fire, and he threw himself into the
project of following it to its mouth, which, he contended, must lead
into the Gulf of Mexico. Frontenac encouraged him, the Seminary bought
out his improvements. He built Fort Frontenac on the site of Kingston.
He went to France, where the court favoured his projects. In 1679, he
embarked on Lake Erie. He reached the Mississippi in 1682, followed its
course to the Gulf of Mexico, returned to France, and sailed thence
direct to Louisiana, where he perished by assassination in the wilds by
two mutineers among his men in 1687. Parkman's "La Salle and the
Discovery of the Great West" relates at length the brilliant story of
his discoveries.

The house upon the site of which the tablet is placed has long since
disappeared. It was leased by him on the 15th of November, 1668, from
Sieur Rabutel de St. Andr, a comparatively wealthy proprietor of
houses.


_Du Luth._

On the Place d'Armes, at the street corner nearest the Parish Church, is
a tablet reading: "In 1675, here lived Daniel de Grsolon, Sieur Dulhut,
one of the explorers of the Upper Mississippi; after whom the City of
Duluth was named."

Dulhut, or Du Luth, was a masterly man. In France he was in the army as
a gentleman soldier--Gendarme of the King's Guard. In 1677, he left the
army, and coming to Canada, went among the Sioux of the West as a rover,
remaining about three years, solely exploring.

He was then appointed commander of posts in the West, including Detroit,
until recalled to Montreal in 1688. Some say he then built the first
fortifications of Montreal--of palisades. Next year, during the panic
which followed the Iroquois invasion of Montreal, he, with 28 Canadians,
attacked 22 Iroquois in canoes, on the Lake of Two Mountains, received
their fire without returning it, bore down upon them, killed 18 of them
and captured 3. He died about 1710.


_La Mothe Cadillac._

Tablet on Notre Dame Street, just east of St. Lambert Hill: "In 1694,
here stood the house of La Mothe Cadillac, the founder of Detroit."

Cadillac was an able man, but bore a bad reputation. He commanded at
Detroit, and is generally called its founder; but a fort was built near
the present city before his time. His wife superintended his warehouse
here, and sold his merchandise as it came from the West.


_D'Aillebot de Coulonge._

The tablet sufficiently explains this name: "Chevalier Louis
D'Ailleboust de Coulonge, one of the chief defenders of Ville-Marie, of
which he was Governor, 1645-1647. Fourth Governor of New France,
1648-1651. Died 31 May, 1660." (Place of erection not yet decided, but
to be somewhere near the Custom House.)

His arrival with a small force of soldiers, and his personal courage,
were a great assistance to Maisonneuve.


_Charles LeMoyne--Iberville--Bienville._

For J. G. Mackenzie & Co.'s store, St. Paul Street, just east of Custom
House Square, are proposed three tablets. The first is: "Here was the
residence of Charles LeMoyne, one of the companions of Maisonneuve.
Among his children, Charles, first Baron of Longueuil; Jacques, Sieur de
Ste. Hlne; Pierre, Sieur d'Iberville; Paul, Sieur de Maricour;
Franois, Sieur de Bienville I.; Joseph, Sieur de Serigny; Franois
Marie, Sieur de Sauvalle; Jean Baptiste, Sieur de Bienville II.;
Gabriel, Sieur d'Assigny; Antoine, Sieur de Chteauguay; rendered the
colony illustrious."

Charles LeMoyne, subject of this rather long inscription, right-hand man
of de Maisonneuve, and father of sons celebrated in the annals of New
France, was the son of an innkeeper of Dieppe, but withal a most
fearless and intelligent man. He came from France a youth only fifteen,
was sent among the Indians forthwith to be an interpreter, and caught
the spirit of warlike forest life. He several times saved Ville-Marie
from Indian attacks, at one time just saving the Hotel Dieu. At another
he walked coolly down to a war-party of Iroquois and marched them up to
the fort at the point of his pistols. Point St. Charles is named from
him, his farm having extended thither along the shore. About fourteen
years after Ville-Marie was founded, he was given the seigniory of
Longueuil opposite, which he proceeded to settle, fortify and develop in
an able manner. Through this source, with the fur trade and the
furnishing of public supplies, he amassed comparative wealth. His cousin
and partner, Le Ber, became the richest merchant of the country.

LeMoyne's eldest son became Baron of Longueuil, having built there, in
1699, a fine feudal castle, which existed till the end of last century.

The tablets to d'Iberville and Bienville need no comment. They are as
follows: "Here was born, in 1661, Pierre LeMoyne, Sieur d'Iberville,
Chevalier de St. Louis. He conquered Hudson's Bay for France, 1697;
discovered the mouths of the Mississippi, 1699. First Governor of
Louisiana, 1700. Died at Havana, 1706."

"Jean Baptiste LeMoyne, Sieur de Bienville; born in 1680. In company
with his brother, d'Iberville, he discovered the mouths of the
Mississippi, 2 March, 1699; founded New Orleans in 1717; and was
Governor of Louisiana for forty years. Died at Paris, 1768."


_The First Schoolmaster._

On the corner of Notre Dame and St. Sulpice Streets: "Here M. de
LaPrairie opened the first private school in Montreal, 1683." This is
the same property which Du Luth at one time leased and occupied.


_The De Catalogne House._

In a neighbourhood of old houses, on St. Vincent Street, adjoining
Rickett's Saloon, is a long dwelling of two stories and attic,
well-preserved and strong. This was the home built for himself by the
Engineer of the first Lachine Canal, and the one first concerned in the
plans of the earliest stone fortification walls.

On the 30th of October, 1700, Dollier de Casson, for the Seminary,
passed an agreement with de Catalogne, therein described as "officer in
the Marines and Royal Surveyor," whereby the latter was to excavate a
canal from the Grand or St. Lawrence River to the River St. Pierre. The
cut was to be twelve French feet wide and nine deep, the length some 800
yards, the price 3,000 livres (francs), and the time of completion June,
1701. It was the first canal contract in Canada. The canal was begun,
but never completed, the amount of rock to be excavated constituting the
final difficulty. As far as de Catalogne is concerned, he claimed the
death of de Casson, which happened in October, 1701, to have been the
cause, and that his death cost the former 3,000 _cus_. The tablet
inscription reads: "1693. House of Gdon de Catalogne, engineer,
officer and chronicler. Projector of the earliest Lachine Canal."

