Music Trade Review -- © mbsi.org, arcade-museum.com -- digitized with support from namm.org
THE MUSIC TRADE REVIEW.
1
ON HISTORIC GROUND
i(^;ypx^^j<^:^x
QUEBEC.
An Historic Spot—A Tarry With-
in Its Walls—flemories of
Wolfe and Montcalm.
Scenes of Instruction as Well as
Interest—Charming Views—
Points of Interest—
Down the
River.
llFTER a long tarry in the charming
U[[ city of Montreal, I boarded a steamer
°* for Quebec. It was morning when
the rugged bluff of Cape Diamond be-
came visible, and I saw the walls and bat-
tlements of the "Ancient City " rising be-
fore me. Never before had I seen a fortified city.
What with natural and artificial defenses, the
place seemed impregnable surely. The steep,
high rock itself looks defiance down upon the
gazer, and, crowning it, the walls, the forts,
the citadel seem to make assurance doubly
sure. The houses in the lower town, bare and
exposed along the shore, are without defense.
When we looked across the majestic stream, and
in imagination saw Wolfe's batteries as they
were in that memorable crisis in a memorable
war, planted on the heights of Levis, I did not
wonder at the destruction they wrought. As
the boat rounded the Cape I could see on the
eastern side of Quebec the placid St. Charles
winding its way to the St. Lawrence. Beyond
it stretches the Beauport shore, with its white-
washed cottages, probably, with very little
changes, the same as those Parkman describes
as standing there a century ago, and still to the
east the Montmorenci, too, adds its tribute to
the great river which divides two great nations.
Ah, what memories this sight awakens ! I
think I can see Montcalm's army stretching
across that shore between the St. Charles to the
west and the Montmorenci to the east. In my
mind I picture the English on the Island of
Orleans and the rock of Levis opposite. I see
Wolfe attempt to dislodge Montcalm and fall
back repulsed at Lange Gardieu, but this reverie
is soon ended and my historic dreams are sud-
denly broken as the whistling of the steamer
arouses me to other thoughts. So It is ever in
this life, the real constantly crowding out the
ideal—prosy reality putting to flight fancy's
creations.
After breakfast at the magnificent Chateau
Frontenac, I arranged with my French driver to
visit the points of historical interest in and
about Quebec. I doubt if there is a spot in all
America richer in historic treasure or more
lavishly endowed by nature in the beauty and
grandeur of its surroundings than this quaint
old walled city. The city of Quebec is such a
convenient resting place between Montreal and
the several points of interest on the lower St.
Lawrence, and is in itself so interesting and so
^;>^i^3^e^2
entirely different from other cities on this con-
tinent, that any one making a tour of the St.
Lawrence should not pass the memorable walls
of the "Ancient Capital " without tarrying a
while within them. Guarding the portal of the
great inland waters of the continent, it has not
inaptly been termed the ( ' Sentinel City of the
St. Lawrence,'' while its grim citadel and strong
fortifications have earned for it the title of the
Gibralter of America.
It is strange that people should rush away
across the Atlantic to enjoy the mountain glories
of Switzerland or the rugged grandeurs of the
historic and castellated Rhine, while within a
few miles of their homes on the American conti-
nent are to be found scenes of interest and won-
der as well as of instruction and amusement
which quite equal the attractions of old Europe.
At first the narrow, crooked streets and old
houses impress one rather disagreeably, but the
air of antiquity.is over all, and every spot seems
to recall historic reminiscenses. There is but
one Quebec. Old, ancient and romantic, it is
rich in the legends of the past.
I have been trying to trace it all out, where
Cartier landed and Donnaconna came down to
meet him, where the great Cham plain laid out
the first fort—where afterwards the nunneries
and convents arose, raised by stout French arms.
I have lived through those five seiges of the old
city over and over again. I have seen the poor,
starved garrison surrender to Kirke, and have
marked the place where the brave Montgomery
fell, who was killed when besieging the city in
December, 1775. I have climbed the almost in-
accessible heights which lead to the Plains of
Abraham in the rear of the city, and have stood
on the spot where Wolfe died victorious at the
close of that battle which forever put an end to
French ascendancy in America, where the vete-
rans of France, led by gallant Montcalm, were
forced to fall back and again seek refuge inside
the city walls, Montcalm breathing his last on
the following day within the walls of the city,
which was surrendered, the red flag of old Eng-
land supplanting the tricolor of France.
The scenes in and about Quebec add a natural
and an historical spice to holiday loitering.
This spot has a past ieaching back to the in-
fancy of European enterprise in the new world,.
OLD STAIRWAY FROM WOLFE'S CAVE TO THE
PLAINS OF ABRAHAM.
and it has, moreover, a past crowded with great
men and great events that will remain landmarks
in the history of the Western hemisphere for all
time to come. The ancient city of Quebec pos-
sesses warlike traditions and medieval features
QUEBEC FROM LEVIS.