have been restricted to the male sex. The method adopted by the Governor to secure a quiet life will raise a smile; 'Monsieur Roberval used very good justice, and punished every man according to his offence. One whose name was Michael Gaillon, was hanged for his theft. John of Nantes was laid in irons, and kept prisoner for his offence; and others also were put in irons, and divers whipped, as well men as women, by which means they lived quiet.'

"We have no record extant of the other proceedings of Roberval during the winter of 1543. The ice broke up in the month of April; and on the 5th June, the Lieutenant General departed from the winter quarters on an exploring expedition to the Province of Saguenay, as Cartier had done on a former occasion. Thirty persons were left behind in the fort under the command of an officer, with instructions to return to France, if he had not returned by the 1st of July. There are no particulars of this expedition, on which, however, Roberval employed a considerable time. For we find that on the 14th June, four of the gentlemen belonging to the expedition returned to the fort, having left Roberval on the way to Saguenay; and on the 19th, some others came back, bringing with them some six score weight of Indian corn; and directions for the rest to wait for the return of the Viceroy, until the 22nd July. An incident happened in this expedition, which seems to have escaped the notice of the author of the treaties on the _canon de bronze_ (Amable Barthelot), which we have noticed in a former chapter. It certainly gives an authentic account of a ship wreck having been suffered in the St. Lawrence, to which, perhaps, the finding of the cannon, and the tradition about Jacques Cartier, may with some possibility be referred. The following is the extract in question: 'Eight men and one bark drowned and lost, among whom were Monsieur de Noire Fontaine, and one named La Vasseur of Constance.' The error as to the name might easily arise, Jacques Cartier having been there so short a time before, and his celebrity in the country being so much greater than that of Roberval, or of any of his companions."

Cap Rouge Cottage is now owned by James Bowen, Esq.

_BEAUSÉJOUR._

Flooded in sunny silence sleep the kine, In languid murmurs brooklets float and flow, The quaint farm-gables in rich light shine And round them jasmined honeysuckles twine, And close beside them sun-flowers burn and blow.

About one mile beyond the St. Foye Church, there is a fertile farm of one, hundred acres, lying chiefly on the north side of the road. The dwelling, a roomy, one story cottage, stands about two acres from the highway, from which a copse of trees interrupts the view.

There are at present in this spot, several embellishments--such as trout ponds--which bid fair to render it worthy of the notice of men of taste. It was merely necessary to assist nature in order to obtain here most gratifying results. Between the road fence and the dwelling, a small brook has worn its bed, at the bottom of a deep ravine, sweeping past the house lawn westward, and then changing its course to due north-west the boundary in that direction between that and the adjoining property. The banks of the ravine are enclosed in a belt of every imaginable forest shrub,--wild cherry, mountain ash, raspberry, blueberry, interspersed here and there with superb specimens of oak, spruce, fir and pine. A second avenue has been laid out amongst the trees between the road fence and the brook, to connect with the lawn at the west of the house, by a neat little bridge, resting on two square piers about twenty-five feet high: on either side of the bridge a solid dam being constructed of the boulders and stones removed from the lower portion of the property, intended to form two trout ponds of a couple of acres in length each, a passage in the dam is left for the water-fall, which is in full view of the bridge. On the edge of the bank, overhanging the ravine, nature seems to have pointed out the spot for a pavilion, from which the disciples of Isaac Walton can throw a cast below. The green fringe of the mountain shrubs in bud, blossom or fruit, encircling the farm, materially enhances the beauty of this sylvan landscape,--the eye resting with particular pleasure on the vast expanse of meadow of vivid green, clothed in most luxuriant grass, some 10,000 bundles of hay for the mower, in due time. About two acres from the house, to the west, is placed a rustic seat, under two weather-beaten, though still verdant oaks, which stretch their boughs across the river: closer again to the cottage, the eye meets two pavilions. The new avenue, rustic bridges, ponds and pavilions, are due to the good taste of the present owner, Louis Bilodeau, Esq. This rural home was for several years occupied in summer by Stephen Sewell, Esq., and does not belie its name-- Beauséjour.

_BELMONT._

Owners--Intendant Talon, 1670; General James Murray, 1765; Sir John Caldwell, 1810; J. W. Dunscomb. Esquire, 1854-81.

That genial old joker, Sir Jonas Barrington, in his _Sketches_, has invested the Irish homes and Irish gentry with features certainly very original--at times so singular as to be difficult of acceptance. True, he lived in an age and amongst a people proverbial for generous hospitality, for conviviality carried to its extreme limit. Gargantuan banquets he describes, pending which the bowls of punch and claret imbibed appear to us something fabulous. Irish squires, roystering Irish barristers, toddling home in pairs after having stowed away under their belts as many as twelve bottles of claret a piece, during a prolonged sitting, _i.e._, from 6 P.M. to 6 A.M. Such intrepid diners-out were known as "Twelve bottle men;" and verily, if the old Judge is to be credited, they might have been advantageously pitted even against such a Homeric guzzler as history depicts Aurora Konigsmark's sturdy son, Maréchal de Saxe, who, in his youth, 'tis said, tossed off, at one draught and without experiencing any ill-effects, one whole gallon of wine.