The house stands a kind of monument of the skill of its owner and
builder. The notes of contemporary fighting and events written by him
are clear-headed, frank and just. He served on several expeditions, and
was in some severe fighting, notably the Battle of Laprairie. The cut
made for his canal at Lachine can yet be seen near the head of the
present canal.


_The Tomb of Kondiaronk (The Rat.)_

On the 3rd of August, 1701, this wily, able Huron chief, a noted figure
in the early savage days, was buried in the Old Parish Church. It
consequently seems to follow that his remains still lie under Notre Dame
Street, in front of the Parish Church. He was a friend of the French,
but prevented them, by a singular network of adroit perfidy, from making
peace with his enemies, the Iroquois. Murdering some of the latter just
when a peace treaty was being proposed, he led their tribes to believe
it the work of the French, at the same time similarly misreporting the
Iroquois to the colonists. He died just following a harangue to the
allied tribes assembled at Montreal. On his tomb were inscribed the
words: "Here lies Le Rat, the Huron Chief."


_Vaudreuil--Montcalm--Lvis._

On Jacques Cartier Square, where St. Paul Street crosses it, stood the
great mansion and gardens of the Marquis de Vaudreuil, last French
Governor of Canada, as the tablet mentioned in describing the square
records. It was erected on the site of the large house built and
occupied by Du Luth in his latter days. The Marquis, son of the first
Governor-General of the same name and title, was born a Canadian, a fact
which led Montcalm and Lvis, the successive commanders-in-chief of the
French army, to underrate him; but he, as a man of local knowledge and
calm judgment, was their superior. The place has memories of them also,
since, as his official guests, they resided here for considerable
periods. The death of Montcalm at the loss of Quebec gives an undying
tragic interest to any spot connected with him. Fancy pictures upon this
square the chteau and great garden of those days, the silken Louis XIV.
costumes of the beaux and dames, the powdered wigs, the high Pompadour
head-dresses, the hurrying lackeys, the French guard of honour in their
spotless blue and white uniform, and, centre of all observation, the
melancholy and stately but courteous young hero, Louis Joseph, Marquis
de Montcalm-Gozon, the hope of all hearts except his own.

On St. Helen's Island, a tablet is placed which concerns Lvis more
particularly. It relates his withdrawal to that position and his burning
his flags by night. A tradition states that he signed the capitulation
of the city against a tree near the head of the Island.


_La Vrandrye._

Pierre Gauthier de Varennes, Sieur de la Vrandrye, whose father was the
struggling seigneur of a forest seigniory just below Longueuil, was the
discoverer of the Rocky Mountains (1742), and was the first trader to
explore the North-West proper. First he entered the French Army in the
campaigns in Flanders, where he had a brother an officer. At the Battle
of Malplaquet, he distinguished himself by such bravery, that, after
being left for dead upon the field, covered with sabre-cuts, he was made
a lieutenant. He returned to Canada, and soon conceived the project of
pushing through to the Pacific across the continent. This he followed
out for many years (1731-48), with scant support, establishing post
after post, at Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods, Lake Winnipeg, and on the
Saskatchewan itself, and losing his son by Indian murder in the West. He
gave a great region to France, and, through her, to Canada, but was
never properly requited, though the Marquis de la Jonquire made him in
the end captain of his guard at Quebec. He died in 1749.


_Palace of the Intendant._

This stood upon the same site afterwards occupied by the house of Sir
John Johnson, where the west half of the Bonsecours Market is. It was
originally the mansion of the Barons of Longueuil, erected in 1698, and
was removed in 1793. The Intendant was the chief officer in the colony
in its civil administration, as the governor was in its military. Hence
rivalry and sometimes conflicts of jurisdiction between these offices.
This palace was the headquarters in Montreal of the infamous Intendant
Bigot, who, by his profligacy and rgime of dishonest extravagance,
ruined the resources of the colony and hastened its fall. A good picture
of the characters of his circle is given by William Kirby in his novel,
"The Chien d'Or," published by John Lovell & Son, Montreal.


_La Friponne._

This old stone building, yet standing, on the corner of Friponne Street,
near Dalhousie Square, was the French Government warehouse, in which
many of the frauds of Intendant Bigot and his comrades, upon both the
government and the people, were carried on. The principal warehouse was
at Quebec, and also was known by the name of the _Friponne_, which means
the Swindle.


_Prs-de-Ville._

This house, a wing of the present Christian Brothers' School, Cot
Street, cannot be well seen without entering the grounds. It has been
greatly altered and raised, and part of it at one time burnt; but a
bastioned wing still stands out on a quaint boulder foundation in a
manner which makes it one of the most interesting-looking of our
buildings. It was the house of LeMoyne de Maricour, one of the family of
brothers celebrated in the early military enterprises of the colony, and
including Bienville, Iberville and the first Baron of Longueuil.


_The De Beaujeu House._

This is on St. Antoine Street, corner of St. Margaret, and is to bear
the following inscription in French: "Here lived the family of Daniel
Hyacinthe Marie Linard de Beaujeu, the Hero of the Monongahela; at
which battle Washington was an officer in the army defeated."

The Battle of the Monongahela River in Ohio was the occasion of the
slaughter of a fine army of three thousand men through the incredible
vanity of General Braddock, an officer who had earned a European
reputation for courage, but who, despising the advice of the provincial
officers, insisted on his men fighting in the forest with the same
columns and tactics as on the open field. The result was lamentable, and
to the great surprise of the French commander, he was enabled to rout
the large and finely equipped force. They were saved by the provincials,
who took to their forest methods, and at length, under Washington,
patched up a truce, and thus rescued the remnants of the English
regiments of the expedition. De Beaujeu died of his wounds shortly
after.


_The British Conquest, 1760.--Amherst, Murray, Haviland._

This imposing event, when the vast Empire of France in America passed
away, identified with Montreal a number of distinguished men. A
world-wide lustre rested upon the brilliant circle of "the Heroes of
Quebec," many of whom remained for longer or shorter periods. Such were
Generals Murray, Gage, Burton, Carleton and "Lord Amherst of Montreal."

After the battle of the Plains of Abraham, where Wolfe and Montcalm fell
and Quebec was lost, it became evident that the province could not hold
out much longer. General Lvis retired with the French army up the river
towards Montreal, returning once only to make an attempt on Quebec. The
British the next summer completed arrangements for marching upon him
from three directions--one, down the St. Lawrence from Oswego, under Sir
Jeffery Amherst, with 10,000 men; a second under Colonel Haviland, with
3,400, by way of Lake Champlain; and the third under General Murray,
with 3,780, up the river from Quebec. The three armies were to converge
towards Montreal. So efficiently was all planned and carried out, that
they arrived from their respective directions within a very few hours of
each other. Amherst came first, passing all the rapids safely, and
reaching Lachine on the 6th of September, whence he pushed on quickly,
and that night "occupied the heights" by taking possession of Cte des
Neiges Hill, looking towards the city. The position of his camp-ground
is remembered traditionally, and is marked by an inscription on the
front walls of the Collge de Montreal Grounds, Sherbrooke Street West,
in these words: "This tablet is erected to commemorate the encampment,
near this spot, of the British Army under Major-General Sir Jeffery
Amherst, and the closing event in the conquest of Cape Breton and Canada
by the surrender of Montreal, and with it La Nouvelle France, 8
September, 1760."

On the hill above may be seen from the high road the ruins of a stone
cottage, situated in a market-garden. According to tradition, Amherst
had made this his headquarters, and one of the tablets marks it thus:
"Tradition asserts that the Capitulation of Montreal and Canada was
signed here, 1760."

Next morning, Murray landed below the city, and marching up, encamped in
line with Amherst, further east on the Sherbrooke Street terrace, about
where, at the corner of Park Avenue, a tablet is placed, reading:
"Major-General James Murray, Brigade Commander under Wolfe at Quebec,
1759, and afterwards first British Governor of Canada, encamped on this
plateau with the second division of Amherst's army, upon the surrender
of Montreal and all Canada, 8 September, 1760."

Haviland meanwhile appeared simultaneously across the river at
Longueuil.

The defences of the town were that useless mound called the Citadel, and
the somewhat imposing-looking, but thin and weak, stone walls, useful in
their time against Indians, but not for an hour against cannon. The
Canadians were discouraged; the army reduced by desertion to about 4,000
dispirited regulars. There was, therefore, no alternative but to
surrender, and Governor Vaudreuil drew up, in fifty-five articles of
capitulation, the best terms he could. Nearly all were accepted by
Amherst, but he emphatically refused the troops their arms and the
honours of war. "The whole garrison," he declared, "must lay down their
arms." The French found this hard, and remonstrated. Amherst answered
that it was to mark his abhorrence of the barbarities permitted by them
to their savage allies during the preceding events of the war--alluding,
clearly, to the massacre of prisoners at Fort William Henry under the
very eyes of Lvis some years before. The morning of the 8th of
September, Vaudreuil signed the capitulation. It was then that Lvis
secretly burnt his flags on St. Helen's Island to avoid surrendering
them. He, however, gave his word of honour to Amherst that they had been
previously lost. The character of Vaudreuil contrasts favourably with
that of Lvis in the whole of these transactions. A tradition asserts
that the keys of the city were given over by a woman.

On the evening of the 8th, a British force, commanded by Colonel
Haldimand, afterwards Governor, entered the Rcollet Gate by
arrangement, and took possession of the Rcollet Quarter, which was then
largely open space, chiefly covered by the gardens of the monastery. The
French withdrew to their camp by the citadel at the other end of the
town. On the 9th, the Journal of Lvis records: "They (the British) sent
a detachment upon the Place d'Armes with artillery, whither our
battalions marched to lay down their arms, one after the other, and
return to the camp they occupied on the rampart. M. le Chevalier de
Lvis then reviewed them. The enemy took possession of the posts and all
the watches of the city."

A few days later, what was left of the troops of France embarked, with
their chiefs, on the way home.


_Gage._

Among the other interesting men whom the invasion brought to Montreal,
was the one to whom the tablet on the Dalhousie Square Fire Station,
next the old military headquarters, is erected, with the words: "To
Brigadier-General Thomas Gage, second in command under Amherst; first
British Governor of Montreal, 1760; afterwards last British Governor of
Massachusetts. 1775."

He it was who kept New York City a British stronghold all through the
Revolution.


_Sir William Johnson._

A tablet relating to another well-known man in colonial history stands
upon the Bonsecours Market, where was the residence of his son. It
reads: "Sir William Johnson, of Johnson Hall on the Mohawk River, the
celebrated Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and first American Baronet,
commanded the Indian allies with Amherst's army in 1760. To them was
issued, in commemoration, the first British Montreal medal. Here stood
the house of his son, Sir John Johnson, Indian Commissioner."


_Burton._

The house where this Hero of Quebec long resided stood on St. Paul
Street, opposite the Bonsecours Market. His daughter married General
Christie (the second Commander-in-chief of the Forces in Canada of that
name), who added the name of Burton to his own. A fine portrait of
Burton is in the Art Gallery. The inscription for the site of his
residence is: "Site of the house of General Ralph Burton, second
Governor of Montreal, 1763. He executed, on the Plains of Abraham, at
Wolfe's dying command, the military operation which finally decided the
day."

The reference is to Wolfe's last words: "'Who run?' Wolfe demanded, like
a man roused from sleep. 'The enemy, sir. Egad they give way
everywhere!' 'Go one of you to Colonel Burton,' returned the dying man;
'tell him to march Webb's regiment down to Charles River, to cut off
their retreat from the Bridge.' Then turning on his side, he murmured:
'Now, God be praised, I will die in peace!'"[6]

It might also have been added that Burton was distinguished for courage
in the disastrous blunder of the Monongahela.