The first time our eye scanned the silent and deserted banquetting halls of Belmont, with their lofty ceilings, and recalling the traditional accounts of the hospitable gentlemen, whose joviality had once lit up the scene, visions of social Ireland of Barrington's day floated uppermost in our mind. We could fancy we saw the gay roysterers of times by-gone--first a fête champêtre of lively French officers from Quebec, making merry over their Bordeaux or Burgundy, and celebrating the news of their recent victories at Fontenoy, [259] Lauffeld or Carillon, to the jocund sound of _Vive la France! Vive le Maréchal de Saxe! à la Claire Fontaine_, &c then Governor Murray, surrounded by his veterans, Guy Carleton, Col. Caldwell, Majors Hale, Holland, and some of the new subjects, such as the brave Chs. De Lanaudière, [260] complimenting one another all around over the feats of the respective armies at the two memorable battles of the Plains, and all joining loyally in repeating the favorite toast in Wolfe's fleet, _British colours on every French fort, port and garrison in America_! Later on, at the beginning of the present century, a gathering of those Canadian Barons, so graphically delineated by John Lambert in his _Travels in Canada_, in 1808--one week surrounding the festive board of this jolly Receiver General of Canada at Belmont, the next at Charlesbourg, making the romantic echoes of the Hermitage ring again with old English cheers and loyal toasts to "George the King," or else installing a "Baron" at the Union Hotel, Place d'Armes,--possibly in the very Council-room in which the State secrets of Canada were in 1865 daily canvassed--and flinging down to the landlord as Lambert says, "250 guineas for the entertainement." Where are now the choice spirits of that comparatively modern day, the rank and fashion who used to go and sip claret or eat ice-cream with Sir James Craig, at Powell Place? Where gone the Mures, Paynters, Munros, Matthew Bells, de Lanaudières, Lymburners, Smiths, Finlays, Caldwells, Percevals, Jonathan Sewells? Alas! like the glories of Belmont, departed, or living in the realms of memory only!

This estate, which, until lately, consisted of four hundred and fifty acres, extending from the line of the Grande Allée down to the Bijou wood, was _conceded_ in 1649 by the Jesuit Fathers to M. Godfroy. It passed over, in 1670, to the celebrated Intendant Talon, by deed of sale executed on the 28th of September, 1670, before Romain Becquet, Notaire Royal. Messire Jean Talon is described in that instrument as "Conseiller du roi en ses conseils d'état et premier Intendant de justice, police et finance de la Nouvelle France, Isle de Terreneuve, Acadie et pays de l'Amérique Septentrionale." Shortly after the conquest it was occupied by Chief Justice Wm. Gregory. In 1765 it was sold for £500 by David Alves of Montreal, to General James Murray, who, after the first battle of the Plains, had remained Governor of Quebec, whilst his immediate superior, Brigadier Geo. Townshend, had hurried to England to cull the laurels of victory. In 1775, we find that one of the first operations of the American General Montgomery was to take possession of "General Murray's house, on the St. Foy road." General Murray also, probably, then owned the property subsequently known as Holland's farm, where Montgomery had his headquarters. All through our history the incidents, actors and results of battles are tolerably well indicated, but the domestic history of individuals and exact descriptions of localities are scarcely ever furnished, so that the reader will not be surprised should several _lacunae_ occur in the description of Belmont, one of the most interesting Canadian country seats in the neighbourhood of Quebec. The history of Holland House might also, of itself, furnish quite a small epic; and, doubtless, from the exalted social position of many of the past owners of Belmont, its old walls, could they obtain utterance, might reveal interesting incidents of our past history, which will otherwise ever be buried in oblivion.

In the memory of Quebecers, Belmont must always remain more particularly connected with the name of the Caldwells, three generations of whom occupied its spacious halls. The founder of this old family, who played a conspicuous part in Canadian politics for half a century, was the Hon. Col. Henry Caldwell, for many years Receiver General of the Province, by royal appointment, and member of the Legislative Council. He came first to Canada in 1759, says Knox, [261] as Assistant Quartermaster General to Wolfe, under whom he served. When appointed Receiver General, the salary attached to that high office [262] was £400 per annum, with the understanding that he might _account_ at his convenience, he never accounted at all, probably as it was anything but _convenient_ to do so, having followed the traditional policy of high officials under French rule, and speculated largely in milk, &c. The fault was more the consequences of the system than that of the individual, and had his ventures turned out well, no doubt the high-minded Colonel and Receiver General would have made matters right before dying. In 1801 Col. Caldwell was returned member for Dorchester, where he owned the rich Seigniory of Lauzon, and most extensive mill at the Etchemin river, the same subsequently owned by J. Thomson, Esq., and now by Hy. Atkinson, Esq. The colonel was re-elected by the same constituency in 1805, and again in 1809, lived in splendor at Belmont, as a polished gentleman of that age knew how to live, and died there in 1810. Belmont is situated on the St. Foye road, on its north side, at the end of a long avenue of trees, distant three miles from Quebec. The original mansion, which was burnt down in 1798, was rebuilt by the Colonel in 1800 on plans furnished by an Engineer Officer of the name of Brabazon. It stood in the garden between the present house and main or St. Foye road. The cellar forms the spacious root house, at present in the garden. Col Caldwell's exquisite entertainments soon drew around his table some of the best men of Quebec, of the time, such as the gallant Gen. Brock, John Colt man, William Coltman, the Hales, Foy, Haldimand, Dr. Beeby of Powell Place, J. Lester, John Blackwood. In 1810 Mr. John Caldwell, son of the Colonel, accepted the succession with its liabilities, not then known. He however made the Lauzon manor his residence in summer, and was also appointed Receiver General. In 1817 Belmont was sold to the Hon. J. Irvine, M.P.P., the grandfather of the present member for Megantic, Hon. George J. Irvine. Hon. Mr. Irvine resided there until 1833. The beautiful row of trees which