_The North-Westers._

The North-West Fur Company's stores, around which so much history in
adventure, discovery and commerce centres, are on St. Gabriel Street,
opposite the Fire Station, near Notre Dame Street. Hither came Sir
Alexander Mackenzie and Simon Fraser (the discoverer), Alexander Henry,
John Jacob Astor, Washington Irving, McTavish, Franchre, the Highland
laird, the English general, the Indian brave.

The tall, peaked warehouse, neatly built of stone and protected by iron
shutters, which faces one looking through the gateway, carries the date
"1793," surrounded by four stars. The company was an association
composed of the principal Scottish and French-Canadian merchants, who
had replaced the French traders to the West. As, by their activity,
system and enterprise, they greatly improved their business and extended
its territory, they both became wealthy local men of their time, and
also the rivals of the older Hudson's Bay Company. The newer association
was organized in 1783. "The sleepy old Hudson's Bay Company," says one
writer, "were astounded at the magnificence of the new-comers, and old
traders yet talk of the lordly Nor'-Wester. It was in those days that
Washington Irving was their guest when he made his memorial journey to
Montreal. The agents who presided at headquarters were veterans that had
grown grey in the wilds, and were full of all the traditions of the fur
trade; and around them circled the laurels gained in the North."

"To behold the North-West Company in all its state and grandeur," writes
Irving himself in _Astoria_, "it was necessary to witness the annual
gathering at Fort William, near what is now called the Grand Portage, on
Lake Superior. On these occasions might be seen the change since the
unceremonious times of the old French traders, with their roystering
_coureurs de bois_. Now the aristocratic character of the Briton, or
rather the feudal spirit of the Highlander, shone out magnificently;
every partner who had charge of an interior post, and had a score of
retainers at his command, felt like the chieftain of a Highland clan. To
him, a visit to the grand conference at Fort William was a most
important event, and he repaired thither as to a meeting of Parliament.
The partners from Montreal were, however, the lords of the ascendant.
They ascended the rivers in great state, like sovereigns making a
progress. They were wrapped in rich furs, their huge canoes freighted
with every convenience and luxury. Fort William, the scene of this
important meeting, was a considerable village on the banks of Lake
Superior. Here, in an immense wooden building, was the great
council-chamber, and also the banqueting-hall, decorated with Indian
arms and accoutrements and the trophies of the fur trade. The great and
weighty councils were alternated with huge feasts and revels."


_Alexander Henry._

On a house near the foot of St. Urbain Street, on the west side, are the
words: "Here lived, 1760-1824, Alexander Henry, the Traveller, Author
and Fur-Trader."

Henry was the pioneer of the English fur-trade in the West. He had a
thrilling escape from massacre during the well-known capture of Fort
Michillimackinac, by the French Indian Pontiac, effected by means of a
game of lacrosse, in 1763. Parkman gives an account of his escape in
"The Conspiracy of Pontiac," but Henry's own book, "Travels and
Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories," dated from Montreal,
and published in 1809, is a well-written narrative of all his
adventures. His discoveries extended far to the North, and enabled him
to obtain from northern Indians some information of the streams which
flow into the Arctic Ocean.


_Mackenzie._

On the premises of Wm. Smith, Esq., near the head of Simpson Street, is
a tablet of great interest: "Site of the residence of Sir Alexander
Mackenzie, discoverer of the Mackenzie River, 1793, and the first
European to cross the Rocky Mountains."

For five years, from about 1779, he was in the counting-house of Mr.
Gregory, a Montreal merchant, but then went to the North-West Company's
Fort Chippewyan on Lake Arthabasca, whence he started on the two
momentous expeditions referred to in the tablet. In the first, he
travelled a thousand miles northward along the great river of his name,
until he neared the Arctic Ocean. In the second, he reached the Pacific.


_Fraser._

The tablet to the British Columbia explorer reads: "To Simon Fraser,
Agent of the North-West Company, discoverer of the Fraser River, 1808."

This energetic Nor'-Wester is spoken of as a man of stern and repellant
manner. He died at St. Andrews', Glengarry, Ontario.


_Brant--Tecumseh._

These chiefs were both here--the first, at a great Indian council held
by the Johnsons at Montreal, in the summer of 1775; the latter, during
the war of 1812. A tablet recording his visit is being drawn for
erection.


MONTREAL IN 1666.

"Approaching the shore where the city of Montreal now stands, one would
have seen a row of small, compact dwellings, extending along a narrow
street parallel to the river, and then, as now, called St. Paul Street.
On a hill at the right stood the windmill of the seigneurs, built of
stone and pierced with loopholes to serve, in time of need, as a place
of defence. On the left, in an angle formed by the junction of a rivulet
with the St. Lawrence, was a bastioned fort of stone. Here lived the
military governor, appointed by the Seminary, and commanding a few
soldiers of the regiment of Carignan. In front, on the line of the
street, were the enclosures of the Seminary, and nearly adjoining them,
those of the Hotel Dieu or Hospital, both provided for defence in case
of an Indian attack. In the Hospital enclosure was a small church,
opening on the street, and, in the absence of any other, serving for the
whole settlement."

So writes Parkman. The account, though incorrect in a couple of trifling
particulars, is accurate as a general picture.


THE CITY IN 1770.

The following is from Wynne's "General History of the British Empire in
America," 1770--a title which of itself is food for thought:

"Montreal, situated on the island of that name, the second place in
Canada for extent, buildings and strength, besides possessing the
advantages of a less rigorous climate, for delightfulness of situation
is infinitely preferable to Quebec. It stands on the side of a hill
sloping down to the river, with the south country and many gentlemen's
seats thereon, together with the island of St. Helen, all in front,
which form a charming landscape, the River St. Lawrence here being about
two miles across. Though the city is not very broad from north to south,
it covers a great length of ground from east to west, and is nearly as
large and populous as Quebec.

"The streets are regular, forming an oblong square, the houses well
built, and in particular the public buildings, which far exceed those of
the capital in beauty and commodiousness, the residence of the Knights
Hospitallers (?) being extremely magnificent. There are several gardens
within the walls, in which, however, the proprietors have consulted use
more than elegance, particularly those of the Sisters of the
Congregation, the Nunnery Hospital, the Rcollets, Jesuits, Seminary and
Governor. Besides these, there are many other gardens and beautiful
plantations without the gates, as the garden of the General Hospital,
and the improvements of Mr. Liniere, which exceed all the rest, and are
at an agreeable distance on the north side of the town. The three
churches and religious houses are plain, and contain no paintings nor
anything remarkable or curious, but carry the appearance of the utmost
neatness and simplicity.

[Illustration: PLAN OF MONTREAL IN 1759.]

"The city has six or seven gates, large and small, but its
fortifications are mean and inconsiderable, being encompassed by a
slight wall of masonry, fully calculated to awe the numerous tribes of
Indians, who resorted here at all times from the most distant parts for
the sake of traffic, particularly at the fair held here every year,
which continued from the beginning of June till the latter end of
August, when many solemnities were observed; and the Governor assisted
and guards were placed to preserve good order in such a concourse of so
great a variety of savage nations. There are no batteries on the walls
except for flank-fires, and most of these are binded with planks and
loopholes, made at the embrasures for musketry. Some writers have
represented these walls to be four feet in thickness, but they are
mistaken. They are built of stone, the parapet of the curtains does not
exceed twenty inches, and the mertins at the flank-fires are somewhat
thicker, though not near three feet. A dry ditch surrounds this wall
about seven feet deep, encompassed with a regular glacis.

"On the inside of the town is a cavalier on an artificial eminence, with
a parapet of logs or squared timbers, and six or eight old guns, called
the citadel. Such were the fortifications of Montreal, the second place
of consequence in Canada, until the enemy raised the siege of Quebec;
and then, in expectation that the English forces would follow them, a
battery was erected, with two faces for nine guns, but had only four
twelve-pounders mounted, two pointing to the navigation of the river,
and the others to the road leading from Longue Pointe to the town, with
a traverse for musketry, elevated on the inside of the battery, for the
defence thereof, together with some piquet works, forming a barrier to
the entrance of the place, with two advanced redoubts, were all the
temporary works made for its defence.

"The inhabitants, in number about five thousand, are gay and lively,
more attached to dress and finery than those of Quebec; and from the
number of silk sacks, laced coats and powdered heads that are constantly
seen in the streets, a stranger would imagine that Montreal was wholly
inhabited by people of independent fortunes. By the situation of the
place, the inhabitants are extremely well supplied with all kinds of
river fish, some of which are unknown to Europeans, being peculiar to
the lakes and rivers of this country. They have likewise plenty of black
cattle, horses, hogs and poultry; the neighbouring shores supply them
with a great variety of game in the different seasons, and the island
abounds with well-tasted soft springs which form a multitude of pleasant
rivulets."


THE AMERICAN OCCUPATION IN 1775.

_Montgomery--Franklin--Arnold._

At the outbreak of the Revolution, it was natural that attempts should
be made to enlist Canada on the side of the other colonies. The British
traders seem, as a body, to have been willing, and at first many of the
French also sympathized. General Philip Schuyler invaded the province by
Lake Champlain, but falling ill, was replaced by the ill-fated
Montgomery. Colonel Ethan Allen was despatched against the city, but on
the 25th of October was taken prisoner, and thereafter sent to England.
Soon Montgomery appeared; Governor Sir Guy Carleton, having an
exceedingly small force, withdrew to Quebec, and the citizens
capitulated. On the 13th of November, 1775, at nine o'clock in the
morning, he marched in by the Rcollet Gate, and took up his
headquarters in the large house on the corner of Notre Dame and St.
Peter Streets, inhabited by a merchant named Fortier. There a tablet is
placed, reading: "Forrtier House. Here General Montgomery resided
during the winter of 1775-6."

The house at that time is said to have been the largest and most
magnificent in the city. The principal rooms were wainscoted all around
up to a certain height, and, above that, tapestried richly with scenes
from the life of Louis XIV. Over the principal door is to be seen the
date "1767," underneath a niche intended for a statuette of a saint.

Generals Wooster and Benedict Arnold followed Montgomery in possession,
the latter proceeding to his death in the gallant attempt to scale the
defences of Quebec. In the meantime, the Commissioners of Congress,
Franklin, Chase and Carroll, as already related, came to the city and
brought with them its first printer, Fleury Mesplet. They were compelled
to retire before Carleton, their army and cause having become unpopular
with the priests and people, and reinforcements having arrived from
England.


_Dorchester._

The brave character and the other services of Carleton, afterwards
raised to the peerage under the title of Dorchester, are commemorated in
the inscription at the corner of Dorchester and Bleury Streets: "This
street was named in honour of Sir Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester,
commander of the British forces and preserver of the colony during the
American invasion, 1775-76; twice Governor of Canada, and by whom the
Quebec Act, 1774, was obtained."


_De la Corne._

Another officer who distinguished himself in the same campaign was De la
Corne, a member of a good old French-Canadian family, the site of one of
whose dwellings, either on St. Paul Street, opposite the west corner of
Custom House Square, or on Bonsecours Street, is to receive the
following: "Here lived the Chevalier Luc de Chapt, Sieur de la Corne and
de St. Luc. Sole survivor of the shipwreck of the _Auguste_, 1761.
Served with distinction in both the French and English armies. He
exercised a great influence over the Indian tribes. Died 31 March,
1817."

The reference to the _Auguste_ is to a ship which sailed for France with
the greater part of the French _noblesse_ who had decided to leave the
colony. It was unfortunately wrecked, and all on board lost except De la
Corne. The Bonsecours dwelling has just been taken down.


_Du Calvet._

A notorious adventurer and scamp of the same period was the Swiss Du
Calvet, a man of extraordinary plausibility and facility with voice and
pen, but who has of late years been conclusively proved to have been
false simultaneously to the British, the French-Canadians and the
Americans. His rle with each was that of a wronged patriot. His house
stands on St. Paul Street, near the Bonsecours Market. A tablet is being
erected here, independently of the Antiquarian Society, by Mr. L. J. A.
Papineau.


OTHER OLD HOUSES.

Other old houses of interest are the =Papineau House=, on St. Paul
Street, near the Bonsecours; the =Marquis de Lotbinire House= (1797),
on St. Sacrament Street, opposite the Montreal Telegraph Company's
office; the =Sir John Johnson House=, in the East End; the =McCord
House=, in Griffintown.

Louis Joseph Papineau was the eloquent leader of the French-Canadians at
the period of their rebellion of 1837-8: Chartier De Lotbinire was a
king's engineer under Montcalm; Hon. John McCord was the leader of the
mercantile British party who inclined towards the American Revolution.

On the Papineau House the legend is: "The Papineau House. Six of their
generations have dwelt here."

The De Lotbinire mansion is tableted as follows: "Residence of the
Marquis de Chartier de Lotbinire, Engineer-in-Chief of New France,
1755. He fortified Ticonderoga and Isle-aux-Noix. On his advice,
Montcalm attacked Fort William Henry in 1757, and awaited the English at
Ticonderoga in 1758."

An exquisite little specimen of the rich merchant's residence of an
earlier period is the house on St. Jean Baptiste Street, occupied by the
St. George's Spice Mills. It was probably built about 1680, by a trader
named Hubert _dit_ Lacroix. The handsome parlours and their carved-wood
mantelpieces, the lofty warehouse room adjoining, the quaint hall and
stairway, the curious, elaborated fireplace in the basement, and the
high walls of the court-yard, are well worthy of notice by any permitted
to see them. A tradition represents the house to have been the residence
of one of the Intendants, but the assertion is disputed.

The oldest building in Montreal is possibly one owned by Mr. James
Coristine, and situated at the rear of his fur establishment on St. Paul
Street, just west of St. Nicholas.

It is claimed to have been built in 1666, and the vaulting is to-day
perfect and solid and the walls very thick. The dwelling doubtless
consisted of a low living-story, above the vaults, and was reached by
stone steps in a square tower behind. Though much altered, the building
retains traces of its early shape above.

Another quaint erection stands next door, with gable on St. Nicholas
Street. On its yard face a small image-niche and window give a
picturesque appearance.


_The McTavish Haunted House._

This grim tradition has probably been hitherto the Montreal story most
circulated among the English-speaking population. In 1805, Simon
McTavish, the principal founder of the North-West Company, built a great
house on the side of Mount Royal, upon the present property of Mr.
Andrew Allan. He died before it was quite finished, and as it was left
deserted, in a lonely situation, tradition had it that he had hanged
himself in it. Dreadful sounds, particularly a horrible gurgling as if
breath, were thereafter heard within by those who passed. On the tin
roof, in the light of the moon, spirits were seen dancing. Few persons
would approach, far less anybody inhabit it, and the mansion gradually
fell more and more into decay and disfavour.

A form of the legend was that the proud North-Wester built the house
preparatory to the coming of his family from Scotland; that his wife, a
high-spirited woman, objected to coming out to a rude new country, but
the husband hoped to surprise her upon her arrival by the presentation
of a beautiful and well-appointed home; that one night, as the house was
near its completion, some mysterious impulse moved him to visit it (for
he lodged meanwhile at a farmhouse in the neighbourhood), when, just as
he entered the basement and looked up, he saw in the moonlight her
inanimate form dangling from the roof-tree. Though he knew she was in
Britain, the apparition was so realistic and striking, that all work
upon the house was suspended; and, sadly enough, when the ship which had
been expected arrived, it brought news of her suicide by hanging in the
garret of her old home, at the very hour when he had seen the
apparition. He became a cynic, wasted and died, while the house, finding
no purchaser, remained a sad and forbidding relic. It was of stone, and
had a circular wing at each side. In the park, near the upper reservoir,
a stone pillar covers McTavish's remains.


_Amry Girod._

Few know that under the cross-road made by Guy and Sherbrooke Streets
sleeps a suicide. Yet it is true that Amry Girod, a Swiss, who took
part as a leader in the rebellion of 1837, was buried there in pursuance
of the old custom of interring a suicide under cross-roads. On the
collapse of the rebellion, he had been hidden at a house in the country,
and hoped to escape. The troops, however, found him, and were
surrounding the house. He ran out and attempted to get away by creeping
along a stone wall, but was shot--in the leg, I think--while doing so.
He then killed himself with his sword, to avoid being hung. They buried
him as just stated.


THE TRAFALGAR LEGEND.

This story, of a lonely hermit of the Mountain, who, through madness of
jealousy, had slain both his lady and her lover, is too long to tell
here. He haunts a certain old garden-tower in the grounds of
"Trafalgar," a residence on the Cte des Neiges Road, immediately above
the Seminary wall, where his mysterious footfalls have been heard quite
lately. The reader is referred to _Canadiana_, March, 1890, for the full
tale.


LA PLACE ROYALE.

Since the writing of the description of Custom House Square, its name
has been changed to "La Place Royale," on petition of the Antiquarian
Society, in order to mark the 250th anniversary of the foundation of the
city by re-conferring on the locality the name given by Champlain. The
writer and two other members of the Society, on the morning of the 18th
of May, 1892, baptised the Square with St. Lawrence water, after
removing the old signs and confiscating them as trophies. Mr. John S.
Shearer stood godfather, the Secretary (Frank Langelier) poured out the
water from a glass goblet, and I did my part by pronouncing the words.


THE HOTEL DIEU PICTURE.

The legend of Ethan Allen's daughter and the painting of St. Joseph,
narrated in connection with the Grey Nunnery, should have been
attributed to the Htel Dieu. It is in the entrance to the cloister
chapel of the latter, and is a large painting of the Holy family in an
antique gold frame. It was once the altar-piece of the old Htel Dieu
Church on St. Paul Street, now removed.




INDEX.


Aboriginal Traditions, 2

Algonquins, 2, 3

Agouhanna, 7, 106

American Occupation, 138

Amherst, Sir Jeffery, 34, 52, 91, 126

Arnold, Benedict, 54

Allen, Fanny, 81, 144

Anahotaha, 110;
  Death of, 113


Bell, the Great, of Notre Dame (Le Gros Bourdon), 12, 28

Bullion, Duchesse de, 22, 79

Bonsecours Church, 28, 67

Bank of Montreal, 32

Bonsecours Market, 58

Bourgeoys, Marguerite, 67, 93

Burton, 130


Champlain, Samuel de, 3, 8, 21, 23, 50, 104

Commerce, 11, 12

Cadillac, 12, 118

Custom House, 21

Compagnie de Ntre Dame de Montral, 105

Compagnie des Indes, 37

Churches, 33, 60

Callires, 24, 25, 35

Closse, Lambert, 26, 109

Carmelites, 95

Citadel Hill, 36, 39

Charlevoix, Pre, 36

Canadian Pacific Railway, 12

Canadian Pacific Rail'y Bridge, 15

Chteau de Ramezay, 37, 53

Chteau de Vaudreuil, 38

Cemeteries, 51

Capitulation Cottage, 52

City Hall, 53

Court House, 55

Christ Church Cathedral, 62

Catalogne, 121

Canal, First, 121, 122

Conquest, 126

Clubs, 97, 100


Detroit, Founder of, 12

Du Luth (Du Lhut), 12, 118

Dauversire, Le Royer de la, 22 79, 104

Dollier de Casson, 30

Dollard (Daulac), 111

D'Ailleboust, 119

De Beaujeu, 125

Demons, 103

Dorchester, 139

De la Corne, 139

Du Calvet, 140


Earthquake, the Great, 114


Fraser, Simon, 12, 134

Fortifications, 34, 136

Franklin, Benjamin, 54

Fort de la Montagne, 89


Gates of the City, 34, 39, 115, 136

Grand Trunk Railway, 12

Grey Nuns, 80

Gage, 129

Girod, Amry, 143


Hospitals, 76, 77

Hochelaga, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8

Hurons, 2, 3, 5

Henry, Alex., 12, 133

Harbour, 13, 15

Heavysege, Grave of, 52

Htel Dieu, 78

Hunt Club, 99

Houses, Old, 140


Iroquois, 2;
  Four Burnt, 117

Iroquet, 3

Iberville, 120

Irving, Washington, 131


Jacques Cartier, 2, 7, 8, 37, 48, 105

Jacques Cartier visits Hochelaga, 5

Jesuits, 36, 69

Johnson, Sir Wm. and Sir John, 130


Kondiaronk, 122


Lalemant, Pre, 3

La Salle, 12, 117;
  Dwelling, 117

La Mothe Cadillac, 12, 118

Lachine Canal, 14

Laprairie, Battle of, 16

Longueuil Castle, 16, 122

Le Ber, Jeanne, 94

Le Moyne, 119

Longueuil, Baron de, 120

La Prairie, M. de, 121

La Vrandrye, 123

La Friponne, 125

Legend of Devil and Wind, 29

Legend of St. Pre's Head, 109

Legend of the Red Cross, 20, 82

Legend of P. Le Maistre's Handkerchief, 108

Little River, 20

Legend of Htel Dieu Picture, 82

Le Maistre, Pre, 108

Lvis, 129


MONTREAL--
  Site of, 2
  Aboriginal Name, 103
  Leading Characteristics, 11
  A Seaport, 12
  History of, 13
  Population, 13, 17
  Foundation of, 21, 107
  Earliest Church, 28
  In 1666, 134;
    in 1770, 135

Maisonneuve, Paul de Chomdy de, 23, 25, 31, 48, 67, 107, 119

Maisonneuve Statue, 25

Montreal Amateur Athletic Association, 97

McTavish Haunted House, 142

Montgomery, Headquarters of, 138

Mount Royal, 3, 6, 7, 9, 44

Mance, Jeanne, 22, 23, 79

Monks, 94

McGill University, 8, 13, 84

Mackenzie, Sir Alex., 12, 133

Molson, Hon. John, 14

Manor House, the First, 25

McGill, Hon. Jas., 37, 85

Montcalm, 38, 39, 123

Monklands, 194


Nuns of the Congregation, 93

Ntre Dame de Montral Church, 12, 26

New Orleans, Founder of, 12, 120

North-West Company, 33, 131

Nelson's Column, 37

North-Westers, 48, 131

Ntre Dame de Victoire, 68

Ntre Dame de Lourdes, 72


Ononchataronons, 3

Olier, Abb Jean Jacques, 21, 104

Old St. Gabriel Church, 64


Post Office, 33, 55

Parks, 44

Palace of the Intendants, 124

Population, 13

Pilote, 24, 26

Pillory, 37

Public Buildings, 53

Printer, the First, 54

Prs-de-Ville, 125


Rcollets Church, 28, 72

Rocky Mountains, Discoverer of, 123


Seminary of St. Sulpice, 12, 25, 29, 30

Shipping, 13

Steam Navigation, 13

Schools, 89

Societies, 95

SQUARES, 8, 9, 21, 23--
  Custom House (La Place Royale), 20, 144
  Victoria, 33
  La Place d'Armes, 25, 129
  Viger, 35
  Champ de Mars, 35
  Jacques Cartier, 36
  Place des Jsuites, 36, 115
  Dalhousie, 39
  Dominion, 40
  St. Louis, 43
  Phillips, 44

St. Helen's Island, 10, 50

St. Lawrence River, 11, 16

St. Peter's Cathedral, 41

St. George's Church, 43

Synagogue, the First, 75

Streets, Naming of the, 115

Sports, 97

Skating Rink, Victoria, 99


Trafalgar Legend, 143

Towers, the Old, 90

Trappists, 94

Theatres, 97, 99

Tutonaguy, 106

TABLETS, HISTORICAL--
  Hochelaga, 8
  Molson, 14
  First Public Square, 20
  La Place Royale, 23
  Founding of Montreal, 23
  Fort of Ville-Marie, 24
  Callires, 25
  Manor House, the First, 25
  First Parish Church, 28
  Old Parish Church, 28
  Seminary, 30
  Ntre Dame de Victoire, 68
  Rcollets Church, 72
  Dollier de Casson, 30
  Place d'Armes Battle, 31
  Second Grant of Land, 32
  Fortifications, 33
  Beaver Hall, 33
  Rcollets Gate, 34
  Charlevoix, 36
  Place des Jsuites, 36
  Jacques Cartier, 37
  His Landing-Place, 105
  McGill's Residence, 37
  Chteau de Vaudreuil, 39
  La Citadelle, 39
  Chteau de Ramezay, 54
  Old Christ Church, 63
  Htel Dieu, 80
  Mance, 80
  The Towers, 91
  Amherst's Camp, 91
  Congregational Nunnery, 94
  La Salle, 117
  Du Lhut (Du Luth), 118
  La Mothe Cadillac, 118
  D'Ailleboust, 119
  Le Moyne, 119
  Iberville, 120
  Bienville, 120
  Schoolmaster, First, 121
  De Catalogne, 121
  Lvis, 123
  De Beaujeu, 125
  Amherst's Camp, 127
  Capitulation Cottage, 127
  Murray, 127
  Closse, 110
  Trudeau, 110
  Dollard, 111
  Johnson, 130
  Burton, 130
  Gage, 129
  Henry, 133
  Mackenzie, 133
  Fraser, 134
  Tecumseh, 134
  Montgomery's Headquarters, 138
  Dorchester, 139
  De la Corne, 139
  Papineau House, 141
  De Lotbinire House, 141
  McCord House, 141


Universities, 84


Vaudreuil, 122, 128

Ville-Marie, 94

Victoria Bridge, 14

Vimont, Pre, 23, 103


Windsor Hotel and Hall, 42

Wolfe, Last Order of, 130


Y.M.C.A., 41




PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.


Parkman, Sandham, "Rlations des Jsuites," De Belmont, Faillon,
Lovell's Hist. Census for 1891, S. E. Dawson, _The Canadian Antiquarian,
Hochelaga Depicta_, Mercer Adam's "The North-west," Dollier de Casson,
Vie de Mlle. Mance, Vie de M. Olier, _Canadiana_, P. S. Murphy, Judge
Baby, Gerald E. Hart, the late Roswell C. Lyman, B. Sulte, R. W.
McLachlan, J. P. Edwards, De Lry Macdonald, M. Bibaud, Garneau,
Champlain, Jacques Cartier's "Voyages," Lvis' "Journal and Lettres,"
Jodoin and Vincent, Brymner, Morgan, Kingsford, Tanguay, Beaugrand and
Morin, and others.

Mr. Wm. McLennan contributed assistance of a unique sort--results of a
systematic sifting made, for the first time, of the old notarial and
other earliest archives of the city. To him are due the identification
of the De Catalogne, LeMoyne, Du Luth, Laprairie, La Salle and Cadillac
houses. His service to the public in thus contributing these facts
should not be underestimated.

The writer desires to add that this little book being put together in
haste, he is conscious it must contain inaccuracies and imperfections.
In particular the Maisonneuve statue and some of the historical tablets
quoted are only in process of erection, and may be slightly altered
before their completion. Hasty and faulty as it is, however, it will, in
helping to popularize a good deal of rare information, fill for the
present a place which remains yet to be perfectly filled.

To some, it may appear singular than an advocate in active practice
should put together a book of the kind. The author was induced to do so
by the view that the historical tablets, which are a pet scheme of his,
could only be rendered effective by an explanatory handbook such as the
present; and when, therefore, the publishers proposed the matter, he
accepted.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] R. W. McLachlan, Esq.

[2] =The Canadian Pacific Railway Bridge= referred to, at Lachine, seven
miles above, was completed in 1887. It is composed of 2 abutments and 15
piers. There are 4 land spans of 80 feet; the rest are 240 each, except
the deep-water portion, consisting of 2 flanking spans of 270 feet and 2
cantilever, each 408, forming one continuous truss 1,356 feet long.

[3] Or, rather (February, 1892), is to stand.

[4] Parkman: "The Jesuit in North America," pp. 263-4.

[5] On the authority of P. S. Murphy, Esq., of the Antiquarian Society.

[6] Parkman's "Montcalm and Wolfe."


ERRATA:

The following corrections or amendments have been made as follows:

There were inconsistencies in some of the hyphenated words, for
consistency I've standardized them.

There were several inconsistencies in accented words, for consistency
I've standardized these: Chteau; Chomdy; Cte; Jsuites; L'glise;
Lvis; and Rcollets. Some of the inconsistencies are because of
whether the usage is French or English. I believe that Notre and Ntre
fall into this category, and I have left these as in the original.

Page 10--Changed single quote to a double quote at the end of the second
paragraph.

Page 15--Typo corrected from elevaters to elevators.

Page 15--The block at the bottom of the page seems to be a footnote or
endnote, and I've converted it to a footnote.

Page 39--Typo corrected from Dailleboust to D'Ailleboust.

Page 46--Deleted repeated word "in".

Page 49--Typo corrected from mocassins to moccasins.

Page 50--Typo corrected from againt to against.

Page 52--Typo corrected from wierd to weird.

Page 55--Typo corrected from architectually to architecturally.

Page 62--Typo corrected from architectually to architecturally.

Page 63--Typo corrected from font to front.

Page 70--Deleted repeated word "things". Typo corrected from Lallemant
to Lalemant.

Page 87--Typo corrected from skelton to skeleton.

Page 91--Typo corrected from Lalement to Lalemant.

Page 105--Deleted repeated word "be".

Page 110--Deleted repeated word "the".

Page 134--Changed the comma after Ocean to a period.

Index--There are many entries that are out of alphabetical order. It has
been left as in the original.

Entry in Index: Monklands, 194 should read: Monklands, 94, and I have
changed it as there is no page 194.




[End of _Montreal After 250 Years_ by William Douw Lighthall]
